one day you will be old enough for fairy tales again-C.S. Lewis

"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." -Einstein

“Critics who treat ‘adult’ as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” - C.S. Lewis

Fantasy requires an open mind, as children have; those adults who think it's not for them are saying more about the state of their minds than they are about fantasy.

Dr.Suess is literature. I stand by that.

My 1st books I fell in love with were the Frog & Toad series. I read them and reread them many times until one day when I asked my older sister of 2 years why she read books with no pictures. She responded with "when you read the words you see pictures in your head" and it was all over after that. By 11 I was reading the Silmarilion - it was dry and very Old Testament-like and after it I began reading the Dragonlance series, the Riftwar Saga, the Belgariad, and so on. My sister is a wench in adulthood, but I'll always owe her for the advice she gave as a child.

Much as I love Tolkien I much prefer the Jess videos where Jess is being pure Jess.

The Phantom Tollbooth pretty much changed my life and I still regard it as the greatest Children's book ever.. creatively its incredible and at its heart aimed at educating and enlightening children. I still go back to it when I'm losing my faith in humanity! Great Video BTW!

Here to shout the Lloyd Alexander series of Taran books. An easy read like the Narnia series and a great introduction to Welsh Mythology. A well researched and deeply informative video as always, Miss Jess.

Writing a children’s fantasy book right now. Awesome timing :)

I read The Hobbit in 3rd grade. LOTR in 4th. Tolkien has been rattling around in my head for a lllllllooooooonnnnnnnngggggg time and it absolutely changed me as a kid. Other authors from childhood I feel I owe a debt to... Arthur Conan Doyle, C.S. Lewis, Lloyd Alexander... But Tolkien above all. Not a typical author to dominate a childhood of reading... But I loved those books so much.... Then and still.

Winnie the Pooh, written in the early 20tg century, was an excellent primer for kids on the types of personalities you will meet throughout your life. Depressed pessimists, like Eyore; BSers like Owl; hyper-moms like Kanga; etc. I haven't actually met anyone like Tigger, yet... it needs to be read in it's original form, not in Disney versions. I would also recommend Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little by E B White.

The Big Friendly Giant was mine. About a kind giant that has to find his place among mean, murderous giants. He saves a child from the other giants and then lives with her, protecting her. It taught me early that being kind even when pressured to be mean and evil, pays off in the end.

Prior to discovering Tolkien, I was into Gothic Horror. As a kid, I would stay up on Friday nights and watch Shock Theatre, which was hosted by a local teacher whose horror host persona was Asmodius. At any rate, one of my favorite books at the time was an anthology of horror short stories. The title of the book is Shudders. I'm 60 years old, and I still have that book.

Fantasy is for the childlike, and for those a child at heart. In other words? It is for those not dead inside. 😊

I truly appreciate the depth of analysis in your videos. I still remember fondly the school librarian in 5th grade who recommended Newbury award winners to me and the Narnia books (her name was Mrs. Pfeil). The following summer I checked The Hobbit from the public library and ready it cover to cover in a day. I couldn't put it down. This may be outside the scope of the channel, but you might be interested in digging deeper into Lewis Carroll.. He was an accomplished mathematician and there's good argument for satire of contemporary mathematicians in his works.

"Fairy tales teach us that dragons can be slain." [Chesterton] When people forget how to play like children, they go insane. Thanks, Jess, for keeping us sane!

The earliest story I can recall, all those years ago, was The Devil and Daniel Webster. For my daughter (now an adult), it was The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne; she still buys them whenever a new one is published.

The Prydain books were that First Book that clicked somewhere in my very young brain and never let go, especially The Book of Three. I reread them all as an adult and was delighted to find them beautiful and wise and that yes, I was just as drawn in as I had been at five years old. Also, did anyone else read Alison Croggon’s Pellinor books? I loved those. And of course, Lord of the Rings, that’s why I’m here 😂

I definitely remember having nightmares because of the spiders in The Hobbit when I was 8 or 9, lol. I had a Little House on the Prairie phase in grade school, was really into Narnia for a while (I think that one might be due for a re-read soon), and like everyone else my age, I read Harry Potter as the books came out when I was a preteen/teen and still go back to them sometimes, but I read The Lord of the Rings in middle school, and I've come back to it again and again. There's a much more historical and epic quality to it than to anything else I've ever read written in the modern era, and the medievalist in me loves it.

