Books of our Youth

When I was elementary school I read the Disney books and other books with pictures. I transitioned to non-picture books such as the Baby Sitters' Club books and Nancy Drew series. I remember those. I guess I liked those books because the main characters were young females and I could relate to them.

My mother told us Bible stories when we were young. And when I learned to read, my favorite books were the Bible friends books. I also loved the pictures. 😊

I also read the Nancy Drew books when I was already a teenager.

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

I think some of my favorites as a child were the Frog and Toad books. I think I enjoyed them so much because they are the first books I remembered reading as a kid. My students enjoy reading them as well.

too many to list, but what the young are reading today compared to what I read when I was young has changed, except, the Babysitters Club series has had a graphic renaissance.

Roald Dahl is still being read.

Special needs would need very basic books with lots of pictures and big, simple words.

Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems has been the most popular by far. Its about an Elephant and a Pig who are best friends (the pig is female, elephant is a male) and they are like an odd couple, as Piggie is happy go lucky and carefree, while Gerald the elephant is a bit anxious and uptight. They have a lot of mini dramas over things like...Piggie wants Gerald to try eating slop, her favourite food, but Gerald doesnt really want to....

Move over Dr Seuss.

Let's see I remember teachers reading Roald Dahl books to us and those were always fun (The Witches, The Twits, BFG, Matilda but I don't think they ever read any of the Charlie books or James and the giant peach (and I have yet to remedy that for myself). Also had Boxcar children books. Not sure when I first read Chronicles of Narnia but those stories were also significant childhood stories. As an older middle schoolish child I remember really enjoying Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series (which was not half as evil as it sounds) and Patricia C Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles (which I recently repurchased as an e-book set for cheap). And a lot of Gary Paulsen books adorned my bookshelf at one time (and I remember dreaming of dogsledding the way other kids might dream of magical wintertime sleighrides). And there's probably some more, but that's a good starter list of the ones I remember best.

I can't help you. Virtually everything I read as a child is now considered racist, sexist or politically incorrect. It is astounding that civilisation still exists after such an assault on young minds of the 1950's

The human race has accomplished quite a lot while being racist, sexist, and politically incorrect. It will be interesting to see what we accomplish when (and after) we seem so narrow mindedly focused on the accomplishment of making sure we eliminate those things from society entirely. And of course the question remains can you become less racist and sexist by designating more and more commemorations of contributions by certain races or sexes or cultures?

Two of my favorite books as a child were Black Storm, by Thomas C. Hinkle, published in 1929,
and Champion Dog: Prince Tom, a true story of Tom Clute and his Spaniel, written by him with
Jean Fritz. Looking at the reviews for the latter, it is really not surprising that it is such a well
loved book read multiple times by those who discover its charm... which is not just children

^ ^ Black Storm ^ ^

Prince Tom ^ ^ also shown with some of his many championship trophies

Special needs children may especially love Prince Tom

A lot of great books, some of them I've definitely read myself! My favorites series was probably The Boxcar Children, but Anne of Green Gables was great, as was anything by Bill Wallace.

And on a side note to who said this: "Special needs would need very basic books with lots of pictures and big, simple words." That is not always the case. Many of my students are excellent readers, while others can listen to the books read in class and do very well on worksheets and tests.

I read the Hardy Boys books. I think that was like the boy version of Nancy Drew!

Love that!

depends what age level they are at
beginning readers need simple, but simple or basic doesnt mean the stories are boring.

decoding is actually quite different from reading, readers need to understand what they are reading not just able to sound out words. You could read a lot of nonsense by Dr Suess and read things that rhyme, but they will still be nonsense. Children can parrot off nursery rhymes even though most of them dont make any sense at all.

eg Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon.

I mean what is that, do cows REALLY jump over the moon. No! Cats dont have fiddles either. And what is a hey diddle diddle?

I remember enjoying Choose Your Own Adventure books, MAD magazine, and BMX magazines.

The librarian always reminded me to be quiet. As far as, plot, themes....ummm. I liked spy vs spy and the secret message folding page in MAD magazine. BMX magazine I liked looking at the race tracks. Lastly, I just like Choose Your Own Adventure Books, because you could at least have some control of the story.



