What is the first book you remember reading? What about the first that made you really love reading?
I actually wrote a Sunday Salon on this very topic last year! The first book I remember reading and the first book that made me really love reading are one and the same–The Illustrated Book of Myths: Tales & Legends of the World, as retold by Neil Philip and illustrated by Nilesh Mistry. It collected a good variety of myths from around the whole, separated out by theme–for instance, all the creation myths were at the beginning. It’s where my love for Egyptian mythology was born. I read and reread it all the time–while it is age appropriate for wee lasses, it wasn’t dumbed down by any means. The illustrations are ridiculously gorgeous and have stuck with me to this very day. Luckily, I still have it, and I look forward to sharing it with my brother’s children when the time comes.
The Literary Omnivore 
Hmm… Very interesting. I homeschool my 1st and 4th graders, and this fall we’re starting with Ancient Egypt. I was familiar with the D’Aulaire book of myths, but this is a new title. I’l have to check it out!
As I recall, this is a great book for kids around your older child’s age. There’s also a great amount of variety- there’s Inuit mythology and Finnish mythology alongside Ancient Egyptian mythology and Greek mythology.
I don’t remember my first time. However, several books influenced my joy of reading. Here’s mine.
Thanks for dropping by!
It’s interesting today seeing how everyones mind works when we have to think about the first book that got us hooked on reading. I am almost 70 years old and I remembered like it was yesterday. Funny how our brains work, just like little computers!
Isn’t it just? It’s such an important event in the development of a reader, no wonder we remember!
I can’t recall my first book but I do recall that, I was hooked on Enid Blyton. She, in a way, has influenced my interest in Crime fiction.
Then I used to devour the Nancy Drew books along with Hardy Boys. However, but those came much later.
Here is my BTT: First Time post!
Sounds like you had more than just a passing interest in crime when you were learning to read!
I cannot remember exactly what my first book was, but I had never been an avid reader until I was in high school. First book was a Dr. Seuss.
What fun! I remember my first chapter book that I read on my own was Bright Eyes, about a little girl on a farm who finds a duck egg, brings it home and takes care of it and then has a pet duck. But the first book I really, really loved was a few months later: The Magic Faraway Tree. I started reading it at a B&B in Wales, and I hadn’t finished it when our vacation was over, so the owner let me have it! I still have it, and I want to pass it along to my niece soon. 😀