The Very First Book

[Scheherazade]

Do you remember the very first book you read?

What was it?

Why and how did you happen to read that particular book?

How did you like it?

Did you read it again?

If yes, was there a change in your understanding and reaction to the book?

Do you still own a copy?


The first book I remember reading (aged 4) was a translated copy of Martine Goes to Circus by Delahaye (original in French). There are over 50 books in the series. In time I read them all :D

It was given to me by my mother as a present for my early start at school.

I loved the story lines and the beautiful, life-like drawings in the books. Also, I was in awe that this little girl, who was a little older than me at the time, was able to do things I could only dream of.

I kept reading them over and over again until it was getting embarrassing to do so :eek:

I own couple of copies but I would like to get them in English or even better in orginal. I would like to learn French properly just to be able to read Martine books in original :)



The first novel I read (aged 7) was 'Pollyanna' by Elanor H. Porter, again a translated copy.

I read it because it was on the bookshelf at home and had the drawing of a young girl with a beautiful smile on the cover.

I loved the story as it inspired me to be a nicer person.

I read it again every summer holiday for 5 consecutive years. :blush: As a teen, I found the book 'boring' and too 'goody-two-shoes'.

Unfortunately, I do not own a copy now but I am hoping to get it sometime soon and read it in English as well. :nod:

[rocksea]

The first book which really pushed me into the world of books was
Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Like Scheherazade, it was given to me by my
mother. I was around 10 years old then. Though I used to read all kind of
story books b4, this book was the one which took me into the book world,,
She was teaching in the same school which I was studying then and she took
it from the library for me. I was at hostel that year and read the book in the
study room, keeping it hidden in another big book :p . I was happy that I
found this world and looked around with gleaming eyes if anyone was noticing me.
Later I got an old copy of Tom Sawyer and it is still in my small library,,
Read it a few more times again. I don't remember when last but so many
years back. I remember that when i read it the second time i had forgotten
most of it and enjoyed the scene again.
When I have my children, maybe I will give it to them again :D

[ajoe]

What Katy Did. :D (I don't remember the author, though.)

I was in third grade when my aunt gave me that as a Christmas gift. It was my very first novel and since I was not used to the length, it took me a few months to finish it. ;)
Eh, and I didn't really understand it cause I skipped about 2 weeks before I went on the the next chapter. :p I still remember the beginning though. :D

[Stanislaw]

Do you remember the very first book you read?
- the Hardy Boys
What was it?
- Vampire trail I think was the title
Why and how did you happen to read that particular book?
- My mom had some hardy boys books in dutch, so she bought me some english ones and we would read them together before bed
How did you like it?
- I thought it was super cool
Did you read it again?
-I still do :blush:
If yes, was there a change in your understanding and reaction to the book?
- Uh... I wanted to be a super geniuse sleuth kid... so I started studying mathematics extra hard.
Do you still own a copy?
-Yeah, I think I own most of the original series by now.

[mono]

My VERY first book must have been either The Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. I loved both, in old nostalgic books passed down in my family, which I hope to obtain someday (sigh). I read both all of the time, along with other works by Dr. Seuss.
My first novel, however, I remember clearly as Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne, read for elementary school. I adored this work, and read it again during the following summer.

[Jester]

yeah same for me with Dr suess though it might have been wheres waldo, or astrix we had tons of those when i was a kid and my brohters were older so had them and collected them....

my mom still has her childhood books so you can imagine that ours are soemwhere in our vast expanses of unpacked boxes... all this moving around leaves us with quite a bit of storage... and no clue where half our stuff is

[subterranean]

I cant recall the first book i read :)..I do remember often holding reader's digest when i was still in the first grade of elementary..not reading it, just looking at the pictures

[Kiwi Shelf]

I cant recall the first book i read :)..I do remember often holding reader's digest when i was still in the first grade of elementary..not reading it, just looking at the pictures

haha, that is the same answer for me... my mother has pictures of me carrying one around... I read really young, no idea where it started. I do know that the first chapter book my mother ever bought me was one of Baby-sitter little sister books, but I read it really fast and decided I liked higher reading areas better. I still read them, but only because they were the things my friends read. My readng level got me in trouble, though, teachers would pick up on it and I had to read harder books. They were great, I just felt like an outsider.

[subterranean]

yeah, i suppose we grew too qiuckly..:D :D..

[rocksea]

seems like for most of us it was mother who initiated us to reading books,,

[ajoe]

Wait, are we talking about "book" book or "not-so-book" book?
Cause when I was young I read a bunch of those 20-page folktales with moral attached. :D

[ajoe]

seems like for most of us it was mother who initiated us to reading books,,

Aw, it's making me feel nostalgic. My mom used to read to me every night. We had this book full of short stories featuring animals as main characters. Haha, I actually could read already but I was too lazy to read the longer stories.