"Ronja robbersdaughter" by Astrid Lindgren was a huge one for me. I remember being obsessed with it when i was like 9-10 or smth. It just has such a great fairytale vibe. And the "vildvittror" (evil female bird-like beings) were really creepy.

I've been a reader for as long as I can remember. My earliest favorite was a series called My Book House, which is a collection of several volumes of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and other stories. I'm sure that's where my interest in history, fantasy, and mythology had its source. Thanks for the reminder of those simpler times.

Oldest I can recall is “ Where the Wild Things Are”. Wild Rumpus Time!

"Das Schwarze Auge" (the dark eye), a German fantasy franchise contained the Fantasy books I read and enjoyed as a kid. Apart from that, I also enjoyed "Was ist was?" books, a series explaining science and technology to children. That was, before the internet became mainstream in the mid 90ies.

Like every Dutch person I learned to read with Miffy (Nijntje in Dutch) created by Dick Bruna. The Netherlands has also their own fables of Reynard the Fox (Reinaerde de Vos in Dutch), which are ancient and learned about them in elementary school. My favourite books as a child were probably of Rien Poortvliet, which had absolutely amazing artwork, but weren't always necessarily children books...

I remember from early childhood, my father read *The Hobbit* and *the Wind in the Willows,* and that's what got me into Tolkien and fantasy literature! In the sixth grade I checked out a book called *The Children of Odin* by Padriac Colum, a collection of Norse myths, and I became a mythology fanatic!

My first one was the Hobbit. My dad had a version that was released as a tie in with the 1977 Rankin bass movie so it had a ton of art from the film in it. I was 7 when he read it to me for the first time and I wanted to be Gandalf so bad. Gandalf is still my favorite character although he's tied with Aragorn now. I thank my dad all the time for getting me into fantasy and sci-fi. It's had a huge impact on who I am

For me, I started reading Azimov, Heinlein and Clark, ERB and Sir AC-D along with Tolkien. I learned of the classics by a series of comic books, which led me to read the full versions. Libraries were my friends and still are. Thank you for reminding me.

Have been having a lot of struggles in life recently, relating to paranormal/HIGHLY strange occurrences. Listening to your video while doing dishes really helped calm me down. Thanks Jess❤

I didn't read many books for children. I was reading Dragon Riders of Pern and similar books in grade school. I could not go back to the much more immature children's books. I recall my mom reading the Box Car Children to me and my siblings when I was as young as three or four years old. I remember reading comic books with Godzilla and Donald Duck being some of my favorites. I remember getting most of my moral stories from the Bible and those have stuck with me.

My first book I remember reading was Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things are.

My favorite versions of The Tortoise and the Hare are the ones featuring Bugs Bunny and Cecil Turtle. 😂😂😂 I'll just see myself out... ***ducks thrown objects whilst slinking away***

One of my favorite book series ad a child was The Magic Tree House. I also loved reading the book Misty of Chincoteague☺️

The first book that made me appreciate literature was "Une enquête toute garnie" (could be understood as "an Investigation Full of Adventures"). I was in fourth our fifth grade. Slowly, I read maybe 29 of the 30 published books of that collection at the time. Then I read "Bilbo le hobbit" ("the Hobbit") and "Le Seigneur des anneaux" (the Lord of the Rings"). At the time, I had a hard time with the many names, and characters with many names. Then I went more on the science-fiction route with Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clark.

As a writer of children’s books, I so love that you’re tackling this topic! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughtful approach to these books 😊

100% yes! I’ve got three stories in my head right now that are partially written, all in the same world. One of those is a children’s story. I envision something involving a great gardening war and fantasy creatures. I also love every single time I hear other people speak of their love of Gawain & The Green Knight. He is my favorite of all Arthur’s knights! You did a masterful job covering Children’s Literature. That was one of my favorite classes in college and I advocate big time against the idea that literature has to be “dumbed down” for children. I support children reading any book they wish to tackle. The first book I bought for my eldest niece when she was six years old involved dragons and as a result she requested that I always buy her books from then on. She is now approaching thirty and reads a variety of books, including fantasy.

For a great story giving meaning to the nonsense words in The Jabberwocky, hunt up - "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Henry Kuttner. edited for correct author pen name reference - Lewis Padgett (aka Henry Kuttner and Catherine L. Moore)

Infant mortality in the middle ages were no different to that of antiquity and yes they had a concept of childhood. There is less difference between antiquity, the middle ages and the early modern ages, than is commonly thought to be.

