Books from Grade School
Posted by inglefinger@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 97 comments
Was just thinking about this book last week and then found it today at a Little Free Library. I remember this and Hatchet (by Gary Paulsen, I think?) being two of my favorites in 4th grade along with the obligatory Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing/SuperFudge books. What are some of your nostalgia reads from back then?
ManiacRichX@reddit
Loved that book and my other childhood favourite Ralph S Mouse
orangepaperlantern@reddit
Do you remember the adaptation of this that aired on Saturday mornings sometimes, I think it was?
ManiacRichX@reddit
Yessssssss
Bright-Yogurt7034@reddit
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. We read it in 5th grade English class. It talked about the resistance after Germany invaded Denmark and the lengths people went to protect their Jewish neighbors, friends and strangers. It was very age appropriate and prepared us for what we would begin to learn in history class.
Kingston023@reddit
The Indian in the Cupboard, Where the Red Fern Grows, Tuesdays with Morry
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
Tuesdays With Morrie? I didn’t hear about that book til much later.
Kingston023@reddit
I looked it up. It came out in 1997, which was when we read it. Maybe others read it later? I was in 8th grade.
SokkaHaikuBot@reddit
^Sokka-Haiku ^by ^Kingston023:
The Indian in
The Cupboard, Where the Red Fern
Grows, Tuesdays with Morry
^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Obvious_Argument4188@reddit
Bridge to Terebithia 😢
Playful-List5260@reddit
One of my favorites, don’t know if anyone else will remember.
GoramReaver@reddit
The Secret of Nimh
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
PS-love your screen name. 👍
GoramReaver@reddit
Can’t take the sky from me
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
I read Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH in 6th grade- such a great book! The Don Bluth adaptation was also terrific. I vaguely recall there being a sequel but don’t think I ever finished it.
XainRoss@reddit
I own the whole series, or at least I did, probably still have it in boxes in the attic.
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
I vaguely recall there being sequels but don’t remember their details. Not sure I read past book 2.
XainRoss@reddit
Apparently I didn't read the whole series, as there was one more written after. The second and third have the boys realize that the magic is in the key and use it on a large chest to send themselves back in time. The fourth explains the origin of the key.
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
Wow, that story kept going! I’m actually kinda curious now but wonder if I’ll be disappointed like I was in The Magicians Nephew. Like, not everything needs to be explained, lol. Some things are better left to our imagination.
XainRoss@reddit
I remember enjoying them when I was in about the 4th grade. I recommend giving them a try. I just finished rereading The Giver, which I haven't read since high school, because I found out their were sequels, and it was a good as I remember.
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
Love the Giver! I actually purchased Gathering Blue but have yet to read it.
XainRoss@reddit
I just finished it! It was good, but you might want to get "Messenger" too. Blue doesn't wrap up as much as Giver does, it doesn't exactly end in a cliffhanger, but the two stories are much more connected. I haven't started "Son" yet, but Messenger does wrap up nicely.
fubo@reddit
The first fourteen Oz books.
Charlotte's Web.
The Great Brain series.
A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door.
The Bruno & Boots series.
Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.
The Mouse and His Child.
The Phantom Tollbooth.
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
I read so many Oz books in 5th/6th grade. Loved diving into that world.
ZookeepergameFew7524@reddit
Anyone remember Maniac Mcgee? About the boy who ran everywhere and could untie any knot? To this day, still inspires me to tackle annoyingly tight knots
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
I was wondering if this title would surface here. I still think of this book anytime I have to untie a particularly complicated knot.
naranja_sanguina@reddit
I'm shocked I had to scroll all the way down to find Maniac Magee!
meliciousrumors@reddit
Does anyone remember one about a mermaid with a jade comb? I used to have it, probably from the book fairs. Not the little mermaid but much darker. My mom threw it out a while ago and I’ve never been able to find it again because I can’t remember the title. But I remember there was something about a jade comb, a guy and his father.
murdershetwerked@reddit
Hatchet, Gary Paulsen, was such an amazing book. When i started teaching i found out there were alternative endings
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
Really? Oh, man I’m not sure I want to know…is there a super sad ending? Or a Scooby Doo ending? 😂
murdershetwerked@reddit
There was an ending where Brian makes a canoe and paddles his way out. And then the other ending is where Brian survives the winter and is rescued in Srping
terrildactyl@reddit
Encyclopedia Brown and The Hardy Boys
themaninthemaking@reddit
Maniac Magee was one I remember.
