Favorite Children's Stories

[Kristie]

Hi, all! I don't think we have a thread on this yet. I was wondering what your favorite fairy-tale kind of stories were when you were growing up.

My parents never really read to me, so I didn't get read any fairy tales, but I loved the Disney versions of some (yeah, I know Disney is different from the real stories). I really love the Little Mermaid by Andersen and Sleeping Beauty by Perrault.

Also, I know we're from a great many places in the world so I was wondering if your countries/regions had any tales that weren't really told elsewhere. I know I wasn't told Greek or Norse myths, but were some of you from those areas told those as children?

[randomgirl]

I was really lucky because my parents read to me a lot. (that sentence sounds so weird. ) I loved any fairy tales when I was little and when I got a bit older I started reading anything by Enid Blyton. I loved her books!

[Dominique]

I don't really remember being read any fairytales that weren't the Disney books released in tie with the movie, and the standard ones like Jack and the Beanstalk etc.

In Australia Aboriginal dream time spiritual stories in children's books are also quite popular, as kids enjoy them but are at the same time being taught about Aboriginal culture and our country's heritage.

Here's a rough guide to the stories for anyone who's interested
www.teachers.ash.org.au/jmresources/dreaming/stories.html

[Isa]

I loved the Disney stories as well, my favorite one was Goldilocks and the Three Bears because my mom would make different voices for all the bears She also read from a collection of folk tales called "La Bête à Sept Têtes" (The Seven-Headed Beast) and from a book that had 365 short stories, one for every night

[Katelyn]

Although I've always lived in Canada, my dad was born and grew-up in Great Britain before his parents - my grandparents - immigrated here. I remember that when I was growing-up he and my grandmother - who used to read to me a lot - would read Rupert Bear books to me; I used to love reading them, I still do actually. Even when I got older, every year for Christmas, my nan would always buy my family and I that year's Rupert Bear book because a new one was released every year. There was even a television show that I remember watching when I was younger about Rupert bear and his pals. I also remember that when I began reading on my own I began by reading Paddington Bear books ( I sense a theme here), and after a while I also started reading books written by Enid Blyton, like randomgirl. My childhood and teenage years were definitely influenced a lot by British writers. But one Canadian writer whom I remember reading while I was growing-up is Farley Mowat.

[Halie]

I love love love childrens' books. And children.

I inherit my passion for literature from my mom, I think. Growing up, she read a lot of E.B. White to me. Wilbur, Stuart and I are still the best of friends.

I also read lots of Harry Potter, starting in the second grade. I loved getting lost in the world of wizardry (and still do.)

Other favorites include Nancy Drew, the Animal Ark series, "Zillah and Me," the Fancy Nancy series, and Willy the Wizard. (I babysit a lot, so I know kids' books. They love when I do funny voices

As for fairy tales, Hans Christian Andersen (my grandmother is Danish) was a favorite, as were the One Thousand and One Nights stories (although I think my mother edited them when she told them to me; some are quite ghastly.)

[Lu]

I love 365 short stories, I had two collections of 365 stories, one was my father's favorite children book.

I also really liked Disney versions, especially Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, The Beauty and the Beast and Peter Pan.

My grandparents have a very nice collection of fairy tales, they're 3 big heavy books and so I started to read them at 7 - 8 years old. I remember I used to read them to my cousin (she's 3 years younger than me) and one of our favorites was Frau Holle (the title has something like 5 different italian translations...it was very confusing!). My cousin used to ask me to tell her that story (or a variant of it) every evening before going to sleep, when we were staying in countryside at our grandparents' for Summer, the idea was that if Peter Pan happened to fly outside the window and enjoy the story, he would have taken us to Neverland, lol, my cousin was totally in love with Peter Pan!

I also really like: Le Petit Poucet (Hop o' My Thumb), Hansel and Gretel and Pinocchio.
And of course I liked Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino a lot!

Oh, and I was really terrified by Bluebeard!

[Bina]

All of Grimm´s fairy tales were my favorite and most of Hans Christian Andersen. I also loved Astrid Lindgren, Erich Kästner, The Herdmanns, Enid Blyton, Ottfried Preußler etc.

[neh]

I had slightly censored versions of the Grimms tales and Arabian Nights stories in big collections all over my house and grandparents house, so fiary tales and folk tales were something i adored as a kid (probably why i took those courses at Uni too)
I also loved Angelina Ballerina tales, this series of books just called Teddy (he was an awesome bear!!) and almost everything in the Little Golden Books variety.
www.randomhouse.com.au/Books/Default.aspx?Page=Book&ID=9781740519243

In terms of distinctly Australian books, i loved The Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snugglepot_and_Cuddlepie

The Magic Pudding
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Pudding

and of course the oh-so-awesome Blinky Bill!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blinky_Bill