Books we read In elem school.

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Bird_on_a_hippo@reddit

Outside of school: Sweet Valley High, The Great Brain series, Choose Your Own Adventure, The Babysitters Club, A Wrinkle in Time…

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Puzzled_Loquat@reddit

I just read that with my 5th grader as our before bedtime read. Then we tried to watch the movie, and he was so upset it was different from the book that he didn’t want to finish it.

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brcksandstcks@reddit

He’s got good taste, I couldn’t watch the movie either!

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CB_Chuckles@reddit

The two that really stuck with me were James and the Giant Peach and the Pushcart War. Even as an adult I’m likely to read or at least listen to them every other year or so.

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Difficult_Cupcake764@reddit

Charlottes Webb, Mrs frisby and the rats of nihm, Matilda

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Vegetable_Print5150@reddit

Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden were favorites. I was reading Agatha Christie by 5th grade because the librarian couldn't keep up!

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MB2katz@reddit

Yes! Loved those mystery series, plus Hardy Boys and Sherlock Holmes. I think it all started with the Encyclopedia Brown choose your own adventure books.

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Vegetable_Print5150@reddit

I almost forgot the Hardy boys! My father gave me an entire suitcase full of those that his uncle gave him. And Sherlock is an old and trusted friend. Egads, I just realized how old I am!

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AuntBBea@reddit

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiller

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molleensmrs@reddit

They made a movie of this book called The Hideaways. It’s awesome and free on YouTube.

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catregy@reddit

The Most Dangerous Game. Shocking at a catholic school.

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Kryceks-Revenge@reddit

I was trading Steph King books with friends in 6th grade. The books we were given to read for school were honestly forgettable. Middle school and high school were better.

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slipperytornado@reddit

Why they make kids read this book and watch this movie is beyond me. I’m glad you like it but it’s traumatizing.

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ShadowPilotGringo@reddit

The didn’t make us read it nor watch the movie. But it was the book all the 4th grade boys wanted to read because of the scene where the boy falls on the axe.

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Vintage_Zoo@reddit

One of my favorites along with The Yearling.

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EducationalRule1425@reddit

We read The Hobbit in class. For personal reading, I liked Judy Blume books, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Little House on the Prairie, and Black Stallion books.

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I didn't have to read them. I don't remember reading a whole-class book in elementary school, but I distinctly remember have 20 minutes of silent reading after lunch every day in 6th grade. My faves were A Wrinkle in Time, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and anything by Judy Blume. That was also the year that we covertly passed around that horrid piece of trash, "Flowers in the Attic."

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eugenesnewdream@reddit

I definitely read Freckle Juice but I'm not sure if I had to read it or if I read it for fun. I seem to remember doing a book report on it so I guess maybe it was assigned. Never heard of the other one.

I tried to get my kids to read Judy Blume books (including Freckle Juice). My oldest wasn't interested but my youngest needed some books to read for his reading homework so I got him into all the Fudge and Fudge-adjacent books. I think he did Freckle Juice and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, and then the five or six Fudge books. I reread some of them at the same time and enjoyed the trip down memory lane. But I've always been a huge Jude Blume fan, including of her adult novels.

Other books I loved at that age were all the Ramona books, Babysitters Club series, Sweet Valley Twins (and High), and a few standalone books like Slam Book, Sixth Grade Secrets, The Dollhouse Murders, Help I'm a Prisoner in the Library, probably some others I'm forgetting.

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nunyabizthewiz@reddit

Yes!!! I still have my “Twins” collection! And I LOVED Dollhouse Murders! Another favorite was Ghosts under our feet

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eugenesnewdream@reddit

I didn’t read that one! Maybe I will now…I’m old but I still like rereading my childhood faves.

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ww_adh77@reddit

A few years ago I started making a list of all the books I've read. For my elementary school years, I focused on books assigned in class (I couldn't possibly remember all the books I read on my own). This is what I came up with:

2nd grade (1984-85): Key to the Treasure – Peggy Parish

3rd grade: (cannot remember any! We may have read from text book only)

4th grade: The Indian in the Cupboard – Lynne Reid Banks; The Search for Delicious – Natalie Babbitt

5th grade: Island of the Blue Dolphins – Scott O’Dell; Bridge to Terabithia – Katherine Paterson; A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engle; From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – E.L. Konigsburg

6th grade: My Brother Sam is Dead – James Lincoln Collier & Christopher Collier; The High King – Lloyd Alexander; The Westing Game – Ellen Raskin; Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury

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WarmVelvetyMuppetSex@reddit

The mixed up files was one of my favorites!

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Mtothethree@reddit

Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume forever!

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WarmVelvetyMuppetSex@reddit

Forever in elementary school?!?! I thought I was precocious

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Username_888888@reddit

How about Flowers for Algernon? It’s so incredibly sad!

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Independent_Tough_81@reddit

I had to read it in 7th grade, in Baltimore, MD.

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

Oh my gosh we had to read that and I think there was a movie too that went along with it that we got to watch. man that was a sad movie if I remember correctly. But it was a great read.

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reddit_made_me_read@reddit

I read it in 6th grade, but I believe the title was Charlie with the r backwards

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

Yes I remember that now!

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nunyabizthewiz@reddit

In elementary school???

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Fool_In_Flow@reddit

Madeline L’Engle: A Wrinkle in Time

C.S. Lewis: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

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reddit_made_me_read@reddit

The lion the witch and the wardrobe

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Upper_Economist7611@reddit

I read every Judy Blume book multiple times.

The Ramona Quimby books

Little House on the Prairie series

Trixie Belden mysteries

Stephen King

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

Even Wifey by Judy Blume? We found a copy of that somewhere and there were parts in that book that were very adults that all the sixth graders read over and over and over again and laughed and laughed. I was kind of surprised that Judy Blume put out that kind of material, I always considered her a children's author

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Upper_Economist7611@reddit

Haha! Mom didn’t let me read that one but she let me read all her VC Andrews books. Go figure!

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

That's funny! Yeah Wifey was probably not reading material for middle schooler but We snuck it anyway until naturally one of the kids was laughing out loud at a dirty part and the teacher would come over and confiscate the book.

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cfo6@reddit

I have all my Trixie Belden books! I loved them so much. I could relate to her so much better than to Nancy Drew, but I liked those too.

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SuzieQtheMusical@reddit

Trixie was the best!

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Expensive_Air965@reddit

I loved the Amelia bedelia series. I identify with her so much. Looking back on that now, She was absolutely autistic. She had no idea what to do with figurative speech or idioms.

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nunyabizthewiz@reddit

My son used to love those books when he was little ☺️

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stuck_behind_a_truck@reddit

I actually went and bought myself a copy of The Westing Game. My kids read it in elementary school, too. Also Phantom Tollbooth.

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nunyabizthewiz@reddit

Me too me too me too! I HAD to read the Westing Game again! Still as great as I remembered! I didn’t discover Phantom Tollbooth until I became a teacher- wonderful book! And Wrinkle in Time…my teacher read it to us in 6th grade. We hung on every word. I read it again when teaching. SO good!

