Any Children's Lit fans?

[zeusTHEgoose]

I am rereading a lot of my favorite Children's books and remembering why I loved them in the first place. I'm currently going through "Matilda" by Roald Dahl. Some other favorites include:

"The Mouse and The Motorcycle" series by Beverly Cleary
"Redwall" by Brian Jacques
"The BFG" by Roald Dahl
Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene
"Ramona Quimby" series by Beverly Cleary
"Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" by Judy Blume
"Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen
"Holes" by Louis Sachar
The Goosebump Series by RL Stine

I'm sure there are more, but its been so long I can't remember them. HOw about you? Any books you grew up with or still enjoy reading today (like me!)?

[C_Fresh]

I'm trying to see if I can rebuild my collection of Hardy Boys Casefiles (starting with 'Dead on Target') and the new Tom Swift series (the one starting with 'The Black Dragon').

[Tonx]

When I was little, I absolutely ADORED Robert Munsch (sp?) (especially The Paper Bag Princess), and I still do, I guess. I mean, I'll definately be reading those books to my kids...when I have them in 8 years Also love the MacDuff books. Anybody know those? It's about this little Highland Terrier, and in the first book he gets adopted, and as the series goes on, his family grows, and he meets Santa and he gets into the garden. Very sweet stories, but not in an overly-saccharine way.

And I know I'm going to sound really cliche here, but I love the Harry Potter series - even though as it progresses it gets darker and more adult, so not technically children's books but whatever - and pretty much anything by Roald Dahl. And this one is debatable in regards to whether it's a kid's book or not, but I really enjoyed Coraline by Neil Gaiman when I read it back in grade 6.

There was another book that I wish I could find, so somebody help me out here if you've ever read it: There's No Such Thing As A Dragon.

[pastor's wife]

I love kiddy lit.

Growing up, I loved the Hardy Boys more than Nancy Drew.
I will STILL reread the Ramona Quimby books - I love her perspective on things.
Hatchet and Holes are aimed at an older demographic but are awesome books; I didn't read them until I was an adult however.
I did read and reread "Big Red" over and over as a kid though - I loved the adventures of Danny and the beautiful Irish setter.

The Robert Munsch books are hysterical. I use them in a class I teach to illustrate the kinds of stories that make for good story-telling (not just reading), although the illustrations are very funny too!

The MacDuff books are sweet. Susan Jeffers is the author/illustrator; I love her work.

I didn't read Coraline until I was an adult; spooky but cool.

One of my all-time favorites as a kid was Caddie Woodlawn. The stories may be too innocent for today's more experienced youth, but I loved them.

I love collecting ABC books as well as alternate fairy tales.

[laurat99]

I liked The Boxcar Children, Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew and anything by Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume when I was a kid.

My son, who's a 4th grader, loves The Magic Tree House, Captain Underpants, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Bad Kitty.

I read Harry Potter as an adult and loved it, but the last book was a bit much. I peeked at the end to see what happened, which I NEVER do.

[Mommy2Kids]

I loved Caddie Woodlawn. I read it to my classes when I taught elementary, and I've read it to my kids.

When I first started to enjoy reading, I read all the Danny Orlis and Sugar Creek Gang books I could get ahold of. They were easy reading.

I've read at least 75% of the classical fiction list floating around. My college professor for children's lit class told me I was the first student she'd had that had read so many of her recommended list.

Now I struggle to get through a book because of time, distractions and guilt.

[pastor's wife]

(03-07-2012 03:26 PM)Mommy2Kids Wrote:  Now I struggle to get through a book because of time, distractions and guilt.

I think that's one of the reasons I enjoy reading YA books: they're usually short and it doesn't take me as long to read them, but they can be very moving and powerful.

I recently read Baby by Patricia Machlachlan (author of Sarah, Plain and Tall) and really enjoyed its themes of love and loss and the power of words.

Another children's author I've recently enjoyed is Andrew Clements. Frindle is of course excellent, but so are A Week in the Woods and The Landry News among others. I like how the author often presents both the point of view of the child AND the adult (often a teacher). It personalizes the teacher in a way that kids' books often don't.

[Tonx]

(03-07-2012 03:22 PM)laurat99 Wrote:  I liked The Boxcar Children, Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew and anything by Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume when I was a kid.

My son, who's a 4th grader, loves The Magic Tree House, Captain Underpants, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Bad Kitty.

I read Harry Potter as an adult and loved it, but the last book was a bit much. I peeked at the end to see what happened, which I NEVER do.

OMG, Magic Treehouse! I LOVED those as a kid! I blame those books for turning me into a history and trivia nut.

[Paisley]

[/i]I loved the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hard Lovelace. Anything by Beverly Cleary is wonderful, especially her Young Love Series. "101 Dalmations" by Dodie Smith was a favorite, too. Oh, and I read several books by our own Bassenco; "Abandoned" was my favorite (hope she sees this!).

[Phatchick]

The Matthew Looney books by Jerome Beatty; even as a kid I was a geek.
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster; even today it ranks as one of my favorite books
The Paddington books by Michael Bond; some of the funniest kids books ever written.
The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum; all the Oz books are wonderful but that one was my favorite