Modern Good Reads discussion

I am curious, what was that first book that grabbed you and got you hooked on reading... I can remember for me it was with the babysitters club books in third grade.

I think for me it was the Indian in the Cupboard series. My fourth grade teacher read it to the class and, a few months later, I bought the whole series. I read the whole series at least three times over the next 5 years. Then, I started venturing off to read more adult-level novels.

Nancy Drew -- read all 40 of them off the school library shelves when I was in the 3rd grade. The plots all seem so predictable now, but maybe when you're eight or nine, predictability is a plus!

Roald Dahl's James And The Giant Peach! It was the summer before 5th grade. For years I had struggled, painfully, with a learning disability that made reading worse than a chore. By the time I read Peach, I'd made progress, but I still didn't *enjoy* reading. Dahl is the reason all of that changed for me. What an incredible gift to be able to give someone--to write a book that they will love so much, they learn what it's like not to be able to put it down! It changed everything for me. Without Peach I would never have graduated top of my class in high school, cum laude in college. I would never have pursued a master's in history. I would never have read and enjoyed hundreds (thousands?) of books and eventually developed the ability to read 700 words a minute.* And I certainly would never have become an author.

*I realize this may come off as bragging, but that's not my intent. I want to convey how incredible it is that a nonreader like me would ever achieve something like that. I HATED reading. It HURT. I was so frustrated by it, it made me feel stupid... etc. Roald Dahl made me ENJOY it. I can't express how amazing that is.

I made my father read this to me over and over as a little girl... by 3rd grade my parents were trying to keep me from staying up late with a flashlight reading under my blanket

And you may say that couldn't have been the book... but really, that's one of the few memories I have of being a wee little munchkin and demanding to be read that book each and every night. I bounced around genres and and such for years... Pippi Longstocking, Nancy Drew, Shel Silverstein, Poetry... I still have a poem memorized from 5th grade from one of my books. Eventually, I switched to a little older material... Babysitter club, Sweet Valley High, Fear Street, anything by Christopher Pike, anything by L.J. Smith, Lois Duncan, Little Women...

I remember looking through the pages wishing I could read it. I'm almost certain I was in kindergarten at the time.

I also loved the choose your own adventure type of books... I would read through them for hours trying to find the best ending.

For me it was 20,000 leagues under the sea. I still love underwater stories.

"One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish," Dr. Suess.

Anyone remember those biography's with a silhouette on the covers? I loved those. Also Nancy Drew,Sue Barton,Student Nurse books, Cherry Ames,Student Nurse books.

Stephen King's IT - scared the pants off me - lol !! I also really loved the Choose Your Own Adventures, they were great ... do you remember where you made decisions at crucial points in the book and were sent to read on from a set page number for the decisions? I usually finished and then went back and followed for the alternative decisions/endings too. :)

The Moomin books by Tove Jansson made me a reader. I still love them.

Cowboy Bill read to me by my grandmother as I sat on her lap.

Their are a couple of books, if somebody might help me remember the titles, for the life of me I can't. A kids book where he lived in a tiny apartment? I know that's vauge. And the one where he pushed his friend out of a. tree, and a tiny bone fragment passed through his heart? It's killing me I can't remember. Those and Hatchet.

I was taught to read using a series of books called 'Puddle Lane'. They went up in difficulty (/decreased in font size) as you got better and featured a magician, talking, clothes-wearing mice and a green monster called the Gruffle, and there were some cats too, I think. It was a great series and instantly captured my imagination - I think the fact that I can still remember so much about them now is a testament to how good they were.

I also remember reading Nancy Drew, Sleepover Club and Sweet Valley High when I was a little bit older. And Harry Potter, of course.

Any Dr. Seuss book hooked me. I also got very into C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. That's when I realized that books held adventures in them.

Vague *typo

Brent wrote: "Their are a couple of books, if somebody might help me remember the titles, for the life of me I can't. A kids book where he lived in a tiny apartment? I know that's vauge. And the one where he pus..."
A Separate Peace by John Knowles about the piece of bone killing the boy.

The Old Mother West Wind stories. :)

I grew up in a small town in the Netherlands. Two churches, three pubs, and a couple of small town stores surrounded by outstretched land with dikes, polders, a big river and a lot of farms. Your typical Dutch countryside view.