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jlo_1977@reddit

I absolutely loved ‘Tiger Eyes’ by Judy Blume. I’ve read it many times over the years.

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nunyabizthewiz@reddit

Charlie and the Chocolate factory

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Simple-Statistician6@reddit

Bridge to Terabitha, Tuck Everlasting, the View from the Cherry Tree.

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jestingvixen@reddit

Are we talking were-made-to or chose-to?

I remember most sharply Asimov, Tepper, Zimmer-Bradley (yes, I know), and Brin for chose-to. I also distinctly remember delivering an excellent off the cuff book report in order to avoid being made to read Catcher In The Fucking Rye yet a-goddamned-gain (yes it worked, I was allowed to read and write the essays on something else dealing with similar themes; I do not recall what, possibly The Great Gatsby; I also wrote passionately in High-school about why the hell don't we have more positive role models in our literature at this age....)

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sfdsquid@reddit

They made you read the Catcher in the Rye in elementary school?

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jestingvixen@reddit

Yep. I'm honestly still peeved about it. It was...deeply inappropriate, and I have a pretty flexible attitude about this.

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xamott@reddit

Wizard of Earthsea. Wrinkle in Time.

Aside from that you all mentioned every single thing I read! And I read A LOT back then. Are we clones??

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NahNah-P@reddit

I was reading Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Mary Higgins Clark, VC Andrew's, Fern Michael's, Iris Johansson, Patricia Cornwell, and Jackie Collins on top of all kinds of harlequin romance novels from age 8 and up. I read anything I could get my hands on that had new words, my older sister was my book dealer 😆. I loved encyclopedias and the dictionary. I could spend hours with my head in a book. I was awful at math but blew any and every reading comprehension test I've ever taken completely out of the water. Things have changed alot in schools today.

Kids books from school were The Outsiders, Rumblefish and That was Then, This is now by S.E. Hinton, Ramona Quimby and Beezus series by Beverly Cleary, Go ask Alice by Anonymous later found to be Bea Sparks, True Grit by Charles Portis, Old Yeller, Summer Of the Monkeys, and Where the Redfern Grows by Wilson Rawls are just a few of what I remember.

Wilson Rawls and S.E. Hinton wrote about the State I grew up in and did a lot of things to help children and wrote for them and with them in mind. I think thats why they are still read to this day in many schools.

Summer Of the Monkeys is one of the best books I've ever read still to this day. The movie is horrible but the book is perfection. If you haven't read it, it's just sooooo good, it's for people of all ages and you won't feel like it's a kiddies book, anymore than The Redfern Grows is. Both books made me sob. The movie for Redfern Grows is much more in line with the book than Summer Of the Monkeys is, it's not even close to being anything like the book but the names of the characters. It doesn't do any justice to the book at all. The book is just such a great story of a boy learning about life and sacrifice for the greater good. Such a heartwarming story. With some of the most hilarious dialog between two siblings, it had me laughing so hard and even on my re-read i often forget about some of those and it's always still funny to read again. It does have many good things and you will need tissues by the end but it's so worth it. Mr Rawls is one of my favorite storytellers of all time. Sorry this is so long

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xamott@reddit

I couldn’t get enough of Hinton. Cuz I was in the midst of having a terrible shit childhood that would haunt me forever. She gets it. I read all those books, I think all while I was age 9. You left out Tex, but I think that’s the full list.

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

I love the book Go Ask Alice. I think that's the first book I read on my own from start to finish that was not required reading material in school as part of the curriculum.

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ApollyonMN@reddit

Did most/all of GenX have Scholastic Book Club available to them? By the time I finished sixth grade I had a small library.

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Vegetable_Print5150@reddit

Baby boomer here and we had that and book fairs. My mother put away money so I could get books!

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

I don't think we had a scholastic book Club.

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ApollyonMN@reddit

IIRC: Newsletter style publication, similar to a store ad, had "featured books" and books "on sale." We'd make our selections and send in a check. Many books below suggested retail because of bulk acquisition. Books would be delivered to our classroom.

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silkywhitemarble@reddit

Getting the Scholastic book order forms were up there with the Sears catalog as childhood joys!

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

Oh my gosh wasn't that a wonderful day when you got to bring home that slip with all the books and you got to mark off which ones you wanted and if you spent enough you would get like a book of stickers of some sort. And then the day they were delivered I'll set up in the auditorium, that was like the best day in school ever !

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Sassacatty@reddit

You would get the free puppy and kitten posters!

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littlemsshiny@reddit

It was the greatest day!

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ionchannels@reddit

We did in Canada.

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mossberbb@reddit

My kids that were born in 2001 and 2010 I continued the tradition and bought them any book they wanted from the scholastic book order sheet. Toward 2010 a lot of the books seem to be about Minecraft and video games so that seemed to be in my opinion that activity coming to an end.

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brendini511@reddit

We did, but I couldn't afford to buy anything.

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positivecynik@reddit

Bunnicula series

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ThanksForAllTheCats@reddit

Wind in the Willows
The Secret Garden
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
Watership Down
The Phantom Tollbooth

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Expensive_Air965@reddit

Silflay Hraka! We realized that's how you say Eat shit in rabbit speak. My son and I have called cars hrududus forever and when we get stuck in ADHD trance we call it going tharn. Watership down was phenomenal

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ThanksForAllTheCats@reddit

It was amazing. I was living with my grandmother when I read it and a neighbor had rabbits in hutches (which I later found out were basically just for food, regrettably). I used to go whisper to them in the rabbit language.

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shooshieshu@reddit

Omg The Borrowers! I will have to get that on my kindle!

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ThanksForAllTheCats@reddit

It’s a whole series! And looking up about it I discovered there was a BBC series made from the books in the 90s. I’m going to have to see if I could find that!

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shooshieshu@reddit

Wow, I'll have to look that up too!

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Perplexio76@reddit

I remember Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing and Super Fudge.

I also remember How to Eat Fried Worms, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Runaway Ralph, and Ralph S. Mouse.

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Mainesqueeze76@reddit

Choose Your Own Adventure books... The best!!

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LieOhMy@reddit

I still have a box full of them in a closet.

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CatPurrsonNo1@reddit

I always “died” SO FAST!!

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egordoniv@reddit

Sadistic bitches had us on the Iliad and the Odyssey when we were 8.

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

Damn! Those are some heartless wenches there. Lol

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Drachenfuer@reddit

OMG I was just thinking out of the blue about the toothpaste kid who made money by making and selling toothpaste just the other day! I could not for the life of me think of the name though. What was it called again?

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

The toothpaste millionaire

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Drachenfuer@reddit

Oh that was the actual title? Great, thanks!

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

Yep! 😊 You're welcome.

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KP-RNMSN@reddit

I loved the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, where you skipped around each time you read it.

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

And then you would go back and read it again and pick a different adventure, so that you've actually read every possible outcome LOL.

