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Frosty-Librarian_@reddit

Clan of the Cave Bear was passed around at the back of the bus—it opened right to the “good parts.”

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AbuPeterstau@reddit

Started with Valley of the Horses because I liked horses at the time and my parents pretty much let me buy and read whatever I wanted. Not actual comic books though. My mum thought that would rot my brains out.

I remember in the 4th grade my grandmother bought a book for me from a yard sale. "The Diary of Laura Palmer." She thought it seemed like something I'd like bc it was about a young girl with a diary, after all.

I too got in trouble at school, when teachers discovered 6 ten-year-olds in a huddle around this book. All so we could read about Laura getting her nipples sucked by strange men in a creek.

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orlandoquixote@reddit

Salem’s Lot was the one that got me. Still remains the scariest book I’ve ever read.

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apatrol@reddit

I don't know of Salem's lot is about witches but I was terrified of them. When I was around 8 we went to Salem MA and visited a Witch museum that covered the trials and things they did to torture confessions and such. The had wax models of the tortured. Omg. I was crapping myself lol

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Legitimate-Annual-90@reddit (OP)

It's about vampires in a town originally called Jerusalem's Lot. The locals just shortened it to Salem's Lot or The Lot.

Another good one, based on a real story, is The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule. Long before she was a writer , she actually worked with Ted Bundy at a suicide prevention hotline.

This would have been during the time he was already killing young women. She became very close to him and could not say enough good things about him at that time. Like everyone else, she was shocked, learn the truth. She really did her research on that book and also had the inside connection to him.

And the original movie about the weirdo spooky things in the basement that couldn't come out in the light? But were trying to "get you." Babysitter let me stay up for that one. The Blob, I even remember one where they grafted a dude's head on another dude's body, I think one guy was white and one was black? And Day of the Animals. All early horror movies for me, and I freaking loved every second of it.

And if there was a scary movie with a book, I definitely wanted to read it, with the exception of The Exorcist.

Saw Jaws in like second or third grade and wtf were my parents thinking? My younger brother and sister were there too and it led to a lifelong phobia of sharks, shark attacks, which has manifested in never going on the fucking water, even lakes, but watching every shark attack video I can get my hands on. Shark Week is my nightmare heaven.

But reading Jaws fucked me up even more than the movie. Then I started reading all the knock off "true accounts" books of shark attacks on people thru-out the years which came out right after the movie was so huge, which is why I know even fresh water isn't safe because of the ... Mississippi (?) attacks back in the olden days ('20s? 30s? When a bull or tiger shark swam upstream and killed a bunch of people.)

Yeah. Nobody gave a shit what I was watching or reading.

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Legitimate-Annual-90@reddit (OP)

I was 9 when Jaws came out, and it was everywhere. I have a picture of my brother and I at an amusement park smiling ear to ear inside a cutout shark mouth photo prop. We had no clue until it came out on cable a few years later. Scared the crap out of me, but that picture is still funny.

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Average_Random_Bitch@reddit

OMG I am laughing at the Prince Valiant haircut or whatever that's called with the heavy straight bangs and longer in the back. Laughing respectfully, but still, wtf. How was our taste so bad back then that this was a style. I seem to remember a lot of fucking bowl cuts too. It's funny because you and your brother are so cute and good looking and ... aggressive bangs. :) Still, we didn't know shit back then, so I'm sure you were pulling the chicks at 9 or whenever this was.

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Legitimate-Annual-90@reddit (OP)

Haha 🤣 right? People think we're twins when I show them this picture. We aren't. It's just the same haircut! This was just not a good look, but it was common! And we're so dark with our summer tans. There was no sunscreen back then.

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Average_Random_Bitch@reddit

This made me laugh again when I saw it today. LOL! That was brave AF putting it out there. :)

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arcinva@reddit

I can't really recall what I read in elementary school, though I have loved reading all my life. I know I loved mysteries, but I can't recall the names of the books - I only have vague impressiona of storylines. Oh! I know I read some Agatha Christie probably around 10 and 11 yrs old.

