MLWReader@aol.com
Where to begin? And furthermore, it's hard for me to differentiate from my favorites when I was a child, and my favorites that I used to read to my own children!!! Such a dilemma. I loved The Secret Garden. Also Stuart Little, Mary Poppins, the Honey Bunch series, later on the Dana Girls mysteries and Nancy Drew. Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, Little Women. I loved them all.

As a Mom I loved The Little Engine That Could (I'd better love it, my son had to have it read  EVERY NIGHT!!! To the point that he had it memorized before he could read the words!) (I had it memorized too, BTW - LOL) Also Goodnight Moon. I still read that one sometimes, just to settle myself down. No joke. Make Way for Ducklings. But the biggest treasure that I discovered as a Mom reading to her kids is Winnie the Pooh. I love Winnie the Pooh. and Christopher Robin, Eeyore, Piglet, all the gang.

Now I'm a Grandma, and my first grandbaby was born July 2 of this year. He and my son and daughter in law live in Tokyo, and I haven't met him yet, although I did have a conversation with him on the phone last night (you think I'm kidding? We talked. Trust me.) I sent them the Little Engine That Could and Goodnight Moon right away. I don't expect that he'll be reading just yet, but knowing his dad, he'll be getting the books read to him before long.

What a wonderful question of the week this is. You guys do such a great  job. I have been reading this Newsletter for a long time, almost from when it started. It is what I look forward to every Saturday morning, my cup of coffee and the TBR Newsletter, on my favorite morning of the week! Thank you for all you do.

sstew@vfr.net
Huck Finn & Tom Sawyer Collaboration

CShank1246@aol.com
My favorite book as a child, and still is a favorite, is The Secret Garden.

DThomas201@aol.com
The Black Stallion by Walter Farley

Callanejp@aol.com
My favorite book as a child was Emily of New Moon by L. Montgomery.

Sue.Gilman@worldpub.net
Madeleine by Ludwig Bemelmanns

Sheila5199@aol.com
My all time favorite (classic?) children's book is called Carbonel the King of Cats. It is a magical tale set in England.   I don't think it was very popular, so I would be more than shocked if anyone else here has even heard of it. But it still remains my all time favorite.

Epmmskewis@aol.com
"Love you Forever"

ASirkin@aol.com
Favorite children's book was Little Black Sambo.

CVA436@aol.com
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Suess

StabyBaby@aol.com
The Velveteen Rabbit for its lessons about love.

Conkalima@aol.com
The Velveteen Rabbit

Ness32693@aol.com
Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree

Kaelesa@aol.com
My all-time favorite book from childhood is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.  I read it at least once a year from 5th grade through graduation from high school. And I read as many of her other books as I could find.   

Catlvr14@aol.com
I'm not sure this is a classic, but "The Pokey Little Puppy" was my favorite book as a child.  It's still in print as I bought it for my daughter who is now 18.  It's been around at least 50 years, so maybe it is a classic!

KayAyVee@aol.com
The Giving Tree

BLM221@aol.com
From your list:
Picture Book: the Nutshell library
Beginning: My Father's Dragon
New Faves: Stellaluna
Beginning New Faves: Falling Up
Intermediate Classic: Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe
Advanced Classics The Hobbit
Intermediate New Faves: The Moorchild
Advanced New Faves: The View from Saturday

Dlbrownny@aol.com
The Secret Garden. I read it many times as a child and early teen ager. I even wrote a paper on it last year for a graduate course on The Narrative Study of Lives. I was intrigued by all the secrecy, the strength, hidden at first but then revealed of the two children and the pure romance of the garden itself.

LDP6552@aol.com
Little Women

JWilso5584@aol.com
Nothing competes with Peter Pan.

Sheldune@aol.com
Little Women

Hyssop7@aol.com
My favorite all time --- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. I read it once again as an adult, and appreciated it even more, although the feminist commentary was unappealing.

JohnPLaura@aol.com
I will never forget my very first trip to a library as a young girl, and the librarian recommending  Little House In The Big Woods,  by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  It is a wonderful story, and it opened up a whole new world for me, the world of reading and really enjoying a good book!!!!!

KJ4FM@aol.com
Charlotte's Web

TheRockdove@aol.com
Without a doubt..Kenneth Graham's "The Wind in the Willows"

lisa07110@yahoo.com
Pokey Little Puppy

JoyZoo@aol.com
I think The Black Stallion by Walter Farley.  But if that is not classic enough, Secret Garden or The Wizard of Oz which I reread to shreds in childhood.

Mavisjh@aol.com
My favorite children's classic from my own childhood is A Child's Garden of Verses.  I still have a copy in my personal library, and I can quote most of the poems verbatim.   I discovered Shel Silverstein when I became a grandmother, and so I have another favorite.  I love all his books, and have given them to my grandchildren and other children I love, but my favorite is The Giving Tree.  I read this book to my grandson when he was 5, and he understood it.  It touched my own heart and I haven't been 5 for a very long time.  He was a wonderful, sensitive and humorous writer who was able to tell an entertaining story and teach a lesson as well.  The world is a sadder place without him.

margaretq@pacbell.net
I have two favorite children's classics:  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll.  They are also my favorite ADULT books!  

