Kid's books... a survey, sort of

[pat]

My son's class has just finished reading one of my all-time favorite books from childhood, "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler." (I trace my love of art and art museums to wanting to run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with the heroine...)

I love children's literature. I still occasionally reread "Little Women" and "Rose in Bloom" by Louisa May Alcott. I think Jon Scieszka is a genius: every intelligent adult I know who has read it falls into fits of laughter over "Math Curse". And "Clack Clack, Moo Moo: Cows that Type" by Doreen Cronin gives me a serious case of hysterical giggles.


So, my question is .... what are your favorite kids' books?

What books did you read as a child change your life?
What books were your favorite escapes?
What books did you discover as an adult which you wish you had known about when you were a kid? (A good friend in college, horrified that I had never read "The Phantom Tollbooth," once gave me a copy for my birthday. I loved it after the first five pages.)
What books do you recommend or buy for your children, nieces and nephews, or your friends' kids?

And any age range here... from "Where the Wild Things Are" and "Goodnight, Moon" to "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone."

I'm interested in seeing what books affected people. Not to mention checking into ones I haven't read yet : >

Comments

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Ah.. A Wrinkle in Time. I think I remember reading that in junior high.

I never did read any of the sequels though. Should I?

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

oh, yes, definitely. I personally think the first is still the best, but the others are good too. One of the later ones explores mitochondria. Very cool.