What I do remember very clearly is stealing a paperback copy of Interview with the Vampire when I was in 7th grade. 🤫

We were never censored on our reading. Ever. I found a copy of Helter Skelter (Manson Family) in a thrift store for a dime when I was 11-ish and devoured it in two days. My parents absolutely knew what it was. From there I was just reading serial killer book after serial killer book. I also became obsessed with vampires and was reading anything about them that I could find. Collections of short stories, Dracula (which I remember being a difficult read), the Anne Rice series (Lestat is STILL my fave fictional character), anything vampires. And serial killers led to true crime and biographies in general. I remember reading a book written by a woman who was molested by her father when I was 12 or 13. I forgot it at my aunt's house and I guess she read a few chapters and when I got it back she looked at my mom with this horrified expression and asked my mom if she knew what it was about and my mom just kind of said that I loved to read and they'd never stunt that in me.

Average_Random_Bitch@reddit

I was raised super strict Roman Catholic so for the life of me I have no idea how TF I was able to read all this shit and get away with it.

My mom found me reading Twins (for the second time) and so she read it and then got mad at me coz i was rereading it. 😂 Ok, mom, but what about the 200 other completely shamelessly depraved shit I've been reading since 3rd grade?

I asked my mom in like fourth grade what sodomy meant, and she said, (in a whisper, pearls clutched), "The worst thing that can happen to you." So for years I thought it meant murder mysteriously and possibly involving the ass. Many plot lines were fucking way more difficult to follow due to this one misunderstanding.

Meanwhile, we're passing around Flowers in the Attic where the incest is romanticized. But I'd side eye my brother and be like WTF am I even reading.

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I learned about sex from Danielle Steel and Jean Auel books.

My Sweet Audrina, V.C. Andrews (age 11)

The Talisman, Stephen King/Peter Straub (age 12)

Pet Sematary (age 11)

Communion, Whitley Strieber (age 12)

And of course Forever by Judy Blume got passed around. I remember also reading some disturbing true crime books like Death of Innocence and Say You Love Satan.

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GodsCasino@reddit

this is my favorite review of My Sweet Audrina

https://foreveryoungadult.com/book-report/a-review-of-the-worst-book-in-history/

it is so funny and so true, but 12-year-old Me thought this book was "literature" LOL

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kabo7474@reddit

Ha! Omg thanks for sharing. This is pure gold.

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GodsCasino@reddit

LOL "that fucking rocking chair!"

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garagespringsgirl@reddit

Salem's Lot at 9. Flowers in the Attic at 11.
The Stand at 13. Deep Throat at 13. Found it in my dad's library.

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Designer-Mirror-7995@reddit

Not only was I reading these and Many books far above my age group, we had an encyclopedia I would randomly pick from "just" to read, and, mom had The Big Medical book and I loved reading through it for the hell of it. So much so that, when I went through CNA training my instructors questioned whether I was SURE I had no prior medical training because I could read, pronounce, and comprehend the various terms so easily, lol.

I read EVERYTHING and anything I could get my hands on, and had scores and scores of books by the time I was 18, in many different genres and of varying length.

I don’t feel damaged by any of it 🤷‍♀️

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OutrageousPersimmon3@reddit

The rules in the house were that I could read what I wanted but had to look up words myself. They just liked that it kept me busy.

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Apprehensive-Log8333@reddit

I am hyperlexic, so my reading ability was way above my age. I was not allowed to read adult fiction books until I was 12, unless they were "classics." So I read a lot of those. However, I was allowed to check out whatever I wanted from non-fiction and some of that stuff was probably not appropriate for children. I was very interested in the Salem Witch Trials, the sinking of the Titanic, World War II, ghosts and the paranormal, and serial killers. Also I'd read my parents' books and magazines behind their backs, leading to me asking, during our first sex ed class in 5th grade, "what is an orgasm?" The teacher stammered and then refused to tell us.

Once I was 12, I could read whatever, but I remember being not interested in the sexy parts and skipping those.

