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Hi all,
Welcome to our Weekly Question thread. The plan at the moment is to have a separate thread for each week so that they don't get too long. I'll try to have a hint of what it's about in each headline. There was interest in general chat after the Wild Discussion was mostly over. I have a lot of ideas that other groups have used, but I am also open to suggestions. So message me if you have a question in mind.

This first question is one a few people answered last summer. Feel free to answer again since not that many people were participating in the conversation at the time

What is the first book you remember reading, or having read to you?

That's such a tough question for me, it's all lost to the mists of time ... I can remember reading a bunch of books as a child, but I don't know which one came before which. And while I remember certain picture books from back then, I no long remember actually reading them.

So, I think my first clear and dated memory is reading The Swiss Family Robinson, because I read it before I went to Walt Disney World for the first time when I was nine. Or maybe I read it WHILE I was at WDW.

I'm not sure about first book, but the books I remember reading on my own when I was 9-11ish years old:

The Secret of the Old Clock
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Little Women
Rebecca

My entire middle school personality was shaped by Nancy Drew, Jo March, and Hermione Granger lol

Well, I was read to a lot as a kid, but the 2 that bring back real memories are listening to my Mom read Little Women to me when I was home sick with the chicken pox when I was 4 and Green Eggs and Ham which still brings back my Grandpa's voice back to me even though he's been gone for almost 30 years.

As for books I read on my own - It was so important to me to be able to read, I enshrined the first picture book I was able to read on my own (well, I don't still have the shrine, but it lasted until high school). It was Speak Up, Christopher: Christopher Learns the Difference Between Right and Wrong. It was a book designed to teach kids to tell the truth and not give in to peer pressure, but the big draw for me was it was about a trip to see dinosaur skeletons.

And first chapter book: Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang

LOL - I was one of those freaky kids who went to preschool already knowing how to read and reading well beyond my level, so I have absolutely no recollection of the first book I read or that was read to me. I do remember the first book with which I became obsessed and read over and over and that was Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry. I loved horses, and I loved that book!

No memories of books I read or had read to me when I was little. I do remember when I was nine I was moved into a bigger bedroom with floor to ceiling bookcases. I inherited all my mother's old books, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Bobbsey Twins, Tarzan and tons more.

The first book I ever remember buying was an Amelia Bedelia book that I found for 5 cents at a junk shop when I was 5 or 6. I adored that book!

I really can't remember - but I do have a funny early book story.

My sister & I loved having books read to us, and one of our favorites was Green Eggs and Ham. My dad, having read it to us innumerable times, made us green eggs and ham for breakfast. We wouldn't touch them, so we obviously hadn't absorbed the moral of the book.

I can’t remember specifics, but I know that in my early days as a reader, I loved the Little House on the Prairie books!

I thought I remembered books being read aloud on Captain Kangaroo. Yes, I'm old. I googled it & found out 27 books were read aloud on the show. These are the ones I remember & loved so much I bought them when I had a child.
Make Way for Ducklings
Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business
The Little House
The Story About Ping
I remember Fun with Dick and Jane
I'm stopping now because I'm getting older by the minute.

Laurel wrote: "I really can't remember - but I do have a funny early book story.

My sister & I loved having books read to us, and one of our favorites was Green Eggs and Ham. My dad, having read it ..."

I remember my Grandpa calling me Sam-I-Am whenever I'd refuse to eat something. So you weren't alone in not absorbing the lesson.

Sherri wrote: "I thought I remembered books being read aloud on Captain Kangaroo. Yes, I'm old. I googled it & found out 27 books were read aloud on the show. These are the ones I remember & loved so much I bough..."

I must be old too, Sherri, because I loved all those books you mentioned!

I remember loving the Trixie Belden mysteries as a pre-teen, starting with Trixie Belden and the Secret of the Mansion. I went to the variety store whenever they got another copy in. I think they cost $1.00 each.

One of my earliest memories is of being in the car at night, on a long trip, and listening to my mother reading to us from All Creatures Great and Small by the light from the glove-box.

I have very dim recollections of learning to read with a series of books with titles like “At Home�� and “At School�� when I was 3 or 4. Everything else kind of blends together until I decided to start reading “grown-up�� books, though I know there were lots of Encyclopedia Brown books and Choose Your Own Adventure books in there. I’m pretty sure my first “grown-up�� book was The Clan of the Cave Bear, which I read when I was around 10, though I was already familiar with the story because my older sister had read most of it aloud to me.

