Top Ten books I wish I'd read as a kid...
- Watership Down by x--I have never read this book and feel like I've missed out on something basic in our culture
- The Wizard of Oz--yes, yes, I've seen the movie more times than I care to count, but I never read the book
- Ann McCaffrey's Dragon books--As a pre-teen all my friends read these books and I didn't. I felt SO out of it when they talked about them, but dragons just weren't/aren't my thing.
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry--I read this last year with my daughter and LOVED it
- Fiction with girls doing sports--Title IX didn't exist until I was 7 years old and so fiction starring athletic girls took a generation until it was available
Ok, so it turns out that I read mostly what I wish I had as a kid. The rest of this list contains books that I wish had existed when I was a kid (1960s to the early 1980s), but weren't published until I was older
- The Giver and other books by Lois Lowry--Do I even need to explain why?
- Harry Potter books--I loved these as an adult and would have devoured them as a pre-teen
- Laurie Halse Anderson's historical fiction--If I had read Chains, Forge, and Fever 1793 maybe I would have liked U.S. history better growing up
- War Horse--Michael Morpurgo just knows how to put together a story!
- Books like Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelen--I wish I'd read books about far away places and people that I could relate to. I was a kid who was interested in the world and books like this would have made me read, read, read
8 comments
Roll the Thunder, Hear Me Cry should have been on my list, too. I made an original list in my head and then forgot a bunch of the books when I Actually created the blog post. Thanks for stopping by!
-Anne
Headfullofbooks
Good list, Helen. I also missed Watership Down -- maybe a read-along is in order!
Watership Down is a good one! I've been meaning to read that one for a while now
Great list. So many books that would have improved my life...had they existed when I was young...or if I had discovered them when I was younger.
Anne--Throughout the day I kept remember books that would have been good to have on the list; I think that's not a surprise as there are so many good ones out there!
Connolly-Ahern and 1girl2manybooks--I don't know if I'll ever read Watership Down. And, since I didn't read it, my daughter didn't either
Tribute--thanks
Deb--I agree. I realized there were all these wonderful kids books that weren't even published when I was a kid
+JMJ+
I guess you were a "free-range" reader, too, who got lucky to stumble upon the perfect books? =) While I'm glad I grew up that way, I kind of wish someone had been around to guide me a little, too. "Oh, you like that, do you? Then you'll love this!"
Had that been the case, I think I would have read some of the books on my own list much earlier!
I would have loved to grow up with the Harry Potter books and also LHA's works. I would have had a splendid childhood then. :)
Enbrethiliel--I love that phrase: a free range reader! I'll have to remember that one. A little guidance wouldn't have been so bad.
Aths--Harry Potter and LHA would have made me so happy as a child!
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