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TenuousOgre@reddit

I started reading early. Not into horror much but sci-fi, anthropology, medicine, science and fantastic tales. At 10 I was reading the typical three investigators, Andre Norton and E.E. doc Smith, Edgar Rice Burroughs, A.E. Van Vogt, Robert Heinlein. By 12 it was Dune, my father’s medical books (certainly a method to learn a lot about sex), Clan of the Cave Bear series. I'm a voracious reader so finishing one to two books a week was common.

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A lady came around my neighborhood with a petition with a long list of books she wanted banned from our library one summer. My parents were at work so I took the list and told the lady I would be sure to give it to my parents. That very same day, me and my sister began to read each book from that list like it was required reading.

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bubbygups@reddit

That’s awesome. My mom was largely unconcerned about my literary intake so I read The World According to Garp at 12, along with Catcher in the Rye and The Exorcist. I was ready for anything after all that.

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East_Reading_3164@reddit

My grandma always said if someone tells you not to read something or tries to ban it, you run out and read it ASAP. Betty was a cool customer. RIP, Granny.

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MiseryisCompany@reddit

Thank you

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Legitimate-Annual-90@reddit (OP)

That's awesome! There's a Stephen King quote that says

" When books are banned from school libraries, run to your public library, or the nearest bookstore, and read what it is your elders don't want you to know."

I mention this often, especially now that we have Banned Book Week!

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YoureSooMoneyy@reddit

Chances by Jackie Collins. I was 11, I think. My aunt had it laying around and said I could read it. Probably not the most “11 year old ish” book but I read it quickly and I think the next one in the series.

Now I’m think about reading it again after 40 years ;)

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jcb1975@reddit

Is that part of the “Lucky” series? I think I was 12 or 13 when I read “Lady Boss” for the first time. I remember going to the library after I read it to get any other Jackie Collin’s book I could find. The librarian called my mom when I wanted to borrow “Hollywood Wives” to make sure it was ok.

“Secrets,” “Zoya” and “Message From Nam” by Danielle Steel were also read in my early teen years.

Creighton2023@reddit

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret at 8 (I had no clue about what a period was). Alex, the Life of a Child at 8-9 (about a child dying from CF). Sybil (about what they used to call multiple personality disorder) at 11. But I also grew up watching Dallas and Knot’s Landing at 8 or so, and watched The Exorcist at 9, so I guess all par for the course.

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1920MCMLibrarian@reddit

True it was really a time for horror. We also grew up watching basically every horror movie that came out, from Poltergeist to Chopping Mall as kids.

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GodsCasino@reddit

When I first read Are You There God? The menstroooation pads were on a belt in the book. A few years ago I bought the book online for nostalgia and the parts about the pad needing a belt had been revised to our current sticky pads. I consider that a shame.

I loved Alex, the Life of a Child, which is non-fiction. Treatment for CF has come a long way thankfully since then. I lost several friends due to CF, so that book hits close to home. Thanks for reaching my comment

I read everything as soon as I could read, lol. I think I was seven the first time I read "Salem's Lot." No one ever limited my reading-if anything, I was encouraged to read whatever looked interesting at the moment, so I had a weird library at a very young age. By the time I was ten, I had everything from Stephen King novels to medical diagnostic manuals and antique poetry books and religious texts and...you get the idea, lol.

I did sort of self-censor, though. I hated romance novels (still do) and always skipped the "gross" parts of books because I simply wasn't interested in reading about people getting laid. In my little kid brain, those things just weren't that important to the story, lmao.

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Dear-Presentation-69@reddit

Same. I could read anything I wanted. I remember opening up The Exorcist, Jaws and Coma vividly

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Charming_Butterfly90@reddit

I read whatever my mom was reading. I went to school a year early because my mom was trying to help my brother (3 yrs older) and I was mocking him. VC Andrews was big, Thorn Birds, anything Stephen King because he was a local writer. As with others, I read whatever I wanted and they were just happy that I was reading.

