My Favorite Books from Childhood

One of the other options for Weekly Geeks this week was to list your favorite books from childhood. There's also the Top 100 Picture Books poll results on the Fuse #8 blog at School Library Journal, so I thought I should chime in. I know I can't remember all my favorites, but here's the ones that remain near and dear to my heart:

*I'm picking books that were my favorites from 0-12. I'll do a favorite teen books post soon.

Picture Books: It was really hard to pick only five, but ultimately I made my decision by picking what I would have talked about if I ever had been on Reading Rainbow. These were my Reading Rainbow practice books (Don't laugh, you know you did it too!)

1. Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff-This was the first book I learned to read. I've blogged about my love for Danny and his Dinosaur before.

2. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka-Oh, Jon Scieszka, how I love you! Your books make me laugh each time I read them and I own multiple copies because you can't have just one!! This was a hard one to pick, because I also adore The Stinky Cheese Man, but I gotta love the wolf trying to set his story straight-makes me actually like the bad guy in the story! (I believe he just wanted to bake a cake!)

3. King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey and Don Wood: The illustrations alone made this book one I would check out at the libray again and again. Each time I gained a younger cousin or sibling, this book would come out at storytime. I delighted in the fact that I could find something new in the pictures each time I read it-the illustrations are that rich and detailed. Plus, who can't relate to King Bidgood?

4. Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina: I actually found this book when I was at a garage sale when I was about five, not knowing it a classic children's book. I love monkeys, so maybe that's why I loved this one, but the pictures are bright, the story of the caps being stolen and the creative way the peddler gets his caps back always made this a fun read.

5. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi and Ron Barrett: This one had such a quirky sense of humor that I loved it.

Chapter Books:

This was even harder, but these were five that made a big impression on me or helped me get through elementary school as a shy awkward girl.

1. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs.Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg: I wanted to run away to a museum and solve an art mystery after reading this one! Plus, I could relate to Claudia and this was a big coming of age book for me-I don't think I could have gotten through fifth grade without it.

2. Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry: As much as I love The Giver, another Lois Lowry great, Anastasia was always my favorite. Anastasia was another series that helped me out as a shy, awkward girl. I think this series also gave me my love for current girl series like Princess Diaries and Georgia Nicolson.

3. The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed by Bruce Coville: Thank you to Ms. French, my fifth grade teacher who decided to give each one of her students was getting a book for Christmas. This was the one she picked for me and she made a great choice! This one is part of the Nina Tanleven triology, which I still enjoy. I even recently passed the series on to a friend of mine who loves mysteries. Bruce Coville made me realize that mysteries didn't all have to follow the Babysitters Club Mystery format and that ghosts weren't all bad.

4. Catwings by Ursula K. Le Guin: Honestly, I don't remember why I loved these books, other then they were about flying cats, which seemed cool.

5. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle: Every young girl should get to know Meg Murry. Meg is smart, she gets to go on an adventure, and she even gets popular Calvin to like her! Meg was another of my heroes growing up, and books like A Wrinkle In Time made me want to become a librarian.