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Post by Weirdo Writer on Jun 4, 2010 22:23:25 GMT -5
There was a collection of books that were sized a little larger than the Sesame Street book, and thicker, called "ValueTales". These were dumbed-down biographies of famous historical persons, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Robinson, and Louis Pasteur. Each book was given a title regarding a certain virtue. I managed to find this Wikipedia page. I might have the complete collection. Hey, I remember those, too! The Marie Curie one is the one I recall in the most detail, for some reason.
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Post by Nuveena on Jul 22, 2010 23:51:50 GMT -5
The Witch of Blackbird Pond was one of my favorites. I loved American history as a kid, so it was a pretty fun read. I'll probably pick it up again for old time's sake. The Magic Tree House books were really big at my school, and I think I read them all up until Earthquake in the Early Morning. I also really loved the American Girl books, especially Felicity and Molly, and Arthur.
I also loved the Eloise books, especially Eloise at Christmastime. I was a lot like Eloise as a kid, and I love the books' adult humor through a six year old's eyes. Never saw the movies, and probably won't.
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Post by Emperor Cupcake on Jul 23, 2010 22:43:19 GMT -5
Oh yeah, I don't know how I could have forgotten The Witch of Blackbird Pond. That was a good one.
I'm not sure if it was a national show or not because it was on our local affiliate of PBS where I grew up in Florida, but there was this show with a guy whose name I can't recall, and he would illustrate scenes from a book as a voiceover read the relevant scenes. I remember he had glasses and maybe a mustache, and he drew with colored pencils. He was really good. I discovered a lot of books through that show, including some of the ones I mentioned earlier, like The Headless Cupid and Figgs and Phantoms.
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Post by Continuing Legend on Jul 23, 2010 23:45:01 GMT -5
Wait are you guys serious about The Witch of Blackbird Pond? I had to read it in 8th grade and I hated it. Maybe only because it was assigned. I wonder if I'd like it if I gave it another shot, but I have such bad memories of that English class...
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Post by Nuveena on Jul 24, 2010 11:56:54 GMT -5
Wait are you guys serious about The Witch of Blackbird Pond? I had to read it in 8th grade and I hated it. Maybe only because it was assigned. I wonder if I'd like it if I gave it another shot, but I have such bad memories of that English class... I'd say it's worth picking up again; it's written for kids, but it translates pretty well and deals with some heavy adult themes. My class read it in 5th grade, which for some reason was really focused on American history, which I love, so I'm a little biased.
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Post by Crowfan on Jul 24, 2010 19:00:25 GMT -5
I read so many things when I was a kid:
All those Encyclopedia Brown stories Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing Here Lies The Body I still have my collection of Peanuts books(probably every book ever published) I also read a lot of history books
That's all I can think of right now.
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Post by falseprofit on Nov 17, 2010 13:35:07 GMT -5
I loved all those Little Miss and "Little Mr." books haha!
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Post by frankenforcer on Nov 18, 2010 15:34:15 GMT -5
The "My Teacher is an Alien" series. The first three books are fun sci-fi fair. "My Teacher is an Alien" was great fun of a student having to stop an alien from abducting kids and the stunning conclusion of it had me floored. "My Teacher Fried My Brains" dealing with the bully from the first book finding that one alien was left behind and she's also a teacher. The fleshing out of Duncan was brilliant. "My Teacher Glows in the Dark" The story of the one kid who chose to leave with the alien in the first book. Wonderful fun.
But the whole series comes together and becomes something completely different, at least to what I was reading at the time. "My Teacher Flunks the Planet" give one of the best conclusions to a series I have ever read or seen. It truly impacted me due to it's nature. The whole story of why the human race deserves to survive, the tragedy of Duncan, the secret of Hoo Lan and how important we all are to each other. Sentimental yes, but great none the less.
My Teacher is an Alien: thank you, won't you?
