Kids’ Books
I still reread my favorite kids’ books from time to time, and I still have some of the original copies from when I was a kid. My favorites:
- The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster
- A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle
- The Dunkard, by George Selden
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis
- Tikki Tikki Tembo, by Arlene Mosel and Blair Lent
- Pretty much everything by Roald Dahl
What are your favorite kids’ books?
10 comments
Permalink1
I’m with you on A Wrinkle in Time (the whole
series) and some of her other ones. Others that I still read (pretty much yearly) include:
anything by Gordon Korman:
Bruno & Boots series
(There’s Something Happening at MacDonald Hall, Go Jump in the Pool, Beware the Fish, The War
with Mr. Wizzle, etc.)
No Coins Please
I Want to
Go Home
Who Is Bugs Potter?, etc.
I was going to put a link in from
Amazon as you did, only to find out he’s written several more books that I didn’t know about.
I guess I’ve got some reading to do, eh?
also anything by Lucy Maud
Montgomery:
Anne of Green Gables (and the rest in the series)
Emily of New Moon (and the rest of the series)
Do you see a trend here?
Apparently, I don’t like my stories to end.
Permalink2
I know what you mean – I love series. That’s one reason I like (some) TV shows,
because they last a lot longer than movies.
I’ll have to check out some of these
books – thanks!
Permalink3
I’m with you on LW & W,
and Eden with LM Montgomery. I also re-read “Little Women” every year as a kid, and “Little
House on the Prairie” series, and the “Trixie Belden” series. I see now that I read a lot, but
not a lot of different books. Can you believe, I only read “The Phantom Tollbooth” LAST
YEAR??!! I’m 34, and it’s my new favorite kid’s book. In fact, I’ve begun to read many of
the classics I never read as a child – “Peter and Wendy”, “The Wind in the Willows”, etc. I’m
trying to write a children’s book, so immersing myself into the genre seems to be a good
idea…hey, and bonne chance on moving to France. For me, it would be London:)!
Permalink4
I love, love love ME, the Harry Potters, and of
course The Little Prince!
Also, everything by Jan Brett (I just want to EAT some of the
illustrations!).
The Secret Garden, The Wind in the Willows, and an historic novel for
children about the Lewis and Clarke Expedition, Seaman (it’s about the dog who goes along, I
read it to my daughters, then twice to my 3rd & 4th grade students).
Old Turtle, and the
companion book, A million Visions of Peace.
Little Women (my favorite Aunt gave it to me for
my 10th bday, I still have it.)
Thanks for the blog! I love the French site, and always look
forward to seeing you in my mailbox!
Bonne chance!
Permalink5
Love The Lion, Witch and
Wardrobe and read it in French -L’armoire Magique. It is if anything even more delightful than
the English orginal, ( sorry C.S.Lewis) It is an excellent translation.
Other
books?
Wind in the Willows
Little Women
Witch of Blacbird
Pond
Roller Skates
Also when I was much younger, I loved the “William” books. My
elder brother had the series. Short funny stories about a naughty (English) eleven year old
boy, William Brown. By Richmal Crompton.
Permalink6
It’s funny b/c awhile back I was watching the
Miracle Worker and got a hankering to re-discover one of my childhood favs which I had thrown
away. It’s called Helen Kellers’ Teacher by Margaret Davidson. It had been so long since
I’d had it (bought used by my mother) that I was afraid it would be out of print. God bless
Amazon.com b/c a/f a little research there it was. It just bought back so many memories
especially of the one chapter I read over and over again where Annie and Helen have it out at
the breakfast table. I don’t know why that particular chapter fascinated me at such a young
age!
Other books, of course the Little House series, the Madeline series (I always
wanted to sleep in one of those 12 beds!), Charlotte’s Web, Bedtime for Frances et. al. And
when I was really really little the Little Golden Books, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and the
Princess and the Pea.
When I was a tad bit older Are You There God It’s Me Margaret. A
pre-teen classic. Lots of good memories reading those books!
Permalink7
I LOVE The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Simple,
beautiful little tale.
Some other favorites:
The Church Mouse
(hilarious!)
Ferdinand
Amos, the Story of an Old Dog and His Couch
Charlotte’s Web
Permalink8
I love all the American and British classics that everyone has already listed; they
were definitely dear friends growing up. I can add that in French (though I read it for the
first time as an adult), I love the “Le Petit Nicolas” series. So charming and simple.
Permalink9
And here at age 51 I thought I was nuts for
re-reading my childhood favorites. My new favorite “children’s books” are of course the Harry
Potter series, but the re-read classics from childhood are:
All seven of the C.S. Lewis
Narnia books (but the three with the Pevensie siblings and the prequel “The Magician’s Nephew”
with Professor Digory Kirk as a boy are my favorites).
Robert L. Heinlen’s sc-fi books
for kids: Have Spacesuit Will Travel, Red Planet, and Between Planets.
Hergé’s Tintin
“Graphic Novels” (I originally read these in their English translations, but now read them in
the original French to expand my knowledge of vocabulary and idiom).
The Wind in the
Willows.
And I too Laura find joy in your AboutFrench letters that come to my email box,
and find your French website absolutely essential in my quest to become a better French reader,
writer and speaker!
Permalink10
Hi
Laura,
I’m a few decades ahead of you, but my childhood favorites were The Teensy
Weensy People, The House That Jack Built, and later, Alice in Wonderland, its companion book
Through the Looking Glass, Little Women, The Bobsey Twins Series, and Hans Cristian
Anderson’s Fairy Tales. When I was eight, we spent several months at my great-grandma’s
house, and I curled up on a bench in her library and read Forever Amber and God’s Little Acre,
cover to cover. I also read Mickey Spillane and attempted my first crime book around then.
The latter were not exactly children’s books, but I always had an ecumenical mind
where it came to fiction. LOL