This is in the book reviews section, but I could use this page to mention any form of printed entertainment, such as comic books, comic strips, or... you know, whatever. But to be honest, there isn't much I can say about any literature I read in my youth. I must say, I have loved reading for as long as I can remember (though I admit, television is my first love), but details are particularly fuzzy. I couldn't possibly tell you the titles of everything I read as a kid, even though it probably wasn't as much as some kids read, because I've always been an awfully slow reader. Nor could I tell you exactly when I read anything. I do remember studying phonics in first grade, which would have been 1981. And I doubt I was doing any major extracurricular reading for a few years after that.
I probably read Weekly Reader in grade school, and there are various magazines I consider nostalgic, especially "Read," and "Ranger Rick." And I remember getting a catalog periodically throughout grade school, which I believe was put out by Scholastic, from which you could order books and stuff. (I was later reminded of Troll Book Club, which I must have gotten prior to the Scholastic one.) And I surely ordered a number of books from such clubs, over the years, though I don't know that I still have any of them, unfortunately. And I know I used to have a bunch of collections of Garfield comic strips. And I have this very vague memory of some picture book from when I was very little, which I think was about cowboys or something, but there was like some kind of monster or something, and it scared me. And in first grade I remember there being read-along storybooks that were accompanied by audiotapes (probably mainly based on movies, like The Black Hole). And I'm sure I read any number of books that belonged to my grade school, to do book reports or just to enjoy (I think one of them was a biography of Buffalo Bill Cody). And I probably borrowed books from the public library occasionally, none of which I'd likely remember anything about. (The only title that comes to mind is "Shakespeare's Planet," and I know I don't remember anything about that, aside from the title itself.)
Someday I'd like to reread things I read when I was a kid, and do book reviews. But I don't know if I'll ever get around to it, considering there are so many adult books I still need to read. (And of course, I've read plenty of those over the years, before I ever started writing reviews, so I'll want to reread those someday, as well.) As I said, I can't remember every title I've ever read, but for now I want to use this page to list a few.
Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery (pub. 1908)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Scholastic; TV Tropes; Wikia; Wikipedia
I remember the class being assigned to read this when I was in like fourth or fifth grade. It seems to me our teacher, Mr. Anderson, passed out copies and... I think he said something about asking to keep them if we wanted to. I don't really remember that part exactly, but I remember after finishing it, asking him if I could keep it, and I believe he said, "It's yours." Which kind of made me uncomfortable, because I worried if I had misunderstood whatever he'd originally said. Maybe he'd just given them to everyone and said we could keep them, didn't say anything about having to ask to do so. Misunderstandings, whether real or imagined, have always caused me some distress (especially when I have no idea whether they're real or imagined), perhaps on account of Asperger's, though I didn't even hear of that until many years later. Anyway, none of this has anything to do with the book.
It's about an orphan named Anne Shirley, who comes to stay with a brother and sister named Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert on their farm, in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island. Anne is an intelligent, imaginative girl who loves to read and stuff. Um... I don't remember a lot specifically from the book, but I do know I loved it. And it's the first in a series, but I'm afraid I never read any of the sequels. I really should read the whole series, someday. Also, it was made into a miniseries, starring Megan Follows, who immediately became one of my favorite actresses ever.
The Cat Who Came for Christmas, by Cleveland Amory (pub. 1987)
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, by Roald Dahl (pub. 1972)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Roald Dahl Wiki; Scholastic; TV Tropes; Wikipedia
This is a sequel to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," but I don't think I was aware of that when I read this (in grade school), because I hadn't read the first book. And now I don't remember anything about this, but I should read both books someday.
Charlie Brown's Super Book of Questions and Answers, edited by Hedda Nussbaum (pub. 1976)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Wikipedia
Apparently there was a series of these books, but I wasn't aware of that until I looked it up for this page. What we had (and I still have it) was the first book in the series, subtitled "about all kinds of animals ...from snails to people!" I don't know how much involvement, if any, Charles Schulz had with the books. It's basically a scientific encyclopedia for kids, with some Peanuts comic strips mixed in. They may bear some relation to the subjects being discussed, but I think they're just old strips that were repurposed. In any event, I do feel sort of nostalgic about this book. And I generally associate it with the unrelated book Disney's Wonderful World of Knowledge. I kinda wish I had some of the other books in the series.
Choose Your Own Adventure (series; various authors; pub. 1979-?)
