Also Coraline, for slightly older kids. And adults.

Yes, I spent hours reading the World Book Encyclopedia. My parents had a set from the same year I was born (I assume bought for the benefit of my older brother), so by the time I was old enough to be reading it, it was quite dated, but it was still fun. And I learned some godawful useless stuff that I've since forgotten... like how to construct a regular pentagon, or how to extract a square root.

I did the same thing. My aunt's family had a set of World Books, and when I'd get dumped off over there for a weekend with my cousins, and boredom set in, I was amused for endless hours reading them. It was like an analogue version of the Internet.

At least in Haverford Township and the other Delaware County libraries, there's a fair amount of that stuff, or at least what I've looked for. (The Heinlein juvies are there, and actually in the children's section more often than the adult, and Madeline L'Engle, and Danny Dunn, and From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.)

Funny you should mention the Babysitter's Club, tho.. my daughter became obsessed with it recently (why I'm not sure), but she wanted to buy a couple of em and we could only find one at Border's. So we asked a clerk, and she said they didn't carry them... "it's all Mark Kate and Ashley and Lizzie McGuire now." :rolleyes:

Oh! I remember when I got my first set (in 1981)! I read and read those books...my father actually was worried that I was reading too much! I was a total bookworm as a kid. Can't tell you half the stuff I read in it now (memory's a tad off nowadays), but I DO remember reading the encycopedia for hours!

<img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0698113578.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" />

Or here.

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I used to read this at my grandmother's house. There's another great one about a snow plow. But I can't seem to locate it at the moment.
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Quzah.

Was it this one?

Joy! Yes, yes it was. I have it around some place. I think it's in a box with mementoes of/from my grandmother. I love tha book. I'll have to dig it out and read it again.

Quzah.

It's a picture book but it's not really aimed at kids:

When The Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs.

It's utterly chilling, it's about nuclear war. This juxtoposition of this ordinary couple as all hell breaks loose. You have to read it to get what I mean.

I saw the animated presentation many years ago.

Very, very sad indeed.

I cannot believe that this thread's on the third page and nobody's mentioned The Phantom Tollbooth.

Hah! I knew it was all a ruse. It turns out that Quzah actually does have a heart. :thumb:

Of course. Then again, it's kept in a jar in the refrigerator...

Now that was a classic, I don't think I read it until I was in Jr. High though. Wonder if the library has a copy, hmm.

How about the Hardy Boys, those are classics, I think I read them all during 2nd and 3rd grade.

I remember loving Amelia Bedelia . Funny stuff

The computer lab that I work at happens to sit next to the children’s book section of our library. This thread brought back a lot of memories and I started browsing. I found a few books that I had forgotten about

Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
All of Gary Paulson’s Books
Beatrix Potter's Books (The Tale of Peter Rabbit etc.)
Shiloh
Johnny Tremain was a classic I remember reading for school
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang , definitely a classic

I think my all time favorite children’s books has to be The BFG by Robert Dahl, then again I liked all of his books, that that stands out as one I read about 4 times.