Classic Remarks is a meme that poses questions each Friday about classic literature and asks participants to engage in ongoing discussions surrounding not only themes in the novels but also questions about canon formation, the “timelessness” of literature, and modes of interpretation. We look forward to seeing your responses!
This Week’s Question
What children’s classic couldn’t you read enough when you were growing up?
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
My favorite children’s classic growing up was Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (and I’m still completely obsessed with it today). I first read the book when I was about ten, and I have never looked back. I loved Anne’s spunky yet kindhearted nature and enjoyed reading about all of her adventures, even as she progressed into adulthood later in the series. I also am envious of Anne’s imagination and her ability to see wonder everywhere in the world and good in so many other people. L.M. Montgomery is still one of my favorite writers, and I deeply admirable her knack for writing beautiful prose and inspiring story. If you like Montgomery, too, you should know we have a whole two weeks dedicated to her this upcoming October.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
My second top pick is The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. My third grade teacher read aloud The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in class, and I went on to check out the rest of the series from the school library on my own. As an adult revisiting the series, I actually find Lewis’s writing a little sparse, but I was obsessed with his stories as a child and read most of the series multiple times (except The Last Battle, which I struggled to finish and read only once). My favorite was The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
What’s your favorite childhood classic? If you wrote a post, please leave your link in the comments!
Pages Unbound | Book Reviews & Discussions 
Anne of Green Gables IS lovely! But I discovered it only when I was well into my teens, and read the library copy only once. After that, I’ve read the entire series as an adult an have enjoyed it. Narnia..I wish I’d read it when I was a child. I’m hoping I’ll get to read it with my boys and perhaps be able to enjoy it that way.
My childhood read-to-shreds-favourites were:
a) Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster — I’ve read it a countless number of times, and still pick it up every now and then.
b) The Secret Island by Enid Blyton — another book I loved reading to pieces; there’s something so exciting about children playing house alone on an island!
honorary mention: Jack and Jill by Louisa May Alcott.
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Narnia is one of those series that hasn’t quite lived up to my childhood memories. I feel bad saying it because I LOVED the books as a child. And I like them now, but it’s just not the same. I’m always on the fence about what to say to adults who didn’t read them as children because I do recommend them, but I don’t want to over-hype the series and have people end up mildly disappointed that it wasn’t THE GREATEST THING EVER.
I think I read Daddy Long Legs once, but it wasn’t a particular favorite of mine. I’m not sure I’ve even heard of The Secret Island!
Krysta’s the one to talk to about Louisa May Alcott, though. I’ve read the Rose in Bloom Books and An Old-Fashioned Girl, and that’s it.
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I absolutely loved Jack and Jill when I was growing up! But I think I was the only one checking it out of the library, so they weeded it. And I’ve never found a copy since! 😦
I think reading Narnia as an adult is far more interesting if you look at the series in light of Lewis’s other books on Christianity. Then you can see how he’s using fantasy stories to illustrate the philosophical points he makes in his nonfiction, which is really intriguing.
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I love Robin Hood 🙂
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I read Howard Pyles’s Robin Hood several times over in middle school! Funnily enough, I don’t remember much about it now beyond a general impression of people feasting a lot. I did briefly look into the medieval origins of Robin Hood legends last year, though, and that was quite interesting.
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That does sound interesting! I may have to look that up myself. I love that he stole from the rich go give to the poor lol. And I always really liked the Disney movie of it, the cartoon one. 🙂
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The Disney movie has some ridiculously catchy songs!
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That’s interesting, the Last Battle was my favourite of the series! Anne was fantastic too 🙂 I probably would have picked the same!
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I think I started The Last Battle about five times and nearly DNF’ed for good until I finally struggled through to the end. Objectively, I’m sure it’s probably not all that bad, and I’d like to give it another chance. However, I’m also afraid to give rereading it a try because I’m just so pre-biased against it. I’m afraid I’ll hate it just because I think I should!
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Anne of Green Gables was my favourite too! It was great to see Anne grow in one book. I remember reading it for the first time and being devastated that I finished the book…until I found out there were more ^_^ Suffice to say, I spent many days reading the series after that!
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Imagine living when Montgomery was actually writing the series–and having to wait years for them all to come out. The horror!
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I can’t pick one favorite! I loved the Narnia books and the Anne books too (I read them a bit later, maybe not until middle school or so). I was also an Oz fanatic, as you can tell from the name of my blog.
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I’ve only read The Wizard of Oz and Glinda of Oz, sadly–but at least I have plenty of books to forward to reading sometime in the future!
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I didn’t read Anne of Green Gables until my teens, but I really enjoyed the Anne books when I did. I also loved the Narnia books, but I never read them as many times as I did my favourite – Black Beauty.
You can find my post here: https://daniellawrites.com/2016/09/30/childrens-classic-i-loved-as-a-kid/
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Black Beauty is such a great pick! I’ve always been sad that that was the only book Sewell wrote.
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It would have been interesting to see if she continued writing about animal rights. I was happy to find out she got see the popularity of her work and the changes it effected before she died.
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I just started reading Anne and it’s so good- I love it and am excited to hear that there’s going to be two weeks dedicated to her!
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Every time I read a Montgomery book I think “Wow, this IS really good!” They never get old. :p
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Yeah definitely!!
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My favourite child’s classic was always The Secret Garden. I first read it very young in an edition that was edited to be more readable to young kids, but I read the original when I was about 12 and loved it just as much. The movie was an obsession of mine, to the point where I would look up scenes on YouTube when I didn’t have the DVD anymore. I read it again just a few months ago and fell back in love all over again, which prompted me to pick up A Little Princess, which I haven’t gotten around to yet.
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I loved The Secret Garden, too! I think I first read it in second grade, but I reread it several times after that, as well! And, yes, I loved watching the movie! I should reread it sometime.
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I remember loving the Narnia books in grade three. Somehow I missed out on the Anne books but I’m enjoying them now! Otherwise I didn’t read a lot of classics when I was younger (though I hope some of the books that came out when I was 10 will be considered classics in the future :P).
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When I was little I had really no conception of publication dates, so it wasn’t until a few years later I realized that I was NOT reading many books that had been published recently! :p
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A Wrinkle in Time and The Giver (is that a classic yet? Lol).
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I think they count! Maybe “modern classics?”
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I thought I was the only one who didn’t like The Last Battle. Apparently not! Now that I revisit the series, even I feel like it’s not as awesome as I used to think it was as a child. I was introduced to the series in the fourth grade. My teacher used to read it aloud too and we’d all crowd around her, eagerly listening. It’s a really precious childhood memory! 🙂
My favourite is still The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Maybe because I read it first, but I really liked the plot. I felt so sorry for Edmund!
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Agreed! I really love The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, too. I think it is one of the best ones, even though we probably do have some bias towards it since we read it first. My favorite might be The Voyage of the Dawn Treader though.
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