I was hardly a head of the class as far as school work, but remember my math class, that a girl insisted that I sit next to her, and she promised to let me copy her math work. It was an offer, I couldn't refuse...Didn't want to upset her. lol

Lol. I'm aware of what reading is and what children of various reading levels require. I simply wanted to point out that stating that special needs kids need books with simple words and pictures is a misconception, as many of them are quite smart. Not all struggles fall under the umbrella of academics.

In any case, this is not the purpose of this thread, so back on topic we go!

Goosebumps was another series that I absolutely loved when I was younger! And Dr. Suess of course! Fox in Socks was always an adventure...

I think I was in the sixth grade and started reading the Casca books by Barry Sadler and kept on and on reading them. They might even still be writing them but I finally kicked the habit. Sadler died - was shot in the head and lived but had an awful time till he died in a rehab home.

Casca was the fictional Roman guard who pierced the side of Jesus and was condemned to live forever. Nothing could kill him till Jesus' return and since his only skill was as a soldier he was further damned to fight in wars his remaining days. He even got locked in a burial vault in China for about 2 or 3 hundred years. And lived, of course. It was pretty intriguing.

well I never said special needs kids werent smart, its if the need is to READ then it has to start basic.

You never stated what the 'special need' in particular was so its not a misconception. If its dyslexia, then there are actually specially published books for that problem, with a particular font, spacing and coloured paper for those who have trouble reading. Some books are actually way to difficult for someone with dyslexia to decipher, and even an literate person might have problems reading it. Dyslexics are the ones who benefit the most from audiobooks.

but if the special need isnt dyslexia then what is it? Not trying to argue with you but what is the purpose of the thread. All children like books that appeal to them, but whether they can actually read them is another matter!

Currently children the world over are into Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a 16th volume is coming out soon. What makes this series good for reluctant readers is that it has pictures as well as words. It looks cartoony, and has a hero who is a flawed but very relatable. Its funny. Greg is a middle child who gets picked on by his older brother and never gets the attention that his younger brother gets. He can be real rotten to his best friend Rowley Jefferson. Hes immature. He wants to be popular. He gets into scrapes and can be lazy. In other words hes just your average middle-class 12 year old kid trying to navigate middle school...so its actually the perfect middle grade novel. The parents, though well intentioned, often OVER parent and end up making things worse for Greg.

When I was young I recall the Ramona series by Beverley Cleary . It was about a girl called Ramona and how she had an older sister Beezus and she was a bit of a little sister pest to her. The incidents were just ordinary everyday family situations. But I do recall relating to Ramona being 9 years old. We had the same hair cut!

I read soo many books when I was young but dont recall the plots of all most of them! I read Garfield comics, I read classics, I read whatever my sister had on her bookshelf. I recall being especially sad when hearing that Roald Dahl died. As a child, his books were always definitely on the side of the kids, not the grown ups. Grown ups often did nasty things to kids. They abandoned them, left them to starve, neglected them,
put them down. Practically every classic childrens novel was about orphans trying to survive on their own. With no adults around, they get to make the decisions. I think that appeals to kids because kids are often powerless.


eg Harry Potter, Anne of Green Gables, Annie, Pippi Longstocking, Series of Unfortunate events, The story of Tracey Beaker, David Coppefield, The BFG, The Secret Garden


David Walliams has this nasty grown ups thing down pat but also children fending off nasty siblings and monsters. I think every child likes to feel like they are a hero and that justice will prevail in any given story.

anyway I could go on, but I will stop her cos obviously I would hijack the thread..I am a childrens librarian cos really what would I know about childrens books and what they like to read eh? What you find being published now is going to be quite different from what was published years ago. Some children will be fantasy and sci fi addicts and others only want to read true life stories. I think its good to have variety but it does need to be at a level they can read. The satisfaction of being able to finish an entire book is something many overlook, a lot of books you may start and not actually finish, or you will skim parts. People can be like that with the Bible. They often 'read' the Bible but really they dont they kind of just skim over it. Then when you discuss with them you find out they missed bits out...