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August 14, 2006
Novels I Loved When I Was Ten
My dad taught me to read when I was really young, so by the time I was ten or so, I thought I was Hot Shit. I read as many books as I could from the Young Adult section of the Hutchinson, Kansas library. I read a LOT of books about ghosts, UFOs, and Bigfoot / Loch Ness Monster. I conned my mom into letting me read her treasured true-crime paperbacks.
But I probably read novels the most. As you can see by this list, I wasn't exactly seeking out the most obscure stuff. But here were twelve of my favorites.
(Pictured above: (first row) Gertrude Chandler Warner, THE BOXCAR CHILDREN (my all-time favorite kids' book--honestly, I read it more than 30 times); L. Frank Baum, THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ; Helen Fuller Orton, MYSTERY IN THE PIRATE OAK (actually, I liked MYSTERY UP THE WINDING STAIR better, but I couldn't find a photo of it); Thomas Rockwell, HOW TO EAT FRIED WORMS; (second row) Mary Norton, THE BORROWERS; Donald J. Sobol, ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN: BOY DETECTIVE (I devoured all of these in the series); Gary Paulsen, HATCHET; E.L. Konigsburg, FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER; (third row) Paul Zindel, THE PIGMAN (I thought I was cool for reading this teenage book when I wasn't yet a teenager); William Golding, LORD OF THE FLIES (same goes for this, and it probably turned me gay); S.E. Hinton, THE OUTSIDERS; Judy Blume, THEN AGAIN, MAYBE I WON'T (I wrote my first 'fan letter' to her, and she wrote back. This was one of my most treasured keepsakes until my stepfather mistakenly tossed it into the trash a decade later).
Posted by scottheim at August 14, 2006 09:19 PM
Comments
I had totally forgotten about the Borrowers--I loved those books. From the mixed up Files was my fave, but growing up in Omaha I thought they lived in Green Witch, Connecticut. Also Mrs. Frisby. Great collage, though
Posted by: Brad at August 24, 2006 02:13 PM
Oh my GOD I still remember reading the Pigman and crying my eyes out when I was about eight or nine. My parents were having a dinner party and my mom came in to investigate. I was too embarrassed to tell her it was this book with a weird title so I just pretended I had a stomachache.
Posted by: Amy at August 24, 2006 10:02 AM
What about THE THING AT THE FOOT OF THE BED?
Posted by: tamyra at August 23, 2006 05:57 PM
I love SE Hinton books. I have a signed paperback collection of her books that a friend bought me one christmas (She came to a town about 40 miles away from me to do a signing and I never knew - I actually cried when I found out I'd missed her)
I remember kids at school passing round photocopies of the rude bits from Judy Blumes 'Forever' when I was at school. Thank god the name Ralph is rare these days!
Posted by: Billy Prior at August 23, 2006 02:35 PM
This is another test.
Posted by: Michael at August 23, 2006 11:41 AM
This is another test message.
Posted by: Michael at August 23, 2006 11:36 AM
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