Absolute Chaos Discussion Boards
Miscellaneous => Chatterbox => The AC Book Club => Topic started by: RokofAges75 on January 03, 2013, 07:13:14 PM
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I follow R.L. Stine on Twitter, and he retweeted this article about a blogger who made a resolution to re-read the entire Baby-sitters Club series in 2013: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/blogger-vows-to-read-131-baby-sitters-club-books-this-year_b63220
Here is her blog: http://beautyandthearmageddon.blogspot.com/p/the-babysitters-club-idea-and-phantom.html
Between this and reminiscing about Lurlene McDaniel books in Shania's thread about her blog, I'm feeling nostalgic and thought I'd start a thread about books from when we were kids. What were some of your favorite books or book series?
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I LOVED both Babysitters Club and Babysitters Little Sister (the Karen books). I don't have my Karen books anymore, but I still have my BSC collection - it's in my classroom at school, and the kids don't read them. I guess they are too dated. :( They are re-releasing them with updated covers, though, so maybe that will help. They're VERY 80s, but still good stories!
I also loved Goosebumps and later the Fear Street series. I still have all of those too - the Goosebumps are in my classroom, and the kids do still love those.
And then, of course, Lurlene McDaniel was my favorite author from 4th grade until... really, my junior year of high school, when J.K. Rowling took her place LOL. That's the only YA/kid series that is still prominently displayed on my bookshelves at home, with many of the covers taped or in tatters because of how many times I read those titles.
I also loved the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary and many of Roald Dahl's books. It's fun being an elementary school teacher because I get to reread my favorites to my class each year. I always read Ramona the Pest, The Witches, Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing, and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (another good series). When we get back from break, we're starting our mystery unit, during which I get to read The Westing Game with my high readers - also fun!
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I never really got into the series books when I was a kid. My absolute favorite book was Little Women. I think I probably read it at least thirty times!
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Oh, how I love reading as a kid. Heck, I still do, lol.
Here are the books and series I loved as a kid.
Nancy Drew (even though I solved the case halfway thru the book, lol)
Babysitters Club and Babysitters Little Sister
Sweet Valley Twins (I wanted to be a twin so bad, lol)
Anne of Green Gables (the whole series)
Any novel about dancing
Little House on the Prairie (series)
Books by Christopher Pike especially Last Act
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I think the reason I liked series books so much as a kid was because I loved to read, but was a picky reader, so once I found something I liked, whether it be a series or just a certain author, I would read as many as I could get my hands on and then re-read them multiple times before I would try something new. I am still like that, to be honest LOL.
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I take that back, I did read the Nancy Drew books growing up. I kind of forgot about those!
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I never got into Nancy Drew... I think the only mystery series I read was Boxcar Children.
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I used to read babysitter club books
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I've always loved reading, here are some of the books I loved as a kid...
Nancy Drew
Famous Five
Roald Dahl's books
Sweet Valley High
Cannibal Adventure by Willard Price (I LOVED that book and might've read a couple of others but can't remember)
Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence
Kevin & Sadie series by Joan Lingard
Flowers in the Attic series by Virginia Andrews
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I read
Babysitter's Club
Nancy Drew
Sweet Valley Twins and Sweet Valley High
Little House of the Prarie series
Anne of Green Gables series ( still read these every so often)
I am sure there are a bunch of books that weren't series that I read several times but the book I remember reading the most, which is part of a series but I read the others only a handful of times was Wizard of Oz. I checked that book out every other library visit in 4th grade.
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I was addicted to anything Sweet Valley because I used to (and still at times sorta do) have a twin thing LOL. I also was really into BSC and anything by R.L. Stine, I think he and I share a birthday which as a kid that was the coolest thing ever for me. I also had practically every Beverly Cleary book around. I got into VC Andrews when I hit middle school.
My mom got me into Laura Ingles Wilder, I'd get the books and talk about them with her when I was in elementary school.
LOL Julie, I loved Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing! That book was hilarious.
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I had a book club membership and was an avid library geek, so I read through many of the series already mentioned here:
Baby Sitters Club
Sweet Valley Twins/SV High
Goosebumps
The Boxcar Children
The Three Investigators (I never could read the Hardy Boys because I thought these three boy detectives were much cooler haha)
Little House on the Prairie (I have read every book in the series nearly a dozen times)
The Black Stallion
Also, two of my teachers retired when I was going through elementary school, so I inherited most of their classroom libraries. I ended up reading a lot of classics when I was a kid and became a huge fan of classic literature at a young age. I read Little Women, The Secret Garden, and Swiss Family Robinson over and over growing up. I still remember when I had my reading level tested in sixth grade, and my teacher was shocked that I was at a college reading level :D
Now that I'm an adult, I don't read nearly as much. I blame the internet.
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In 5th and 6th grade, since my reading level was high, I was in a program called Junior Great Books. It was a book "club" for elementary kids where they had us reading classics. I remember reading Huckleberry Finn and Up From Slavery inparticular. We actually discussed the books too... it's how I know I'm not really a fan of being forced to read books then talk about them. Actually, I wouldn't mind discussing them as long as I don't have to get into the deeper meaning behind why the author chose the window coverings to be blue instead of green.