Funnily enough, my very first foray into chapter books, at age 4, I would select the order I read the chapters based on the title in the table of contents. My mom asked how I liked it and I explained that it was good but a bit confusing because the stories didn’t really work together. Starting at the beginning didn’t occur to me. Once she clued me in, I couldn’t read enough. My grandparents gave me a set of encyclopedias that they had purchased for my dad and I read them all cover to cover in the first grade.

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Whitewolftotem@reddit

I read voraciously as child and still do. I read the usual that a lot of people mention here. Totally unsupervised and never had a problem except with Amityville and The Omen. I was around 10. The Omen scared the crap out of me and I still don't like looking at windows late at night because of Amityville.

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PalominoDream@reddit

Pretty sure i shouldn't have been reading Dawn by VC Andrews when I was 12

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mysteryofaneelpot@reddit

Jaws when I was 5. (was a \~gifted child)
The Amityville Horror when I was 7.
My mom found out I was reading these when I told her about how I thought Jodi the Pig was not scary and I would LOVE a phantom pig, and she was horrified and told me not to read the books on that bookcase, that they were just for my parents. Which did not stop me.
I read The Users by Joyce Haber when I was 10, and it was vulgar and trashy and gross. That did stop me.
I might be the only girl in my school who did not read Flowers in the Attic. One of the many girls in my 6th grade class who loved it told me what it was about and I thought that sounded disgusting, so no thanks.

By 8th grade, I was interested in classic lit, anything to do with vampires, and a lot of monsters, scifi and history, so nothing super inappropriate later on.

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Educational-Year-789@reddit

I have found my people! I would take whatever book I was reading to school to read when I was finished with my schoolwork. Teachers did not care- and I went to a Catholic school through 5th grade. I had supervision in so much as I was reading. They did not care WHAT I was reading, just that I was. And actually, my parents had two younger kids after me that they were just relieved I was staying out of trouble and reading.

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FlyParty30@reddit

I don’t remember not being able to read. By the time I was in the 3rd grade I was way beyond Dick and Jane stories. I was reading a lot of adult books. Unfortunately nobody thought to censor how adult they actually were until my teacher called my granny. All because I asked her what the word “sodomy” meant. Yep. Grade 3. She was pretty shocked that was the only word I didn’t understand in the book I was reading. She told granny to get encyclopedias and stuff for me to read after that.

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vintagelovercatlady@reddit

Interview with the Vampire was my favourite book at 11 😀

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KismetSarken@reddit

I read everything. Like, everything. I was reading my parents' novels as soon as I chose. They were into Mitchner, Tolstoy, Wouk, various & sundry odd books like The Keep. There NEVER was a movie, JUST the book. The book is amazing, & deep, & bloody, & suspenseful, & fucking scary. I was never a horror fan, but it was a great book.

I think of all the crazy books I read, the most "inappropriate" was Anaïs Nin Delta of Venus & Little Birds. Very, um, enlightening for my 6th grade self. I never asked if I could read them. They were on the shelves, and I read them from top to bottom. As for supervision. No, other than my older brother. He didn't give a shit what I did. I honestly read so many many books way before I should have.

Fairly certain we had the same book….In Cinderella, the stepsisters literally cut off their toes or something really graphic like that. I think I actually borrowed that one from the library! 😂

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Smart-Honeydew-1273@reddit

I read The Exorcist in 4th grade!

Slept with a light on for many a night

My Church going Mom had books about Satanic Cults, UFO abductions and the like. She also had a ton of the 70’s Self Help books like I’m OK You’re OK

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KeaAware@reddit

I remember reading The Rats by James Herbert aged 12. I say 'read'. I didn't get past the first chapter, lmao.

The advantage of having a mother who didn't read and didn't give a shit about me, and a father who did read a lot (I'm told), but wasn't around and also didn't give a shit - it meant i could read whatever I liked.

When I was really young, the local library had kids' tickets and you could only get kids' books out on those. But from about age 7, I had annexed my mother's adult tickets and could get whatever I liked.

Plus my aunt (where I was dumped quite often) had an extensive library, from Flowers in the Attic to academic books to political stuff like Spycatcher that were banned in the uk at the time. She never knew or cared what I read ;-). I wish i could say that I worked my way through the intellectual stuff, but obviously I just focused on the smut.

