I cried my eyes out alone in my room reading this book when I was 10. Someone mentioned the Redwall series, my friends and I would scour the school library trying to find any of these books that we might have missed, I probably have ten of them still in my house. For kids books those things are large, the hardcover editions could be used as weapons if you were so inclined and if your brothers were pissing you off. Not that I ever did that...
Yes, I am old as dirt. Hardy Boys. Tom Swift Dr Who. And several others. I should remember them after my nap.
All of my favorite books from childhood were animal-related. But animals are badass, so it's okay. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, really great book about the measures of human evil and kindness alike. The Redwall Series, already mentioned. I couldn't read those books after a while because the descriptions of the feasts just made me so damn hungry. The Immortals Series by Tamora Pierce. She writes pretty awesome girl-fiction, this particular series was about a girl who could talk to animals. Who wouldn't want to talk to animals?
The first one that popped into my head was the Wayside School series. I still have those on my shelves and will pick them up and read them for a good laugh in a night. The other one I didn't see listed, however, was The Chronicles of Narnia. There are seven books altogether completing The Chronicles, and they are all an easy read. The movies have thus far done a great job translating them to the screen, but my gosh, I remember getting enthralled in the world of Narnia. From The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader all the way to The Last Battle, I remember I wasn't able to put those books down. I never realized the Christian undertones to the books until I was much older, they were just a way for me to get lost in a magical land, among kids I could relate with. If you haven't read these books, they are truly great. There is a third movie on the way, and while they do a remarkable job staying true to the story, reading the book is just so much better. I know they sell the books as one continuous read, or individual as well.
Anything by John Bellairs: Spooky stories that were really well written such as: The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring The House with a Clock in Its Walls
Harry Potter I read these books religiously. The Saga by Darren Shan - This is the way all vampire fiction should be written (Stephenie Meyer please note) although the first 2 books may seem a little childish, the rest are pure awesomeness. He writes for adults under the pen name D.B Shan
Viking Adventure was a favorite of mine when I was a knee high lad. Its a story of a boy who learns to swordfight, sail, and fight so that he could become a viking. He passes the grueling tests his father, and future shipmates throw at him, and joins them in a quest of adventure. During a storm, he gets tossed off the ship and has to swim to safety on a barrel, and find his way home. Totally awesome stuff.
I think The Animorphs was the first series I really got into, followed by Redwall. I'm pretty sure you have to read Hatchet before you can graduate elementary school. I loved all of Shel Silverstein's poems. Also, fuck The Scarlet Letter.
After the first time I read Where the Red Fern Grows I became a voracious reader. It’s still easily one of the best stories I’ve ever read. After reading Holes and Maniac Magee in elementary school, I immediately read every Louis Sachar and Jerry Spinelli book I could get my hands on. Of course the Wayside School stories have already been mentioned, and Johnny’s in the Basement was my next favorite by Sachar. Space Station Seventh Grade (Spinelli) probably stands out the most in my memory—for me it was like the middle school version of Catcher in the Rye. I read every book I could find by Gordon Korman and Neal Shusterman also. Gordon Korman wrote a lot of lighthearted, humorous novels, which I ate up—No More Dead Dogs, A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag, and The Zucchini Warriors were my favorites. My favorites by Shusterman were the Shadow Club series and Full Tilt. The Phantom Tollbooth- another one of my childhood favorites that hasn’t been mentioned yet. A Series of Unfortunate Events- these ranked right up there with the Harry Potter series for me. It never took me more than a day to read one of these as soon as a new one came out. The Shadow Children series was great, by Margaret Peterson Haddix. She also wrote Escape from Memory, which may be the most entertaining suspense/mystery novel I’ve ever read. Anti-Focus: I fucking hated the Scarlet Letter. Didn’t particularly enjoy A Separate Peace either.
Along with Goosebumps, Hatchet and the Choose your own adventure books already mentioned. One of my favorites was The Mouse and the Motorcycle. Johnny Tremain and My Brother Sam Is Dead were also books I ready frequently because I liked the war stuff.
I loved the Harry Potter series, sad that they are fucking up the series in the movies. Surprised that no one has mentioned The Dragon Riders of Pern. This and Redwall were the 2 series that I devoured in late elementry/jr high
Harry Potter, The Hobbit, The Animorphs as others have mentioned. A few I haven't seen anyone touch on yet; I loved 1,001 Arabian Nights. All of Orson Scott Cards Ender Series. Where the Side Walk Ends As lame as it is to say some of my favorite poems still come from this book. Any and all Greek/Norse/Egyptian mythology. Wizard's First Rule The series meandered its way into overly preachy thinly veiled political fuckery, but to this day I love this book. Stephen King's Eyes of the Dragon If anyone in fantasy has written a more disturbing antogonist than Flagg, I have yet to read it. It was the only book I ever had to read straight through because going to sleep meant Flagg was going to get me. And I loved every page of it. As others have correctly said, I hated The Scarlet Letter. I am going to suffice it to say that there is an entire chapter about a door, and cut myself of pre-rant. I'm also not a big fan of Where the Red Fern Grows. If anyone ever tries to force fucking Moby Dick down my throat again there will be serious ramifications. Things involving steel lock boxes, and bonfires, and scorpions, and sever groin kickings, and repeated loops of Ja Rule music...ect.
Used to love the Goosebumps series as a kid but the winners as a child were always Lord of the Rinds, Chronicles of Narnia and anything by Stephen King, more specifically The Dark Tower series. The man can tell a story, ending hit me for six.
Something tells me, this guy is stalking a Wal-Mart somewhere, as we speak. When I was really young, I was a big fan of the Barmy Jeffers series, by J.H. Brennan. There were only 3 fairly short books, and they weren't exactly a brain strain, but they got me interested in the fantasy genre, and as a result lead me to a lot more of the classics, like Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and most of David Eddings books. They were a fun read when you were 10.
I also used to read a series of books called Shivers, they were kind of a goosebumps rip-off, they don't seem to have been very popular in America but they were very popular over here. <a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivers_(novel_series" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivers_(novel_series</a>)
I think I saw him at a melon stand along the side of Route 1. I'll second LOTR, the Hardy Boys and the Narnia series. I also read the Encyclopedia Brown books, which were supposed to utilize "mysteries" or puzzles to exercise your mind. I read the first few, but EB was such a know-it-all douche I gave them up. I read (and re-read) Watership Down many times growing up. When first read it I was way too young to understand the symbolism, but liked the original point of view.
No love for David Gemmel? Granted, his 3 big 'dark/flawed hero' characters (John Shannow, Waylander & Skilgannon) were pretty similar and the more of his books you read the more you saw that kind of things happening with his characters and plots, but he wrote some awesome heroic fantasy for the growing lad. I remember the school librarian telling me he had a "big following in the sixth form" (that's the last couple of school years if your country counts grades differently) in a way I only realised was disapproving when I got to the sixth form and noticed how many rape scenes his books had.
The aforementioned Sideways Stories from Wayside School was definitely a favorite. I'm also surprised no one has mentioned The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. By far, the best book I've read in school. I've re-read it several times since then, and I still enjoy it thoroughly.