<p>Since most CC parents have kids now in high school, college or beyond, I thought it would be fun to reminisce about our kids when they were tiny and cute.</p>
<p>First book our S read was Dr. Seuss “Hop on Pop” which he read cover to cover just as he was turning 2 (and then he hopped on pop).</p>
<p>His favorite bathroom read as a small child was the Radio Shack catalog --“You’ve got questions. We’ve got answers”.</p>
<p>All the Little Critter books by Mercer Meyer. Still have 'em. :-)</p>
<p>Something about that just spoke to her. Of course, her first word was ‘dog’ too which is a little odd since we didn’t have one at the time.</p>
<p>Frog and Toad were some of the first books the oldest read- we had so many great ones it is hard to remember them all.
Oxenbury board books, Kate’s car by Kate Chorao & one that my H detested *You and me-me by Peter Curry
Patrick & Ted books by Geoffrey Hayes,
Little critter books were wonderful also.
[Little</a> Fur Family](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/elizabetht/2239762486/]Little”>The Little Fur Family | This is The Little Fur Family, a boo… | Flickr)</p>
<p>( my oldest is still tiny * 5’2"* and cute 
)</p>
<p>my youngest is tall 5’8" ( for our family) & gorgeous</p>
<p>Younger daughter especially liked Magical Tales from Many lands by Margaret Mayo & Jane Ray, but she didn’t read till 3rd grade when her first book was The Sorcerer’s Stone. She liked similar books to her sister- but usually she didn’t sit still.
She liked to listen to books on tape at bedtime because I was too exhausted to read much, The Giver for months every night- but before that it was the nutshell kids version of Really Rosie</p>
<p>Runaway Bunny.</p>
<p>Oh and how can I forget
[Max & Moritz](<a href=“Max and Moritz - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_and_Moritz</a>)</p>
<p>I guess I should be glad she isn’t more eccentric than she is ;)</p>
<p>also
</p>
<p>And
Where the Wild Things are.</p>
<p>we liked the “bad babies”</p>
<p>“Animal Sounds” My poor sister had to read it to him dozens of times when she babysat him once for us. She said he wanted to have her read it to him non-stop for over two hours! I was amazed by her patience and told her we never would read anything more than a few times in a row.</p>
<p>The first book my oldest “read” was “Quick as a Cricket.” “Memorized” is probably more accurate, LOL. My youngest’s first book read, and this one actually was read, was “Go, Dog, Go.” Like Novelisto’s daughter, this book just totally appealed to him. We were talking about it in the car just this week.</p>
<p>Once the kids read their first book, they got to go down and get their first library card. This was a highly anticipated achievement. Our librarians treated it with proper rejoicing and fanfare, :).</p>
<p>The 1st book my D memorized was “Madeline” & we didn’t realize it except she skipped a page and so got “out-of-synch.” Our S actually learned to read so he could read all the signs and exhibits at the zoo & museums without hanging out near the stroller with baby sister.</p>
<p>“Good-Night Moon” - We read it at bed-time almost religiously between about 6 mos and 18 mos (so yeah, we BOTH had it “memorized”!!). The first book he read himself was not a storybook but something more like a children’s picture book/encyclopedia. Maybe something by Richard Scarry? Typical Aspie child…</p>
<p>^^We loved looking for Goldbug! Ah, good memories…</p>
<p>D1 memorized Eric Carle’s “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” After that, the first book that she truly read was “Hop on Pop.” D2’s first book was “Go Dog Go.”</p>
<p>Don’t remember the first book my kids read on their own (DS might have been a Little Critter book), but the first book I read on my own was Bread and Jam for Francis. I thought I was big time…</p>
<p>My son’s first solo read (something we never read to him so he couldn’t have memorized it) was “Sheep in a Jeep”: Beep! Beep! Sheep in a jeep on a hill that’s steep… Oh Dear! The driver sheep forgets to steer!..Jeep goes splash! Jeep goes thud! Jeep goes deep in gooey mud!..Uh-oh! The jeep won’t go…</p>
<p>GO, DOG, GO for two out of three of mine! What <em>is</em> it about that book? 