Goodreads; official website; TV Tropes; Wikipedia
There were a ton of these published, but I couldn't have read more than a few. It was a neat concept, though. You'd read a little bit, then be given a choice of what the character does next, skip to the page indicated for your choice, and read on. Depending on the choices you make, things could turn out well or very badly, for the character. There were similar series called "Find Your Fate," "Which Way," "Fighting Fantasy," and there may have been others. But I think the original and predominant series was Choose Your Own Adventure. Which doesn't necessarily mean those were the ones I read predominantly, myself. I dunno. See also Sorcery!
The Chronicles of Narnia (series), by C.S. Lewis (pub. 1950-56)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Scholastic; TV Tropes; Wikia; Wikipedia
Call it fantasy or Christian allegory, what really matters is it's a fun story. I'm afraid I don't remember the books as clearly as I'd like to, so I definitely intend to reread them someday. Also I should say there was a TV serial or three, which adapted the first four books. Later there was a series of theatrical movies, which so far has adapted the first three books. (Oh, and if I do get around to reviewing the books, I'll want to work in a link to an article about Turkish Delight.)
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, by Judi & Ron Barrett (pub. 1978)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Scholastic; Simon & Schuster; Wikipedia
I must have read this when I was a little kid, proably my school had a copy, I dunno. But I bought myself a new copy many years later- must have been 1999- so maybe someday I'll write a review. It's a crazy little picture book about rain becoming food, or whatever. It was hilarious. And eventually it was made into an animated movie.
Disney's Wonderful World of Knowledge, by Sergio Frugis (pub. 1973)
Amazon; Disney Wiki
So... Amazon says this is from 1971, but the copy I have says 1973, so that's what I'm going with. It's the sixth volume in a series (which began in 1971), but I don't believe we ever had any other volumes. This one is about Birds, Fish, and Insects. It's kind of an encyclopedia for kids, and there are pictures of various Disney characters throughout it. Looking at it now, I see it's narrated by Grandma Duck, a character I don't recall ever seeing in any cartoons. I tend to associate the book with the unrelated book Charlie Brown's Super Book of Questions and Answers, though I might feel slightly less nostalgic about this one. And I don't remember much detail about either book. The main thing I remember about this one is it has a picture of Tinker Bell that I always liked. Still, I'm glad I still have the book, and I kinda wish I had some of the others in the series.
Encyclopedia Brown (series), by Donald J. Sobol (pub. 1963-?)
Goodreads; Penguin; Scholastic; TV Tropes; Wikipedia
About a young detective named Leroy Brown. I'll be honest, I don't remember anything about this, and I don't think I read that much of the series at all. In fact I couldn't tell you with absolute certainty that I read any of it, but it's a title of which I've long been aware, and I know it was always quite popular, and I think most people my age (and probably of the generations before and after me) think of this series first, when they think of what they read when they were kids. I think I must have read some of it, and maybe a lot of it, but I don't remember being as into it as I was The Great Brain series.
The Five Chinese Brothers, by Claire Huchet Bishop and Kurt Wiese (pub. 1938)
B&N; Goodreads; Scholastic; Wikipedia
A retelling of a Chinese folk tale. I couldn't tell you anything about it, but I must have liked it.
The Great Brain (series), by John D. Fitzgerald (pub. 1967-76)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Scholastic; TV Tropes; Wikipedia
Set in the 1890s. Um... I don't remember any details of these books, beyond the title of the series, but I definitely remember enjoying them. They must be some of the earliest books I read, in my childhood.
Gus Was a Friendly Ghost, by Jane Thayer & Seymour Fleishman (pub. 1962)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads
A nice little picture book about a friendly ghost named Gus. I dunno what else to tell you, but I'm sure I still have it somewhere, so maybe someday I'll write an actual review.
The Hardy Boys (series), by Franklin W. Dixon (collective pseudonym) (pub. 1927-?)
Goodreads; Scholastic; TV Tropes; Wikia; Wikipedia
I'm sure there are tons of books in this series, of which I can't have read more than a few. And I don't remember anything at all except the title of the series. But I must have enjoyed them. It must have spawned at least one TV series, but I don't recall if I ever saw any of it. The book series is also related to Nancy Drew books, of which I probably read none. Which also has been adopted into various shows and movies (of which I saw at least one).
