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What Is the First Book You Remember Reading?

September 7, 2011 by Nathan Bransford 143 Comments

Books are an incredibly formative part of all of our lives.

The books we read as children stick with us forever – many of us can remember trying telekinesis after reading Matilda, imagining living on our own in the wilderness after reading Hatchet or My Side of the Mountain, searching the backs of closets for a door to Narnia after reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, or dreaming of escaping into the Met after From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

But what is the first book you remember reading? Not being read to you, but actually reading yourself?

For me it’s The Little Engine That Could. What about you?

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: book recommendations, You Tell Me

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. MThomas says

    September 7, 2011 at 11:30 pm

    Hop on Pop, Dr Seus. Or was it Are You My Mother? Always Seus

    Reply
  2. Karen A. Chase says

    September 7, 2011 at 11:30 pm

    The Tiny, Tawny Kitten. The Saggy, Baggy Elephant. Both by Golden Books. Both about growing into yourself.

    Reply
  3. Kristin Laughtin says

    September 7, 2011 at 11:36 pm

    THE VELVETEEN RABBIT, although I'm certain my parents had also read it to me before. I became very scared for my toys, especially if I had a cold. I'm only glad I had already had the chicken pox by that point!

    Reply
  4. Barbara Forte Abate says

    September 7, 2011 at 11:42 pm

    Dick and Jane. My uncle was the principal at an elementary school and he gave us an entire set of readers that were being discarded. I was crazy in love with Baby Sally and that cool little pedal car she had. I read those books for years.

    Reply
  5. Bookish says

    September 8, 2011 at 12:09 am

    A Wrinkle in Time.

    It's the first book that I really LOVED. Still remember wrapping my mind around the concept of the title. I was fascinated!

    Reply
  6. e_journeys says

    September 8, 2011 at 12:10 am

    Two books stand out the most, though I don't remember if they were actually the very first that I read. One was a fabulously illustrated collection of Japanese folk tales. I forget the name of the collection, but those tales appear in the Mukashibanaski Library. The ones I remember best are "The Gratitude of the Samebito" and "The Boy Who Drew Cats". The other "first book" I remember is my favorite from Dr. Seuss, On Beyond Zebra.

    Reply
  7. Karen Adair says

    September 8, 2011 at 12:37 am

    It was a Little Golden book called Nancy plays Nurse. Loved that book…

    Reply
  8. Ishta Mercurio says

    September 8, 2011 at 12:56 am

    Spot! The first one. I was so shocked and excited when those letters and words finally made sense, I couldn't wait to get home and read it to my mom. And it hit me so suddenly, too – like someone had flipped a switch in my brain. I can still feel it in my hands, and see the pages…

    Thanks for the happy reminder!

    Reply
  9. Diane Landy says

    September 8, 2011 at 1:05 am

    Where the Wild Things Are (the only bookstore book my mother ever gave me), Fletcher Hatches an Egg (a dog "hatches" himself to compete with cute chicks), The Carousel (where horses come to life, leap off the carousel, and take two sisters on a New York adventure), The ??? Boys to the Rescue (woodland animals rescue an oh-so-very-hungry baby bear's mama from the circus), and Dick & Jane (oops… I just dated myself!).

    Reply
  10. Sanna says

    September 8, 2011 at 1:19 am

    Harold and the Purple Crayon

    Reply
  11. Suzie F. says

    September 8, 2011 at 1:25 am

    Two books I first loved and read –Frederick by Leo Lionni and Crictor by Tomi Ungerer

    Reply
  12. Mark says

    September 8, 2011 at 2:17 am

    Little Toot and/or Big Max. I read both many times.

    Reply
  13. Linda Godfrey says

    September 8, 2011 at 2:41 am

    The Cat in the Hat. The rhymes sounded like magic and I wanted to learn to read the magic by myself.

    Reply
  14. Deri says

    September 8, 2011 at 3:24 am

    I had an enormous library of children's books already accumulated at birth, since I'm the youngest of six and my mom really appreciated the value of books and saved them all from each of my siblings. The earliest ones that I can remember having an impact on me are the Barbar the Elephant books. I adored them. My mom got me a stuffed elephant with a pink bow that I named Flora after Barbar's daughter. She's the only toy from childhood I still have.