I was a precocious reader and read well before I started kindergarten. The first book I remember choosing for myself was The Berenstain Bears Go to School. I was a big fan of Goosebumps and Animorphs! Now Animorphs has a graphic novel series and I've been desperate for my daughters to read it, but they have no interest despite it CLEARLY being the best thing ever, haha.

The butterfly ball by Jane Yolen, I believe. I still remember a few stanzas from it since it was a book in rhyme.

Or it’s my book of Grimm stories. The bloody ones with toes and heels cut off in Cinderella. Still have that book. It’s falling apart but I would never give it up.

When I first started school (around age 4) I remember Elmer the Patchwork Elephant, Funnybones, The Rainbow Fish, Babar, We're Going on a Bear Hunt.. I had to Google the names of these as I could only remember the pictures.

When learning to read we used the Biff and Chip books (as probably did every child in the UK in the 90s!). Later on I remember one teacher would always read Roald Dahl books to us.

As for reading independently I don't really remember what first grabbed me but I definitely went through a Jacqueline Wilson phase at one point. I loved The Sleepover Club series around that time too.

I also remember Captain Kangaroo and Fun with Dick and Jane. My brother started school when he was just turning 6 (no kindergarten in our rural area) and he came home with the Dick and Jane book, probably We Look and See. He taught 4-year-old me everything he was learning. I know I had read full-length books like Heidi before I started school.

I remember distinctly that the first book I got at the library was And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. It is now out of favor because of stereotyped drawings but I loved the elaborate illustrations.

I never got into Nancy Drew but I did love The Bobbsey Twins. This was typical. I never cared to read about kids older than me, and never wanted to be older, be a teenager before I was one, or grow up! I still like a lot of things designed for kids, like bright-colored backpacks, notebooks, bedspreads, etc.

The first one I really remember reading - by title - is Dorrie and the Blue Witch. I got a hardback copy for Christmas (or my birthday - I forget just which).



I'm not sure what happened to it - probably misplaced in one of the million plus moves I made as a Marine Corps kid, but Dorrie was always there wherever we went - my familiar friend in a new home, new school, new church where I didn't know anybody and had to start all over again.

I went looking for a copy of this book - printed in 1964 - and found one .... for sale. $600. I looked again today - still over $100 for a hardcover, 1964 edition.

::sigh:: I guess Dorrie is just going to have to stay in my childhood past as a fond memory. But I'm thankful I had her when I needed her most.

My parents read to me every night when I was little, lots of picture books and eventually graduating into chapter books. One family story is that they read me Where the Wild Things Are so many times that, several years before I could actually read, I could flip the pages and recite the story from memory, pretending to be reading out loud.

I think the first book I remember actually reading in its entirety was Hop On Pop, though.

For really reading independently, it was Harry Potter for me. My mom had been reading them to me out loud and I was blown away. We got through the first four (which were all that were out then) and then I insisted we start over from the beginning. I must have felt like she was reading them too slowly, because eventually I just read them myself and never looked back!

So technically my "first" language is Chinese because I didn't move to the US until I was 3 but I also wasn't reading yet so my earliest reading memories are of English picture books. I don't remember what my first book was but I do know that the earliest book that I was obsessed with was some book that was a toy tie-in? No idea what it was anymore but it had a pink cover and it was about fairies that granted wishes who brought sunshine to a little girl who was bummed over rainy weather. I don't even think I had any of the toys! I just ended up with this book probably from a garage sale and I am 100% sure that 3-year-old me picked it because it was pink.

Great to see all the responses!

I know a few people answered this back when I was just proposing this idea on the Wild Discussion thread. I don't remember who you all were, but feel free to post here again.

Thomas, I know you said you remember a book that had an upsetting effect!

What is the first book you remember reading, or having read to you?

That's a hard question... I think, but I can't be sure, that the first book I read was a version of a "See dog run" book.

One of the earliest I recall is The Magic Faraway Tree. But I don't even remember what my daughter's first book was and that was only 4 years ago. I wish I'd made note of it!

This is such a difficult question because books have always been a HUGE part of my personality and life. To answer this question, I would have separate it into parts.

The first book I remember checking out from the library on my own with my own library card was one of the Spot books by Eric Hill.

I remember being obsessed with The Monster at the End of this Book - my mom says that I used to beg to be read it over and over again.

