What were /lit/'s favorite books as young boy?
For me personally, it was Goosebumps and Animorphs books.
>Boxcar Children>Captain Underpants>Butt-Ugly Martians>Roald Dahl books (The Witches is my favorite)>Nancy Drew>Hardy Boys>Encyclopedia Brown
>>24778864I enjoyed those Goosebumps 2000 and their CYOA books they made.
You want to see all the Holocaust propaganda they made me read in school? Maus was only the beginning.
>>24778882Number the Stars
>>24778883The Upstairs Room
>>24778863It's kino
The Magic Tree House
>>24778888Daniel's Story
>>24778889
>>24778882Weirdly enough, I never read the Diary of Ann Frank or The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas in school.
>>24778864I liked the Chronicles subseries in Animorphs. The Andalite Chronicle and the Ellimist Chronicles I remember being actually pretty well-written for kids books. Also, Ax is still the best member of the Animorphs.
I remember reading a ton about slaves during the Civil War. Pink and Say was read to me a lot.
>>24778863Count of Monte CristoThe Name of the RoseStephen King (devoured everything by him)Some shitty YA novels
Literally just Harry Potter because everyone fucking loved those books back then. Seriously, that shit was inescapable. Kind of the same thing with The Hunger Games trilogy but definitely not as big as Harry Potter.
>>24778863Why do they keep making the same thread again and again.
I feel like every American Christian household in the 2000's had a copy of A Child Called It (Which turned out to be mostly made up) and at least a few of those Chicken Soup for the Soul books.
>>24778875>>24778864>GoosebumpsAlways thought RL Stine's Fear Street books were better because since they were meant for older teenagers, the deaths were much more gruesome. They also predate Goosebumps. I also was a fan of his non-Goosebumps horror book, The 13th Warning.
Read way too many cryptozoology books as a kid. I was obsessed with Bigfoot and Nessie.
>>24778910Yep, I remember The Drinking Gourd being assigned to be in like third grade.
I read this as a child because I yoinked it from the teens section of the school library and it unironically destroyed my life.
>>24778943>it unironically destroyed my life.Storytime.
>>24778938Also Friend on Freedom River
>>24778943I'm shocked they would even be at a school library. College/university library, yes, it would be there. But idk why a school library would have de Sade.
I was austically obsessed with the American Revolutionary War and read way too many books about it.
>>24778954I don't really feel comfortable elaborating online about that, sorry. >>24778959It was a gifted school, so I guess that might have been why, but it really shouldn't have been there. I'm all for giving inquiring young minds access to whatever they need to flourish but this is unironically corrupting in the exact way paranoid christian moms think books can be.To Love Ru or some ecchi manga isn't going to corrupt your kids, hell most of the "corrupting" literature people complain about is just healthy sexuality. But this stuff shouldn't be allowed to kids under 18 I think.
>>247789661776 is still one of my favs.
Somewhere around fourth or fifth grade, I got really into Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Robert Ludlum novels.
I have a memory of reading a kids version of Illustrated Shakespeare that had stories of like Romeo & Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing. They basically did summaries of the plot. Can't find that particular edition because there's like thousands of Illustrated Shakespeare books for kids.
>>24778892Classic books. I remember reading a kids retelling of The Odyssey by the same author.
Percy Jackson & The Olympians because that's what every other kid read when I was in school. Feels weird that has blossomed into a huge series.
Hatchet and all its sequels to a varying degreeI was really into wilderness survival and camping storiesMy Side of the Mountain was another memorable oneCall of the Wild/Where the Red Fern Grows were greatRobinson Crusoe was boringAlso May Bird and A Series of Unfortunate EventsOne time my fourth grade teacher tried to stop me from reading in class and pay attention, so he gave me Heidi to read because it was a "girly book". I finished it and liked it actually!Then he assigned me Little Women, and I stopped because I didn't know what was going on
>>24778864>AnimorphsEveryone remembers Animorphs, but I also liked K. A. Applegate's other series that came out around the same time.Remnants, about a group of the last surviving humans from a destroyed Earth wandering through space encountering weird aliens.Everworld, about a group of teens who are sent to a dimension where the old gods of Earth (Greek, Egyptian, Viking) still live.