The Incredible Journey, by Sheila Burnford (pub. 1960)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Scholastic; Wikipedia
So, this was about two dogs and a cat who went on a journey together. I don't remember the specifics very well, but I know I liked it. There was a movie based on the book in 1963, which I may have seen when I was a kid, I don't really remember. And there was a remake of the movie in 1993, which I also don't remember whether I saw or not.
The Journey of Natty Gann, by Ann Matthews (pub. 1985)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads
This is the novelization of the movie of the same name. I'm pretty sure I read it when I was a kid, something I had ordered from one of those school book clubs like Troll or Scholastic or whatever. I don't recall if I read it before or after I saw the movie (probably before), nor do I remember anything in particular about the book, but I'm sure I must have liked it.
Lamont the Lonely Monster, by Dean Walley & Don Page (pub. 1970)
Amazon; Goodreads
A picture book that had little doors and things you could lift up to see other pictures. Kind of like a pop-up book, but not really. (Actually, more similar to an advent calendar, I guess.) Um... there was this nice monster named Lamont, who wanted to make friends. And he wandered around a haunted house or something, meeting all kinds of other monsters, but none of them wanted to be his friend. They did warn him, though, about the most dangerous monster around, I guess, called Uriah the Heap. (It was years later that I learned there had been a band called Uriah Heep.) I won't spoil how it ends, but it was a great little book, and I wish I still had a copy.
Little Golden Books (publishing line; pub. 1942-?)
official website; Wikia; Wikipedia
There were a ton of these, I think. I doubt I read them all, but I must have read a bunch. Mainly I remember the titles The Poky Little Puppy and The Little Red Caboose. Though I couldn't tell you anything about them, they were great picture books for little kids.
My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George (pub. 1959)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Scholastic; TV Tropes; Wikipedia
This is something I think I read, but it's also possible I saw the movie, or that I read "Lost on a Mountain in Maine" and am confusing it with that book, or that I read this and thought I read that, or that I read both and confused parts with each other, or that I didn't read either one, but just heard of them both. I dunno. Whatever the case... I just remember the title. And have no interest in reading (or rereading) the book.
The Official Ghostbusters Training Manual, by Christopher Brown (pub. 1984)
Amazon; Ghostbusters Inc.; Goodreads
One night in 2014 (on the cusp of September/October) this suddenly popped into my head. Just a little thing I must have ordered from Troll Book Club or something. All I really remembered about it was signing a certificate on the last page, which someone (my dad, I think) complimented me on my handwriting. Oh, also I kind of remember the Terror Dogs. So anyway, I looked it up online, and I'm reasonably sure this is what I was thinking of. I don't have it anymore, and I have no idea what happened to it. But now that I've remembered it, it's definitely nostalgic. So it's cool that Ghostbusters Inc. has made a PDF of it.
The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster (pub. 1961)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Random House; Scholastic; TV Tropes; Wikipedia
I always remembered having seen the movie The Phantom Tollbooth when I was a kid, but I had no recollection of having read the book upon which it was based... until I watched the movie again as an adult. There was one minor plot point that I remembered from the story, but it didn't happen in the movie. And looking at a picture of the book, I started thinking I definitely read it, sometime in school. I wish I remembered it more clearly, and I might like to read it again someday.
Puff the Magic Dragon, by Romeo Muller (pub. 1979)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads
This is a storybook published the year after it aired as an animated TV special. There were later two other specials, which were also published as storybooks (both in 1984, I think). I probably had all three of the books, though it's possible I just had one or two of them, and the cover that is most likely to come to mind when I think of them is from the second book, Puff in the Land of the Living Lies. I don't really remember anything very specific about any of the books, though I'm sure I saw them lying around the house for years after I first (or last) read them. It's possible they're still in a box somewhere, I don't know. It would be kind of neat to see them again sometime, though honestly, I'd be more interested in seeing the specials. (I must have seen at least one of the specials when I was a kid, but I don't remember them clearly, either.)
Rascal, by Sterling North (pub. 1963)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Penguin; Scholastic; Wikipedia
Some months after I first made this page, I was doing some editing of it, and suddenly I thought, completely out of the blue, "Wait, didn't I read a book about a raccoon or something?" And then, bam! I thought, "Wasn't it called 'Rascal'?" So I looked that up. I'm pretty sure I must have read that in grade school, possibly even written a book report on it, though I don't really remember anything about it now. (Um... it seems there's also a Disney movie based on the book, so it's possible I saw that rather than having read the book. Or I could have done both. Or it could be that I just read the book. I don't know!)