My favourite books as a kid has to be the Silverwing series by Kenneth Oppel!! Bats as the main characters was such a fun concept, and I love all sorts of critters. When I got a bit older, my major fantasy story of choice was the Tortall series by Tamora Pierce! Being a girl myself, it was super enjoyable to follow alone with the assortment of female heroines, and I loved that we got to see new characters and stories throughout the decades while still being in a familiar world. Not children’s books but great for that muddy teenage bracket.

I'm loathe to admit it now because upon my adult re-read, the books did not stand up. When I was 14 I fell in love with the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy of novels. I remember being unable to sleep when I was halfway through the final book and waking up at 3:30 AM on a school night just to find out what happens.

I didn’t start enjoying reading until I became an adult. I love reading various genres both adult/ young adult/ teen and children’s book.

The first book I remember loving was an illustrated edition of the Hobbit that my oldest brother gave me when I was 5. Then there came the Eager books (Half Magic, Knight’s Castle), E. Nesbit, Uncle Wiggly, A Wrinkle in Time, The Prydain Chronicles, and The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper. Ivanhoe was a great book for a child, too.

My mother says that when I was 1 year old my favorite book by war was Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." She started reading it to my sister (who is 4 years older) but I seemed to enjoy it more and made her read it over and over. I never had much interest in the sort of books specifically aimed at young children. (Note that I started talking at 5 months old and was using basic sentences by 7 months.)

Maybe not the first fantasy book I read (and what's fantasy anyway... the line between fantasy and fairy tales is more than blury), but The Neverending Story sure is most memorable to me.

The Railway Series by Rev W Awdry was my standout piece of children's literature when I was a child, and growing up is realising how much brevity, accuracy and fluency Wilbert applied into his own stories.

your thoughts were expressed so well in such a heartfelt manner I could not help but smile at your enthusiasm

The first book I read was Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Suess. I about 4 years old. I think that it had been read to me so much that I had memorized the book.

I live on the Edge of the New Forest, so Chedder Gorge is a short-ish car journey away. I visited there a few years back. My daughter has adopted Dragon Prince as her go-to Fantasy story, and she's read How to Train Your Dragon, as well as watching the movies.

"I Saw It All On Mulberry Street" by Dr. Seuss was the first tale that got my attention; read TO me, and then read on my own.😀 (Children's Lit, though not fantasy-- except that the "Tale grows in the telling."

I still have to watch the video but in case you don't know George Macdonald you really ought to check him out. He was a really big inspiration to both Tolkien and Lewis and he's amazing.

My first series was 'The Hobbit' & 'Lord of the Rings'. But soon after, my grandmother gifted me with 'The Sword of Shannara,' and I never looked back. 'The Dancing Godsx books was a blast. 'The Incarnations of Immortality'. And so, my bookshelf goes ever onward.

I had two absolute favourites as a child, and they are both still good reads as an adult. The Hobbit, and the Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. It's interesting you mentioned the Newbury medal award for children's literature, since it's no coincidence that the literary trope "Death by Newbury medal" exists, for children's books that do not shy away from the harsher realities of life.

It certainly wasn't my first "children's story", but the first work of fiction I conciously remember having an effect on me besides your standard fairy-tales was the Asterix series by Rene Goscinny & Albert Uderzo. I certainly didn't understand most of the jokes, puns, and subtext, but to my preschooler self it was a collection of stories about two best buds going on adventures together in what was essentially a low-fantasy, historical fiction world. I'm now studying a science degree at university and I still cherish the act of reading (and sometimes writing) fiction, especially fantasy. May that never change.

This video legit made me tear up at the end with Tolkien's final "Father Christmas" letter. I went to find a book that my mother read me most every night until I was 7: 'I Love You Forever' by Robert Munsch. I am actively crying writing this comment. Thank you so much for making me remember why I started reading in the first place.

Watched this while I was preparing dinner, delightfully informative as always. Throughout the video, a flood of memories came back to me of the literature that I read when I was a kid, e.g. Winnie the Pooh, Roald Dahl, Narnia, etc. Though because it's this channel, the first book that really came to mind was The Hobbit😄I'm a few years older than you Jess (28), and I can remember reading it for the 1st time when I was between the age of 8-10, on a summer holiday to probably either Wales or Cornwall.. I could not put that book down, *ESPECIALLY* at the Gollum chapter. I'd seen the LOTR movies by this time, and my sister's had the radio adaptation of the story which I'd heard a little of, but that was what truly brought me into that world. However, to this day, I still need to actually read The Lord of the Rings! I've made a few attempts in the past with my Step-Dad's edition, which combines all 3 books in 1, but the prologue always manages to trip me up.. bit too long for me maybe, but I will try again! Another one from around that time which had me hooked, also a 'summer book', was 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' fantastic stuff.