Actual boomer coming through. Pigman is a classic.
>>24778966Don't worry, Johnny Tremain is one of my favorite from growing up.
>>24778863I ended up reading most of Lemony Snicket because it was more interesting than Harry Pooper.Otherwise it was a lot of random library books on UFOs and Space.There was the Magic Tree House Series. Those were pretty dope.Bunnicula!!!!I remember Artemis Fowl was big when In was younger. I read 5 pages of that and decided it was shit.In High School I started reading Ben Bova because I really had hope for humanity at that point and thought we'd be doing something interesting with space travel, like maybe a lunar base or mars landing.I also read Snow Crash and Virtual Light, those were good books.For some reason in middle school I went on a Stephen King bender. "IT" was a complete bore. Desperation was pretty good.I didn't like Dune when I was younger but when I was older and had a wiki by my side it was good.In High School we read the Sun Also Rises, which is honestly the most ADHD zoomer party fuckboi fest I ever read. Pointless.All the Shakespeare was stupid.I legitimately enjoyed the Great Gatsby.I read the unabridged version of Les Miserables when we did the French Revolution in Junior Year. That was good, but I definitely skipped over the sections where Hugo was obviously getting paid by the word, like the 30 pages of description on the catacombs of Paris.
>>24778998Johnny Tremain is good. But I remember another one I really liked called Toliver's Secret.
Dunno how this ended up in my school library. It wasn't a popular book... just a passion project of some rando lawyer who wanted to write a book. It was the story of a baseball player who left to fight in WWII and was taken prisoner and had to live in a large pipe for months.
Dragonlance
Eragon and those fucking Warriors books with the cats.
>>24778863>>24778863This
Holes by Louis Sachar is prob the best American YA novel of all time.Also still really like the movie with Shia Labeouf (Back then best known for Even Stevens).
Percy Jackson and Gregor the Overlander.
>The Hobbit>Lord of the Rings>Chronicles of Narnia
Unironically Poe and Lovecraft. I was a spooky kid.
>>24779008Oh god Stephen Biesty, I was obsessed with those Cross-Section books, especially the Star Wars ones.
>>24778864I read the Goosebumps rip-off series called Deadtime Stories, which was one of many ripoff series from that time.
>>24778863>>24778988I had a weird story surrounding Hatchet.Basically we got this 23 year old dude who was our Social Studies teacher and he never taught us shit, he just basically larped as the cool professor/teacher from movies and let us do what we wanted, which meant he started getting unusually chummy with the teachers. The rest of the kids thought he was awesome but I thought he was odd. Then it clicked when he told everybody in class that the narrator of the hatchet book on tape spoke to him through the tapes, and most of the kids laughed because Indian spirt jokes or some shit.Anyway, shit went real south real quick when started playing board games during lunch hour with a few of my classmates. Well, he invited him and a bunch of kids over to smoke weed and he got arrested pretty quick.>>24778914I feel like I'm the only person who ever heard this theory, most people accepted his claims, but I read the NYT article and never got a conclusive answer.
i devoured gary paulson and chris de Lacey. hatchet and tracker were my fav paulson. the fire within had a grip on me. though its fairly obscure as far as i can tell. its about a young man who sublets from a family of ceramics artists who produce sculptures of ceramic dragons, which containthe true spirit of a dragon. i also remember the candy shop wars quite fondly. but the book that really opened me up to appreciating literature was in high school my english teacher lent me his personal copy of candide by voltaire. im graduating with my undergrad in philosophy this semester, time flies.
Fucking loved Halo books. Fall of Reach, The Flood, and Contact Harvest were awesome. I remember my mom somehow discovered that Contact Harvest ends with a sex scene with Sgt. Johnson lol
>>24779044gary paulsen wrote a lot of boyhood classicshatchetthe transall sagawhite foxmr. tucket serieswoodsong
If cried at Old Yeller you're gay
>>24779062What if I cried at Marley & Me?
Dinotopia! Fucking loved Dinosaurs dude.
Does anyone remember The Sixth Sense kids books? It was called Secrets from Beyond.
>>24778982I liked this kids version of the Odyssey.
>>24779012I liked his Sideway Stories from Wayside School book.
