Children's Books

[Nuzzolese]

The last 2 saturdays I worked in the children's department of the bookstore and I was reminded of books I liked as a kid. I started looking them up but sometimes I couldn't remember what they were called. Like for example it took me forever to remember this one (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1577686888/qid=1125334565/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-2487450-7184033?v=glance&s=books) which I used to love. Usually it was the illustrations that stayed with me, or maybe the ideas it sparked in my head.

One book I adored was The Adventures of Stanley Kane which is out of print, unfortunately. Did anyone else read this? It was a collection of short stories about a little boy and his animal friends.

So this is the thread where you describe a children's book you used to love. Did you forget the title? Maybe if you describe it carefully enough, someone else remembers it.

These were some that I pulled out last Saturday on a whim of nostalgic enthusiasm. I rearranged the display, setting up all my old favorites.



Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Ox-Cart Man

Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business

The Little House

My Mama Says There Aren't Any: Zombies, Ghosts, Vampires, Creatures, Demons, Monsters, Fiends, Goblins, or Things

The Story of Ferdinand

Miss Hickory

In the Night Kitchen

Much Bigger Than Martin

A House Is a House for Me

Make Way for Ducklings

Saint George and the Dragon

Katy and the Big Snow

[Nuzzolese]

There was a book I read around age 8 or 9, can't remember what it was called. It was a paperback book with short chapters and very few if any illustrations. It was about a family that lived in a house that had a volcano underneah it serving as the furnace. In the winter the house had flowers blooming in the front yard, but in the summer it was unbearable. I can't remember what they eventually did about it. I don't even remember if I liked the book or not, but I liked the idea of a house kept warm over a volcano.
Did anyone else read this or do you know what it was called?

[beastieangel01]

I absolutely loved:

Amelia Bedelia (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0064441555/qid=1125335316/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-2900415-3980806?v=glance&s=books)

Harold & the Purple Crayon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0064430227/qid=1125335394/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-2900415-3980806?v=glance&s=books)

the Very Hungry Caterpillar (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0399208534/qid=1125335473/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/002-2900415-3980806?v=glance&s=books)

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0009HARWA/ref=pd_sim_b_3/002-2900415-3980806?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance)

A Bear Called Paddington (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0618150714/qid=1125335644/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-2900415-3980806?v=glance&s=books)

Goodnight Moon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0694003611/ref=pd_sim_b_4/002-2900415-3980806?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance)

The Velveteen Rabbit (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385077254/qid=1125335745/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/002-2900415-3980806?v=glance&s=books)

I too liked Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. And most if not all know and like Where the Wild Things Are.

then there were these books with a Hippo couple, one book the wife made pea soup and the husband didn't like it so it poured it in his shoe. I can't remember what the heck it was called :D

And it's not really "childrens" but later on I loved Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0064401707/ref=sib_rdr_dp/002-2900415-3980806?%5Fencoding=UTF8&no=283155&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&st=books), all the books. I loved the stories and most of all the disturbing looking drawings/art. I think that probably had a large impact on me now, as far as what I am in to.

I also read far too much Fear Street and Christopher Pike.

[Nuzzolese]

then there were these books with a Hippo couple, one book the wife made pea soup and the husband didn't like it so it poured it in his shoe. I can't remember what the heck it was called :D

I vaguely remember a book about a Hippo Couple. Was there something in there about one of them taking a bath? I can't recall much about it either.

[cosmo105]

Stone Soup

No Tooth, No Quarter

that's about all i remember :\ as soon as i could read i wanted to read the 6th-grader books.

[Nuzzolese]

Another good one out of print. Pigs in Hiding (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0590445030/qid=1125336120/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-2487450-7184033?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) and it doesn't even come up in Barnes and Noble's database. It was about a housefull of pigs that play hide and go seek, but the searching pig can't find any of them so he makes a ton of snacks and food and leaves it out and then he goes to hide himself, in the meantime all the pigs come out to eat and he jumps out and says he found them.

[Nuzzolese]

Stone Soup

No Tooth, No Quarter

that's about all i remember :\ as soon as i could read i wanted to read the 6th-grader books.

You can talk about the 6'th grader books too.

