Tuesday, August 2, 2011

top ten childhood reads

I got the idea for this post from a great blog I've just discovered http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.com/
There's a weekly Top Ten Tuesday feature and I loved this topic.

Top Ten Childhood Reads:

1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Ronald Dahl. I've lost track how many times I read this when I was young. Then I read it to my step daughters. Twice.


2. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I've read every book in this series. Also the Pellucidar series. But this one is the classic. This is the cover I had too.


3. Red Sonja the Ring of Ikribu by David Smith and Richard Tierney. I found my original cover! Loved this!


4. The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. Who doesn't have this on their list?


5. Man from Atlantis by Richard Woodley. This I read in grade nine and it instantly grabbed my imagination. I didn't see the TV series though. I'm feeling a little old with some of these covers! Sheesh!


6. Hawkmistress by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Best. Book. Ever.


7. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell. This isn't the origninal cover I have, but I couldn't find that image on line.


8. The Gandalara Cycle by Randall Garrett - a 6 book series. Anyone else read these? SOOOO good!

9. Sweet Valley High by Francine Pascal - okay. Just when you were thinking I'm one strange cat right? Yes, I did indeed read these as a tween.

10. Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel. This was later highschool, but it began many years of a pre-history reading frenzy. Too bad it took so long for the rest of this amazing series.



So. Lay it on me. What are some of your top childhood reads?

17 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I've read some of those books. I discovered Terry Brook's Shannara series when I was twelve - does that count?

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I remember our teacher read both books about Charlie to us and I loved them. I saw the movie Island of the Blue Dolphins first, but the books was even better.

My favorite reads were the Narnia books and just about anything with an animal in it.

Jess said...

Nice choices (I've read four of them)! Anything by Roald Dahl goes on my list, plus Boxcar Children books, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, Babysitters Club...I could go on and on :)

Very fun post!

DEZMOND said...

ooh, I see you loved some nice book back in the childhood, some ten years ago :PP

Jemi Fraser said...

I've read several from your list - but none of them until I was an adult. I think my faves were Nancy Drew & the Boys, Anne of GG and then Agatha Christie :)

Caroline Starr Rose said...

We're reading The Great Glass Elevator together (my boys and I). Too fun.

Anonymous said...

I read Auel's first two books. They were amazing.

That looks like Patrick Duffy in 5.

I barely read Sweet Valley High. The books were passed around between the girls in my class, but I was usually busy reading something else. I think I only borrowed one or two books from them.

I read most of V.C. Andrews and Stephen King's books in junior and high school.

These old covers take me down memory lane.

Valerie Geary said...

Mmmm...adored Island of the Blue Dolphins! Also, A Wrinkle in Time, Bridge to Terabithia, Hatchet, and The Baby Sitter's Club.

mshatch said...

I'm not sure if I would classify some of those as childhood reads - like Clan of the Cave Bear which had some pretty adult stuff - but I did love Island of the Blue Dolphins and would probably put it up with A Wrinkle in Time and A Light in the Forest. Interesting choices!

People Who Know Me Would Say: said...

Charlotte's Webb; Misty; Boy (Roald Dahl); all of Nancy Drew; all of Victoria Holt (that's an odd one); Black Beauty; Heidi; all of Oz; Ogden Nash's poetry; gosh, I read so many things when I was growing up...we were allowed to read anything and my parents had a boatload of books.

Anne R. Allen said...

The Black Stallion was definitely on mine, too. And Black Beauty. Misty. And all the Narnia books, esp, the Horse and his Boy (sense an equine theme here?) Oh, and Oz. Everything Oz. And the Witch of Blackbird Pond. Also the Secret Garden and A Little Princess. And I adored a weird Victorian one called At the Back of the North Wind. And even an even weirder one called Beyond the Paw-Paw Trees. Loved it. Tried to change my name to the name of the heroine, Anna Lavinia. Is that ten? I think it's too many. I could go on and on. What a nice topic!

Carolyn V said...

I used to love the Sweet Valley High books! (I'm a little embarrassed about that.) And some books about a cat who could travel through time (I wish I could remember the name.)
Great post Terry! Thanks for helping me remember. =)

Marcia said...

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. The Happy Hollisters. Little Women. Anne of Green Gables. Caddie Woodlawn. Most of Beverly Cleary, but I was Team Beezus all the way. Lois Duncan.

Theresa Milstein said...

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was one of my favorite books. He was so selfless though he had next to nothing. It really struck me at the time.

Sweet Valley High, I read those as a preteen too!

Laura Pauling said...

Black Stallion definitely ranks up at the top. I still have most of my collection up in the attic!

Cynthia Chapman Willis said...

I LOVED Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Island of the Blue Dolphins. Even though I was (and am still, sort of ) a horse person, I didn't love The Black Stallion. I don't remember why. I should reread it. ; )

Dawn Simon said...

Ooh, fun! I remember loving Charlotte's Web, The Black Stallion series, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Jenny and the Cat Club, Lad of Sunnybank, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, the Narnia series, A Wrinkle in Time, Judy Blume books, and Trumpet of the Swan.