Lol Junie B. Jones and Amelia Bedelia books.
>>24778872>>Roald Dahl books charlie and the chocolates for me
>a series of unfortunate events>atriums fowl>harry potter
>>24778863I read books about American history, The Presidents, and Renaissance Art History. Stuff on meteorology, music production, books on foreign languages (including a huge Chinese-English dictionary from my stepdad's cousin who was a translator for the CIA in Afghanistan) and books on the braille system and various YA novels including Charlotte's Web and 1984. Reader's Digest from grandma's stash, etc. I got diagnosed with autism in 1990. I am over 40.
>>24779089I liked his book about a fighter pilot called Going Solo.
I was a fucking mark. Long live WCW and the nWo.
>>24779104>I am over 40.we all are
>>24779104>American historyI really liked Don't Know Much About American History, I've reread it numerous times when I was kid.
Remember seeing this on Reading Rainbow. I sung Abiyoyo way too much.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. I even read the original version posted online. I hate how they ended up Bart Simpsoed the main character to never grow old.
Battle by R. G. Grant. Also another book by the same author called "War" or "Warfare". Gives short overviews of some the most famous battles throughout history.
I loved those DK Handbooks. Yes, I'm autistic.
Remember reading this book called The Cheat. About a group of teens who all get caught cheating on their test.
I really liked those Two-Minute Mysteries books where you read a short mystery scenario, and you have to guess the answer yourself based on the details in the story. The answers were written upside down.
Anyone remember Brian Froud's Goblins?
>>24779146Always thought it was a parody of that famous Gnomes books.
Anyone remember the Spiderwick Chronicles?
I loved this book called UFO Kids by Allan Zullo. I loved "true" UFO/alien stories. Zullo has an entire series of cool paranormal books called Haunted Kids. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haunted_Kids
Anyone remember the Dinoverse books?
>>24779166Also The Lurker Files by the same author.
Foster's War
Pictures of Hollis Woods
Had this really fun Egyptian Mummies Pop-up book.
Really loved The Indian in the Cupboard. Also the movie too.
Harriet the Spy!
Anyone remember Little Nino's Pizzeria? Cool artwork.
>The Ferocious Beast with the Polka-Dot Hide>Chicka Chicka Boom Boom>The Very Hungry Caterpillar (And other Eric Carle books)
I weirdly read books about the creation of the Erie Canal.
This Wildlife of Star Wars book had some cool illustration.
>>24779190Also Sharks, I fucking loved Sharks. Read Peter Benchly's Jaws too.
Dictionary of Imaginary Places is still one of my favorite books.
Did anyone else read Jay's Journal and got the complete opposite message from it and got into edgy Satanism/occult shit?Also, I remember getting Go Ask Alice assigned in high school and it being taught as nonfiction.
Shel Silverstein books
I binged through Sidney Sheldon's collection when I was a wee boy because those were the first and only books I could find around the house that wasn't either the Bible or lifestyle magazines
Everyone knows Percy Jackson, but does anyone remember The Cronus Chronicles?
I read the Illiad and the odyssey when I was a boy along with a tremendous amount of greek writing. The teachers all said "start with the greeks," and so I did.
Vampire Plagues anyone?
If you were a girl in the 80's/90's, you had these series:>Sweet Valley High >Sweet Valley Twins >Babysitter’s Club>The Treehouse Times>The Fabulous Five>The Forever Friends>Friends 4 Ever>The Girls of Canby Hall>The Gymnasts >The Party Line>Penpals>Roommates>The Saddle Club>Sleepover Friends
I feel like the only people who write YA books now are Asian women with WMAF fetishes.
>>24779228Examples?
Flat StanleyGeronimo StiltonThe Berenstain BearsLittle CrittersFranklin the TurtleLittle Bear
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
>>24779231To All the Boys I Loved Before books.
