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?
I think the standards from early childhood have stuck with me. Harold and The Purple Crayon; Goodnight Moon; Corduroy; The Berenstain Bears.
But the books I recall the most were R.L. Stein's Goosebumps. I began reading them on my own and they definitely warped my sensibilities. The first things I wrote as a young child were ghost stories and I've been fascinated with the paranormal and supernatural since. It led directly to my appreciation of The X-Files and horror movies. I still look back on Goosebumps fondly and actually managed to preserve a few run-down paperbacks for my kids to read when they're ready.
This may sound like a cop out, because obviously I read some PBs before it, but the first book I actually vividly remember reading is the Hobbit.
Then I got those read PBs of TLOTR that came with audio tapes.
The Pokey Little Puppy. Mom and Dad refused to get me a dog, so this is as close as I got.
I'm sure it was probably a Dr. Seuss book but I honestly can't remember.
The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton is the first one that pops in my head. I still own it.
I remember reading the BFG by Roald Dahl without any help from a grown up in second or third grade, I think. I know it wasn't my first book ever (not even close) – but the first one that 'stuck with me.'
Know what I mean?
The Pokey Little Puppy. I loved "Roley poley, pell mell, tumble bumble…
Something by Beatrix Potter. I remember the small books with a dark olive-green cover and the style of drawings inside. We had several, and I don't remember which one was "the book". But I have a clear memory of taking it to my mom and reading it to her, and that she thought I had memorized it. I was so frustrated because I had just figured out that t-h-e spelled "the" and she didn't believe me. I was about 4 at the time (definitely before kindergarten).
Now that I have a 7- and a 4-year old of my own, I can totally understand her skepticism. My older child would read individual words by age 5. The younger one might be reading but also has a vast memory and will sometimes "read" a story almost word-for-word while looking at the wrong pages.
I don't remember the first book I read. I want to say The Boxcar Children, but I'm not sure.
I do remember learning to read by watching the exit signs on the highway, though. That was a rather strange way for me to learn how to read.
B is for Betsy.
I think Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlotte's Web, The Boxcar Children, and Did You Carry The Flag Today Charley? were the first bigger books that I read on my own.
There were other smaller books that came first.
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Before I could read I'd memorized the story and recited it for my dad. It sort of freaked him out 🙂
This is the House Where Jack Lives by Joan Heilbroner.
I read it so much I can recite it from memory. The illustrations by Aliki were cute, too.
A Peanuts book about genetics and reproduction that I got when I was 3 or 4 (I read it just before kindergarten). I've been trying to remember the name of it for years. It starts off why Lucy pushing on Linus's head to keep him from getting taller than her. For a children's book, it was rather long. By the end of it I knew what the various male and female internal and external anatomical bits were called, what a period and wet dreams were, all about different types of twins and the very basics of hair/eye dominant/recessive genes. Honestly, I'm still a little shocked my grandmother let me read it. She must not have realized it had sex ed stuff in it. Seriously, has anyone ever heard of this book? I read back in like '79 or '80.
Fun topic and answers.
Like many others I can't be sure, although I do remember the Jane and Dick book I got from school when I learned to read. It annoyed me even then because the story was so dumb. See Jane run. Bleh.
The first book I remember making a real impression was "Where the Wild Things Are". I was simultaneously scared and fascinated by that book, and I kept re-reading it to work it all out. And thus started my reading about fantasy worlds.
I also remember "Are you my mother?" That made an impression, too.
When I think of it, picture books stirred up very primitive emotions and helped me work them out.
The Plump Pig. Which I've never seen again. It was about…oddly enough…a plump pig who lived with a plump family and a plump cat and a plump dog. I remember pestering my sister to teach me how to read. I think I was around three and I was SO proud when I conquered that book.
The first book that I ever read and remember back in childhood is the hard bound book green cover "YOUR COUNTRY and MINE."
Dr Seuss's Go Dog Go
My parents didn't know if I was really reading or if I had memorized it.
Not sure. But I like to think it was Heinlein's Have Spacesuit, Will Travel.
I can't remember the first book I read, but I'll never forget the book I read when I realized you could read silently. It was Dick Whittington and his Cat, a Ladybird edition. I read it aloud to myself, then whispered it because it felt weird reading aloud to myself, then realized I didn't have to move my mouth at all.
Breakthrough!
Hmmm… I think it might have been either The Hungry Thing or Fox in Socks.
