Favourite Childhood Author?

[DamianLake]

My favorite childhood author would be Roald Dahl, author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. I also was quite fond of the Danny Dunn series and the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series. But I don't even know who the author was for those books. The author probably changed over the years.

Wow, that almost mirrors my own childhood literary tastes! Dahl wrote for a number of audiences, including scriptwork for tv series "Tales of the Unexpected", but his YA stuff always had a dash of the fantastical that appealed to a young adventure-hound like me. I remember "The BFG" got me started when our teacher read it to us in class. "The Twits", "The Witches", and "Matilda" still remain fondly in my memory.

Once I had read every blue-hardcovered Hardy Boys book I could buy or borrow, and finished all of Danny Dunn's amazing adventures, and worn out my tattered copy of Milo's adventures beyond "The Phantom Tollbooth", (which would make an awesome CG movie today in my opinion), I graduated to a few more authors who seem to be less well known.

Edward Eager delighted me with his "Half-Magic" book, about a group of kids who find a magic coin that grants any wish. (Or, half of the wish at any rate. You only get half of what you ask for!)

From there, I discovered the world of Bruno and Boots, trouble-making schoolboys extraordinaires, in a series of entertaining books by Gordon Korman. He's still writing, and I hope his earlier stuff is still in print. One my favorite non-Bruno and Boots books was "No Coins Please", which I read three times during a YMCA waterskiing camp weekend.

Then what about John Bellairs? He was delightfully creepy and fascinating with such books as "The Curse of the Blue Figurine", "The Trolley to Yesterday", and perhaps one of his best known, "The Eyes of the Killer Robot". I always imagined his books are what the Hardy Boys would have been if they'd been written by Rod Sterling.

But for creepy supernatural and oddball YA books, a step up from Bellairs would have to be William Sleator! I remember in high school how his "House of Stairs" really rang my weird-o-meter. "Interstellar Pig" and "Singularity" remain as stand-out stories in my mind.

Wow, in double checking that I remember these names correctly, I see some of them are still publishing! I'm really in the mood to check out some of their works again, and even try one of their newest creations! I wonder how much my views and tastes have changed since back in the day.....

[berry]

Dickens. I love him. I also liked Andersen.

[linda8283]

I was then and still am, very into horses, so most of my early memorable reading was about them! Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry being my fave!! Cimarron by Edna Feber was a close second. Of course The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe was captivating as well, even though that was required reading for grade 4 or 5!

[janefendy]

Enid Blyton I remember some of his short stories. Oh, and of course, J.K. Rowling. I grew up with Harry Potter books on my bedside

[VTTheta]

As a kid I really enjoyed the books that would let you pick what happened next in the book and you would switch to a certain page and continue your story. I enjoyed re-reading those books over and over again to see how the story changed.

I was also a huge fan of the Laura Ingalls Wilder series - I read every book

[Wolf99]

I loved the Little House on The Praire books, and I also loved Tamora Pierce books. I still reread Pierce's books every now and then =)

[lwillson]

Had to be Dr. Seuss from the start, read them to my son and now to my Grandson. I also loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder series when I got older. I can't forget Mark Twain either, loved Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.