D (the oldest) actually read ONE FISH, TWO FISH before GDG, but the boys both went for the dogs & cars.
Also in heavy rotation for all three: A FISH OUT OF WATER. “There was just one thing to do. I did it,” gets quoted a a lot around here.
DH & I are both book editors, and our house was full of every kind of picture book and board book even way back when D was a baby and we lived on beans and rice - but all of those wonderful Dr. Seuss early readers were top favorites for all three kids.</p>
<p>DS1 learned his numbers and letters from the license plates on the cars in our apartment complex. (At least it wasn’t at the license plate factory!) First book: One of the Thomas the Tank Engine series – the original Brit Lit version. I thought he had it memorized because he’d go on for pages, until he once lost his place, moved his finger down the page, found “‘Oh! Oh! Oh!’ said Percy,” read that specific line and kept going from there. That’s when I knew.</p>
<p>When he was four, he read lots of Dr. Seuss to his baby cousins. Frog and Toad stories were a big hit.</p>
<p>DS2: Another vote for “Go Dog Go!” He also liked “Are You My Mother?” Then it was immediately on to science-y books – particularly animals and dinosaurs. </p>
<p>I collected books that had characters with my kids’ names. Those were big favorites, too. Hard to find, though, as they have somewhat uncommon names. (I recommend this as a baby/birthday gift! I’m not talking about the books where you can get your kid’s name programmed into some text.)</p>
<p>The first book my son read by himself was called “Leo the Lion Paints it Red”. He was 2 1/2, we were at the library, and I mentioned to the dear old lady librarian that he was able to read. She said, “Well, dear, they don’t really read - they memorize the books”. So I looked through the shelf for something he’d never seen, pulled out “Leo” and my son read it cover-to-cover.</p>
<p>And it was non-stop for about the next 10 years. Now it seems the only things he reads outside of class are message boards and texting. (Since there are no more Harry Potters.) Oh yes, and manga.</p>
<p>But one of his favorite books was a big Mother Goose. It came with a matching group of small hard-page books with about 10 rhymes each. His game was to find a rhyme in one of the little books and make me find it in the big book. And talking of Goose, one of my all-time favorite childrens’ books is “The Day the Goose Got Loose”. Fantastic illustrations.</p>
<p>Another favorite not mentioned by others was “Chicken Soup with Rice”. My husband and I still say it once, say it twice…</p>
<p>I don’t know the first book I read, but I do remember the first author I knew - Edgar Eager who wrote Half-Magic. My mother told me to learn the author’s name so I could find other books by him.</p>
<p>LOL, re Sheep in a Jeep. </p>
<p>Mathson’s first book that he memorized was Freight Train by Donald Crews. “going, going, gone…” He was a total train fanatic until he discovered electronics kits and computers. The first things he read on his own were “hi”, “lo” on a lamp, “exit” on the freeway and “pizza”. He recognized all those words and more when he was two. The first book where I realized he really truly could read - and I could be sure was not merely recognizing words - was a icky little picture book of photos of things at the beach and a sentence about each one. He was three at the time.</p>
<p>Mathson’s little brother could barely read for the longest time. No idea what the first book he read might have been. I just remember he was slogging through stuff like Nate the Great in 2nd grade, while I was reading* Harry Potter* out loud to him at bedtime. One night he was looking over my shoulder and he said “Mom, I can read it! I can read Harry Potter! Can I tell Daddy?” He ran downstairs yelling “I can read! I can read Harry Potter! I can read Harry Potter!” Then he came back up and asked if he could take Harry Potter to school for DEAR time reading. It took him a long time, but he did end up reading Harry Potter all by himself and he’s been an avid reader ever since.</p>
<p>The first time my parents discovered I could read was when I read “Now we are six” from the back seat of the car. I was six at the time and thought I was “as clever as clever”</p>
<p>Hop on Pop for my son too. I thought he could read at that point so I handed him the book and he read it backwards. He said the other way would be too easy.</p>
<p>Bad mother here. I absolutely have zero recollection. LOL.</p>