Seal Morning, by Rowena Farre (pub. 1959)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Wikipedia
I don't remember anything about this. Except there was a seal. And at some point I think it played a harmonica or something. Anyway, I vaguely recall reading it for a school book report, at some point. I'm sure I wouldn't mind reading it again, someday.
The Sesame Street Little Library, by Kay Wood (pub. 1977)
Amazon; B&N; Muppet Wiki
One day the book "Grover's Favorite Color" randomly popped into my head. When I looked it up online, I found that it was part of a 4-book set, at least one of which immediately looked familiar to me, in addition to the Grover one (and the other two didn't look unfamiliar). So, I guess we had this set when I was a kid, though Grover's is the only one for which I remember the plot at all. I dunno if the books are still around the house anywhere. But I'm glad I thought of them. (No, wait, I found the Big Bird one out in the garage. Neato. Maybe I'll find the others sometime.)
Snow Treasure, by Marie McSwigan (pub. 1942)
Sorcery! (series), by Steve Jackson (pub. 1983-85)
B&N; Fighting Fantasy; Goodreads; TV Tropes; Wikipedia
A series of four fantasy gamebooks, plus a fifth book (the Spellbook), which apparently was part of the "Fighting Fantasy" series, though I didn't know that until just now when I was looking on Wikipedia. It's similar to the Choose Your Own Adventure books. Anyway, I think I had traded some book I owned to another kid on the school bus for the first two books and the spellbook. I still don't have the final two books in the series, but they're on my Amazon wishlist, and I intend to get them some day. Of course, I haven't read/played the books in years, but I've always wanted to finish it.
Superfudge, by Judy Blume (pub. 1980)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Scholastic; TV Tropes; Wikipedia
This is actually the second book in a series. I'm not sure how many of the books I read, but this is the title that sticks out in my memory (so it's the one I'm listing here, because Wikipedia doesn't seem to have an article for the series as a whole). I don't remember anything at all about these books, but I must have read at least one of them.
The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells (pub. 1895)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Scholastic; TV Tropes; Wikia; Wikipedia
I'm pretty sure I read this at some point in my youth, though I don't particularly remember anything about it, except maybe the time traveler sitting in his chair or something and having something brush against him, which turned out to be an antenna or something from like a giant crab or whatever. I dunno. It was scary. But years later, I saw a movie on TV (which had been made in 1960), though I don't remember anything about that, really. And years after that, there was a movie made in 2002, which I remember better. Anyway, I should really reread the book sometime. Also, I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and tell young me to take notes on all the stuff I read or watched. And also to keep better track of some of my stuff, and not to throw it out or sell it or just plain lose it.
Tom Swift (series; pub. 1910-?)
TV Tropes; Wikipedia
Once again, I don't remember anything except the title. I think whatever I read of this series must have belonged to either my mom or her siblings. I dunno.
Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson (pub. 1883)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Scholastic; TV Tropes; Wikipedia
A classic story which has been adapted countless times. It's about pirates. Come on, you know the story. I have the vague feeling that I might also have read another book by Stevenson, "Kidnapped," but I don't remember for sure. I certainly don't remember anything about that story.
Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt (pub. 1975)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Scholastic; TV Tropes; Wikipedia
I must have read this in grade school, but I don't really remember it. It's been adapted into a couple of different movies, including one from 2002.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne (pub. 1870)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Scholastic; TV Tropes; Wikipedia
A classic science fiction novel about a possibly crazy naval captain named Nemo, and his submarine, the Nautilus. Um... I always thought it was considered science fiction because at the time the book was written, there was no such thing as submarines, but apparently I was mistaken. Still, I'm sure the Nautilus was vastly superior to any submarines that existed in real life, at the time. But now I'm not sure exactly what makes it "science fiction." Nor do I actually remember anything about the book. I just have this sense that it took me several years to read, though I couldn't tell you how old I was at the time. Of course, it's certainly not a children's book. Anyway, there have been many adaptations of the book, as movies and whatnot. I must have seen at least one, as well as numerous stories that parodied or alluded to or were inspired by the book. It's definitely something I should try to read again someday.
The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams (pub. 1922)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Scholastic; TV Tropes; Wikipedia
I think I must have had a copy of this when I was young, but I don't really remember the story.