The Great Gilly Hopkins

Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry

[beastieangel01]

I vaguely remember a book about a Hippo Couple. Was there something in there about one of them taking a bath? I can't recall much about it either.

yeah I think there was one about a bath. Dang it!

edit: FOUND IT!

George & Martha! (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0395851580/qid=1125336284/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-2900415-3980806?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)

:)

[cosmo105]

any original Nancy Drew, and the first Baby-Sitter's Club books. i looooved those. i had a Claudia doll :o

[adam_f]

I used to read those Goosebumps books all the time. Then one day, I stopped.

[beastieangel01]

Stone Soup


Stone Soup! YES! I remember we read that then made stone soup :)

I liked Paddington Bear a lot because we made marmalade sandwiches like Padding ate.

Oh, I also liked Down By the Bay (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0517800586/ref=sib_rdr_dp/002-2900415-3980806?%5Fencoding=UTF8&no=283155&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&st=books)

[cosmo105]

i never liked Goosebumps. they always seemed kind of poorly written and trite to me. he poured out book after book of product, and nothing too exceptional. kind of like Stephen King!

i really liked Dear Mr. Henderson (i think that's what it was called), The Hatchet, Call It Courage, Island of the Blue Dolphins, My Cat Ate My Gymsuit...

[beastieangel01]

I used to read those Goosebumps books all the time. Then one day, I stopped.

I remember totally skipping those and going straight to Fear Street. I tried to read Goosebumps after reading Fear Street and felt totally bored with them ;/ haha

[adam_f]

I've never heard of Fear Street.

[beastieangel01]

Same author. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671724827/qid=1125336563/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-2900415-3980806?v=glance&s=books)

[Nuzzolese]

any original Nancy Drew, and the first Baby-Sitter's Club books. i looooved those. i had a Claudia doll :o

They had dolls? Ah yes the wonderful Nancy Drew and Babysitter's Club. Although I did get tired of each book having the same introduction - it got tiresome reading about the color of Nancy's hair, or the entire backstory of how all those girls came to be in Stonybrook and the stories of their extended families. The clothes were awful! Claudia was supposed to be the stylish one and she was always wearing wool tights under cutoff overalls and crap like that.

[adam_f]

I still read the Hardy Boys once in awhile.

[Nuzzolese]

I never read any of The Boxcar Children or The Bobbsey Twins.

But I did read a good number of The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and the American Girls series - when there were only the first three characters; Kirsten, Samantha, and Molly.

[cosmo105]

what do you mean, that's not stylish?? :(

[beastieangel01]

I remember being given the Anne of Green Gables series. This was about the time I was reading Fear Street and the like.

I read half of the first book, and that was difficult to do. I was bored to tears. I couldn't stomach any of the "girlie" books. I was all about horror, suspense, or that kind of thing.

[Bob]

i liked roald dahl books, they were kind of interesting for children's books. like there was one, danny the champion of the world, where his father was a poacher, and part of the story was the kid trying to deal with the idea of his father's deep dark secret of stealing things, but it was ok, because the guy he poached from was pretty evil.

[Nuzzolese]

I remember being given the Anne of Green Gables series. This was about the time I was reading Fear Street and the like.

I read half of the first book, and that was difficult to do. I was bored to tears. I couldn't stomach any of the "girlie" books. I was all about horror, suspense, or that kind of thing.

Same here. I never got into the Anne of Avonlea, Rilla of Ingleside, LeQueisha of Rainbow Valley...etc

[Nuzzolese]

i liked roald dahl books, they were kind of interesting for children's books. like there was one, danny the champion of the world, where his father was a poacher, and part of the story was the kid trying to deal with the idea of his father's deep dark secret of stealing things, but it was ok, because the guy he poached from was pretty evil.

I only read Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and Mathilda. But I saw the cartoon movie of BFG and remembered the farting part. The Queen of England saying "I think I prefer the bagpipes"

[JBernas]

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
All the Narnia books by C.S Lewis
Anything by Judy Blume

[Dr Deaf]

i really like Danny Champion of the World by Roald Dahl.

that book is my default choice for threads like these. i'll have to pick it up one of these days and read it to the lil one.

[synch]

Loved all of Dahl's books. I've read them in dutch but I'm looking forward to buying the english versions and reading all of them again.