Hatchet is probably one of my all-time favorite books. And it doesn't have alternate endings per se. There's just a few sequels, and one of them, Brian's Winter, is basically what would happen if he didn't get rescued. Because he would have to survive the winter time.
Blazenkks@reddit
5th grade teacher had the whole class read this together.
Others that I can remember
Where the Red Fern Grow
From the mixed up files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler
Around Cape Horn
Kingston023@reddit
I loved the choose your own adventure books!!
Espexer@reddit
I read the 'red fern' on my own. I cried for hours.
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
Red Fern was tough for our class. That and Bridge to Terabithia had a bunch of the class, including our teacher, in tears.
Blazenkks@reddit
I kinda groaned about Mixed up files being chosen. Lol literally judging a book by it’s cover 🤣. And ended up loving it and wanting to have an adventure in a museum too!
Fluid_Woodpecker7847@reddit
Boxcar Children book series.
UnluckyCardiologist9@reddit
I still remember the smell of cracking that 1st book open since it was OG hard cover version. I think I was the biggest book nerd in my elementary school.
UnluckyCardiologist9@reddit
I was trying to remember the title to this book and it finally clicked last week when somebody put up a book post. All this time and I still have the feeling of laughing my ass at how funny it was.
nhaines@reddit
I'm a lottery ticket away from just buying every "Choose Your Own Adventure" reprint and I guess just buying every "Encyclopedia Brown" book ever.
chaoswindsurfer@reddit
The Alice books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor and the Anastasia series by Lois Lowry. Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield were my bread and butter
octoesckey@reddit
The Hardy Boys
BilliousN@reddit
Hardly Boys - I've got a clue.
Rynkevin@reddit
I’ve got a raging clue
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
I started reading those in Junior High & loved them. I liked the older ones especially; the more recent ones where they tried to make them seem like cool modern kids never seemed quite right.
koc77@reddit
Ones I haven't seen mentioned:
Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawl,
Gentle Ben,
Chronicles of Narnia,
Macdonald Hall series (Bruno and Boots) by Gordon Korman,
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary,
The Bunicula series,
Call of the wild / White Fang / The Sea Wolf - by Jack London,
The Computer That Said Steal Me, by Elizabeth Levy
84wingo@reddit
I just recently looked in our library for any Bruno and boots but no luck! Lots of Gordan Korman but no B&B. I also loved I Want to go Home by him.
orangepaperlantern@reddit
As a lonely kid with divorced parents I liked Dear Mr. Henshaw a lot.
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
I remember writing a book report on Dear Mr. Henshaw. Was his father a truck driver in that one? I wanted to be a truck driver too when I thought about all the great places you could visit. 😅
orangepaperlantern@reddit
Yes, truck driver! I remember Leigh in the story describing it as a “reefer”, short for refrigerated trailer.😆
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
I totally forgot about Summer of the Monkeys! What was the story there, they all escaped from a zoo?
koc77@reddit
Escaped from the zoo train after an accident.
universe-zen@reddit
Sideways Stories from Wayside School
drillbit7@reddit
Chapter 19: Miss Zarves.
There is no Miss Zarves. There is no ninteenth story. Sorry!
New-Anacansintta@reddit
I read this as an adult with my child-it’s such a good series.
cellrdoor2@reddit
Our school was really big on O ‘Dell books. I remember both Sing Down the Moon and Island of the Blue Dolphin the same year.
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
You know, I’ve heard the name and titles before, but I don’t think I’ve ever read any of his work.
cellrdoor2@reddit
They’re good but pretty depressing. It seems like schools in the 80s/90s just weren’t happy unless they were inflicting a bit of trauma with the hands of a paperback.
sticky_applesauce07@reddit
I was a Roald Dahl girl. It started with The Twits, The Giraffee the Pelly and Me. Probably read the BFG, Witches and Matilda a thousand times. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James in the Giant Peach.
Ramona Quimby
Minn of the Mississippi
Mrs Piggle Wiggle
Anything Wayside School
Bunnicula
Tolkien
orangepaperlantern@reddit
Indian in the Cupboard was my favorite book for a while around like 9 years old or so, after the Ramona Quimby series.
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
Ramona & Beezus being the original frienemies was very true to real life sibling relations. :-)
orangepaperlantern@reddit
Definitely! Did you ever see the short lived Ramona tv series, with Sarah Polley as Ramona? I think it was from the late 80s. It was great!
