Books of our Youth

[Kojikun]

I teach special needs kids at an elementary school and as the new school year is upon us, I've been going through things for the classroom. One of those all-important things is books.

Of course, when it comes to children's books, most of us have those favorites which will always bring back the memories.

So, which books or book series were a favorite of yours growing up? And why did those specific books resonate so much with your younger self? The plot? The characters? The genre? I'd love to hear some of your favorites!

Goosebumps, Give yourself Goosebumps, Goosebumps 2000, Tales to give you Goosebumps, Bone Chillers, Spinechillers (which is like a Christian themed Goosebumps), Spine Tinglers, Graveyard school, Strange Matter, Shadow Zone, Cyber Zone, Screammates, (I think you get the point 😬) I was a big Goosebumps fan growing up and I still am. It got me into reading.

 

[sk8boredn]

The Ramona books and any by Cleary. Johanna Hurwitz books (Class Clown was my favorite.) I liked other series books. Encyclopedia Brown. Choose Your Own Adventure. Boxcar Children (though I really hate their new cover "Facelift" to make them appear to be "darker" these days, to accommodate the worldy interest in such.) Babysitters Club.

 

[Lanolin]

I saw a livestream of Baby sitters Club last week

a panel talking about the new book 'We are the Baby-sitters club' which is an anthology and fan book of the phenomenonal series that spawned over 300 books, two tv shows and even a board game

I am thinking every fangirl was on it..!
Too bad they didnt bring the author herself Ann M Martin, but they had...the actress who play Mary Anne! The graphic illustrator who now does Baby-sitters Little Sister spin off series!
The producer of the new Netflix series!
The director of The Claudia Kishi Club film (one of the cool characters in it)
And the publisher of the new anthology

!! definitely reading that book when it comes out..and season 2 on Netflix....and...the latest graphic novel.
Reliving my childhood tweens all over again

apparently all the Brazilian fans are wanting a translation

 

[Lily-Keith]

@BruceWayne

Ahh, where to begin?! I loved The Runaway Princess by Millie Howard and Medallion by Dawn L. Watkins (both from BJU Press). The medieval settings and the amazing adventures and character arcs drew me in. I also grew up on Nancy Drew and The Boxcar Children because I loved a good mystery.

Ooo, have you ever read The Knights' Tales by Gerald Morris? I bet your kids would love these hilarious retellings of King Arthur's knights (Lancelot was my family's most favorite. We could not stop laughing!)

 

[Lanolin]

so many ppl have mentioned the boxcar children
I dont quite understand that one...yes I could see why boxes are fun but did someone write a whole series about it

my favourite box book was a picture book called 'my cat likes to hide in boxes"
and box sets of series are popular if you can afford them (though you probably may not have time to read the entire 300 books of the Babysitters club, I only got up to #47 till my sister ran out of pocket money.)

Let me guess.... its about....orphaned children?

 

[Lanolin]

why does someone object to people being darker

I mean not everyone is white right?

 

[Desdichado]

I had a bunch of these and loved them.

They did a great job of simplifying these tales for the really young reader and they beat just about anything you can see on the screen.

I also read many of these books, these are the children's versions of famous novels.

 

[Desdichado]

This warms the heart. I disagree with some of the posters above saying the books had to be super simple.

I WAS a special needs kid who had a tested IQ of 74. Part of the reason why I got out of my rut is that my special needs teachers didn't condescend to me. They understood I needed more motivation than "a dog has four bones and lost two."

So they went to the library and got me books on the Presidents. Star Wars books.

All this to say, you are doing a GREAT thing, Mr. Wayne. God Bless you.

 

[Desdichado]

As for books when I was really young?

A mix.

Ferdinand the Bull
A lot of Dr. Seuss

Then the classics above.

From those, I quickly propelled to actual classics and history books. I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade when I made that transition.

 

[Desdichado]

9/11 kind of ruined my reading habits. I put down classics for a time and read trashy military thrillers.

 

[Lanolin]

! I was just given 862 childrens audiobooks free for 12 weeks

So I am currently listening to 'Dork Diaries' book 3

If your children have special needs...audio might be the way to go. They can do a crafty activity while listening to a book.

Get in touch with your school librarian or local public library and see if you can get a login and then get borrowing.

 

[Lanolin]

A lot of older books (copyright is 50 years in many countries) are now in the public domain.

So you can find free copies online and often in audio version as well.

Plus if you have an audio version, you can also listen and readalong with the hardcopy.

A lot of older favourites, classics, would be free eg Anne of Green Gables, Tom Sawyer, David Copperfield etc.

Some are still popular today. For children I would recommend The Secret Garden (recent movie version was not that great IMHO...didnt stick with the book)
A Christmas Carol
Robin Hood
Little Women

etc. I once read the entire Little House on the Prairie series. I learned quite a bit about pioneer days in the US. I would have never really learned it otherwise, but as a historical series, its great. People say oh but its racist etc..well it is...but the times it was written just about everyone was.

The tv series which I saw a bit of tended to idyllise it..the books were much more real about the hardships people faced. When I read the one about Almanzo and how he was working on the farm and thats why he didnt go to school half the year when he was 8 years old its kinda like wow many children these days dont even get proper jobs till they are way into their 20s and have spent YEARS in school getting an education. lol
Times have changed!