[rocksea]

Aw, it's making me feel nostalgic. My mom used to read to me every night. We had this book full of short stories featuring animals as main characters. Haha, I actually could read already but I was too lazy to read the longer stories.

yea, mum used to tell those short-moral-stories (like the hare and tortoise)
to me n brother when we ate. later when i was grown up, she used to tell
the stories to my brother and sometimes i stood beside, hearing the stories
and commenting in between hehe :D .

[Stanislaw]

This is kind of interesting about the roles parents take in child rearing, like my mother would read with me and tuck me in and what not. And my father would play catch with me, work on the car with me, take me hunting/fishing. interesting.

[Jester]

i ended up reading to my mother, that was when she noticed i had a eye sight problem..... and had to get reading glasses... now i wear contacts all the time.... hmmm bad....

when i was in elementary my dad started reading to us outloud, to me and my two older brothers. He read into thin air with us and tried to read english creek but my brothers quickly grew bored of that when i was really young i dont remember

[Koa]

I remember as my first book Little Women. I was 5 I think...no, maybe 6, the summer before I went to primary school... I found it very strange that books were written in that strange alphabet cos I could write only in capitals at the time...but I read it anyway, wondering why 'a' had that shape...
The book was just around the house, it's probably still there somewhere, and i guess that was the start of my habit of reading everything i found which lasted till a few years ago (wish i still had that habit)... I read it many more times as another habit I had was of reading the same books over and over again... Opinions well...I liked it, I guess I found it involving...I liked Amy best :) I wonder what I d think of it now...

[faith]

Im very sorry for that I dont remember which was the very first book I read. The first book i ever READ IN must have been my school reading book, but that doesnt count, cos I never read everything in it, and anyway, at least the beginning was just words that didnt even form sentences. My parents always read a lot aloud for me, firts picture books and then teenage novels. But anyway, I could tell u about the very first book I REMEMBER reading. That was the Metterborg-books by the Swedish author Rose Lagerkranz. They were like 20-30 pages with pictures. I was in 2. grade when I read them, and had probably been introduced to them at school. I used to read one of them aloud for my father every night, so I guess I read them quite many times. I must have loved them. I have however not seen any of them since, and would probably find them well boring now....

[Scheherazade]

I remember as my first book Little Women. ... I liked Amy best :) I wonder what I d think of it now...

I always assumed Jo would be everyone's favorite character :) as she is mine :p

Eh you know what they say about assuming :D

[Jester]

no, what do they say?

[Scheherazade]

no, what do they say?

Don't assume... You would make an *** of U and ME...


On another note...

I had read this really funny book (for a 7 year old, I guess) but I cannot remember what it was called... It was about nursery children taking over the nursery and making demands from the staff (more icecream and such)... It was a translation and I think the original was English... Any ideas?

I also loved stories of 'Petit Nicolas' by Sempe. Those were translated too... They were hillarious, looking at adult world from a child's perspective... Unfortunately, it is out of print... I would like to read them again.

[crisaor]

The first book I read was The Odyssey, when I was in second grade. Our literature teacher used to read us bits of it every class (it was a very bohemian school). One day, there was this parents meeting, and to cut a long story short, I had to stay at the school from morning until evening. I asked my teacher for it, and I spent 90% of that time reading it. I don't recall exactly if it was a children's version or not, but if it wasn't, then I'm much more intelligent than I think (or was, anyway). The book itself was great. I couldn't stop a minute. I think I opened a door that day that hasn't closed to this day.
I own a copy, of course, and I have read it again several times, but when I read the Iliad, I thought it was better.

[Taliesin]

We are not very sure about our first book.
We remember that We read the "Dr Dolittle" books when We were about six or seven. We are not sure if they were our first for We think that We learnt to read when we were about four and a half so there probably was something between.
We remember that we read a really violently shortened version of the "Black Cauldron" when we were five but We wouldn't call it a book. It was about six pages and the length of this post by now would probably be about a third of the "book's" length.

We also remember reading a lot of a kids magazine named "Täheke" when we were about six. They were old copies, actually from the Soviet times, and you could understand it. There was a lot of things about pioners and Lenin and stuff. :D

Also We remember that we read a lot of fairy-tales. There was a series in the library. It was called "The tales of hundred people" or something like that.

When we were eight, We read "The Hobbit"

[Bongitybongbong]

My first book was If You Give a Moose a Muffin. I got the book when I learned how to read as a gift. That is one of my favorite books ever and I've read many times. I still have it with me to this day.