What were your favorite books as a child?

When I was a little, tiny Cap'n my Grandma used to read me (and teach me how to read) books on her big four poster bed. I cherish the memories as well as the stories. A few of my favorites were:

Ferdinand the Bull

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Mary Ann

Ookpik

Millions of Cats

Color Kittens

Tootle

The Pokey Little Puppy

Little Toot

What were some of y'all's favorites?

The little engine that could

Fast Frog

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs (a movie is coming out soon)

Robert the Rose Horse

Dr Seuss ABC's

Are You My Mother

Now that I have kids I'm able to re-read some of my favorites. We go through 3 or 4 books a night so I have quite a list:

The Butter Battle Book (one of my favorite Dr. Seuss)

The Cat in the Hat

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Scuffy the Tugboat

Uncle Remus Stories, i.e. Brer Rabbit

Peter Rabbit

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Giving Tree

Where the Sidewalk Ends

The Little Red Hen

Jack and the Beanstalk

Another vote for The Little Engine that Could

The Three Little Pigs

Green Eggs and Ham

On another note, my wife goes to the library with our kids (3-1/2 and 1-1/2 years old) every week to get new books. Apparently they had a program during the summer that if your parents read you 20 books (obviously ours can't read yet) you would receive a gold medal. 15 books a tee-shirt, 10 books a set of crayons, and I can't remember what the prize for 5 books was. I was thinking to myself that this was rather pathetic. 20 books. Come on. A children's book takes 5 minutes to read. So 3 or 4 stories a night, plus 1 or 2 during the day before naps is still only 20 to 30 minutes of reading a day. I think they should have set the bar a little higher.

I also forgot to add Curious George to the list.

Dr. Seuss, Clifford, Curious George, and Richard Scarry books always stand out as long time favorites.

Like Chucktown, it's a great feeling being able to read these books to my kids. We go through about 5-6 per week.

Goosebumps!

Richard Scarry...I was a huge fan of Huckle and Lowly Worm!

All the Beatrix Potter Books (but Peter Rabbit was a fav)

Uncle Remus

Little Black Sambo (for a while my parents asked if I wanted tigers and syrup for my waffles)

Scruffy the Tugboat (thanks, Chuck. i couldn't remember if it was Tuffy or Scruffy)

The Pants with Nobody in Them

Plain Belly Sneeches and Star Belly Sneeches

Dexman1349 said:

Dr. Seuss, Clifford, Curious George, and Richard Scarry books always stand out as long time favorites.
Like Chucktown, it's a great feeling being able to read these books to my kids. We go through about 5-6 per week.

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ditto to that - haven't quite the kids into the Richard Scarry books yet, but i'm sure that'll come, they both love books on construction equipment & trucks, and I remember Scarry had one of those.

I also loved Where the Wild Things are, and the Mercer Mayer books - favorite Seuss books were I had trouble getting to Solla Sollew & The Lorax.

My dad read Rudyard Kipling's 'Just So Stories' to me as a kid. I will be reading that to mini-Buff when she is older.

Encyclopedia Brown

Goodnight Moon has become a fave at the Buff household. I didn't read it as a kid, though.

Forgot about the Sneeches as well. That is definitely one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books. I still laugh out loud at Sylvester McMonkey McBean when I'm reading that.

Other good ones are On Beyond Zebra, Horton Hears a Who, Happy Birthday to You, and Oh The Places You'll Go (for inspirational material).

Only EM and me aren't afraid to admit we liked The Lorax? I still look back on that book as one that really stood out to me, not for its environmental message, but just for it's bleakness. That made it pretty unique among the other little kids' books. I always felt like I had just read an epic poem or something after finishing it.

Capt Worley PE said:

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Mary Ann

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That was one of my favorites, too.

I really liked:

- Where the Sidewalk Ends (collection of poetry)

- Rifles for Waite

- Watership Down (after having watching the cartoon)

error_matrix said:

ditto to that - haven't quite the kids into the Richard Scarry books yet, but i'm sure that'll come, they both love books on construction equipment & trucks, and I remember Scarry had one of those.
I also loved Where the Wild Things are, and the Mercer Mayer books - favorite Seuss books were I had trouble getting to Solla Sollew & The Lorax.

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Love Dr. Seuss; espeically the Lorax!!

When I went to see GI Joe - there was a movie trailer for Where the Wild Things Are - looked TOTALLY AWESOME!!!

Dleg said:

Only EM and me aren't afraid to admit we liked The Lorax? I still look back on that book as one that really stood out to me, not for its environmental message, but just for it's bleakness. That made it pretty unique among the other little kids' books. I always felt like I had just read an epic poem or something after finishing it.

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I liked the Loarx too - my great grandmother started my passion for environmental stewardship. It's sad to see how that vision has been twisted and perverted - I am hoping one day it can be wrestled back from the idiots; the same idiots who thought that Gatorade was necessary for watering plants!!!

JR

...

the way things work

the hobbit

the fellowship of the ring

the two towers

The return of the king

Yes, I have been a nerd from a very young age.

SW > LOTR

Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good very bad day

Rudyard Kipling Just So Stories

I 'read' many astronomy books as a kid also - that meaning I got the ones with lots of pictures of planets, galaxies, etc. I tried to comprehend just how large Jupiter is but never did.

MGX said:

SW > LOTR

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you couldn't be any more wrong.

Dleg said:

Only EM and me aren't afraid to admit we liked The Lorax? I still look back on that book as one that really stood out to me, not for its environmental message, but just for it's bleakness. That made it pretty unique among the other little kids' books. I always felt like I had just read an epic poem or something after finishing it.

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environmental message. . .? :mellow: i kid, i kid because i care

yeah, it was pretty powerful for the target audience certainly. The Solla Sollew book i so liked cuz i could totally identify w/ the main character's perpetual quest to rid himself of his perceived troubles (by trying to get to Solla Sollew) before ultimately realizing that doesnt ever really happen. And then he comes back w/ a baseball bat proclaiming now his troubles are going to have trouble with him! F'n love it!

sschell_PE said:

you couldn't be any more wrong.

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I had Star Wars books too, they even came with those crummy records that one could tear from the book's leafs.

That spinning square on my ghetto (Fisher Price) record player read the book aloud and beeped to turn the page if my memory is correct.