I also remember the first book series that I read completely through is tied with The Babysitters Club by Ann M. Martin and The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner.

I remember being read the first books in The little house of the prairie series and then taking over reading them myself.
Another book that has stayed in my mind from my childhood which my son later loved was Stuart Little
And being Swedish some other Swedish series and of course the books by Astrid Lindgren

This is a very interesting question! If a slightly awkward one, because the first book I remember - both my parents reading to me and me reading obsessively myself - is one I cannot find on goodreads. It was this big, semi-illustrated books about dragons and adventures and I loved it with my entire heart. To the point where my parents ended up telling me off multiple times because I stayed up way past my bedtime sneakily reading it. XD

First book I remember that I can actually find on goodreads is The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton, who I absolutely adored when I was under the age of 10.

I don't remember the first books I read. Too long ago. But, what this question brought up for me was the memory of sitting on my daddy's lap being read the "funnies" from the newspaper.

My memory of reading is that I always had a book. I loved the book mobile and the library.

My interest in mysteries goes back to being a young girl and reading Nancy Drew. I also loved anything that dealt with horses. Heck, I wanted to be a horse!

I too read before starting school, and the Janet and John reader series. I remember the Rupert Bear newspaper cartoons - I had an annual every Christmas when I was very young.

The book I loved at school was a book about a bear called Mustard. I read it again and again. A few years ago, I found a copy secon-hand; it was written by an author called Rosemary Graham. Sadly, it was a bit of a disappointment.

Before I could read myself I remember my Nann reading The Rescuers to me. And Classic Tales of Rupert Bear

I blank on what I started reading myself, but remember being obsessed with Sweet Valley high series in my younger reading days Double Love

Sherri wrote: "I thought I remembered books being read aloud on Captain Kangaroo. Yes, I'm old. I googled it & found out 27 books were read aloud on the show. These are the ones I remember & loved so much I bough..."

Yes. This. I grew up with Captain Kangaroo as well. Mr Greenjeans, Mr Moose, Bunny Rabbit ... and books. Always there were books.

I'd forgotten this until you mentioned it! Thanks for the memory jog.

Hannah wrote: "My parents read to me every night when I was little, lots of picture books and eventually graduating into chapter books. One family story is that they read me Where the Wild Things Are..."


I did that with Peter Rabbit when I was two-years-old. I don't remember it, of course, but my mom has it on an audio tape that she sent to my dad, who was in Korea. Quite the parlor trick!

The book with the biggest impact was Winnie-the-Pooh when I was about 4 or 5. A friend of the family would come over to read to us. He had different voices for the various characters and made the book come alive for us. He said that when we read the last chapter, we would be all grown up. To this day, I have never read it.

I also loved Captain Kangaroo. My mom always insisted that I learned far more staying home watching him and a few other kid's shows than my brother learned going off to kindergarten.

I know my mother read to me every night, but don't think she ever read chapter books. There was a poem I was obsessed with that I always made her read about a peach that poisoned this boy "and his sister Sue." 😱 (Early true crime fan?) I made her read Go, Dog. Go! so much that I memorized it and it became the book that taught me how to read. The first books I remember loving were the Ramona Quimby books, How to Eat Fried Worms, and Harriet the Spy.

I loved having the Uncle Wiggly books read to me at bed time…and that the last sentence always ended with something like �� Now if Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy doesn’t forget to feed carrots to the kittens, then we’ll hear about xxx tomorrow.

My parents actively didn’t want me to learn to read before I went to school. They left the village school aged 14 and I think we’re afraid of messing it up some how. So when I started school a bit before I was five I was thinking the magic would happen on day one. But there was no reading then nor on day two or three. When eventually I sat down with the teacher and Janet and John Book 1A there was a page with six pictures and the words opposite “boy, girl, cat, dog, ball, shop��. And I was so indignant that we stopped there. That wasn’t my idea of reading!

The first books I remember loving, though, were collected in The Saga of Noggin the Nog, stories by Oliver Postgate set in the lands of Norse mythology. I would anxiously wait to see if the mobile library had a new one. Usually not but oh the excitement when they did.

First books I remember having read to me were Harry the Dirty Dog and Myrtle Turtle. I can remember reciting Harry the Dirty Dog all the way to preschool one day! "Harry was a white dog with black spots who liked everything except taking a bath."