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sfdsquid@reddit

I remember being forced to read Johnny Tremaine in 3rd grade. I'm still mad about it.

I really don't recall anything else we were assigned in elementary school. I was a voracious reader on my own though.

Off the top of my head:

The Little House on the Prairie series

The Chronicles of Narnia series

Madeleine L'Engle's books

Judy Blume's books

All the Ramona Quimby books

How to Eat Fried Worms

... What still sticks in my mind most is The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. I fucking love that book.

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

We also had to read the Laura ingalls Wilder books because we lived in South Dakota so a lot of us could relate to the Long Cold winters and also I think Laura ingalls Wilder lived in South Dakota at one point, because there's a Laura ingalls Wilder museum in the town of DeSmet South Dakota. So she must have lived there at some point. I always found her life very fascinating.

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ApollyonMN@reddit

Fun fact: Roald Dahl was an acquaintance of Ian Fleming, as they both worked in British Intelligence.

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Fuzzy-Visit-7453@reddit

Loved The Westing Game too!!

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Peacanpiepussycat@reddit

I remember sneaking into my mom’s room to read Flowers in the Attic

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

If you've ever seen the movie Flowers in the Attic, that big mansion, the castle they are in my dad used to work there when he was a teenager as waiter for dinner parties. He said he'd get a tip sometimes of $5. He was loving it. Back then $5 went a long way!!!! I thought that was pretty cool.

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PM_ME_UR_FLOWERS@reddit

Haha! My mom didn't approve of VC Andrews either. Much too sexual. But that didn't stop me from reading the entire Heaven series!

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Soulshiner402@reddit

Encyclopedia Brown. Hardy Boys. The Toothpaste Millionaire was the one where the kid was selling it in jars in the beginning, yes? Alfred Hitchcock books as well.

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

I can't remember exactly how he sold it, it's very possible he used jars but it's just been too long for me to remember the details of it except for the fact that he made toothpaste and became a millionaire obviously LOL.

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ohb78@reddit

I’ve been trying to figure out the name of the series. there was a series about a friendly monster. Read it probably mid 80s in elementary school. Someone please help!!!!!!

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Reader47b@reddit

Monster Adventures Series by Ellen Blance? Meet Monster, Monster Has a Party, Monster Comes to the City, etc. It had a purple monster. 1970s series.

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ohb78@reddit

That’s the one! Thanks so much!! Was thinking it was a pink monster but it was purple. Appreciate the help!!

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Reader47b@reddit

Never heard of The Toothpaste Millionaire but now I'm intrigued. My favorite assigned books were Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil T. Frankwiler, Superfudge, and Danny the Champion of the World. On my own, I read a bunch more Roald Dahl, Judy Blume, and Beverley Cleary, but those were assigned.

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

The toothpaste millionaire is really a classic kids book. It's about a kid that makes toothpaste and turns it into some big company and becomes a millionaire. That's just the basics I can't remember the exact detail of everything about it but it really was interesting.

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Expensive_Air965@reddit

Oh I loved Beverly cleary. Ramona and Beatrice

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DogLady1722@reddit

YES!! I was trying to remember the names of those girls!!

I’m 56 years old, and I still remember one particular chapter from one of the books!

I believe it was Ramona, who had to be left alone in the morning to put herself on the bus.

Her mom told her to go outside at quarter after eight. She was still learning time , but she logically deducted that since a quarter is twenty five cents, that quarter after eight would be 25 minutes after eight.

But unfortunately, as we all know, she ended up missing the bus and had locked herself out of the house.

I always felt so bad for her that she got into trouble when she actually was really trying to be good at that time!

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KatJen76@reddit

I don't remember Toothpaste Millionaire, but I do remember Freckle Juice.

I loved Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary, best known as the author of the Ramona books. Zilpha Keatley Snyder was also a favorite because I enjoyed the same kind of imaginative play her characters engaged in: I too was always looking for Narnia or trying to jump into chalk drawings or playing Revolutionary War or summoning demons or whatever. I liked Caddie Woodlawn, Bridge to Terabithia and a bunch of other Katherine Patterson, Homecoming and the rest of Cynthia Voight's Diceyverse, Sweet Valley High, Babysitter's Club, Nancy Drew both classic and reboot, VC Andrews, Chronicles of Narnia, Prydain Chronicles, the Anastasia books, the Anne of Green Gables books and the rest of L.M. Montgomery's work, and probably more that I've forgotten. I was, and am, a big reader. It's probably my most consistent thing. It's rare that I don't have a book going.

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Expensive_Air965@reddit

I read all of the VC Andrews books too, but that definitely wasn't in elementary school. I started reading those probably when I was in 8th grade. Bridge to terabithia I had never even heard of until my son's class read it the year it came out in the movies so 2007. My defining memory of that movie is my son was reading it for school also and they were not supposed to read ahead because obviously there was a big event that they were supposed to discuss in class. They were only in 4th grade. Here it was 2:30 in the morning and all of a sudden I hear this blood curdling hysterical crying coming from my 9-year-olds bedroom because he had read ahead and he did not do well with the concept of death.

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Existing_Bluebird541@reddit

The Witches of Worm

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Pristine_Main_1224@reddit

Oh wow, I think we’re the same person. Or at least we have very similar taste in literature. I’ve never known anyone IRL who read ZKS - The Headless Cupid gave me nightmares but of course I read all the Stanley family books.

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KatJen76@reddit

That was a spooky one! And I tried to do all of those steps to become a witch or whatever, just like I tried to play The Egypt Game. I loved her books. I wrote to her for a class project, and she wrote back!

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CatPurrsonNo1@reddit

I don’t remember if I read Freckle Juice or not, but you solved a decades-long mystery for me by mentioning The Toothpaste Millionaire!!! I remember reading that book and thinking how cool that idea was. I would randomly think of it, but I had no clue what the title was, and by the time I COULD look it up, I would be distracted by other things.

Thank you!

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

You're welcome! Glad I could help!

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MangoOk2697@reddit

Judy Blume- Are You There God, it's me Margaret.

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shooshieshu@reddit

A right of passage! There were always a few braves dudes who would read it and walk around carrying it, lol! Very controversial in 5th grade!

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MangoOk2697@reddit

Ooh, I don't think we were "allowed" to take it out from the library until at least 6th grade. I think it's since been banned in some schools- such a shame- and then read Forever when I was a bit older.

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Ok-Actuator8579@reddit

Yes. I owned the Judy Blume series. I think 4th grade nothing may have been in middle school library. I don’t think the others were.

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TrapperJon@reddit

Five Chinese Brothers was a favorite when I was little.

Some others I remember liking over the years

Hatchet

My Side of the Mountain

Choose Your Own Adventure books

Indian in the Cupboard

Warhorse

And then I found Stephen King and HP Lovecraft.