My favourite part of Danny Champion of the World was when he drove the car to pick up his dad who had fallen in the hole. Dahl described the excitement of this little kid driving the car on the road for the first time. Shifting from gear to gear sounded like the most amazing thing ever when described by Dahl in that context. (rushing to save his dad)

I think I cried a little when Roald Dahl died :(

[Abe Froman]

I remember reading all of the Judy Blume books and I very much remember the day when I went to the pool during YMCA camp one summer and the teen councilors were all sitting in a group with some campers and a life guard was reading from a book. It was one of Judy's adult books and the life guard was in the middle of a steamy section. Judy changed for me forever and worms didn't look so good anymore.

[TAL]

This thread shows that you need to read more of Astrid Lindgren's books.
Mio, My Son
The Brothers Lionheart
Ronia, The Robber's Daughter

[Abe Froman]

i really like Danny Champion of the World by Roald Dahl.

that book is my default choice for threads like these. i'll have to pick it up one of these days and read it to the lil one.

I remember reading a book back when I was still cute and loveable that was about a kid learning to see blindfolded by practicing staring at the black center of a candle or something like that. The kid learned the secrets of seeing with your eyes closed. Does that ring a bell? I think it was by Dahl but I'm not sure.

[synch]

Fortunatly I read "My uncle Oswald" by Dahl a bit later than the rest of Dahl's books.

It tells the story of Oswald, entrepeneur always looking for money making schemes. He decides to have this lovely young lady have sex with lots of (potentially) famous people to sell the sperm to mothers wanting kids from famous children. It describes how they go to people like Einstein, Picasso and the likes to "collect"

Some sort of condom and a mobile freezer were involved too.

[Bob]

I remember reading a book back when I was still cute and loveable that was about a kid learning to see blindfolded by practicing staring at the black center of a candle or something like that. The kid learned the secrets of seeing with your eyes closed. Does that ring a bell? I think it was by Dahl but I'm not sure.

hmm...that sounds like it COULD be the story of henry sugar, but i don't remember that part exactly. there's a part where he's training to see with eyes closed, but he does it differently than that, i think he meditated on the image of his own face or something. henry sugar was a real good book too.

[Abe Froman]

Henry Sugar! I do believe that was the one! Thank you sir.

[Nuzzolese]

Why do Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears is a good picture book, great illustrations.

[Nuzzolese]

Kids today are reading a lot of Captain Underpants, Junie B. Jones, The Magic Treehouse, Harry Potter, Hillary Duff...

You know, it took me forEVER to figure out the whole Hillary Duff/Lizze McGuire thing. I didn't know which was the character and which was the real girl and what the difference was between the two...how profound. I wonder if she ever dramatically asked the same thing "where does Hillary end and Lizzie begin, mother!?"

[voltanapricot]

I used to read Goosebumps a lot, every other kid I knew was too.

My mum tried to get me into Enid Blyton's 'Malory Towers' series, never took to it.

When I were a verrry lickle tin lid, I used to love being read:

By my mum (http://212.23.5.9/TWS/CoverImages_0/074/456/0744560012.jpg), 'Five Minutes Peace', about a busy mother elephant that was constantly being interrupted from peace by her kids (I think she felt that this book was close to home.)

By my Adda: DIE HOBBITENN (http://www.tolkiensociety.org/tolkien/images/illustrated_hobbit.jpg)

[ScarySquirrel]

Heckedy Peg (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0152336788/qid=1125351798/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-5303606-0022447?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)
King Bidgood's in the Bathtub (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0152427309/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/002-5303606-0022447?v=glance&s=books&n=507846&st=*)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0689707495/qid=1125351876/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-5303606-0022447?v=glance&s=books)
Prehistoric Pinkerton (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/014230008X/qid=1125352327/sr=1-10/ref=sr_1_10/002-5303606-0022447?v=glance&s=books)
Pinkerton, Behave! (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0142300071/qid=1125352009/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/002-5303606-0022447?v=glance&s=books)
The Terrible Thing that Happened at Our House (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0590423711/qid=1125352247/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-5303606-0022447?v=glance&s=books)

Just to name a few. I was really into Sherlock Holmes too for some reason when I was younger, so my parents somehow managed to find a few children's books that were about ol' Sherlock. Nevertheless, I somehow ended up getting my hands on the versions written for adults as well and I remember reading though those several times too. I was a weird kid. I probably still am, but now it's okay.

