I would say mine is the Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. My teacher read it to the class in third/fourth grade and I fell in love with it. It might be because I loved dolls and stuff like that and related to Abilene. I loved seeing Edward going on all of this adventures and I believed for the longest time that he was like a character in Toy Story. I think my favorite part was when he was with this brother and sister. Although many people don’t like it due to its non-kid friendly topics (abuse, manipulation, death),the book just reminds me a simpler time in my life and when I just started to realize reading was fun.
It’s just my favourite book period but I do have nostalgia for it also. L’étranger by Albert Camus. I used to think I hated reading “smart” books. Turns out I just hate wordy books and Zola with a passion. Le Germinal was torture. It’s what got me into figuring out that writing can have styles and that some styles aren’t for me.
I am the messenger, when you reach me, phantom tollbooth, the BFG,
Holes by Louis Sachar and Among The Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix were my favorite as a kid
loosely translated as “Last Resort” by Ilya Turchin. it is about a soviet soldier fighting nazis told in a fairytale sort of style. with illustrations done by an artist who did some WWII propaganda posters (Vlasov). makes for an interesting emotional mix when reading.
the book belonged to my cousin and i used to steal it and read it again and again. got to the point where the cover wasn’t attached and the pages were falling out.
Harry Potter. It reminds me of family, nostalgia from growing up, waiting for later books at midnight and then reading it as fast as possible, talking about them with friends and family, going to see the new movies in imax, watching the abc family marathons. Going to an HP themed college party. Great great memories, plus the books themselves were good. Especially the sixth one with all the pensieve memories, giving glimpses into characters’ mysterious pasts.
Whenever I’m sick, I grab two things to entertain me in bed: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Pokémon Crystal. I have so much nostalgia and warmth for both of those that it’s the entertainment equivalent of a bowl of soup.
This is the only answer. HP is my childhood.
Makes me nostalgic like no other book.
The Eagleheart series by C.T. Westcott, published in the mid to late '80s. Read them as a teenager and loved them, really funny sci-fi saga. Super hard to find now but I tracked them down a few years ago and re-read them. Laughed my arse off and felt like a kid again, even though the writing isn’t something I’d be interested in nowadays.
That’s such a good book! For me it’s The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall. Being an only child, I loved escaping into a world with a big family and so many sisters. The writing was so descriptive, I could picture myself running around the groups of the mansion with the girls. I also saw myself myself in Jane, a bookworm who wrote her own stories. I only read 3 out of the 5 in the series before I grew out of them, but I’d love to read the last 2 as an adult to feel all the nostalgia and good vibes😊
Purely childhood nostalgia, Call of The Wild.
The Mysteries in our National Parks series, which you probably haven’t heard of because you were reading Goosebumps! Both share a similar-ish genre and competed for the same shelf space in our library.
Not sure why I liked them. Each book was written in easy-to-understand narrative prose, had unique side characters, and ended with an easily digestible moral.
KAramozov Brothers and Greate Expectations
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley: 10 year old me, parents recently divorced, living in a new state, going to a new school, lost and alone. I LOVED reading and was an avid reader. Each week, when the class went to the library, the librarian would have a few books that were her recommendations. She would draw a number out of a hat, whichever number came up, the corresponding student had the option to come choose one of her recommendations.
One week, about halfway through the school year, she specifically mentioned to me that there was a book that she thought I would like: The Hero and the Crown. She reached into the hat, she pulled out a slip of paper, she looked at the list of names and she called mine. I picked up The Hero and the Crown and after I read it and read the struggles of the protagonist I felt so SEEN and understood.
It made such a HUGE impact on me and I hate that I can’t even remember the librarian’s name. But she saw me, she understood me, and she gave me my perfect comfort read of all time. Also, I suspect it was not actually my number that she pulled from the hat. She saw a need and she filled it.
I read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass so many times as a kid. I also loved, and love, The Egypt Game.
A Wrinkle in Time.
My Side of The Mountain series. Got it from the Scholastic Book Fair 🥲
A Wrinkle in Time-it was the first time I realized a book could actually take me places. I was totally transported to that kitchen on that dark and stormy night.
Came here to say A Wrinkle in Time!