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Expensive_Air965@reddit

Hatchet was great but that was middle school for me. I also loved the book. Good night Mr. Tom. And Lord of the flies was awesome

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Angelsunday@reddit

I loved Goodnight Mr. Tom! I read that right after reading The Lottery Rose. I was going through a phase of reading “sad, abused and neglected kids” books 😂

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mechamega@reddit

The giver

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mechamega@reddit

Roald Dahl, Ramona, Anastasia, so good

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Tandom@reddit

I was recently reminded Encyclopedia Brown was a fun series for young readers.

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CatPurrsonNo1@reddit

I read SO. MUCH. Lots of the books being mentioned here, but also Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Saul, VC Andrews, I read The Diary of Anne Frank, 1984, and I loved my dad’s collection of Man, Myth, and Magic!

I did love the Beezus and Ramona books, and Anastasia Krupnik— anyone remember that one?

I also read some very inappropriate stuff. Birth Without Violence was kind of scary. I am a little bit surprised that I still wanted kids after that one! And I swiped my parents’ copy of Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)!! Talk about inappropriate! Read the mofo cover-to-cover multiple times.

So many authors I’m forgetting. Poe. Kellerman.

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Ok-Change2292@reddit

VC Andrews was definitely inappropriate!!

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CatPurrsonNo1@reddit

LOL, yeah, those were bad. I read some romances, too, but horror and later mystery were my favorites.

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gravitydefiant@reddit

Freckle Juice is a Judy Blume book.

I honestly don't remember anything I read in school, but I was deeply obsessed with Nancy Drew and Little House books in my free time. And anything else I could get my hands on.

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MoaningLisaSimpson@reddit

Are you me. I had a lovely armoire that I used for all my books. My little house and my Nancy Drew all in a row.

The Little House books were such favourites. I couldn't stand the tv show at all.

This was the beginning of being a "the book is better than the movie* person.

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gravitydefiant@reddit

Ha! I liked the TV show ok, but I LOVED the books. And I got mad when the TV show diverged from the truth I knew in the books. The book is always better than the movie!

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Standard_Addition529@reddit

Our generation really did love to read. I'm still a lover of books today.

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callistacallisti@reddit

Bunnicula!

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ionchannels@reddit

I was too old for that series (1975)

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callistacallisti@reddit

I only read the first one -came out in 79

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ionchannels@reddit

I thought that series was late 80s. Ok I stand corrected thank you.

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callistacallisti@reddit

I think part of it was and went into the 90s, but I definitely read it in the early 80s (1972 here)!

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crazycatlady-7384@reddit

I read all the Judy Blume and Beverley Cleary books. I read the Trixie Belden series(my mother got me started on those), everything up until 1992. I read multiple times Black Beauty, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Charolotte's Web, Little Women, The Secret Garden, all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books available(even the Luttle House cookbook. My grandmother & I tried some of the recipes), Heidi, The Velveteen Rabbit. I also read The Call of the Wild, Oliver Twist, The Wind in the Willows. That's just from the classics. I read a little of paperbacks. I would read the set of encyclopedias, dad's hunting magazines, and newspapers when I ran out of books. I read a nursing school anatomy & physiology book in 6th grade to prepare for puberty & my period. I read a lot! So much I can't even name. I'm a bookworm.

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klements7@reddit

Anything by Beverly Cleary

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ceeece@reddit

How to Eat Fried Worms, Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, Beverly Cleary (Mouse and the Motorcycle),

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rcsanandreas@reddit

Where the Red Fern Grows Island of the Blue Dolphins Lord of the Flies Animal Farm

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Square-Wave5308@reddit

Jupiter Jones, Nancy Drew, and also an insane number of books that had been on the school library shelves since my parents were kids. Stories about growing up in NY tentaments, scraping by in the Great Depression, and surviving the blitz.

If you're a book lover, consider checking out A Mighty Girl. It's a book store, but they also maintain active social media and tie current news events to good choices of available fiction and nonfiction books.

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JustChemist8556@reddit

I forgot Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret.

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plnnyOfallOFit@reddit

we didn't have that junk tween genre available where i lived

Unless you count Judy Bloom?

Otherwise i read what my parents had around- autobiography of Isadora Duncan, the Whole Earth Catalogue, Studs Turkell -"working". "Silent Spring"by rachel carson.

I read all that by age 8

early reader here who had an existential crisis by age 19 🤣

[-]

248Spacebucks@reddit

Starring Sally J Freedman As Herself! I wanted a party line SO BAD after that so I could hear the neighbors convos 😂 My dad worked for the phone company and was appalled when I asked for one!

[-]

I_love_Hobbes@reddit

In addition to Judy Blume, etc I loved How to eat Fried Worms, Freaky Friday, Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. I cant remember too many more but I was a voracious reader.

In 6th grade I was voted the Greatest Reader. I was totally into grown up books by then and always had a book with me.

[-]

Standard-Cockroach64@reddit

Encyclopedia Brown....

[-]

shooshieshu@reddit

I own the Mrs Piggle Wiggle collection. I also bought the illustrated version of the Narnia books. Recently reread Island of the Blue Dolphins, the Phantom Tollbooth, amd Where the Red Fern Grows on my kindle. Love all the books I used to read in grade school.

[-]

missdawn1970@reddit

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle! I loved those books!

[-]

shooshieshu@reddit

They are so good!

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cfo6@reddit

I have my copies of Mrs Piggle Wiggle, too!

[-]

shooshieshu@reddit

Also forgot, I own the Little House books as well.

[-]

ChrystineDreams@reddit

I remember those but I more remember being told I could not bring The Hobbit for free reading time because it was beyond our level. Whatevs.

[-]

BearFLSTS@reddit

I hear ya! I was reading The Hobbit and all three Lord of the Rings by 3rd grade!

[-]

PetroleumVNasby@reddit

Then Again, Maybe I Won’t for all the 411 on nocturnal emissions.

[-]

Smellslikesnow@reddit

I’m a female and I loved Then Again, Maybe I Won’t

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PetroleumVNasby@reddit

It seemed like every thirteen year old girl had the whole set. So naturally I read my cousin’s one summer. Got the whole scoop.

[-]

Expensive_Air965@reddit

I just recently was in the dollar store and found a bunch of Judy blume books and I bought all of them. I just finished rereading Deenie and Blubber. My favorite books though were probably Madeline L'Engles series of A wrinkle in Time a wind in the door and a swiftly turning planet. I also loved The tales of a fourth grade Nothing series. I was also an avid babysitters club book fan.

[-]

xczechr@reddit

The Phantom Tollbooth

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TheJQN@reddit

I don’t remember reading the book, but my teacher definitely let us watch that movie!

[-]

Dare2BeU420@reddit

This was one of my favorites

[-]

JustChemist8556@reddit

Sweet Pickles!!

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Reader47b@reddit

I loved those. I was a little OCD kid and Nuts to Nightingale was supposed to teach me how uptight it is to constantly organize things and make schedules, and all I thought was - I'm going to make a schedule like Nightengale!

[-]

OkGeologist2229@reddit

YouTube has the old cartoons of Sweet Pickles. I show them to my 2nd grade class.

