When I was very young, 10 or under, there was a book I read that I remember almost nothing about, just that there was a kid who found or built a bunch of robots to do various things. The only robot I really remember is the one made to row a boat, named (appropriately) Row-bot. It had a bell built in that would ring every time it made a stroke. At the end of the book all the robots have to leave the boy, and the last scene is him watching them rowing away and hearing the bell fade into the mist. That I even remember any of the book tells me I really liked it.
Besides that, I was gifted a copy of Ender’s Game for my 15th or 16th birthday. I really loved it and it was the first time I can remember being really blown away by a plot twist.
Edit: The first book may be Andy Buckram’s Tin Men.
Redwall, by Brian Jacques I think. Basically medieval fantasy drama but with woodland animals if I remember properly. I loved the whole series, great books when I was a kid.
Oh my god I saw the post and immediately thought Redwall! Glad to see you, new friend!
Theres A Monster At the End of This Book
One of my earliest favorites too.
The Magician’s Nephew
this was my first introduction to the concept of multiple realities and it blew my little 7 year old mindYESSS. I loved this as a kid and I was so angry it didn’t get a movie adaptation. I think a lot about how the ground made everything grow because the world was new. I still think about the “you can’t unring the bell” thing.
the concept of the Deplorable Word spell that kills every living thing except the caster was also terrifying and amazing to me. Took a few years to realize it was probably a metaphor for nuclear weapons
That’s the Narnia prequel, right? It was by far my favourite book in the series as a kid, though I was already familiar with the concept of multiple realities thanks to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I always hoped it would get an adaptation. I haven’t reread any of them as an adult, but my memory of it still makes me hope for that one day.
I mainly want to seen a screen adaptation of Jadis causing a ruckus in 1900s London lmao
yeah like at that point as a kid I had the concept of “going to a fantasy land” stories but always sorta applied Neverland logic where the existence of the fantasy land was somehow tied to our own (e.g. via wardrobe door)
The Wood Between the Worlds introduced to me the idea of multiple realities existing completely independently from our own. Ironically, given C. S. Lewis’ intent with Narnia, this concept helped me challenge the Protestant beliefs that I was being raised with, and brought me some form of comfort in the idea that maybe I could someday escape Yhwh’s reality.
See, child me was NOT thrilled with the idea that my afterlife was going to consist of ETERNALLY WORSHIPPING GOD AND DOING NOTHING ELSE, even if the church claimed that was some sort of unbeatable joyous bliss. After all you can be happy but still be fucking bored and that sounded like just a slightly less shitty Hell to me…
So I actually got really into mysticism as a kid to try to learn how to magic myself into a reality where you got to go to an Aslan’s Country style afterlife instead of eternal sitting in church.
This did not go over well with my religious parents, lol. Thankfully I eventually dropped all the magic and religion shit in favor of a love for science. Though I still love mystic aesthetics and high fantasy ofc
Picking just one book is really unfair as I fell in love with various books at different times of my life.
But to answer your question, the very first book I remember falling in love with as a little kid is… two books. Jules Verne ‘Michel Strogoff’, and Conan Doyle’s ‘The Lost World’ which I read in French back then as ‘Le monde perdu’.
But I insist, this is absolutely unfair to the many other books I’ve loved and still love to this very day :p
Everyone has always one favourite… always :)
Elfstones of Shannara
There was one early teen book series that my school library has where it was a town with weird things happening and kids investigate. Twice aliens came to get help from the kids. I can’t remember the name of the series though.
The first one I remember really being moved by was Earth Abides by George R. Stewart. But the first one I truly loved was Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny.
Star wars bane books and Kevin Mitnik’s ghost in the wires. I couldn’t put them down.
Old Man and the Sea, the first reading assignment I actually enjoyed. Sure it took 5 years after being weaned off of picture books to seriously get into reading, but hey I’m thankful because there’s no adventure quite like the kind that comes from a good book.
I read most of Dan Brown’s books as a child and I really liked The Digital Fortress, Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code, but the one that marked me the most in my prepubescent years was probably Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho.
The Magician’s Nephew
wait, I know that name. what WAS that book? was that fucking Narnia?
Yes, it was a prequel to The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
Fox in Socks, Dr Seuss.
House of the Scorpion. Pleasantly surprised to look it up and see it has pretty good ratings
Hitchhikers Guide, my mom got me to read it really young. I was maybe 8.
Before that, Zoobooks obviously
Redwall by Brian Jacques was probably the earliest one I remember loving.