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Post by Frameous on Nov 19, 2010 18:46:10 GMT -5
Frog and Toad books Calvin and Hobbes books The Biggest Bear Where The Sidewalk Ends Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day The Dead Man In Indian Creek The Spooky Old Tree In A Dark Dark Room Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
I didn't read too many kids books. By the time I started reading fluently, I was trying to read grown up stuff.
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Post by Hellcat on Nov 22, 2010 17:07:01 GMT -5
I was thinking some more about childhood favorites, and I remembered that I really loved animal stories as a child. I devoured Kipling's Jungle Book stories even though I didn't fully understand all of the references. I was also a big fan of Robert Lawson's Captain Kidd's Cat. It told the story of Captain Kidd from the point of view of his ship's cat, McDermott. The combination of high seas adventure and a feline narrator completely won me over.
This is probably not going to be a shocking revelation, but I also loved stories about horses. I have really fond memories of Mildred Mastin Pace's Old Bones The Wonder Horse, which was the story of Exterminator, a horse who came from humble origins to win the Kentucky Derby in 1918. Other favorites were Gypsy From Nowhere by Sharon Wagner, Summer Pony by Jean Slaughter Doty, and, of course, Black Beauty. Something about animal stories really fired my young imagination.
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Post by tokiyoke on Nov 22, 2010 19:41:13 GMT -5
I really loved mysteries and ghost stories when I was a kid. As an adult, I still love them if they're written for kids, but not so much if they're written for adults. The following books were favorites that I read over and over and over: THE GHOST NEXT DOOR - Friends spend the summer searching their neighbor's property for a ceramic owl hidden by her niece shortly before her death. WHAT ERIC KNEW - Friends start receiving mysterious messages from recently moved away Eric. THE WESTING GAME - An eccentric millionaire dies and leaves his fortune to whichever one of his potential heirs can solve the mystery of his will. THE CLUE IN THE OLD MUSKET - A family tries to prove their ancestor was not a traitor to the colonists during the Revolution. THE VIEW FROM THE CHERRY TREE - While hiding out in his cherry tree, a boy witnesses his neighbor being pushed out a window to her death- and he can't get anyone to listen. THE SUMMER WAR - When a summer camp misfit discovers the bones of an obvious murder victim, he is puzzled by the town's reluctance to solve the case. THE LAST GOODIE - A high school student is haunted by old memories of his favorite babysitter who vanished one night while watching him.
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Post by Emperor Cupcake on Nov 22, 2010 20:37:57 GMT -5
I really loved mysteries and ghost stories when I was a kid. As an adult, I still love them if they're written for kids, but not so much if they're written for adults. The following books were favorites that I read over and over and over: THE GHOST NEXT DOOR - Friends spend the summer searching their neighbor's property for a ceramic owl hidden by her niece shortly before her death. WHAT ERIC KNEW - Friends start receiving mysterious messages from recently moved away Eric. THE WESTING GAME - An eccentric millionaire dies and leaves his fortune to whichever one of his potential heirs can solve the mystery of his will. THE CLUE IN THE OLD MUSKET - A family tries to prove their ancestor was not a traitor to the colonists during the Revolution. THE VIEW FROM THE CHERRY TREE - While hiding out in his cherry tree, a boy witnesses his neighbor being pushed out a window to her death- and he can't get anyone to listen. THE SUMMER WAR - When a summer camp misfit discovers the bones of an obvious murder victim, he is puzzled by the town's reluctance to solve the case. THE LAST GOODIE - A high school student is haunted by old memories of his favorite babysitter who vanished one night while watching him. Oh man, thank you! The Ghost Next Door was the book I mentioned a few pages back about the ceramic owl; I called it The Ghost of Miranda, knowing that wasn't right but unable to remember the actual title. So that cleared up something that was bugging me. And I absolutely love The Westing Game. I read it again not too long ago and it was still just as good.
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Post by tokiyoke on Nov 23, 2010 18:37:57 GMT -5
Glad to help!
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