Clifford the Big Red Dog lol
>>24778863I loved Percy Jackson. I loved them so much that I skipped some pijama parties with friends to read it. I even remember the thought of being afraid of death because "if I die right now then I will never be able to finish Percy Jackson"
>>24778863various Seuss works; If I Ran The Zoo comes to mind. I still like that one a lot. I like most of his stuff.I'd also throw Silverstein in there, I was aware of A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends, though I don't know if I actually knew any of his poems. I knew it by its title and cover at least.Frog and Toad were cool (and not gay)I liked a good bible story before bed or at church or whenever.around junior high I read The Hatchet, that was big.various other novels which I was exposed to via school - Old Yeller, Where the Red Fern Grows, Because of Winn-Dixie, etc. Old Yeller I liked a good bit. I liked the rural setting - that scene with the bull fight is the one I recall best. it was visceral. I would've loved Twain back then for much of the same reason, though I hadn't read him.and all the Scholastic, school library type books, I'd read a number of Goosebumps. whatever was somewhat popular among my peers or caught my eye.I liked Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. the librarian wouldn't rent it to me at first, it was too scary. but I eventually got it. it was indeed scary.also various non-fiction - nature stuff (especially animals, fishes most of all, and space), books on cultures, and biographies.there's too much to name. some kitsch, some classics. good times, good times.
>>24778863The manual for this game got me into fantasy.It was one of those long manuals with the lore and worlbuilding, like the Fallout and the Arcanum manual.Sadly, there is no digitalized version of it.
Phantom TollboothThe Tripod TrilogyThe CayKidnapped Hank the Cow Dog The Pony Express
>>24778863Harry Potter, I was basic like that
>>24778863The Mouse And The Motorcycle was one of my early childhood favoritesalso remember kinda liking those Magic Treehouse series of books
>>24779501>from the creator of TIMEBANDITS>and BRAZILDARKNESS AT NOON.
>>24778863I liked Ray Bradbury and Roald Dahl. Other than that I mostly just read comics, history books and encyclopaedias. >>24779135Loved these. Also Usborne.
>>24779501Kino. One of my favourite movies growing up.
Ender was literally me
>>24779135
This was one of the first books I ever read, lol
>>24779601>BradburyAll Summer in a Day blew my mind reading it as a kid.
>be me, late 20s>try to find children's books for my little niece >start reading A Series of Unfortunate Events >it's actually good >mfwOn book 3 right now and I find it kind of incredible how the author managed to put so much misery and adult themes in a children's book, and somehow got away with it without the publisher making a fuss about it.
tistou les pouces verts
Hans Christian Andersen
Maisy the MouseThe Poky Little PuppyMuppet Baby books MadelineCurious GeorgeWinnie the PoohSesame Street booksPeanuts comic collectionsCalvin and Hobbes
The GiverAre middle schoolers still required to read it?
Really liked S. E Hinton's The Outsiders when it was assigned to us. Later found it was a beginning of a series by Hinton. >The Outsiders>That Was Then, This Is Now>Rumble Fish >Tex>Taming the Star Runner
Zoobooks lolAlso the Kids Discover magazine and Times for Kids
>>24779070I just read Jurassic Park a ton of times. I remember reading a few Michael Crichton books.
>>24778863>Percy Jackson>The HobbitProbably read this once every other week from the ages of 7 to 13>Battle Royale
>>24778863I didn't really give much thought to what the White Whale was a metaphor for as a kid. I just enjoyed the nautical journeys and the rich description of the whales' ecology.
>The Chronicles of Prydain>The Once and Future King>The Demonata>The Sea of Trolls>Redwall>Deltora Quest>Rowan of Rin>Beast Quest>Pendragon>Percy Jackson (But only the original Camp Half-Blood books)>The Last Apprentice aka Spook's>New Heroes aka Quantum Prophecy series>Watership Down>Plague Dogs>Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH>His Dark Materials>Deptford Mice/Deptford Histories>Wings of Fire>Groosham Grange (predates Harry Potter btw)>The Power of Five/Pentagram >Anthony Horowitz's Legend series>Amos DaragonI really liked fantasy.
Anyone remember the Wonder books?
>>24779495I brought my Age of Empires 2 manual to school with me lol
>>24779098*Artemis FowlI did highly enjoy those books. Recently learned the author revived the series but it focuses on Artemis' younger twin siblings.
>>24779526Only Beverly Cleary book I liked.