To this day, i can smell an "unsuitable book", even on Amazon over the internet. It's my secret superpower, lmao.

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Open_Confidence_9349@reddit

My mom didn’t really monitor my reading and I read everything, but she told me I was absolutely not to read Flowers in the Attic or My Sweet Audrina. Of course, that made it so I had to read them. I was 9. I absolutely didn’t understand what happened to Audrina under the rain tree, but didn’t have any trouble with Flowers in the Attic. I was sneaking the books reading a page or two at a time and having to hunt them down when they disappeared from where they had been, I don’t know how I followed the stories at all. I read Cujo that same year, but didn’t have to sneak that one.

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Crivens999@reddit

Read as much as I could. Found my parents secret stash of adult books behind the normal ones in their bedroom. Was a bit of an eye opener. Everything from sex guide books to innocent looking books like Lace (it’s a lot more steamy than the TV show). As for what I checked out of the library they didn’t check. I read so much that the librarian allowed me to increase my weekly allowance of books I could check out. Was mainly horror, fantasy, and science fiction.

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360inMotion@reddit

I was definitely encouraged to read, and most of the books came from my school’s libraries.

Unknown to me at the time, my mom would often read over the YA novels I’d brought home to know what her daughter was getting into. I can remember a time or two when my mom voiced concern that I might be reading something I was “too young for” when I was in middle school, but I’d roll my eyes and tell her they were from the grade school library, so how could they possibly be inappropriate?

The only one I specifically remember that raised her red flags was Ronnie and Rosey, but she read the entire book in one night while I slept, and told me the next morning she’d basically given it the good housekeeping seal of approval (which meant there was no sex in it, lol).

Off the top of my head, in grade and middle school I remember reading:

the aforementioned Ronnie and Rosey Flowers For Algernon Of Mice and Men The Witches White Fang The Call of the Wild Deenie Heads You Win, Takes I Lose Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom Matilda Charlie and the Chocolate Factory A Day No Pigs Would Die Forever Watership Down That was Then, This is Now Rumble Fish The Outsiders Lord of the Flies Carrie All Creatures Great and Small Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (and all the sequels by the author’s daughter) Jacob Have I Loved Nothing’s Fair in Fifth Grade No Flying in the House My Side of the Mountain Where the Red Fern Grows Blubber Daphne’s Book Isle of the Blue Dolphins Little Women Flowers in the Attic *Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark I & II (of course!)

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Beachbitch129@reddit

Jacinto1972@reddit

I think that I was about 12 when I read the book “Different Seasons” by King. I’m petty sure that 3 of the 4 stories in it were eventually made into movies (Shawshank Redemption, The Body, Apt Pupil). The amount of sex and violence in that book was an eye opener at that age!

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jennc1979@reddit

Helter Skelter when I was 12.

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downtroddengoat@reddit

I think I was like 7 when I read Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.

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Traditional_Age_6299@reddit

I have always loved VC Andrews books and especially Flowers in the Attic series. Over last few years, they have made several movies, based on her books, on the Lifetime channel. Those were cool to see.

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arcinva@reddit

I was 16 when I got introduced to Tom Wolfe. That year, two teachers - one of history and one of English - designed a grand experiment to combine the two classes into one big, two block long class called American Studies. Each 6 weeks was focused on a different theme. And at the beginning of the 6 weeks, they would wheel in a cart of books from the library that had some relation to the theme or time period we were studying and we were to select one of the books and had to read it and write a report on it that was due at the end of the 6 weeks. So the book wasn't something we discussed or dissected in class and there weren't multiple copies of just a few books; it was literally a single copy of a few dozen books from the library to choose from. Little did I know how lucky I was to end up snagging a copy of Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine. It wasn't long after that I read The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby. That was one of my favorite classes ever. Thank God the school let those teachers try something new. It was glorious.

No reading supervision whatsoever. My mom was just happy I read, but annoyed if she had to take me to the library…so that was a kid-on-bike Saturday morning adventure.