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
I remember watching what seems like a tv movie adaptation of one of the books in class, might have been her. I specifically remember girls being grossed out when their parents admit to them that the dinner they are serving is beef tongue.
orangepaperlantern@reddit
That was in the show! When they made that chicken dish with sweet yogurt because the parents said basically, if you don’t like what we make, you cook dinner.
harrumph_grumble@reddit
Boy in the girls bathroom
UniqueInstance9740@reddit
All great ones named so far! They’re on my list. I’ll add: The Cay The Phantom Tollbooth Julie of the Wolves Johnny Tremaine The Boxcar Children And the Nancy Drew books.
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
I remember watching the old Disney movie of Johnny Tremain on a projector that would get rolled into our cafeteria for end-of-year movie day. I also read a whole bunch of boxcar children, though grew tired of each book having to explain why they were called The Boxcar Children.
ManiacRichX@reddit
I do now!
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8SFNbbOmAYO5LJaw_MPhegEoZKbBsIdJ&si=ft8c5A7xGh36HfYX
Mean-Bandicoot-2767@reddit
For some reason, The Pushcart War sticks out in my mind as a title we read in class. I keep an eye out for a copy when we go to the library but haven't gotten it yet.
I read A LOT when I was a kid. I tore through the entire collection of Nancy Drew and The Black Stallion series at the school library. Also read all the Misty of Chincoteague books and My Friend Flicka (ok I was a horse girl). I think I found Patrick McManus for some reason then. I read every Choose Your Own Adventure title the local library had, and Encyclopedia Brown.
We had that one Star Wars novel Splinter of a Mind's Eye for some reason, read that one a few times...
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
I loved Encyclopedia Brown in grade school. I learned about Splinter of the Minds Eye from a friend in HS who told me it was the official novelization of the time between A New Hope & Empire Strikes Back.
revel911@reddit
Read that exact copy.
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
…did you put this into a Little Free Library recently?
polygonalopportunist@reddit
Bridge to Terebethia
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
Our 4th grade teacher read this one out loud to us. That unexpected shock hit me like a ton of bricks.
Material_Ad_3812@reddit
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell was my everything for a while
ResurgentClusterfuck@reddit
I used to read this while eating mushrooms out of a can, pretending they were abalone
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
I can so picture this. Now I want canned mushrooms, lol
PerpetuallyImproved@reddit
Sister sent me these for Xmas last year after asking me what my favorites were as a kid.
inglefinger@reddit (OP)
What a terrific gift ! I think I read all of these. I love the artwork in Schwartz’s Scary Stories collections.
midlife_marauder@reddit
Follow my Leader about the boy who is blinded by fireworks and gets a guide dog was my favorite.
koc77@reddit
Loved that book - hadn't thought about it in years. Thanks for the reminder.
monkeysknowledge@reddit
“My Teacher Is An Alien” is from that same period. I read like 4 or 5 of those books.
ilovjedi@reddit
I deliberately read one of those obviously in my middle school science class to annoy my teacher and he just took it from me and threw it against the wall.
And I like recall this teacher fondly.
Mental-Ask8077@reddit
I had totally forgotten about those! omg blast from the past
InsideSummer6416@reddit
All great suggestions here also Encyclopedia Brown and also Mad Scientist Club.
Jmofoshofosho8@reddit
This was one of my favorite books as a kid
chubbuck35@reddit
My 3rd grade teacher read a few pages out of this every day. It was the best.
hoodiesandnaps@reddit
Along with the Judy Blume books my favorite book from school was My Side of the Mountain by Jean George. There are sequels but I’ve only read the first sequel. They’re lovely books and I still have my original copies from school (in the 80s)
theshub@reddit
Tales of a Fourth Grade nothing and the other Judy Blume books are what made me a book nerd.
rob_hanlon@reddit
THEYRE PLAS-TAC! They’re PLASTAC PEOPLE!
New-Anacansintta@reddit
Ramona Quimby, Verónica Ganz, Sweet Valley Twins, Babysitters’ Club
mystiqueallie@reddit
I LOVED the Babysitter’s Club when I was a tween. I don’t like that they’re re-publishing them as graphic novels though.
Hetjr@reddit
My 10yo LOOOOOVES the graphic novels lol. She’s just getting into Sweet Valley Twins, too. She likes the regular novels, as well.
wuh613@reddit
Loved that book!
Friendly_Award7273@reddit
I wanted that cupboard so I could put Monopoly money in it
Reasonable-Wave8093@reddit
I preferred Cheaper by the Dozen 🥚🥚🥚