[Stupid]

The Gruffalo (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0333710932/ref=br_b_ts_4//202-5137756-0787058)
Not Now, Bernard (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1842704567/ref=br_b_nr_1//202-5137756-0787058)
The Tiger Who Came to Tea (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0006640613/qid=1125354855/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_3_1/202-5137756-0787058)
Dear Zoo (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0333712781/ref=lm_lb_6/202-5137756-0787058)
Funnybones (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140565817/ref=lm_lb_8/202-5137756-0787058)
The Teddy Robber (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0552525936/qid=1125355173/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_2_1/202-5137756-0787058).

Were the first set of books I remember loving when I was ickle. When I was a bit older I loved all the Roald Dahls and the Narnia series. I also loved all the kid horror books.

[synch]

He decides to have this lovely young lady have sex with lots of (potentially) famous people to sell the sperm to mothers wanting kids from famous children.
From famous children?

So much for claiming I always re-read my posts to check them.

[p-branez]

goodnight moon was always the best.
alexander...
where the wild things are

hardy boys. i tried to read them all but never got there.
the bfg. and all roald dahl books

[Bitchamachacha]

I have finally started reading longer books to my son before he goes to sleep. I'm currently reading "Charlottes Web", and will follow that up with "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass".

[Documad]

when I was little, I liked the Bernstein Bears book, The Bike Lesson
anything Dr. Seuss -- but Horton Hears a Who was best
and How Fletcher Was Hatched

When I was a little older, it was mostly mysteries. All the original Nancy Drews because my mom's friend owned them and her girls were grown so I could borrow two a week.
Sherlock Holmes' stories
Agatha Christie books
I also liked books where a character had ESP. That was big in the 70s I guess.
and I liked those books with the little people who lived in a big person's house -- Eddie Albert was in the movie I think.
But my favorite book was Freaky Friday. I couldn't believe when they made it into a movie and it was a great movie with Jodie Foster!
I also loved the book about the kids who ran away and lived at the Met (they borrowed the story for the Royal Tannenbaum's movie).


Here's my two, long-lost books that I loved and would like to find:

1) A boy spends a lot of time alone. I can't remember if he was missing a parent or what. They had an old magician as a boarder at his house. The guy died or moved away and left a trunk. In the trunk were a set of wings. The boy practiced and learned to use them. I wondered if the boy's name was Henry or Harry and it mentioned wings in the title. I tried searching for it a bunch of times using those words so I'm probably all wrong.

2) Two little girls live in a boarding school. They aren't very popular with the other girls but they are best friends. They have these little dolls they play with in a drawer. At a costume party, they dress as ice cream cones. It probably isn't as good as I remember but I'll never know if I don't find it.


I read Jane Eyre, Watership Down, and The Hobbit waaaaay too early and they disturbed me. I also read my mom's copy of Helter Skelter over and over--especially the photos.

[ms.peachy]

I loved the Great Brain (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/listmania/list-browse/-/38OU0BROF48I4/103-0345236-8337418) series, by John Fitzgerald. They were great.

[scotty]

Anything by Roald Dahl my faves being The Witches, the BFG, Esio Trot and The Twits. The Hobbit started a life long love affair with Middle earth. I dug The Famous Five in primary school.

And Dr. Suess. Oh, The Thinks You Can Think, The Lorax, The Sleep Book, Fox in Socks. Fuckin' awesome.

[jackrock]

goodnight moon was always the best.
alexander...
where the wild things are

hardy boys. i tried to read them all but never got there.
the bfg. and all roald dahl books
goodnight moon was definetly my favorite when i was a younger child (y) (y) good book.

[Nuzzolese]

Georgie and the Robbers (http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_books2.php/book_id=10325462/)

Pig Pig Grows up (Out of Print)

Bread and Jam for Francis (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0064430960/qid=1125415698/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-1277498-4068922?v=glance&s=books)

The Winter Bear (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0689500173/qid=1125415769/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/102-1277498-4068922?v=glance&s=books)