[-]

JustChemist8556@reddit

I guess I missed out on this. I only had the books? Now I gotta watch. Thank you.

[-]

OkGeologist2229@reddit

Please do!!

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exhaustedbut@reddit

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil T Frankweiler. Secrets if the Shopping Mall Jacob Two-two Meets the Hooded Fang

[-]

EyelanderSam@reddit

5 Chinese Brothers is Epic

The Great Brain

Alfred Hitchcock's Jupiter Jones and the 3 Investigators

[-]

NoKing9900@reddit

I liked the Encyclopedia Brown books. Also Pippi Longstockings

[-]

powercat24@reddit

Oh yes! Pippi Longstocking was a favorite...so much that I named my my daughter Annika after Pippi's neighbor!

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Aggressive-Bath-1906@reddit

I used to love reading Encyclopedia Brown!

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mossberbb@reddit

There's a detective name I've not heard in a while.

[-]

missdawn1970@reddit

I read a ton of Judy Blume in elementary school: Freckle Juice, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Blubber, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. There were probably others that I can't remember (There was also Deenie by Judy Blume, but I read that in middle school).

Also the Little House series and the Great Brain series, and The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.

[-]

slipperytornado@reddit

Tales of a fourth grade nothing, a wrinkle in time, dandelion wine, something wicked this way comes

[-]

Illustrious-Card-985@reddit

Mine were The Mouse and the Motorcycle series. I also read Encyclopedia Brown, and lots of other things I wasn't supposed to read... Ellery Queen, among others!

[-]

psyco75@reddit

A taste of blackberries is probably one of the best books I read in elementary school. However in 5th grade we read animal farm.

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powercat24@reddit

Hachet was my first chapter book I read on my own. We also read Night of the Twisters and Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry. That one stayed with me for a long time.

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Affectionate_Log_218@reddit

I loved the fabulous Mr fox!

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Affectionate_Band_16@reddit

The Great Brain series.

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cfo6@reddit

The one where he ran the candy business has stuck in my head for decades.

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Affectionate_Log_218@reddit

Encyclopedia brown

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Lightningstruckagain@reddit

Toothpaste Millionaire was so cool.
The Pushcart Wars is still my all time favorite.

[-]

OkGeologist2229@reddit

Mr. and Mrs. books.

[-]

GreatOne1969@reddit

Conan.

We had a teacher who strongly encouraged reading, anything. Some read Sports magazine, a lot read Tolkien, I read REH Conan series. 😝

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sjbluebirds@reddit

SuperWeasel

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ViewfromMyOfcWindow@reddit

I love it so much! I actually ordered a copy and am going to read it again soon.

[-]

sjbluebirds@reddit

I'm pulling This out of my butt, but wasn't the kids name Alvin Fernald? His best friend was Shoeie or Shoe or something like that?

[-]

PsychologicalSwing69@reddit

The Boxcar Children series!

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PM_ME_UR_FLOWERS@reddit

I like to find the books I read as a child and put the audiobooks on to help me fall asleep. It's a good way to shut off the noise inside my head without adding the tension of a story I'm hearing for the first time. I just finished The Phantom Tollbooth and I'm doing A Little Princess. Pretty sad book, but I know how it ends, so it's all right.

[-]

rcr13@reddit

Ones that taught us how to spell out elementary.

[-]

Strangely-addictive@reddit

I read every Enid Blyton book available: The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, Mallory Towers, Mystery Series, Adventure Series...I loved all of them.

[-]

IRingTwyce@reddit

So are we not going to talk about Where The Red Fern Grows??

[-]

FingerDemon500@reddit

My wife wanted my son to have some good books one summer and she bought Where The Red Fern Grows, Old Yellar, and some other sad one. I asked if she was trying to give him clinical depression. Turns out she forgot how sad they were, she only remembered they were good books. Needless to say we mixed it up with some lighter books.

[-]

Alarming_Air_6893@reddit

Hatchet, anyone?

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Lonely_Owl_3@reddit

No. We must never speak of it.

[-]

icrossedtheroad@reddit

How about Summer of the Monkeys or Island of the Blue Dolphins?

[-]

mossberbb@reddit

Nebraska public school:

Across Five April's (civil war) Onion John Which of Blackbird Pond Black Like Me Zindel Pigman The Outsiders Lizard Music - Pinkwater Alan Mendelson and the boy from Mars

[-]

Gudakesa@reddit

I read Onion John! Nobody else I’ve mentioned it to has ever heard of it.

[-]

TheRealCabbageJack@reddit

I remember the toothpaste millionaire! What's the dang title of that one?! I read it so much! "Then again, maybe I won't" was another favorite of mine.

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Severe_Feedback_2590@reddit

Nancy Drew in the first grade. Jackie Collin’s in 3rd.

[-]

Ssgt_Winstead@reddit

Sweet Pickles

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Zealousideal-Ice-814@reddit

The three Billy Goats Gruff and Where the Wild things are! I loved to read them in elementary school in the 70s

[-]

jellitate@reddit

I was reading all the books I shouldn’t have been reading in elementary school, starting in fourth grade with Funhouse.

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Diasies_inMyHair@reddit

My third grade teacher read James and the Giant Peach out loud to us - a chapter or so every day right after we got back from lunch.

I read Freckle Juice on my own the following year. Other favorites were books like - The Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Amy Moves In. How to Eat Fried Worms. The Bridge to Terabithia.

[-]

carolinaredbird@reddit

How to eat fried worms was one of my favorites

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Kodiak01@reddit

In 2nd grade (1982) I did a book report on Arthur C Clarke's The Sands Of Mars.

I was slightly ahead of the rest of my class in reading comprehension at the time...

[-]

ThisIsAllTheoretical@reddit

All the Ramona Quimby books. I acted out scenes in my verbal book reports and was a big deal in my third grade class because of it. 😂

[-]

carolinaredbird@reddit

I felt like I was Ramona!

[-]

PishPosh-01@reddit

“This Place has no Atmosphere” by Paula Danziger

I don’t remember all of the details, but I remember loving the book. I got it for my daughter last summer. She loved it too and has read it twice.

[-]

cowbud1@reddit

There was a series about Katie John. I read them all and loved them.

[-]

dirtybo0ts@reddit

They Cage the Animals at Night.

That childhood read has stuck with me for years.

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Bahlore@reddit

I used to love Encyclopedia Brown and choose your own adventure books "if you wan to do x, turn to page 16!"

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OrcaFins@reddit

Julie of the Wolves

Island of the Blue Dolphins

[-]

mossberbb@reddit

Grit your teeth

I'm speaking wolf!

[-]

FrizkyDevil@reddit

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breadmaker2022@reddit

I read a lot that have already been mentioned.

Witch of Blackbird Pond is another of the Newberry books that gave me nightmares.

The Borrowers was a set I checked out of the school library every year.

[-]

chocolateandpretzles@reddit

Babysitters club books and sweet valley high. All of the Judy Blume books and every Ramona book and other Beverly Cleary books. Encyclopedia Brown choose your own ending books.