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^ OMG, I hated analyzing classic literature like that in school! I think if we had just gotten to enjoy the stories for what they were, I may have liked more of the ones I was forced to read, but having to write papers about what my teacher SAID the author intended every little thing in the text to symbolize took any possible enjoyment out of it. I took AP English in high school, and I'll still be the first to admit that I'd totally rather go read the whole Babysitters Club series than re-read any classic I was assigned for one of those classes LOL.
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One of my favorite classes in high school was British Literature, but only because half of it was the history of the time period at which each of the texts we read was written, and I love history. I enjoyed learning about British history because a lot of it was new to me, but then when we'd get to the literature part, I'd lose interest LOL. For the 19th century unit, we got to choose between reading Pride and Prejudice and reading Frankenstein, and obviously, I chose Frankenstein. I was actually excited about it, but I didn't even like that book. But Pride and Prejudice would have been even worse. I couldn't even make it through Pride and Prejudice and Zombies LOL. Even with the undead, it was way too dull for me.
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I had to read Frankenstein for A level English and found it boring too, and Shakespeare, I didn't really enjoy that in school either! But I did enjoy Pride & Prejudice, probably because I'd seen the BBC's series of it with Colin Firth :)
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I was not a fan of the old classics either. In fact the ONLY time in my life I ever got anything less than an A in a Literature class was because of my dislike of The Scarlett Letter. I Hated that book with about ten passions and my English teacher loved it. We had to write a paper about it, and she disagreed with my interpretation of Hester and how I thought she was a very weak female character. She gave me a D! I will never ever forget that!
She asked me to rewrite it and I refused. I said "When Hawthorne rewrites his horrible book, maybe I'll change my opinion." It was the only time I've ever been snarky to a teacher! LOL Thank GOD I am long out of school now because if they ever made Twilight required reading....
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Mare, that's horrible! I think the mark of a good teacher is being able to respect their students opinions, especially when they're the complete opposite of the teacher's own, as long as the point is well argued.
I'm crying because you didn't like P&P, Julie ;____; I got an anthology of Jane Austen books for my 13th birthday, so Pride & Prejudice is one of those books I've read at least a dozen times. I was always impressed with how the relationship between Lizzy and Mr. Darcy could make my heart race even though the book was so chaste. (I snuck into my mom's romance novel stash when I was a kid, so I had an early start on smut :D )
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LOL Mare, I doubt they'll ever make Twilight required reading. I did get to read Harry Potter for that same Brit Lit class; we got to choose a book by a British author to read and write a book report on, and that was on the list, so I chose it because I thought it would be easy - I had never wanted to read it before. So I owe my love of Harry Potter to Brit Lit and that teacher. :)
The one classic we read that I did kind of like once I got into it was Wuthering Heights. But I tried rereading it once and didn't get very far. I'll be honest; I find most classics incredibly long-winded and hard to decipher. I don't mind long books, as long as they're written in everyday English so I can plow through them quickly without having to stop and think just to comprehend what is happening in the story. I guess I am a lazy reader that way. I think that's a big reason why I didn't like most of the ones I was made to read in school. Shakespeare is a great example - I can appreciate his stories, but actually reading them is just tedious. I'd rather watch the movie. (And this is why I teach 4th grade and not high school English LOL.)
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I was not a fan of the old classics either. In fact the ONLY time in my life I ever got anything less than an A in a Literature class was because of my dislike of The Scarlett Letter. I Hated that book with about ten passions and my English teacher loved it.
I HATED that stupid book! I believe I got a C on the test for that one because at some point I just gave up on finishing it. Ugh. Between that and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Romeo and Juliet which I hated equally, I wanted that year of English to be over so badly it hurt!
For me, I think my favorites were;
To Kill a Mockingbird
Z for Zachariah
The Little House books
Charlotte's Web
Matlida
and then, if we're talking about really early childhood;
Where the Wild Things Are, Madeline, The Bearenstein Bears, Babar... any really :)
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I gotta admit, I liked Shakespeare. I own Hamlet cause it's one of my fave plays LOL.
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Matilda! how could I forget that one and The BFG
And I have an equal disgust for The Scarlett Letter...
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The Twits was my favourite Roald Dahl book, lol.
I've not heard of The Scarlett Letter *googles it*
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OK I read some reviews of The Scarlett Letter on Amazon and a high school teacher wrote that it was awful and she hated having to teach it LOL. Guess I won't be adding that book to my reading list!
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OK I read some reviews of The Scarlett Letter on Amazon and a high school teacher wrote that it was awful and she hated having to teach it LOL. Guess I won't be adding that book to my reading list!
Definitely don't! You aren't missing a THING! I was trying to think of books I read in middle school that I actually liked and I remember Tuck Everlasting! Loved that book. Like all magnificent things, it's very simple.
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One of my favorite books that I had to read for school (in 6th grade) was The Westing Game. I re-read it for the first time as an adult a few years ago, and I loved it even more than I did as a kid. I use it with my highest group of readers now during the mystery unit I do every year; it's my favorite book to read and discuss with them. It is a challenging book for 4th grade, but it's fun to watch the ones who are mature enough for it experience it for the first time.
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Just thought of two I have to add! We read both the books Boys Life by Robert McCammon and Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving my freshman year of high school and I loved both of those!
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I did like Prayer for Owne Meany that was a good one. I'm a little strange but I liked Grapes of Wrath but I liked East of Eden even more so. :)