The Enemy seriesA Series of Unfortunate EventsWarrior cats Harry Potter AnimorphsAmerican Chillers / Michigan ChillersMagic treehouse when really young Idr the name but some series of teens/preteens red-dawning Chinese in New Zealand which was the first time I ever read about sexDiary of a wimpy kidI survived seriesThese are the ones I remember from elementary and middle school but there are a lot of others I really liked and forgot about and get flashbanged by once in a while
>>24780058>>24780079Good example, Artemis Fowl was greatPercy JacksonMaximum something? Angel girl?
The Spook, Harry Potter. Goosebumps was too scary.
>>24778863Scribbleboy, first book I ever read. it was a strange feeling, the first time I almost got that sensation I could 'see' the book world. And I fully understood the appeal when I read Robinson Cursoe
Written by a guy from Derrick Comedy
I liked Robert Louis Stevenson.Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Treasure Island were boyhood classics.
D Copperfield Fuck Finn
>>24778863I still love Anne of Green Gables, my kindred waifu 4ever
Alex rider
>>24779008I liked looking at all the places where people pooped in castles in these.
white fang is a childhood favorite of mine.
>>24779023>Unironically PoeSame. I watched that episode of the Simpsons where they parody The Raven, other shows had Poe inspired halloween episodes as well and that inspired me to look up his books. Cool stuff but I was probably a little too young to really understand it back then.
>>24780035>Groosham Grange (predates Harry Potter btw)Indeed. People that compare HP to Earthsea are giving way too much credit to JK.
>>24778863Depends how young we're talking. when I was I vaguely remember liking br'er rabbit when I was <5, 6-7 I remember really liking the faraway tree and tashi. Then I was reading stuff like >>24778864 until I was 10 and after that I just got into reading fantasy.
>>24778943Considering it reads like it was written by a 13 year old who just discovered how to jack off, it couldn't have affected you that much.
>>24778968>I don't really feel comfortable elaborating online about that, sorry.WHAT!?
>>24778863All the assassins creed books >>24779008Goated books
>>24780055I was watching a yt video about G String, I've seen it has a pretty cool manual too.https://archive.org/details/g-string-beauty-secrets>>>24779098>Artemis FowlThe only volume I had was the second. It was fun but I never got to buy the first one lel. Is it good only for kids, or is it also a nice read for someone in their 20s?>>24781248Based.I've read them a couple years ago. Lovely books.
>>24778863Tolkien and Walter Moers books
>>24778863You stole my thread, but Geronimo Stilton books, Andy Griffiths' Just! books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Gizmo by Paul Jennings are all books I remember enjoying as a kid.
>>24780035Based Pendragon enjoyer. I fear that rereading them will spoil my memories of them, but they were a wonderful ride back in middle school.
>>24781275Another series that the author revived for money sadly.
>>24779980Lol i read the junior novelization of it.
Anyone remember these?
there was this canadian "kid-detective" type series that i read a couple books from but i cannot for the life of me remember the name of that i read a few entries in and enjoyed.
harris and me
>>24779002>I didn't like Dune when I was younger but when I was older and had a wiki by my side it was good.Based sci-fi enjoyer. I loved Roadside Picnic and Stanisław Lem books.
>>24778923>Fear StreetThere was sub-series aimed for the Goosebumps audience with Ghosts of Fear Street.
Marlfox
Enid Blyton
Swiss Family RobinsonAnd I also loved Jules Verne like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Mysterious Island, and Journey to the Center of the Earth.
I was an early reader.My parents had to keep picking up "childrens illustrated classic" for me.My first paperback? First grade teacher nun asked me to read it.I guess, to prove I could read."Two on an island", juvenile fiction.I called it a "baby book".An older kid, had "Jason and the Golden Fleece".I wanted to read it, but I'd never been to the little town library across the street from my catholic school.I went as soon as he said he was done, and he told me I had to know the "book number", to get it.Still remember it. J292Sis, was Jason and the golden fleece.Which led me to ore mythology, so...Bullfinch's Mythology, was next.From there, it was paperbacks and library books.Developed a taste for, like spy novels, and thrillers.Used to live for the next Dirk Pitt adventure, but outgrew him. (Clive Cussler)."Raise the Titanic!", was my first Cussler Pitt novel.By my teens, things like Casca: the Eternal Mercenary (Barry Sadler) were must-have's.Between spy novels and thrillers.Got into investigation serial killer books? The genre got too formulaic.