JLShannon@aol.com
New classic-to-be: The Great Good Thing by Robert Townley
Oldie: The Grinch That Stole Christmas

Cairo1953@aol.com
My all time favorites are...... The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, Humpty Dumpty, The Princess & The Pea

HarleyCrafter@aol.com
For young children, one of my favorites is Mike Mulligan and His Steamshovel by Virginia Lee Burton (actually, I like most of her books and have read them aloud to grades K - 4 with great results).  Jean Craighead George's My Side of the Mountain is great for older children.  And for young teens, Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time is excellent.

theaerie@skybest.com
The two books I remember most from childhood were Winnie the Pooh and The Secret Garden.  When I was in 3rd grade, our teacher read Pooh a chapter a day.  Somehow the enjoyment was all the sweeter with the anticipation of those chapters being doled out.  I chose The Secret Garden from my school library without anyone's recommendation and thought I had made the most amazing discovery - that no one else knew about this wonderful book but me.  It in itself was "my secret garden". Now retirement has afforded me the opportunity to enjoy reading again to the extent I did while growing up.

Jcar03@aol.com
Hi: My favorite children's classic was "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe"

NGroves@aol.com
I can't narrow it down to one book, but anything by Dr. Seuss is timeless. I'm especially fond of "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" and "The Five Hundred Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins." And who can forget "The Cat in the Hat" or "Green Eggs and Ham"? I loved them, my son loves them, and I'm sure future generations will as well.

jennysnell@netspeed.com.au
My favorite would be the delightful Dr Seuss and his story of "The Lorax".

bbouton@catskill.net
My all time favorite was and still is - Pippi Longstocking.  I would imagine myself in all the situations that Pippi got into and thought how wonderful to live without parents and rules.

Caroline@swtexas.com
Charlotte's Web

kelloggd@kellogg.cc.mi.us
I absolutely loved all of the Anne of Green Gables books.  I identified very strongly with Anne.  I even named my daughter Anne and read them to her when she was young.

Kbwgully@aol.com
Ballet Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild. It's in print. All the "shoes" books are great, but this is the original, about three orphaned sisters brought up in London, each with her own particular destiny. There's a lot in it about dance and drama, and a lovely, cozy British atmosphere. For Anglophilic kids.

MeriJ@aol.com
I loved Eric Carle's books, but by far the best was, is, and always shall be "Goodnight Moon."  I've bought this book for each of my nieces and nephews when they were born, and I love reading it to them.

MarshaSob@aol.com
Harold and the Purple Crayon

KatieOHawk@aol.com
The Once and Future King by T. H. White

Lernr730@aol.com
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

sofdog_2000@yahoo.com
Is "Tuck Everlasting" by Natalie Babbitt. It's one of my Top 3 favorites overall.

bluhrig@inct.net
Hands down, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are my favorite children's books.  I read Alice around age 10 and have been fascinated ever since.  I love most of the films of the story. The Annotated Alice is a wonderful companion volume.  It explains all of the adult references and in jokes.

Teach529@aol.com
My all around favorite classic children's book would have to be Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. I read it as a child, and have since read it many times to my students. I refer to the characters often when teaching about characters, setting, and other story elements because most children are familiar with the book. I also thoroughly love all the Henry Huggins books by Beverly Cleary and frequently read them aloud to my fifth graders. They never seem to tire of the antics of Ramona, Ribsy, and Henry's other companions.

ryder5@aol.com
Cinderella

Dveit2go@aol.com
Little Women!

songoden@earthlink.net
Sharon Doubiago's Hard Country would also be an excellent choice.

bluriter@yahoo.com
It's hard to top The Cat in the Hat - the inventiveness and innocence is an unbeatable combo.

cleas@earthlink.net
The Narnia Chronicles, of course! By the way, I was raised Jewish, figure I'm Wiccan now if anything, and I still don't want anyone bowdlerizing the Christian ethos out of these great, grand stories.

jhbandcats@home.com
The Owl and the Pussycat, by Edward Lear. When I was about 3 or 4 years old, I had two Steiff (brand) stuffed animals - an owl and a pussycat (a grey & white tabby) - and my father took a photo of me with them. I have no idea where the photo went, but I can still picture it in my mind. My father used to read the story aloud to me at bedtime. For some reason, after I inherited all of my things from my childhood home, in addition to my English copy, I found a copy that's in French. I don't remember it from when I was little, so I'm not sure if it was mine or my sister's. My middle name, Hewlett, means baby owl ("owlet"), so I was always surrounded by owls - books, pictures, jewelry - when I was growing up. After my father (who was quite an intellectual) developed Alzheimer's, and was no longer able to read, a cousin gave him a copy of Good Dog, Carl. My father didn't have to struggle to understand the story or keep a train of thought going - he could just look at the pictures individually. They made him smile. So now I have very fond thoughts of that book, too, though I wasn't introduced to it till I was in my early twenties. I look forward to seeing what other people mentioned.

Marmay125@aol.com
I would have to say that "James and the Giant Peach"  is my favorite classic children's book!

Linpeace1@aol.com
Grimms Fairy Tales

JACJWIL@aol.com
My favorite kids book is Dr. Suess's Green Eggs & Ham.

Wcpainter@aol.com
I had a lot of childhood favorites, but within the classic genre I'd have to say it's The Tailor of Gloucester by Beatrix Potter.

pnichols@woodruffelectric.com
Anne of Green Gables series by L. M. Montgomery was (and is) one of my favorites, but there are so many: Tom Sawyer, Black Beauty, Bobbsey Twins books, Little Visits with God.  


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