I love A Murder for Her Majesty by Beth Hilgartner.

I loved the Babysitters Club series, they were really what got me to read. I also loved Where the Wild Things Are. (It is now banned from schools though)

My children and I loved the Gary Paulson books (Hatchet, The River, etc) for adventure stories, but when we were in the mood for fun and smiles, we would go to Bruce Coville and his Magic Shop Series of books. The Monsters Ring is hilarious reading for students grades 2-4!

My kids are 2 and 3. We like Laura Nemeroff's "If you give a..." books. "If you give a Mouse a Cookie" is still one of my favorite books. When I was younger, I enjoyed the Boxcar Children books. And now I attempt to read them aloud to my kids, but they're a little complicated for them yet. (I'm more reading them for myself, I think). Now I'm into murdwer mysteries and romance. I really enjoy Nora Roberts/ JD Robb, Agatha Christie, and Patricia Cornwall. I'm also reading "The Cat Who.." books by Lilian Jackson Braun. They are fun and easy to read without requiring much thinking.

As a child I loved just about any book, but I particularly remember The Boxcar Children which I just read with my 5 yo for the first time. I still pull out my copy of The Westing Game, my first mystery book and read it every so often.

Goodnight Moon...The Velveteen Rabbit...Goosebumps...and who could forget The Babysitters Club.

I read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a kid. Also, the Black Stallion series (I grew up in KY, so horses loomed very large.)
My son, who is 8, is currently reading the "Guardians of Ga'hool" series by Kathryn Lasky. He's into owls!

One of my favorite books, which is out of print and I'm lucky enough to have a copy of is _The Pink Maple House_ by Christine Noble Govan. I cannot wait to share this book with my daughters!

I also loved the original Boxcar Children books.

And the _All-of-a-Kind Family_ series by Sydney Taylor -- oh I loved those books. I still do!

_Island of the Blue Dolphin_ by Scott O'Dell is another one I read numerous times as a child and still love. I've given it as a gift a number of times.

I love Dr. Seuss for the little ones. It gets amusing with my neice. I also loved Goosebumps, christopher pike books for young adults (pre teen), And of course... Nancy Drew.

My favorite childrens book would be "Oh The Places You Will Go". By none other than the great Dr. Suess. I have given this book to many graduates. My son and I began reading this book when he was about 5. At, 16 he received a brand new copy for graduating high school.

Oh there are so many, it's hard to choose! Dr. Seuss, the Little House books, Curious George, and horse books like Black Beauty.
Where the sidewalk ends, too!

I am only fourteen, but my favorite books from when I was in Elementary School were...

The Harry Potter series (which I still read)

The Little House on the Prarie Books

Nancy Drew

Jerry Spinelli's books and

various biographies.

I Love the Maximum Ride series now and also The Book Theif by Markus Zusak.

My son (age 9) hates reading. He says he has better things to do. We sneak it in with Sports Illustrated Kids. And any articles we can find that he is interested in (Tony Hawk, football, basketball, ect..)

My other son (age 6) loves the entire line of DrSeuss books.

Ira Sleeps Over, Love you Forever, The Witch who was afraid of witches, and What was I scared of? (we called it pale green pants with nobody inside em...)

All because my father read them and did the voices.

ONE? Oh, I could never narrow it to one. I adored Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, The Borrowers, all of Beverly Cleary's books--esp The Mouse and the Motorcycle--read to us by our third grade teacher... I adored all horse books: Little Black, Black Beauty, My Friend Flicka.

Of course, before I could read myself, my mother had introduced me to Dr.Suess, and, after we moved to Great Britain for a season, I collected Ladybird books.

It has never stopped--I am a devourer of books--close to 100 a year. I thank God that my mother passed on her love for books to me, as I have to two of my four children.

A good book--as priceless and hard to find as a good friend!

"Bud, Not Buddy," and "The Watsons Go to Birmingham," by Christopher Paul Curtis. My favorite books are embedded in favorite memories of reading with my children, huddled together on the couch or in bed, sharing this pleasure. The summer I read these two books to them we were staying in Taos, NM, and being in the Land of Enchantment added a dimension of wonder to these beautiful, compelling books. Every night we couldn't wait 'til bedtime for this anticipated pleasure - what's going to happen next? Kelly

I don't know if there was a book that I read that I didn't like. I was reading independently at an early age (my parents tell me I would even read the cereal box if it meant reading something!). I fondly remember loving the "Little House" series, the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries to name some. To this day, I always have a book with me and make it a point to read for approximately 30 minutes before going to sleep. I usually have a minimum of 3-4 books sitting nearby waiting to be read and can go through approx 4-6 books a month. If you teach your children anything, make sure that you instill the wonders of reading as it can open so many worlds as well as teach them how to use their imagination and increase their vocabulary. I am fortunate that both of my children, now 22 and 19 yrs, both enjoy reading. Happy reading everyone!!

My favorite children's book is Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. I just had my first baby and we asked for books for gifts for his library and my mom made sure that she bought Green Eggs and Ham. I am constantly reading and I hope that my son loves reading as much as I do.

We have so many favorite books! It's hard to remember all of them. My dd10 loves Beverly Cleary, American Girl books, Geronimo Stilton, Royal Diaries, and so many others. We have 93 books checked out of the library right now, and I'd say probably 70 are hers. My ds5 likes Magic Treehouse, Magic School Bus (chapter books,) Boxcar Children, and many more. He listens in a lot when I'm reading to my dd, and asks questions about what I'm reading, even when it's aimed at an older child. He's the one I'm going to have to work to keep up with!

