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Jun 21, 2022Liked by Sarah Miller

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, by Julie Andrews Edwards (published under her married name, it's the same Julie Andrews of "Mary Poppins").

This book remains in my top three books of all time, read for the first time in third grade. It was the first book to ever blow my mind, and change the way I looked at the world. Imagination, observation, creativity, critical thinking, and hard work -- all wrapped up in a magical land that I still envision through eight-year-old eyes when I re-read the book.

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Also strongly influenced by Harriet, to the point that I am scared to get a copy for my now-8-year-old because what if she doesn't also love it and how will I handle the disappointment. Around the same age, I was also mesmerized by Diana Wynne Jones (especially WITCH WEEK) and Zilpha Keatley Synder (especially THE VELVET ROOM and AND CONDORS DANCED) and still think about so many of those characters and details often.

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I wish I had copies of The Three Investigators series, they were fun. And, back in the day, Choose Your Own Adventures books were the thing.

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I didn't read much during my childhood, so I don't have any to share. But I'm keeping my eyes peeled on people's comments to maybe find some titles for myself to read as a fully grown adult! Harriet sounds like a good place to start...

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Even as a young kid, I remember having a deep appreciation for the subversiveness of The Paperbag Princess. I continue to be drawn to stories with strong, female protagonists, and Elizabeth was the first model I really had for that.

I love this question and I'm eager to see others responses!

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Shadow the Sheepdog, The Stepford Mice Series, Adventures by Willard Price.

I think I'd enjoy them less if I went back to them. I suspect the last of those were racist, though I didn't know it at the time.

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This may be a super obvious choice, but I loved "The Little House on the Prairie" books. Harriet of course, Matilda, and the witty/silly stuff like "The Phantom Tollbooth" and "A barrel of laughs and a vale of tears". Not gonna lie, pretty much every book on my Substack!

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Jun 21, 2022Liked by Sarah Miller

Oh gosh, Harriet, she definitely changed my world. She and her world captured me-- still do with every re-read. The illustrations, too, are half the thing. I could see so much in those line drawings.

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A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle published in 1962! Favorite childhood book! ⭐️ The nuns put it on our summer reading list in 1964 when I was in fourth grade and we all did book reports on it and the other nine book we were assigned to read over the summer. The runner up on my most favorite childhood book list: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgkin Burnett published in 1911. And for the bronze: Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery published in 1908. I took “Anne” as my confirmation name, not for St. Anne, but for Anne of Green Gables, and made sure to spell it with the ‘e’ ! The nuns never knew 😂 Great thread 🧵 topic, Sarah, I’m enjoying reading all the responses.

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IN THE YEAR OF THE BOAR AND JACKIE ROBINSON by Bette Bao Lord. When my wonderful third grade teacher read this aloud to our class, I felt so comforted hearing the story about Shirley, who had come to Brooklyn from China and didn’t speak English. At the time, I had only recently come to Canada from Iran as a refugee and although my third grade class (like Shirley’s!) had kids from all over the world, I had never heard a story in English about someone just like me. I felt immediately less ashamed of struggling with English and feeling like an outsider. I still find myself wishing I could find my teacher, Mrs. Toby Brotman, and tell her how much she helped me. I look forward to rereading this book with my kids in a few years.

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“Garden novel kick” 😂 I’m going to definitively check out Mandy and add to my list of gifts for nieces and nephews! It’s so true that the time/moment passes for certain childhood/young adult reads. Love this thread, thank you, Sarah!

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Harriet will always be one of my favorite! A lot of favs are mentioned already, but some other ones that have stuck with me for years are WALK TWO MOONS by Sharon Creech (to this day I can't really tell you much about it but I can tell you how it made me *feel* and that I absolutely adored it) and NATE THE GREAT, who had a dog sidekick as a detective and I loved that there was a detective who could take his BFF everywhere.

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Olga da Polga! Loved it so much, I re-read many many times. Also The Magic Pudding because it was nuts and re-read many times to get my head around the rhymes.

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Jun 21, 2022Liked by Sarah Miller

So many but I remember The Wish Tree by John Ciardi - black and white illustrations - beautiful. Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree always moves me.

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I'm probably older than most of your readers, but I grew up on a farm in Wyoming and loved horse books and the Little House on the Prairie books. My favorite books were from the Misty of Chincoteague series. I ordered many horse stories from the Scholastic book orders (yes, we had book orders way back in the 70s!) and saved about ten of my favorites in a cardboard box so my own children could read them. I kept track of that box through high school, my college years away, and several moves until I had children of my own in my young 30s. I pulled the box out when my oldest was three--it was too early, but I was so excited for when they would actually be able to appreciate these gems--only to notice, for the first time, that every character was white and blond (at least they were girls) and the diversity they faced was child's play compared to that of most modern children. Plus, there were so many amazing children's books out by then that I knew my girls would choose their own favorites and for good reason.