My son apparently learned to read from Sesame Street. When my daughter was ending kindergarten, the teacher sent home some cards with words to see which ones the kids could read by sight. They hadn't really learned reading as such, mostly phonics by using literal pictures for different sounds. I'm not sure she could actually read any of them at that point, though she picked it up immediately in first grade. But my son who was 4 could read many of them, which totally surprised me. Because I learned early, I decided he might as well too. So I started using simple books to teach him. He loved trains so his favorites were The Little Engine That Could, Freight Train, etc.

Oh gosh. I remember we had a Peter Rabbit pop-up book when I was small, I loved that. And there were plenty of Berenstain Bears and Little Critter books floating around, along with a good handful of children's Bible stories (thanks, Catholic upbringing). Dr Seuss and Curious George were big for my sister and I too.

My mom would read to my sister and I all the time. The first book I remember is Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates. We would all squeeze into the blue armchair to read together. There was a shelf of chapter books for bed time stories to pick from. They were all classics like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass, Black Beauty with special gold embossed Titles on the spines.

The books at school were Mister Maggs.

I wanted very badly to learn how to read cursive when a friend gave us a copy of Tintin. I loved the colourful pictures and the curly writing.

My son's favourite book was A Dragon in a Wagon. One day we were on a hike which my son threw out his soother. He was in such a state that my husband and I recited this book by heart to calm him down. To this day we still remember some of the words we read it so often.

I remember the first book I started when I was in the 1st grade and haven't even learned all of the letters, yet, but my mom was helping me, especially with "j". And that was a Children's Bible with illustrations.

Can't remember if before that, anyone had read anything to me, to be honest.

Misty wrote: "LOL - I was one of those freaky kids who went to preschool already knowing how to read and reading well beyond my level, so I have absolutely no recollection of the first book I read or that was re..."

Oh my goodness. I loved they Misty of Chincoteague books! I almost forgot about them.

I was definitely also a Berenstain Bear fan like some one else mentioned.

But the first book I remember was The Sweet Smell of Christmas. I remember loving the scratch and sniff and that the hot cocoa really did smell like hot cocoa.

Aw what good memories. Love this question!

I also want to mention The Christmas Day Kitten which was a holiday tradition, even though it always made me want to cry.

I remember some of my favorites when I was young, including The Velveteen Rabbit, Pokey Little Puppy, and The Tortoise and the Hare. When I got a bit older, I loved Sweet Valley Twins and Baby Sitters Club.

I don't really remember the first books I read or was read to, but the first one I remember hunting out in the library over and over again was Lucky Les: The adventures of a cat of five tales. It was an early "choose your own story" format. I also read and re-read the Tintin books.

Trish wrote: "I don't really remember the first books I read or was read to, but the first one I remember hunting out in the library over and over again was [book:Lucky Les: The adventures of a cat of five tales..."

I LOVED those choose your own adventure books!

So did I. Lucky Les was more of a story with different routes through it, but a similar idea.

From what my parents tell me, I first read a Dr. Seuss book. I taught myself to read by age 3 thanks to my parents reading to me from birth.

According to the story, they thought I had just memorized the Dr. Seuss books, but then they gave me a new one and I worked my way through that as best as my little self could.

Other than that, the first book memories I really have are reading the Dr. Seuss books that my pediatrician had for while you waited.

First novel I remember reading that I connected with was where the red fern grows it was a school assignment but I loved the book.

Chelsea wrote: "From what my parents tell me, I first read a Dr. Seuss book. I taught myself to read by age 3 thanks to my parents reading to me from birth.

According to the story, they thought I had just memori..."

I was the same :) My younger sister was born just before Christmas, so my parents didn't really have much time to spend with me, and were pretty surprised when they noticed I was reading the new books I'd gotten for Christmas to myself.

First book is a bit hazy, but was probably The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which I read to my sister a lot - she remembered that well enough to buy me a new copy a few years ago.

My clearest memory, which would be a bit older, is that I read and re-read the Naughty Amelia Jane! books enough that I still remember them better than books a read a couple of months ago.

Ana AZ wrote: "That's a hard question... I think, but I can't be sure, that the first book I read was a version of a "See dog run" book."

My earliest book memory is being given a Spot the Dog book at school and I read it too quick and was bored by it, so was sent home with slightly more advanced books, which I have no idea what they were about now but the sentences were a bit longer than three words. I guess my parents taught me to read a bit before I started school.