I remember my parents bought my brother and I each a very large, hardbound book when I was in first grade. His was Treasure Island and mine was Heidi. I kept it for years and years, but alas, it was lost in moving.
Where the Wild Things Are. First long chapter book-Heidi.
I think it was The Monster At The End Of This Book featuring Grover.
Volcanoes for kids. I was a total geek and read nothing but Non-fiction until halfway through Primary School…
The Poky Little Puppy for sure, but I soon graduated to comic books right out of Golden Books. I had quite the collection by the time I was seven.
My first memories are of my Father reading me bedtime stories – though I couldn't tell you what they were. I don't recall learning to read and those books – but I do remember the first stories that made a lasting impression on me and even more importantly my teacher (when I was aged 8-9) who would take back the to-read-in-your-own-time books I had taken home and eagerly feed me another, disregarding classmates incredulity that I digested that whole book overnight. I clearly remember the Enid Blyton Famous Five adventures, The Animals of Farthing Wood and all of the Anne of Green Gables. Miss B – you are still an inspiration!
The Princess Who Never Laughed. It was a Golden Book, and it's probably downstairs on a basement bookshelf. Me, a book hoarder?
I don't remember which picture book I read first on my own, too many to count. But I do recall that the first chapter book I read in school was Freckle Juice, closely followed by the Little House On the Prairie series.
Curious George. I couldn't get enough of that little monkey.
One of the Goosebumps books, can't remember which one though.
The Zombie Survival Guide.
Was the last thing we had to do to get our Wolf badge.
In the Keep of Time by Margaret J. Anderson. I remember it clearly 30 years later, and even reading about it just now I'm surprised at the level of detail that remains in my brain. (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InTheKeepOfTime). It was the first book that I choose to read.
Good question Nathan, thanks for raising this one.
I think the first books I read were HOP ON POP, ARE YOU MY MOTHER, and a picture book about a horse called BIG RED or something like that.
I can't remember exactly, but I know it was a Roald Dahl book!
You won't believe this… it was "Lives of the Saints" (I went to Catholic school) It's a wonder I ever wanted to read a second. But, happily the offerings broadened.
My dad taught me to read with Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss. While he encouraged my reading habits, he definitely discouraged my attempts at a dramatic reenactment of the title.
Where the Wild Things Are. I remember thinking, "This book must have 100 pages, it's sooo long!"
"My name is Sam. I am a dog." I have no idea what the real title is, but a favorite uncle gave the book to me and it was about a sad-eyed dog named Sam. My poor parents! I memorized every word of it and all they heard for a year or two was "My name is Sam. I am a dog."
I'm with MJR, my first books were Dr. Seuss- One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and The Cat in the Hat. I also had a giant golden book collection.
Probably one of the Dick, Jane and Sally readers. First "Chapter" book was probably one from the Weekly Reader Book Club and is still one of my all-time favorites: Follow My Leader. It was about a young boy who was blinded by a firecracker and had to learn to "see" in other ways, including getting his own seeing eye dog. Loved that story. Anyone else out there old enough to remember that one? 🙂
The first book I read to myself was Mimi, The Merry Go Round Cat. And I still have it.
I'm pretty sure it was Michael Bond's A Bear Called Paddington
Excellent 🙂
Never Tease A Weasel.
Here's where you can look at one if you're curious:
https://www.amazon.com/Never-Tease-Weasel-Conder-Soule/dp/B001VYPZM2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1315436912&sr=8-2
I think my first book was, The Cat in the Hat. I loved all the Dr. Seuss books.
The 1st books I ever read by myself were the Sailor Moon chapter books, when I was 6 years old. They're not even in print anymore! But I loved the show, and ended up loving the books. (so psyched that the manga — which is different from the novelizations — comes back this month!!)
I went directly from those to Harry Potter . . .
I think my first book was, The Cat in the Hat. I loved all the Dr. Seuss books.
I don't remember a first book, but I remember being small and going to the library and discovering books by Thornton W. Burgess. I can still recite a poem: Bobby Coon is very neat/ washes both his hands and feet/ before he ever starts to eat.
And then later I read all the Borrowers books.
These are the first books I loved.
After I turned four or five my mum used to take me to the library every week, and I was allowed to pick four books. They had to last all week so I used to pick the ones with the most pages …
Dr. Seuss books! Loved them! (I'm pretty sure I read other books before those, but Dr. Seuss books are the first books I remember absolutely loving!)