[-]

molleensmrs@reddit

How to eat fried worms? Anyone?

[-]

Upper_Economist7611@reddit

Yessss!

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CorrectCondition9458@reddit

The Happy Hollesters series. I discovered these in a cabinet in a house my mom was cleaning. Went with her every week so I could read next book. There were about 20 books. I think I was about 8 or 9. Also anything else I could get my hands on. Even today I always have a book with me.

[-]

KP-RNMSN@reddit

Oh gosh, I haven’t thought of that series in years! So good!

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HighSideSurvivor@reddit

I remember my first grade teacher reading Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to the class. Apparently the other kids were not in to it, so she stopped and chose a different book. I must have mentioned to my mother about having liked the book, because soon after my teacher gave it to me to read on my own. I then also read the sequel (The Great Glass Elevator?). I loved those books.

In contrast, a few years later we were made to read Death Be Not Proud and A Taste of Blackberries. Apparently my fourth grade teacher was into mortality.

[-]

Puceguy55@reddit

Luke Baldwin’s Vow

Lost In The Barrens

Moonfleet

[-]

Pittsnogled@reddit

Freckle Juice

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Consistent_Term_8098@reddit

I owned the toothpaste millionaire! I think my daughter has it now!

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Reasonable-Mirror-15@reddit

I won the 4th grade spelling bee and got a certificate for $5 to spend on the scholastic book club. That was a lot of money to spend in those days! I think I bought a few of The Black Stallion books.

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KikiDKimono@reddit

My 8 year old nephew read Freckle Juice this year.

[-]

JenLiv36@reddit

I didn’t read the Toothpaste Millionaire but definitely Freckle Juice( I still remember the magic of that book). I was an avid reader but let’s be real, I’m that GenX meme where they talk about reading Stephen King way too young.

Don’t get me wrong I read all the Dr. Seuss, Raold Dahl, Judy Blume, Ann M Martin, Lois Lowry, Christopher Pike… but I also read Stephen King, Dean R Koontz, VC Andrew’s, Clive Barker by 5th and 6th grade lol.

By 7th grade I was into Anne Rice, HP Lovecraft, Oscar Wilde, Peter Straub.

High School was Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Anaïs Nin, Henry Miller, William S Burroughs, Alice Walker, more Clive Barker and Anne Rice🤦‍♀️. Kids today would be pearl clutching over what a lot of us were reading.

[-]

jestingvixen@reddit

The rule in my house was if you can reach out you can read it.

....I was (am) a climber.

May I suggest Clive Cussler? They're predictable but satisfying.

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silkywhitemarble@reddit

Too many of us were reading VC Andrews at too young of an age!

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icrossedtheroad@reddit

My Sweet Audrina!

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SoftOssification@reddit

During the VC Andrew’s and Koontz era was also reading the clan of the cave bears series. Again… wayyyy too young for all the explicit scenes… wonder if any of that cap has been banned…. Or if it’s just authors like Morrison, Angelou and Walker?

[-]

icrossedtheroad@reddit

Yup!

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Sassacatty@reddit

I was doing the same! At the same inappropriate ages! I read Forever by Just Blume when I was in like 5th grade!

The books I remember reading and loving so much in elementary school were The Great Brain books! Anyone else read them? So good. Also, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and the Fudge books.

[-]

Ray_The_Engineer@reddit

I re-read From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler a year or so ago, and enjoyed it. In around 4th-5th grade, I also discovered a couple of books in our school library, which were compilations of Boy's Life short stories about a bunch of kids that discover and operate a time machine, written by Donald Keith. It was when I really veered into sci-fi, and started discovering Asimov, Frank Herbert, etc.

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aMoose_Bit_My_Sister@reddit

we would order paperbacks from Tab and Arrow.

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Standard_Addition529@reddit

Definitely Freckle Juice and I think it was called Hey God it's me Margaret. I can't remember if I read that on my own or for school though.

[-]

Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

Are you there God it's me Margaret.

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icrossedtheroad@reddit

I still haven't seen the movie they made. Although, Tiger Eyes was an EXCELLENT movie.

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Historical_Bath_9854@reddit

I remember that book!

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Standard_Addition529@reddit

Okay Okay, I knew it was God and Margaret something. Lol

[-]

Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

😁

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Sufficient-Ad1396@reddit

I learned to read with, I believe they were called, "Fun with Dick and Jane" series. See Spot. See Spot run. Run Spot run. In the 1950s.

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Previous_Wedding_577@reddit

When my daughter was in elementary school, I got so excited when the scholastic catalogue came home. I got the My Side of the Mountain trilogy for myself. I've read it a few times since then and she just turned 29 less than 2 weeks ago.

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icrossedtheroad@reddit

I would read my Judy Blume collection to my kid starting when they were a toddler!

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JillieBeets@reddit

I loved John Bellairs’ creepy books (one was A House With a Clock in its Walls). Many had little illustrations by Edward Gorey that I loved.

Different author but I also liked The Witch of Blackbird Pond

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icrossedtheroad@reddit

Ooohhh, my favorite was a ghost story called Jane-Emily. Found it on eBay in 2001. I'm still looking for a book about an odd girl that had to move in with family and weird dream stains started appearing on the walls. I forget the rest, but I loved those kind of books. Jesus, I read The Neighbors in the 6th grade. That book was nasty and weird! I still have a copy of that, too. Also, My Sweet Audrina...

[-]

Snaka1@reddit

I’ve still got my copy of The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Cool book

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icrossedtheroad@reddit

I chose to read Freckle Juice. Judy Blume was my jam. There was a book called Lizard Radio or TV that I was made to read. I loved it and tried to find it for my kid. What I bought WAS NOT the book of my childhood. Hell, if anyone can help?
Also, plenty of Steinbeck, but I live in that area, sooo....

[-]

Sassacatty@reddit

When I was young elementary school I loved the Dorrie the Witch books. There were a whole bunch of them. Dorrie and the Witch’s Imp, Dorrie and the Birthday Eggs, Dorrie and the Goblin, etc.

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Reasonable-Mirror-15@reddit

My dad taught me to read before I even went to elementary school. I remember learning on the Little Golden books. I loved stories about horses so my dad bought me fiction and nonfiction books. My dad had a rule that for every 2 fiction books I read I had to read a nonfiction book. Some of the more popular kids books mentioned here I never read. By the time I was in third grade, I was reading Tolkien, Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, and all the classics. My dad passed when I was 10 and I coped by reading even more. One of my favorite books was a book on the American revolution, I would check it out of the library every week. My family talks about how I always have a book with me even to this day.

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dadsgoingtoprison@reddit

Beverly clearly books, Judy Blume, all the Little house on the prairie books.

[-]

therealcmj@reddit

The Great Brain? Anyone else remember this series?

[-]

Sassacatty@reddit

I should have scrolled farther because I just wrote the same thing. Loved those Great Brain books so much!

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ionchannels@reddit

omg, loved those - There were like 10 of them IIRC. I wanted to visit Salt Lake City after reading those.