Maybe it was our small under-funded library? But there was no such thing as YA fiction, so I too graduated to Stephen King horror and Robert Heinlein Sci-Fi sex and sexism pretty early on.

The librarian both never blinked nor (as I discovered when I worked in a library decades later) was she allowed to. “Your job is to check out books, period.”

I found and read smut books in the house starting when I was 9-ish? My folks worked at a high school and would bring home novels left in the lockers at the start of summer. I read/was exposed to Jane Eyre and the frightening red room way too early…but also the Catcher in the the Rue, Jaws, and various romance/adult themed books (The Bitch by Jackie Collins stands out in my head?)

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Dis_Miss@reddit

OMG this is me! I also read flowers in the attic too young, but I was in middle school. I had literally read every book in the YA section in my small town and the librarian opened up the adult section to me. Silence of the Lambs stands out to me as the most shocking. I had to read it only during the day by the pool because it was so scary.

As a side note, that's what kills me about the book bans happening in some schools. Reading a book doesn't turn you gay, just like the books I read don't make me want to try incest or start murdering and eating people. Books are a window in to someone else's world or experience.

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Legitimate-Annual-90@reddit (OP)

I love to post this quote by Stephen King, especially during Banned Book Week!

basementguerilla@reddit

When I was about 10, (1984) some Right Wing group of scared moms or whatever put out a list of books they wanted banned or removed from schools. My parents showed my the list and challenged me to read all of them over the summer and asked me to tell them why I thought they were banned. I read every one of them that summer and had so many cool conversations with my folks about why small people want some ideas to be banned.

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I read Stephen King, Tom Clancy, and Ian Fleming-James Bond, amongst other stuff. I also read a lot of history and sports non-fiction. My mom was also an avid reader and always took me to the library regularly. She never really paid much attention to what I was reading, or got worked up about it. My dad showed me A Clockwork Orange-his favorite movie-when I was in 5th grade, so neither parent was into fretting over possible negative influences.

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_sonidero_@reddit

When I was about 11 or 12 I got real into LSD and Psychedelics so I would seek out and find the books in the psychology section or stuff in the philosophy section with Leary or Ram Das and found a copy of Electric Kool Aid Acid Test in the political section... Prolly too young then but when I finally started trippin at 14 I was The Set and Setting Guru...

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madogvelkor@reddit

When I was 12 I found my parents old textbooks from a human sexuality course they took in grad school. It gave me a very technical understanding of sex. Kids did not think it was cool to say words like cunniligus or felatio.

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Radiant-Rutabaga-362@reddit

13 yo found Lucky by Jackie Collins in the cupboard-that was an education, also Clan of the Cave Bear. No one had a clue in my family.

I think every Gen X girl.read all the VC Andrew's books. No one monitored our reading.

I used to love John Bellars and Encyclopedia Brown when I was really little

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dizzymslizard@reddit

Various Stephen King, lots of Danielle Steele, Peyton Place, Ira Levin, pretty much anything on my parents’ bookshelves. Never had anything taken away from me.

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ceno_byte@reddit

Romeo and Juliet (10) Slaughterhouse Five (10) Carrie (8) MY Sweet Audrina (11) Coma (9) Julius Caesar (11) Christine (12) Watership Down (8)

My parents were also voracious readers, who read popular trade fiction. My BFF’s parents were also voracious readers and that’s where I found mysteries, Britlit, Douglas Adams…

I used to sneak read my mom’s romance novels. The typical VC Andrews fare, The Wolf and the Dove, other bodice rippers.

The one that probably scared me the most was Shirley Conran’s “Lace”. Holy shit that had some twisted stuff in it that I should not have been reading. I think I was 12?