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Caddie Woodlawn. I almost named my child Caddie Woodlawn. Haha.

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A guinea pig! Have you read The Magic Pudding?

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Jun 21, 2022·edited Jun 21, 2022Liked by Sarah Miller

Anne of Green Gables was a favorite - given to me by my favorite great-aunt and her "lifelong friend and travel companion", read aloud to my sister and I by my dad before bedtimes when we were young, and the old PBS miniseries was for some reason annual Christmas viewing for our family. It spoke to me about the friction between being yourself and wanting to belong, the fierceness of close friendships, and that there is a place for imagination. I wrote my college application essay about my love of Anne and the shorthand from the book(s) - a Jonah day, a kindred spirit - has been an avenue to find other people who have held that book close.

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Jun 21, 2022Liked by Sarah Miller

I love so many of these! My reading tastes today have direct lines to my childhood reading. The Giver was the first book that I went and checked out to finish reading before my sixth grade teacher finished reading it to us (and started me down the dystopian reading hole). Bridge to Terebethia was the first book that made me cry. Ender's Game was the book that made me question everything I thought I liked in reading (never turned my nose up at science fiction again!). And my love of romance novels began with the Alanna series (Tamora Pierce). Thanks for this wonderful question.

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What a delightful conversation Sarah!

I just wrote a piece about the YA book that has stayed with me for 20 years: https://courtneycook.substack.com/p/058-against-the-strong-female-lead

Before that: I read a LOT of Nancy Drew when I was a kid.

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Jun 22, 2022Liked by Sarah Miller

So many favorites mentioned here. Definitely Misty of Chincoteague (thank you horse girl neighbor!), the Redwall series, and Anne of Green Gables. I'm sure there are others that should come to mind, but I read so much as a kid that it's kind of hard to remember them all.

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Harriet the Spy! It was my mom’s favourite and mine. I am a keen observer of people, I think because Harriet taught me to notice everything. I am a political scientist and when I pull out my recorder and notebook, I think fondly of the book.

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Have you read any of the Kate Klise/Sarah Klise books? Trial by Journal, Regarding the Fountain, etc. are written in silly letters, emails, etc. and they really appealed to my nosiness, I suppose 😉 I had SUCH a blast reading and re-reading those books, and my mom enjoyed them with me.

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg also had a big impact on me, and when I read it to my kids recently, we finished it in less than a day 😅

Love this question, Sarah.

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Jun 22, 2022Liked by Sarah Miller

Bridge to Terabithia, for a variety of unexpected reasons, has stayed with me.

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Emily of New Moon, forever and ever.

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Jun 22, 2022Liked by Sarah Miller

Matilda by Roald Dahl and the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. I've only kept about 15 books after a recent move, and those two made it. They are well-loved and the spine of Greek Myths is lovingly cracked. I remember being 10 and devouring each myth, believing I, too, could be part of the stories. I love this thread.

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May We Sleep Here Tonight by Tan Koide because my mom resurrected it into our adulthood by always placing a copy on our pillow when we came home to visit them, plus it's such sweet story and beautiful book. Also, I still love my old Richard Scarry books because there was SO MUCH TO SEE and I am glad they have modernized them. Last one, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, because I remember being so engrossed and reading it so quickly which meant a lot because reading has always been hard for me :)

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If I'm not mistaken, Harriet the Spy was written in a house on 86th Street, right across from Carl Schurz Park!

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I can remember a grade school teacher reading a book to the class. The only book I remember was Island of the Blue Dolphins. I loved that book and re-read it several times during my childhood. I know I read other books like Ramona and Clifford the Big Red Dog but I don't remember many more than that, and I wish I did. I think this is why I enjoy reading middle grade books now. I wish some of these had been around when I was a kid. They weren't so I'm enjoying them now. :)

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I love this thread (obviously) and so many of these are books I treasure and fondly recall reading. The books that have stuck with me most from childhood seem to be those that are also sad or even tragic - Bridge to Terabithia, Where the Red Fern Grows, and the Anne of Green Gables series (I can vividly recall when Anne's first baby dies and then re-read it after I had my own children and understanding Anne's grief as we personally experienced something similar). There are many books mentioned below that I've never read and I'm thankful to have more books to add to my list.

When I finished Where the Red Fern Grows, I remember hiding on the top bunk in my bedroom and sobbing, which was the first time a book made me cry.

I re-read the Little House series in its entirety during early Covid, which I thought helped to offer perspective on how bad things were (because let's be honest - life in the Little House books is tough - if you haven't read this piece it might make you laugh: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/excerpts-from-laura-ingalls-wilders-the-long-fucking-winter).

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