Don't forget to visit http://www.firstbook.org/whatbook to help send books to kids in need!

I remember this story and how it so hooked me in. I was so mad at the way Buck was treated! I'll never forget this book and the rest, as they say, is history.

Okay, I can see by the fact that I'm clicking on every book, I suppose there wasn't one book that got me into reading (probably loved it at birth), but tons that I looooved when I was still deciding what types of books to read.

good book but most of stephen king is

I got hooked on the Beatrix Potter books, and Maurice Sendak's masterpieces that were read aloud to me when I was a little kid, and I could look at the amazing art. The first non-picture book I read myself, and that instantly hooked me, was C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

what really, really hooked me was a series of mystery/adventure paperbacks for kids. there were two i particularly liked: one had a young girl as the leader, the other had a group of boys who had their headquarters in a makeshift hideaway built with tires and planks and entirely hidden from grown ups. i can't count the occasions on which i hated my mom for calling me to the dinner table. i would have been entirely happy to skip dinner altogether and subsist on a diet of tap water just so that i could continue reading! for the life of me, though, i can't begin to remember the name of this series. too bad.

Oh, I love Beatrix Potter too and read them all to my son. I also loved Black Beauty and all the Walter Farley books and was a fan club member. We never forget these books. I also had to read Alice in Wonderland but never really liked it that much.

Some of these books do not seem like children's books to me!

Interesting. I tried to come up with a specific book that "hooked" me, and realized I don't remember a time in my life when I didn't read. I guess I'm more like Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird: "One does not love breathing." It's just something I've always done.

Well, some books really influenced me and I guess that is what is meant here. I have always read too as my mother did. But some books cause you to forget everything else and become totally focused on the book and change your outlook on life.
Tracey I also felt that way about Buck in The Call of the Wild. It upset me real bad. I liked White Fang better.
I have read many books and quite a few I barely remember at all but some books you NEVER FORGET. These are the ones that get you hooked and influence your life. There are also pages you remember all your life!!!!!

Jennie wrote: "Interesting. I tried to come up with a specific book that "hooked" me, and realized I don't remember a time in my life when I didn't read. I guess I'm more like Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird:..."

Me too! And that is one of my books. When i had children I loved reading to them and, of course, all my children love to read. Two of my children are writers.

jo wrote: "what really, really hooked me was a series of mystery/adventure paperbacks for kids. there were two i particularly liked: one had a young girl as the leader, the other had a group of boys who had t..."

I would love to find out what those books were because I seem to remember something like that. My mother used to call me to dinner by saying, "Go tell the lady that dinner is ready!" I always had to do dishes because I didn't help with the set-up.

i love this book

i love the way the author writes

The Secret Garden got me hooked in third grade. I didn't really read before third, so I was a late bloomer. I wanted a secret place to have to myself to make beautiful. I liked the way a brat herself, helped another kid who was considered a brat.

Only one video of it is realistic, the Hallmark one, if I am not mistaken.

Where are the Enid Blyton books? What about her Famous Five and Secret Seven books?

Why don't you add them, Sunflower?

I love this list such a walk down memory lane some of the books that shaped back then that I haven't thought about in years

a lot of these books are some I read when I was really little and I'm still reading now.

The Eye of the World

My first love was a nonfiction book, X-raying the Pharaohs. I was entranced by mummies and Egypt...My first beloved work of fiction was Anne of Green Gables. I read it over and over!

u guys r werd!

Why on earth is Deathly Hallows so far down on the list?

Watership down is NOT a childrens book, its likely at least a high school + reading level.

Why is Gone with the wind in there? That is 1000+ page civil war love story, not a kids quick story.