    Reply
  15. Madeleine says

    September 8, 2011 at 3:39 am

    The Giving Tree by Shell Silverstien. 🙂

    Reply
  16. J. L. Mbewe says

    September 8, 2011 at 3:43 am

    "I knew an old lady who swallowed a fly, I don't know why she swallowed a fly perhaps she'll die." wow, how morbid…I remember this book as one I'd check out from the school's library all the time. I think I made my mom read it to me first until I could read it for myself. Then the rest was history… Grimm's fairy tales and anything I could get my hands on. 🙂

    Reply
  17. Courtney Price says

    September 8, 2011 at 3:44 am

    Grover's Alphabet.
    Boom!

    Reply
  18. McKenzie McCann says

    September 8, 2011 at 3:59 am

    I don't remember the exact title, but it was in pre-school. Something about the moon and a rocking chair, but I don't know if I was actually reading it or if I had just memorized it.

    Reply
  19. Mihnea says

    September 8, 2011 at 4:43 am

    I remember reading an abridged version of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" – the Romanian edition. Strangely enough, it is the book I kept rereading later on in life, to the point where I even used it (alongside "Through the Looking Glass") in my MA thesis…

    Reply
  20. marion says

    September 8, 2011 at 5:46 am

    My mother read to me Peter Rabbit & other Beatrix Potter. Also a lot of A.A. Milne. Not just Pooh, but also Milne's poems (which I liked better.)

    My favorite that she read to me–and still a fave–was Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass. Confirmation that grown-ups act irrationally, not just as individuals but in their institutions.

    Word verification is mysten. A beautiful word. Should be English. Meaning: moisten, but by means of a mist. Perfect for fairy tales & fantasy novels.

    Reply
  21. Whirlochre says

    September 8, 2011 at 7:44 am

    I was a sucker for Brer Rabbit. The very idea of a talking rabbit outwitting all those naughty talking foxes and bears and wolves made me laugh out loud and clap my hands with glee. Why, on a good day, I even peed my pants.

    Reply
  22. PatG says

    September 8, 2011 at 10:37 am

    "The Water-Babies" by Charles Kingsley, a great British classic.

    Reply
  23. Christina says

    September 8, 2011 at 11:16 am

    The Sun is Up. It was the first book I was able to read in first grade. It felt like magic. I went on to read over 300 books that year!

    Reply
  24. Kathryn Magendie says

    September 8, 2011 at 12:23 pm

    Actually, I remember, and still have it, the first book read to me by my step-soon-to-be-adoptive mom. Black Beauty. I was a little young for it maybe, but I loved that book. My brother received Grimms Fairy Tales and I have that book as well. Two of the few things I have from early childhood and they're precious to me.

    Reply
  25. phoenixfallacy says

    September 8, 2011 at 12:35 pm

    I have a very vivid memory from when I was 3-4; I was sitting in the living room with a book, and I kept shouting to my mom, who was in the kitchen, "what's the letter that looks like…"

    The first book I remember reading completely on my own was the children's bible that was given to my sister for her christening.

    Reply
  26. Anonymous says

    September 8, 2011 at 12:59 pm

    The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree, followed by Bears in the Night. These simple, repetitive stories are great for a beginning reader and the pictures are almost scary which makes them exciting.
    NMC

    Reply
  27. Unknown says

    September 8, 2011 at 1:45 pm

    I have a very specific memory of being so proud that I was reading Green Eggs and Ham all by myself that I walked around the house performing it for everyone. But I secretly wasn't sure if I was truly reading, or of I had just memorized all the words. I was a weird, introspective little kid.

    Reply
  28. CricketWilliams says

    September 8, 2011 at 1:45 pm

    Big Dog Little Dog

    Reply
  29. Will says

    September 8, 2011 at 2:16 pm

    Hey, same here! That was my favorite book until I was about seven. I still have it somewhere, I think…

    Reply
  30. EKBalesteri says

    September 8, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    "Danny and the Dinosaur"

    There may have been readers that I was helped through, but the one that clearly stands out in my mind is this one. I remember thinking that I had to read every printed word to have read the entire book! (the title page, publishers, the spine!)

