First Book: What Book Got You Hooked?

The folks over at First Book polled their readers with the question, “What Book Got You Hooked?” They had 100,000 responses and used them to compile a list of the top 50 “first books.”

I don’t remember my actual first book, but one of the earliest books I remember is Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses. Some of his rhymes were so full of Britishisms that I didn’t quite get them, though of course I do now, others were just delightful on many levels: the back-and-forth rhythim of “The Swing” for example, or the mischievous tone of “The Shadow.”

The first five books on FirstBook’s list are:

  1. Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene
  2. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
  3. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  4. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
  5. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

I can’t say I’m surprised by anything on that list – the Nancy Drew books were among my childhood favorites, and the Little House series and Alcott’s works grace my shelves even today, but I have to confess that I wish fewer people were introduced to reading by Dr. Seuss, but that’s my bias, because I’ve never been a fan of his sing-songy style.

For the rest of the top 50, go here.