As for my favorite reads--I'd have to say the James Herriot books are probably my all-time favorites, along with "Cheaper by the Dozen" and "The Education of Hyman Kaplan." That only scratches the surface. Did I mention that we love to read????

When I first started to read, I loved Dr. Seuss.

When I was around 9, I really enjoyed my Little House on the Prairie books. I would wait until my mom thought I was asleep and then read under my covers for hours. At least it was summertime, so I didn't oversleep for school.

I still love the Wrinkle in Time series (Madeleine L'Engle) and the Dark is Rising series (Susan Cooper).

As a nanny, one of the children I took care of loved "Down by the Bay" (Raffi). It's a song, but so much fun to read. She also loved "Harold and the Purple Crayon" (Crockett Johnson), which I gave to my nephew for Christmas last year. He wasn't able to read yet, but he loved it since the pictures tell the story as well. I think he'll get some "Magic Tree House" books this year.

I read whatever I could get my hands on! Bobsey Twins, Boxcar children, Nancy Drew, Little House, Trixie Belden, Sweet Valley high. I remember when I first fell in love with thrillers, Christopher Pike books in Junior high. In high school it was the V.C Andrews series, I went to college and discovered Danielle Steele and romance. I loved anything in a series, and one day I went to a yard sale and there was a set of the first handful of Alex Cross books. Janet Evanovich is perfect for in between the dark thrillers I love as much as the hysterical antics she provides. Thanks for reminding me how much I love to read!

I started reading books for pleasure when I was 19! I incorporated that when I became a parent and had 4 or 5 bookclubs going at one time for my two children!! I am pursuing my Master's in Forensics at this moment (working on my thesis now) and have read every single book that was ever written by the great James Patterson. I have nine books for pleasure after I finish my thesis, but due to a death in the family, took one of the three JP's (these are actually those I have not read yet due to my school schedule) with me to read on the road. I am savoring the others for the end of my thesis. I am going to be in Florida in a few weeks and have to find out where he will be, I have to meet this Icon! My hat is off to him for being such a wonderful family man!!

When I was growing up, my Mom always read us The Gingerbears First Christmas at about this time of year. It's out of print now, and I've had a hard time finding a copy (we beat her's up pretty good). This is her first Christmas as a grandmother, and she has already bought my son I'll Love You Forever.

The first book I read was where the Red Fern Grows
My Dad gave it to me and I gave it to all my kids they loved it as much as I did

I was so excited to get Double Cross, imagine my disappointment when I came to the end of page 127 and the next page was 155!!! I have never purchased a book that did not have all the pages.
My mother and I share all of your books, we love them! Thanks for all the years of enjoyable reading! You are on the top of our favorite writers list. Do you ever get to Washington state and do book signings?

Keep up the great writting!

Lori
Tacoma, WA

I loved all the Nancy Drew books. Which is what probably is responsible for my love of mysteries, and thrillers now that I'm a senior citizen. I am looking forward to sharing them with my granddaughters as they get old enough to enjoy "chapter" books. Because I only had one son we read the Hardy Boys which he also loved.

I loved "Green Eggs and Ham," "Go Dog, Go!" ("Do you like my hat?") and "Where the Wild Things Are." My non-reading son read "White Fox Chronicles," which was shocking to me because it wasn't even illustrated. He later read "Holes" and the Series of Unfortunate Events books. My son who likes to read loved the Maximum Ride books and any Gary Paulson books. I think he would love "Uglies," "Pretties," and "Specials," (by Scott Westerfield) but they have girly covers so he has steered away from them.

I am 54 yrs old. I just started reading your books, I truely enjoy them. To be honest with you, Dean Koontz was my favorite author, but I honestly think I'll change that to James Patterson. You are an intriquing author, keep up the good work.
Jill St John

This is a response that I sent in regarding the letter to your son in Parade magazine. I am hoping that you have a chance to read it.

"I am a librarian in an elementary school and my favorite children's books change season to season and sometimes day by day. My favorite Christmas books would include: The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, The Christmas Guest by David LaRochelle, One Winter's Night by John Herman Some of my other favorites include the Pigeon books by Mo Willems, Amelia and Eleanor Take a Ride by Pam Munoz Ryan, The Junie B. Jones books by Barbara Park, all of Beverly Cleary's books and the wonderful series written by Johnathan Rand.

I loved the letter that
James Patterson wrote to his son and as a librarian, mother and grandmother, I agree with him whole-heartedly. It is a shame that many parents either cannot or will not encourage the inner reader in their children. I remember wanting to learn to read so badly that I would carry a newspaper around with me...at the age of four. Children now seem content to let television, movies, and video games occupy their time. They have not experienced to joy of letting the printed word unleash their imaginations. How sad for this generation. How long before we lose writers as well as readers? "

I am a a reader - of all children's books, of mysteries, any kind of book, cereal box or any other printed material that falls into my hands. I am also a writer of children's books and about children, reading and the importance of encouraging our children to become a generation of readers. Mr. Patterson, you give me hope...

I loved all kinds of book when I was a child and still do!! I would read anything I could get my hands on!!