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Many_Ad955@reddit

That was my favorite!

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Willow_Alley@reddit

Ramona the Brave!

[-]

JJQuantum@reddit

The Call of the Wild by Jack London was the first book I ever read that really spoke to me, I think maybe the 4th grade?

[-]

JMLKO@reddit

Henry Reed series

[-]

OpheliaMorningwood@reddit

Johnny Tremaine, The World of Ben Lightheart

[-]

johntwoods@reddit

Space Station Seventh Grade

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Dawner444@reddit

Anything I could get my hands on. I was a voracious reader and would sometimes read a book a day. Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, Sweet Valley High, anything published by Bantam, Silhouette, First Love, Scholastic, and Choose Your Own Adventure to name a few. Crystal High was a series my sister and I loved that no one seems to remember. My aunt had no idea Forever was not for kiddos and bought it for us lol. That book made the rounds and we did not get it back for 3 years! Middle school was Danielle Steele and V.C. Andrews. They really could not have cared less about us, could they?

[-]

Ok-Pomegranate2000@reddit

May I Cross Your Golden River and Island of the Blue Dolphins

[-]

Quix66@reddit

The Toothpaste Millionaire!

[-]

maxwellgrounds@reddit

The House with a Clock in its Walls

[-]

cougarliscious@reddit

THIS! I remember it being SO scary

[-]

Outrageous_Act585@reddit

Bunnicula and the Celery Stalks at midnight!

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PoorLikaFatWalletLst@reddit

Yep, and How to eat fried worms!

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Sorry-Government920@reddit

The Encyclopedia brown kid detective series.

[-]

JasonMaggini@reddit

Those were my go-to for school book sales.

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EdgeOfThorns76@reddit

I was on an eighth grade reading level by the time I was in first grade, so I didn't read too many typical kids' books in my elementary school years. I read Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden in second grade. By third grade I was reading my mom's Victoria Holt novels. By fourth grade I was sneak-reading the Stephen King books she would check out of the library.

I did read some more YA type books, like Christopher Pike, but Judy Blume and stuff like that I was done with by first grade.

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SunshineAlways@reddit

Lol, I had forgotten about reading mom’s Victoria Holt books!

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zoestar198728@reddit

I read all the Judy Blume books

[-]

iloveairportsushi@reddit

Don’t call me sugar baby

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Dawner444@reddit

Tiger Eyes!! I forgot about that one.

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sirenlorelei511@reddit

The main reading I remember wasn’t a book but a short story.

The Veldt by Ray Bradbury.

Read it in 4th grade as part of the Great Books program. Now that’s a friggin creepy story!

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Corteran@reddit

Tales of a fourth grade nothing.

[-]

tatertaunt@reddit

Superfudge

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tabicat1874@reddit

The Twins books.

[-]

Quirky_Ball_3519@reddit

I loved snobby Lila Fowler and the Unicorn club. They were the worst.

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ionchannels@reddit

Gordan Korman, Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, Hardy Boys Case Files, Walter Farley (Black Stallion and Island Stallion series), Susan Cooper trilogy to name a few. Elementary school 1981-1985 and middle school 1986-1988.

[-]

Biskit90@reddit

+++ Black Stallion series

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TwoBitFish@reddit

Every Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume book I could get. I already owned all the Nancy Drew’s and Tricia Belden’s. And some Bobbsey Twins.

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brendini511@reddit

I still have my Trixie Belden books. I managed to collect the rest of the 39 books as an adult.

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ApollyonMN@reddit

As a "tough guy," Where the Red Fern Grows was the first book I remember reading that made me cry. I read many books about animals: a couple of Jack London's, Old Yeller, and Where the Red Fern Grows stuck with me.

[-]

SkinTeeth4800@reddit

I read a paper that asserted the thesis that kids' books about pets & other innocent animals tragically dying (or having to be put down because of rabies or a broken spine) were metaphors for children growing up into teens or adults and having to discard their young personalities in favor of the formation of their new, responsibility-having, 90% less whimsical older selves.

[-]

carlivar@reddit

The girl with the silver hair

From the mixed up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

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MoaningLisaSimpson@reddit

From the Mixed up Files ... How I loved that book.. I still think "tonight we will take a very long bath" if I see a fountain full of coins.

I loved Harriet the Spy too.i swear there was a "kids having adventures in New York City" subset of Noveks that I loved.

[-]

DooganC@reddit

Summer of the Monkeys

Slaughterhouse 5 (that should not have been in the elementary library)

Of Mice and Men

LOTR, & Hobbit

Sherlock Holmes, Hounds of Baskervilles

CS Lewis, Narnia books (all)

To Kill a Mockingbird

Hamlet, MacBeth, and a few minor plays.

[-]

Thirty_Helens_Agree@reddit

Flowers for Algernon

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

[-]

Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

I loved Flowers for Algernon. That was such a good book.

[-]

ionchannels@reddit

Lol, my mother said it was trash and despite that, I still didn't read it 😂

[-]

UnicornFarts1111@reddit

You should read it now. Seriously. It is that good of a book.

[-]

ApollyonMN@reddit

You can't stop at LWW w/ C.S. Lewis. You MUST complete the whole Chronicles of Narnia series.

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Smellslikesnow@reddit

I’m Canadian. We read about Mr Mugs, a giant English Sheepdog.

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Previous_Wedding_577@reddit

I'm canadian and I remember Clifford

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Perle1234@reddit

My parents made me go to church school until I revolted in the 6th grade. I read the bible until I found my mom’s romance novels and Stephen king books 🥲

[-]

UnicornFarts1111@reddit

And the bible still had more sex and violence than Stephen King or a romance novel, lol.

[-]

Bibliophilewitch@reddit

Encyclopedia Brown! Loved him.

[-]

Bibliophilewitch@reddit

God i LOVED freckle juice!!

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Many_Ad955@reddit

The Dark is Rising Series by Susan Cooper

[-]

ThanksForAllTheCats@reddit

I still remember the beginning of the poem! When the Dark is rising, six shall turn it back. Three from the circle, three from the track. Damn, that’s a 50 year old memory.

[-]

vin4thewin@reddit

The Great Brain books and anything about baseball.

[-]

Inevitable-Local7847@reddit

Walk the World’s Rim, which I was convinced was a figment of my imagination because I’ve never heard anyone else mention it. I looked it up recently and discovered that it was indeed a real book. Another one was The Endless Steppe. That was also pretty grim.

[-]

Katsaj@reddit

I’ve never seen The Endless Steppe mentioned anywhere, but it made a big impact on me.

[-]

Smellslikesnow@reddit

I read The Endless Steppe in sixth grade. I loved it!

[-]

MrMilesRides@reddit

A bunch of mine have already been listed, including some I would've completely forgot about, but I'll add:

Who Is Bugs Potter? / Live at Nickaninny, and maybe there was a third-?

The MacDonald Hall books

The Borribles! / Borribles Go For Broke.