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Average_Random_Bitch@reddit

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jojowasher@reddit

I started reading Stephen king about 12ish, and lots of other adult stuff, SCi fi, Fantasy

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CyndiIsOnReddit@reddit

All those books were on my mom's bookshelf I swear. I remember going with her to get one of the Flowers in the Attic series. I don't think she thought twice about her kid reading this stuff. I could read anything I wanted. And I did. I couldn't tell you what this one book was, but I remember the imagery. A man was tied up in the center of the room and he had been tortured already. I THINK it was a cult maybe. But I remember at some point the shoved the whip up his behind so hard it kills him, and they leave him hanging there. There was some commentry on how his arms being raised and the "tail" made his shadow look like the devil. Maybe someone else remembers this? It freaked me out more than usual and I had some bad dreams about seeing it happening.

I wasn't in to horror like I was sci-fi and fantasy, and I don't think people who don't read it have any idea how weirdly sexualized young girls can be, especially with writers like Piers Anthony. Kind of creepy to think about as an adult.

Also... The Grapes of Wrath is really, really dark. I don't think kids can really appreciate the themes in this book but I had to do an assignment on it in ninth grade. I don't think they even expect kids to read the book, it's just like they give questions for the report and most kids would just look up the parts they needed to answer questions. But I read it. I fell in love with John Steinbeck because of that book. But it was so depressing.

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Aware_Sweet_3908@reddit

I read Elvis and Me in the sixth grade. Along with many many other inappropriate books.

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kat_Folland@reddit

My mother handed me The Valley of Horses when I was 12. That book is pornographic. Same camping trip my dad handed me Friday by Heinlein which is not pornographic but is nonetheless full of sex.

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Kwyjibo68@reddit

I was an avid reader. I read all the Nancy Drew books in 1st grade. My mother bought me the complete set, which I still have. I’d also read our encyclopedias.

Later I started reading some of the books my mother had around - not the romance books, but Stephen King and the like. I do remember reading The Godfather when I was about 12. Magnificent book. Also Flowers for Algernon. We read an excerpt in English class and I went out to the local library and checked it out. I checked it out again and again didn’t want to take it back so my mother paid the cost - $0.75. 😂

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eejm@reddit

I learned about autoerotic asphyxiation on a cruise through British Columbia and Alaska while reading Rising Sun. I was 17.

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tastysharts@reddit

Tropic of cancer

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Randomwhitelady2@reddit

My mom went in to the library (Deep South) and told the librarian to let me check out whatever I wanted when I was around 10. The librarian wouldn’t let me check out books in the adult section before this (Stephen king is what I wanted). Problem solved!

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Funke-munke@reddit

Amityville Horror- age 11

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User47B@reddit

I read so many inappropriate books for my age! I shudder to think about what I would have looked up on the internet! My parents definitely didn’t approve, so I snuck around with books.

My junior high library was a goldmine … they closed an elementary school and moved 5th graders to the junior high the year I started 5th grade. We had unlimited access to all the library books. I was 10 when I started the 5th grade … and read Go Ask Alice. I can’t remember what else I found there, but there was so much that was more appropriate for 13/14 year olds than 10/11 year olds.

That and Conjunction Junction.

Add Sesame Street, too

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Legitimate-Annual-90@reddit (OP)

Definitely.

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SaltySleeper44@reddit

I still can sing song of the songs. Either it’s a great memory or my parents made me watch it too much

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Legitimate-Annual-90@reddit (OP)

I think many of us remember these things because they were quality television. I remember reading somewhere that Sesame Street caused children to have short attention spans due to the ever changing short snippets. I'm not sure if I agree 😕

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SaltySleeper44@reddit

True.

But I can say this, if I had Google instead of encyclopedia Britannica, I would have had straight A’s

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Legitimate-Annual-90@reddit (OP)

Yes! I have a son in college, and I was just telling him about having to use a card catalog and dragging all those books to a table. I remember having to cite several sources, so the encyclopedia wasn't even enough!

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SaltySleeper44@reddit

Exactly! And making a poster project with newspaper, magazine and book cut outs.

Now, it’s a power point presentation

I read a ton as a child (still do). My favorite things to read were from The Children's Hour encyclopedia of books. There were 16 volumes, comprised around themes, that contained short stories, poetry, and chapters from longer books. I still have all 16 books and will pick them up from time to time for the nostalgia.