Favorite Book When You Were 8

[justsimon]

Just curious. What was your favorite book when you were 8? Mine was Matilda, by Roald Dahl.

 

[hungrybrownbear]

omg all the Roald Dahl books, and probably Where The Red Fern Grows.

 

[Kester]

I think it was The Magic Faraway Tree.

 

[kallipolis]

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.

“Look ahead, Rat!” cried the Mole suddenly.

It was too late. The boat struck the bank full tilt. The dreamer, the joyous oarsman, lay on his back at the bottom of the boat, his heels in the air.

“—about in boats—or with boats,” the Rat went on composedly, picking himself up with a pleasant laugh. “In or out of ’em, it doesn’t matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that’s the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don’t; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you’re always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you’ve done it there’s always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you’d much better not. Look here! If you’ve really nothing else on hand this morning, supposing we drop down the river together, and have a long day of it?”

 

[braex27]

I had several -

Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid"

Enid Blyton's "Faraway Tree" series and "Wishing Chair" series.

They all helped me significantly with my English.

 

[star-warrior]

Well, we didn't have many books when I was young. We did have a stack of stuff left by the previous tenants called "Understanding Science" which I still have stashed away someplace. It introduced me to science in a colourful pictorial and informative easy to read way so a kid could understand it.

Here's a link to an amazon listing where there are some pics.

[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Science-Magazine-1960s-issues/dp/B0014N1D9E"]Understanding Science Magazine 1960s Part works, 102 issues: Amazon.co.uk: Various: Books[/ame]

 

[blackbeltninja]

I think it was The Magic Faraway Tree.

Mine too! In fact, I could do almost anything by Enid Blyton.

-d-

 

[kevbo]

The Shining by Stephen King

No kidding!

 

[desmond]

Wind in the Willows, yes, I still go back to that one. At eight if I remember, I was entering a nerdy phase and it was The Hobbit.

 

[954dude]

Anything with Goosebumps on it!

 

[freefall]

^Agree here. And also cookbooks does that make me a loser?

Oh yes, some comic books (Donald Duck, my whole time favourite)

 

[onetwothreefour]

Wow you guys were smart 8 year olds. My favorite as I recall from around that age was Superfudge by Judy Blume--and I cannot even recall much of the plot---I was just so smitten with myself that I could read a chapter book.

My book choices from the years that followed were more interesting, like From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Where the Red Fern Grows, and the Louis Sachar books (Sideways Stories from Wayside School).

 

[NedNickerson]

When I was eight years old (in 1966), I caught the German measles and was out of school for several weeks. My mother bought a stack of books at a local Goodwill store so I could have something to read while I was recuperating. In that stack was an old copy of "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

It's a book I have re-read many times over the years. I'm still fascinated with the old manor house on the moors, the sound of the wailing child heard down the long dark corridors, the mysterious door in the garden wall, and the secret garden as Mary, Dickon and Colin brought it back to life again.

That Christmas, my grandmother gave me two books - "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson and "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe. "Treasure Island" was my favorite of the two, and I've re-read it many times, also.

 

[G-Lexington]

^ I quite liked the Secret Garden, too, although I don't think I read it until I was a teenager. I had a bunch of the Encyclopedia Brown books, too, but I always thought the "mysteries" were way too easy.

At age 8, I THINK I'd started reading the Chronicles of Narnia. If so, those were my favorites. There were seven paperbacks that fit into this box. I thought that was so neat.

If I hadn't started on those, it was probably the Phantom Tollbooth. An oddball book about a youngish kid (maybe 10?) who feels life is pointless. He gets this cardboard toolbooth in the mail, drives his toy car through it, and ends up...well, some other place. (I'm sensing a theme in my favorite stories when I was eight, come to think of it...) Bizarre and occasionally heavy-handed, but lots of fun. Skip the movie though - it's terrible.

I also loved the Tintin comic books. My parents had some sort of belief that they were "better" than any other comic books. I think they were, to a degree, but come on - Tintin and Haddock have machine guns on the cover here.

Lex

 

[jft245]

The Hardy Boys series

 

[scrapple]

Have to agree about The Hardy Boys series. I remember the first one, The Tower Treasure.

My all-time favorite at that age, though, was a book "written" by a dog called Beautiful Joe.

 

[jd0711]

Definitely the Goosebumps books. I was obsessed at that age. I also love a book called "The BFG" by Roald Dahl. I actually found all of my old books when I was packing my things to move out of my parents house.

 

[NedNickerson]

My all-time favorite at that age, though, was a book "written" by a dog called Beautiful Joe.

Oh, yes, "Beautiful Joe" by Marshall Saunders. That's a WONDERFUL book! I've got several copies of the book in my home library. Everyone should read it at least once during their life.

Beautiful Joe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beautiful_Joe

 

[TickTockMan]

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

 

[Kennylingus]

I'm not sure what age I was exactly, but it was around there and I get soooooo embarrassed when my mom brings it up (which is a lot). I read The Outsidersiders really you and totally fell in love with Pony Boy and when I finished is I cried really hard because it was over and my mom thought it was hiliarious...bitches be cruel.