    I read it over and over and over to my little brothers, too! And then came "Sammy the Seal"…

    Thanks for asking! I just noticed that I haven't stopped smiling since I read the question!

    Reply
  31. Becky Levine says

    September 8, 2011 at 4:04 pm

    I have to say, my strong memories of reading aren't the first books I read, I know–because my reading memories are all tied to the "new house," where we moved when I was nine. And I was reading before that. BUT…what I do have is those books that are on my shelf today because I came across them in a bookstore and went into an immediate flashback of the story and/or the pictures–even if I can't remember the actual act of reading them. A few of those are: THE LITTLE HOUSE (Virginia Lee Burton), "I CAN'T" SAID THE ANT (Polly Cameron), and IN THE FOREST (Marie Hall Ets). Fun post!

    Reply
  32. Brian says

    September 8, 2011 at 9:13 pm

    I'm pretty sure it was 'The Giant Jam Sandwich', by Janet Burroway, illustrated by John Vernon Lord. I still remember the pictures of the villagers with the enormous slice of bread. Good times.

    Reply
  33. Tres Buffalo says

    September 8, 2011 at 9:38 pm

    Bears on Wheels

    Reply
  34. ElaineH says

    September 9, 2011 at 1:53 am

    Can't remember first book but first book that stands out was biography written for children about Louise May Alcott . There was a whole series of these biographies at the library and I read them all. The librarian would tease me about reading only biographies.

    Reply
  35. John Kelly says

    September 9, 2011 at 2:46 am

    PD Eastman's 'Are You My Mother.' I still want to tell that little bird, 'C'mon, how can a steam shovel be your mother…!'

    Reply
  36. The Stray says

    September 9, 2011 at 3:15 pm

    I think there may have been other books before this (I started reading early), but the one I remember was "The Snark Out Boys and The Avocado of Death!" by Danial Pinkwater. I remember that was one of the first things I read for the Book-It program, where if you read a book in a week you got a whole personal pizza from Pizza Hut.

    Reply
  37. hmbouwman says

    September 10, 2011 at 3:52 am

    Ferdinand the Bull, by Munro Leaf. I can remember the bed I was lying in, and the crisp white pillowcase. I still love that book.

    Reply
  38. Beth says

    September 10, 2011 at 10:04 pm

    The Story About Ping, by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese. It was the first book I checked out with my own (children's) library card. My Dad helped me pick it out.

    Reply
  39. Beth says

    September 10, 2011 at 10:04 pm

    The Story About Ping, by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese. It was the first book I checked out with my own (children's) library card. My Dad helped me pick it out.

    Reply
  40. Valerie Willman says

    September 11, 2011 at 3:41 pm

    I was always reading as a child. I even read the books my mom picked out for me, and we were always at the library.

    So I don't remember ONE book … I remember a slew of books that stick out in my memory. A Sesame Street book on sign language, a book on volcanoes, all the Nancy Drew books, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, and the Anne Of Green Gables series.

    Reply
  41. Melissa Haworth says

    September 12, 2011 at 6:43 am

    I can't remember not being able to read so I've no idea what I first read but I clearly recall sobbing over "Where the Red Fern Grows" and LOVING the Black Stallion but no idea how old I was at the time.

    Reply
  42. Scarlett says

    September 13, 2011 at 9:42 am

    i cannot remember my first book and im not even a child yet…i cant remember the first i read on my own(maybe if i csn dig up reading diary from infants i might find out)but i remember my mum reading me sheltie books…

    Reply
  43. Donald Heller says

    November 15, 2012 at 12:29 am

    I started reading at 2, newspapers & magazines. I'll never forget my first book, my sister's "Our Hearts Were Young and Gay", by Cornelia Otis Skinner. At 77, I can still feel emotions from recalling scenes. TV wasn't invented 'til I was 11, so it was constant books since then…

    Reply
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