Left-Handed Shortstop

I also remember finding a few books from a children's horror author when I was maybe 7 that were so over the top creepy for a kid - I wish I could find them again. Probably late 60s, way before the Goosebumps books - one involved a possessed plush doll with fish hooks on its arms that terrorized the kids in the book (and me too tbh 😁).

[-]

Smellslikesnow@reddit

I reread the first two Adrian Mole books then continued rereading them for a year or so.

[-]

MinusGovernment@reddit

I went to a small Lutheran grade school (around 20 kids in each grade year give or take from pre-k through 6th) for reference.

I had to read The Hobbit in 4th grade and at first I thought it was the most boring book ever with its vivid and detailed description of every plant/tree/building, etc and nothing exciting really happening. Once the adventure started I didn't want to stop reading it and couldn't believe it was the same book that made me want to gouge my eyes out 50 pages earlier.

Another book from then I've never heard anyone talk about was "David and the Phoenix". It was a very engrossing book and had all kinds of magical and mythical creatures involved throughout. Nobody has ever known what I was talking about outside the kids I went to school with. It was just one of the books the teacher would read a portion in class everyday after lunch/recess to get everyone back in learning mode before we started actual lessons again.

[-]

Existing_Bluebird541@reddit

Roald Dahl

[-]

lobaybliss@reddit

Esio Trot

[-]

Aggressive-Bath-1906@reddit

Where the Red Fern Grows.

[-]

ionchannels@reddit

It's funny - that fell off the Elementary school reading list around 2012 in WA state.

[-]

Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

Sad sad book.

[-]

CivilBridge7792@reddit

My trauma is kicking in just seeing the name of the book!

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pqcoyote@reddit

Most of the Newbery award books and some Caldecot awarded ones. Our school library had a list of them on the top edge on a big poster and kids names down the side and they would put a star by each one you read. I really enjoyed reading them

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ionchannels@reddit

Fond memories - and my children did the exact same thing, including my current 7-yr old daughter.

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Apprehensive_One6930@reddit

The White Mountains still think about it today bc all we are here for is working for the Tripods

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Nervous_Diver9522@reddit

Bridge to Terebithia :(

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ionchannels@reddit

hit me hard as a 5th grader

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Katsaj@reddit

Something reminded me of the Encyclopedia Brown books recently. I think I read all the books my small town library had—all of Judy Bloom’s books, the Ramona books, Little House on the Prairie series, Madeline L’Engle… I think Bridge to Terabithia might be the first book that broke my heart.

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

We also read the Little House on the prairie books because we lived in South Dakota at the time and at one point so did Laura ingalls Wilder so we were very into her past especially the winters. The Long Cold Winters

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Trike117@reddit

The Outsiders 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Mrs. Mike 👎🏻

The Pigman 👎🏻👎🏻

A Separate Peace 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

The outsiders was such a great book had me completely in shambles at the end.

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Trike117@reddit

I liked that book so much that I immediately read the sequel *That Was Then, This Is Now*. That was the first time I encountered the main characters of one book being the minor characters in the other. I thought that was incredibly cool. The fact Susan Hinton was only 17 when she wrote *The Outsiders* blew my mind.

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

I read rumble Fish directly after I read The outsiders because I was so much into SE Hinton at the time.

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IUIUIUIUIUIUIUIUI@reddit

Blubber

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Cute_Conclusion_1355@reddit

I loved this book!

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1leftbehind19@reddit

Nancy Drew and the case of the mysteriously light dime bag.

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JL526@reddit

-On The Banks Of Plum Creek -my fave of the series from Laura Ingells Wilder -Nancy Drew Series -Deenie (Judy Blume) pretty racy for 5th grade but I still loved it!

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HeyNow646@reddit

May I Cross Your Golden River taught me empathy as a 7th grader. I remember A Cricket in Times Square fondly. I had a copy of the Newberry Award poster and I would mark them off as I read them. Good times. I spent my summers sitting in Maple and Apple trees reading.

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LagrangianMechanic@reddit

50 Ways to Eat Fried Worms
The Toothpaste Millionaire
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Superfudge

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FunkyPete@reddit

Did you read Dream of the Blue Heron? I think I read your whole list but that one meant a lot to me too. https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/DREAM-BLUE-HERON-Barnouw-Victor-Illustrated/713526437/bd

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ogtinwhiaker@reddit

I remember Slugs … and another one about a kid who got braces and started picking up radio stations ? Cant remember the name of that one.

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Odd_Astronomer_8804@reddit

I remember reading The Boxcar Children, Hardy Boys, Amelia Bedelia, Pippi Longstocking, Ramona, The Mouse and the Motorcycle

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zionzednem@reddit

Superfudge!!!

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Tim-no@reddit

And “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing”

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

Oh my God how did I forget super fudge. That was a classic.

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Tiny-Blood-619@reddit

How to Eat Fried Worms was one of my favorites. That and the Mouse and the Motorcycle books.

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

Oh my God I totally forgot about The mouse and the motorcycle books!

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Jethris@reddit

I loved The Great Brain books, or the Choose Your Own Adventure ones.

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ApollyonMN@reddit

Literally was thinking about Basil today.

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nv-erica@reddit

I’m so classically Gen X I guess I’m irritated by the way you had to abbreviate “elementary” and capitalized “in. “

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

Glad to here It. Think u'll be able 2 sleep tonite? 😆

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nv-erica@reddit

I’m just saying. Of course I will. But honestly, ours is the last generation that gives a shit about punctuation and capitalization.

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Trike117@reddit

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

😘

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Theflyinghillbilly3@reddit

Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators. Ghosts I Have Been, and The Ghost Belonged To Me. Every book about horses ever written.

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Puzzled_Priority186@reddit

How to eat fried worms

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Tiny-Blood-619@reddit

I just posted that book. Loved it so much!

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

Yes! I remember that too.

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Alansmithee69@reddit

I packed my trunk and went to Squintum. Love that book!

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mad_dog1985@reddit

The box car children. And Charlotte 's web.

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LadyNorbert@reddit

I had Freckle Juice! I genuinely don't remember anything I was required to read, though, except for the reading textbooks which bored me to tears. I was that annoying kid who started school already knowing how to read, so I usually got to sit in the back of the room and read whatever I wanted.

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Adventurous-Fee-8158@reddit

Ramona books by Beverly Cleary

Judy Blume Everything

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ScabieBaby@reddit

A Wrinkle In Time

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DrgSlinger475@reddit

That was a favorite. I still read the trilogy every few years.

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

Yep. I do remember that one too now. Also I think we read The wind in the willows.

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Chibi-Skyler@reddit

I remember during Library Hour, we'd sometimes watch film strips based on books. Some that I remember:

James and the Giant Peach

A Wrinkle in Time

My Brother, Sam, is Dead

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Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit (OP)

Oh I forgot about that book. Tales of the Fourth grade nothing. Great book. I was also into those choose your own adventure books. Those were the best.

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Solid_Association_49@reddit

Bruno and boots! There were a few of them