Anyway. Every now and then me and my parents would go to the nearest big city to do some serious shopping. I am by far the youngest, so I guess my sisters had more important stuff to do on a free Saturday. I don't know, maybe smoking grass in the backyard while we were away. I'm from Holland, remember? ;-)

In the city there was one big 'warehouse' store (which is the Dutch name for it), where you had everything from pyjamas to utensils to cd's. The book floor was, luckily for me, on the same floor as the toilets. So arriving there, I always had to go to the toilet. Being the first to finish, I would always sniff around at the children's section, pick a book and start reading. I begged my parents to just let me read while they were shopping, and I remember getting my way more often than not.

Now, I don't remember my first book there, but the first memory I do have is reading 'The Witches' by Roald Dahl. I can still recollect every detail of the story. It was amazing, and it gave me a love for reading and storytelling.

The Famous Five books were the ones that fostered my love of both reading and writing. I read them sooooo many times!

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea! Tried to read it on the walk to school and stepped in a big hole. How embarrassing!

Oops. Already answered this. Also embarrassing!

Tom Sawyer. I loved that book, but have never read it since childhood.

The Magician's Nephew by C.S Lewis. I think it began my love for fantasy and imagination.

I loved Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and the Beverly Cleary books--Ramona the Pest and Henry Huggins series. Dr. Seuss, of course, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

"Have Spacesuit, Will Travel" by Robert Heinlein. My older brother was reading it--out loud. I think I was 7.

I loved the 'Just William' books by Richmal Crompton. They had me convulsed with laughter

Gordon Korman. Until then I didn't know books could make me laugh aloud

I remember my dad read me the prince and the pauper when i was six. It chaged my life. However, the first book i ever asked my parents to buy me was harry potter and the prisioner of askaban. I havent stopped asking since then

Believe it or not an Encylopedia's

Grace, I tried to get into that book, too, but I just couldn't figure out the plot. ;)

Animal Farm.

The first book I remember was "Bread and Jam for Frances."

"Charlotte's Web" which was read to the class by our 2nd grade teacher.
The first book I read by myself/learned to read was "Town Mouse, Country Mouse".

Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss
I still love an author who plays with language!

Another early favorite was Kipling's The Elephant's Child, probably for similar reasons. I still remember "the great grey-green greasy Limpopo river, all set about with fever trees..."

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl and The Indian in the Cupboard - Lynne Reid Banks

The Wizard of Oz!

Joining the Nancy Drew crowd. And Tom Swift. And Isaac Asimov's Lucky Starr, Space Ranger series. Jetting around in space seemed like a good goal.

Beatrice Potter books reeled me in at an early age from then on I pestered everyone to walk with me to the library (it was the 1960's). After that I always wanted to be a farmer or marry one. Neither happened.

"Little House in The Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
It was 5th grade. We would have to spend a period in the library. One day I decided to look for a book instead of whispering and passing notes with my BF. I read this book and was transported to a different place and time. I was so at home and so free within those pages. It was then that I discovered that my imagination was completely in charge and I could become anyone of those characters I read about.

The Dark Crystal - they made a book from the movie and I purchased it through book club when I was 10. Prior to that we only had the classics so this venture into fantasy was memorable to this day.

Enid Blyton. Read every one of her books.

"Whisper the Winged Unicorn" and "Angelina Ballerina" when I was really little. The first book I read to myself, and that really hooked me on reading, was called "Stall Buddies," about a nervous harness racing horse who overcomes her fears to race to victory! The first "grown-up" books that really hooked me were Dick Francis's mysteries. If you sense a horse theme, you are not wrong!

I grew up in a house with no books. One Christmas an aunt gave me a book of mysteries by Enid Blyton as a present. One story I particularly liked was about a boy who made a model sailing ship in a school classroom. Someone broke the model ship. The mystery was, who? The story gripped me and stayed with me while the others were forgotten. A simple tale that moved me and meant a lot to me at the time.

My earliest recollections of books are veiled in misty childhood memories. However, the first one that had a lasting impact was Carolyn Keene's THE GHOST OF BLACKWOOD HALL, part of the Nancy Drew Mystery Series. I was eight years old when my third grade teacher, Mrs. Stiles, produced the book one day in class and said she was going to read one chapter to us each day--the beginning of a life-long love of the mystery genre that was the basis of my current writing
--The Blacklick Valley Mysteries.

Greek mythology--especially the Labors of Hercules and the Iliad and the Odyssey.

I loved Dr. Seuss books. I had one called On Beyond Zebra, one about the night time, and one about birthdays. I loved all three.

Amelia Bedelia series was a book series that I recall reading by my self for the first time as a small child and absolutely LOVING it!!!