Which books did you read when you were 10

[Katluc]

Last night, I read the kiddies a goodnight story but, for some reason or other didn´t feel like reading them a fairy tale. I´d started reading them Oliver Twist but my second youngest didn´t understand very much of it and I decided to wait. I know it´s daft but I found Dostoyevsky " The Christmas Tree and The Wedding ". The children ( 10, 8½ and 6 ) really got into it and enjoyed it.

It got me thinking. I was 10 when I read Julius Caesar but somehow my eldest seems too young for it. Not in his mind but in his reading skills ( probably because the poor mite has 3 languages to contend with in his everyday life ). I suppose a part of my predicament is that these kiddies of mine can sit through 3 hour operas, so they´re used to high drama but much of the great literature is rather complicated emotionally for small children and often deals with the darker and more grotesque side of life and human nature. I don´t believe in shielding children completely from those things but I don´t want to completely depress them all either.

What were you reading when you were 10 and what would you recommend as good reading for a goodnight story ? Not Harry Potter. I want them to read those books themselves and not C.S Lewis. My Daughter´s already reading them.

[Jassy Melson]

Oscar Wilde wrote some delightful fairy tales and tales of fantasy. His collection of fairy tales The Happy Prince and Other Stories is a collection that young and old can enjoy. They would be perfect for a ten-year-old.

When I was ten I was reading fantasies, tall tales and fairy tales--and the Hardy Boys series.

[Paulclem]

The Wind in the Willows or any of Roald dahl's books - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory etc.
I enjoyed these, and also A Comet in Moominland and the other stories by Tove Jansson about the Moomintrolls. Great books.
I remember enjoying Dr Doolittle books too, and the Norse Myths were also interesting.
Then there's Teasure Island and Robin Hood.

[Scheherazade]

I think I was reading a lot of (translated) Enid Blyton when I was 10. I found them a little simple but I had just discovered them and could not stop reading.

[Katluc]

Thanks. I´m definitely going to read the Oskar Wilde. I thought of "The Hobbit" too but goodnight stories are easier for the kiddies if they´re short. I´ll try to get my Son to read the Roald Dahl books. I think he´d like them. I know he enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Dr.Doolittle I´ve forgotten. Are there any Science fiction books for his age ?

[bouquin]

Nancy Drew!!!!!

[Katluc]

Nancy Drew, the original, the revised version or the more recent ones ? I´ve never read Nancy Drew but have read that the more recently revised editions go under another name. Which would you recommend ?

[Kyriakos]

Not a lot i should say. Some children's editions of homer's epics, and then a couple of Jules Verne books.
I did not read much outside of homework when i was ten. Started doing that at 16.

[keilj]

Archie
Tin Tin
Nancy Drew

[The Comedian]

Man, I'm not exactly sure, but I think I was reading a lot of Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators mysteries at the time.

Here's what they looked like:



I also read a lot of outdoor magazines, especially those dealing with hunting and fishing.

[Rores28]

Goosebumps and Animorphs

[Katluc]

Man, I'm not exactly sure, but I think I was reading a lot of Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators mysteries at the time.

Here's what they looked like:



I also read a lot of outdoor magazines, especially those dealing with hunting and fishing.

Wow, I remember this book. I loved it. I wonder whether it´s still in print. I see Nancy Drew came up again. I´m going to have to get hold of it somehow or other. Believe it or not, some states in America have banned it because of racism and connotations of sex !! Luckily I live in a more liberated Denmark.

[aliengirl]

I read a lot of mythology and all kinds of folktales back then. Arabian Nights was one of my favorites. I was learning four languages and of course I chose to read in my mother tongue when I meant to have pure fun. But then my father introduced me to Dickens and Lambs and I enjoyed reading David Copperfield. Later Jules Verne caught my fancy and I think 20000 Leagues Under the Sea is his best work.

[Katluc]

So, Aliengirl, how was it to have to learn all those languages. My Son speaks very good English, German and Danish, as do all my other children ( apart from the baby. She said Mummy today, bless her little heart ) but their schooling is in Danish. Benjamin, my eldest was diagnosed with Dyslexia but then they took it all back and said it was because of the languages ( mum English, Dad German ). My Theresa speaks well but her forte is reading, which she loves and she can cope in all three languages. She reads best in German. No.3, Claudia is only six and she´s got her Fathers good brains. I think she´s more interested in Mathematics than anything else. I was always terrible at languages but learnt to speak Danish and German to a decent level out of necessity. How do the kiddies do it and what problems are they up against. Of course, as a Mother, I can see problems developing but I´ve no idea what it´s like to be in my childrens´ shoes.

[dfloyd]

we moved to a new section where there were few children. Being lonely and loving to read, I read quite a few books at this time. Anyway, here's what I read beween eight and nine:

Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
Sherlock Holmes - Conan Doyle
The Back Arrow - Robert Louis Stevenson
Robin Hood - Paul Creswick
Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson
Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
The Prince and the Pauper - Mark Twain
A Connecticut Yankee - Mark Twain
Tarzan novels (I bought them all with my allowance
I think there were 23 novels in all) - Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

I kept a notebook for years of all the books I read so I remember many of those I read in early childhood. I tried other books, such as the Hardy Boys series, but those like the Hardy Boys I found too juvenile after reading the classics listed above. The ones I remember the most from these (which were more young adult) are the Black Stallion series by Walter Farley and the sea storeis by Howard Pease.