Not sure if this was translated into English.
Beowulf retold by Michael Morpurgo
Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter
>>24781248You read the entire series?
go2outer.net
The Brave Little Toaster
>>24779089It's Boy for me.
>>24778911>Stephen King (devoured everything by him)I like Rose Madder.
Twilight ruined a whole generation of women.
>>24779945>>24779601It was Fahrenheit 451 for me. Prepared me for 1984.
Paul Jennings
Lolita
Did they turn this into a series?
>>24783201I liked the Martian Chronicles.
Finnfamily moomintroll
A. C. Doyle - The lost world
Some graphic novels based of Brennu-Njáls saga. Never followed it up with reading the original, for some reason. Maybe I'll get around to it in the summer
Playboys
>>24783224Read the Magnusson-Palsson translation, you can thank me later. The Cook translation is newer, and more accurate on some minor points, but generally doesn't capture the terseness and the laconic, sometimes deliberately ambiguous humor like M-P.Dasent's translation is archaic and not pleasant, though interesting in the antiquarian sense. Bayerschmidt and Hollander's version is weirdly inaccurate/sanitized, as though intended for children. I can't recommend these two.William Ian Miller's book on Njals Saga, 'Why is Your Axe Bloody?' is also practically mandatory reading to go along with it.
Ninjagohorrid henryI loved Scholastic Book Fairs
Thus spoke Zarathustra
Asterix & ObelixTintin
>>24780058>Artemis FowlYeah Artemis Fowl was cool.Does anyone remember Eoin Colfer's other YA novels The Supernatuarlist (This was dystopian YA cyberpunk) or the Airman (historical fantasy)?
Suzanne Collins actually wrote a YA fantasy series called The Underland Chronicles in the early 2000's before the Hunger Games. I honestly think its a better series.
Any William Sleator fans here?
Freak the Mighty Had a bad sequel called Max the Mighty.
>>24778863Shit was quaint.
this was part of 6th or 7th grade curriculum. nothing special or highly literary - just cozy writing about a kid from a really poor family visiting a tutor for french lessons. she eventually feels bad for him and starts giving him stuff like newer clothes and food, but eventually gets into really bad trouble for it because it's the 1950s in USSR
Mostly Fantasy like pic related
>>24778926I think someone at school had this but I'm not sure. It was a hardback with a red cover, and nobody could find it anywhere to buy me it for birthday or Christmas... I remember it was a really in-depth encyclopaedia of monsters and mythical creatures, and it was where I first read about the Amerindians' thunderbirds.Pic related was kino too
>>247788631984 was my favorite. I read that too many times as a little kid. The library in my home was limited, and for some reason that I glommed onto that specific title.
I read my sister's Goosebumps books. She was part of the mail order book club. Even the covers would terrify me when I was very little. In fourth grade, my teacher turned me onto the Eragon books and I quite liked them. In sixth grade, I got into the Redwall books, in random order, and I was amazed at how imaginative they were. In seventh grade, I read a good chunk of the Lemony Snicket books. In eighth grade, I read Tolkien for the first time and since Twilight was popular, I also read those. And all throughout the years I was reading Harry Potter.Those were the major series I read as a kid. Also some random stuff like the Pendragon books and Inkheart, etc. Somehow, I really only ever read maybe one Animorph book despite being there right when they were popular.
>>24783915>GoosebumpsThe scariest one was Werewolf Skin. That book terrified me, but I loved it.
>>24783937The one with the cursed Halloween mask I remember scaring me the most in terms of plot. But the cover that scared me the most was from the 2000 series, I think, and it had two rotting zombies on a gravestone. One of their eyes was hanging down by a stalk. Terrified me so much I was afraid of the bookshelf. Don't even remember the actual contents of the book.Looking back on it, almost every Goosebumps book had amazing art for the covers.
>>24783126
>>24779002>this entire post
>>24783950The part where the baseball ends up in(side) the friend's hand messed with me more than anything in any otherGoosebumps book.Also, that cover is really nostalgic for a number of reasons.
>>24779108Nice, this was one of my favorite books in 8th grade, as well as the WWE Legends and I had some issues of Professional Wrestling Illustrated