My older sister more or less helped me learn how to read. It started with learning the "ABC Song" and being able to identify the picture of a letter with its' name and then how it was pronounced. The first book I managed to get through by sounding out the words phonetically was Green Eggs and Ham. I'd recite the poem, while ticking off the words and sounding out the individual letters. The first book I remember checking out of the library was Breer Rabbit. Aesop's Fables made a big impression early on. By the age of eight or nine I was pretty much constantly in the midst of reading one thing or the other. I was lucky enough to live a few minutes' walk from a decent public library.

I learned to read when I was 3. When I was three or four, my parents heard a voice from upstairs saying "I want a loaf of bread" - upon investigation, it turned out that I was reading Mr Noisy aloud to myself - and the loud bits had to be very loud... When I was 5, I read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and worked my way through the rest of the series, though it wasn't until I was 7 that I managed to read The Last Battle in full. In my parents' house, we had a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf behind the sofa with Narnia near one end of the bottom shelf, and Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series near the other, so I used to crawl behind the sofa to raid the shelf. Those two series are the first ones I can remember reading that have really stuck with me. Narnia also stopped me wetting the bed - one time I fell asleep reading... probably Dawn Treader, and ruined the book, and have never wet the bed since except when seriously unwell - and very rarely damaged books since either. I also have a vivid memory of reading Roger Lancelyn Green's Myths of Ancient Egypt (or whatever the title was) around either my fifth or sixth birthday on a family holiday. I'd have been about 7 or 8 when I first read the Hobbit, and I was 11 when I first read Lord of the Rings, though it took me most of a year to get through it (by the time I was 15 or 16, I could read it in a week, and did once or twice a year). I must have been about the same age when I got in trouble over a book - I told my younger sibling to "piss off" at the dinner table, not realising that Kehaar, the seagull in Watership Down, was a bad role model for language. I know I was just 8 when I first read E. Nesbit's The Enchanted Castle because that was at the holiday cottage we stayed in that year's annual family holiday, kicking off the summer I always think back to when someone refers to "golden summers of childhood" and the like. I discovered Anne McCaffrey (middle shelf, just above the sofa back) about the same time I was applying to secondary schools (age ten). At interview for a private school, the interviewer asked the last thing I'd read - I don't remember exactly, but it was eight or nine books into the Pern series (as it stood at the time). The interviewer asked what I'd read before that - the previous book. Before that, the one before. About this point, my mother intervened to explain that I was eight or nine books into the series and asked me to say what I'd read before. "Oh, last week..." Possibly Swallows and Amazons or Doctor Dolittle or maybe something by Martin Gardener - one of his collections of his Mathematical Games columns from Scientific American. A year or so later, I was given free range over my father's science fiction books on the top shelf, just below the ceiling - John Wyndham, Arthur C Clarke, Robert Heinlein, a few not-so-good authors I've largely forgotten, Poul Anderson and Isaac Asimov, clambering on the sofa to reach them. There are also the books I rejected by that age. I made a start on Kim at about 8 or 9 and can't remember if I ever got around to finishing it. I was into the Famous Five for about a year age 7 or 8 and then outgrew them. I forget when it was, but sometime, probably when I was between 9 and 11, my mother introduced me to the Abbey Girls and later the Chalet School series - the signature series of two of the Big Three of British Girls' School Stories of the first half of the 20th century. And the Abbey Girls have remained one of my literary loves - if someone gave me a million pounds tomorrow, one of the first things I'd do is try to track down a copy of Rosamund's Castle - the books were originally published by five different publishers, with some copyrights going to the publishers, and some to the author, so when she died, and her rights went to her family who'd never quite approved of her writing something so frivolous, so weren't keen to keep them in print, the books generally fell out of print, and have become collectors items - there are ebooks and some modern reprints, so I've been able to lay hands on most of the series (and some of the author's other works) and I know in general terms what happens in the few gaps I have left, but...

I've been trying to remember my first fantasy book but I can't. It was probably Mary Stewart's Touch Not The Cat (I think that's the title) that my mother loved and checked out from the library all the time. Plus the usual Dr. Seuss books which I also loved back then. Lovely, interesting video, as always!

IT's funny, I've learned about fables in school. But as I am french, we never learned about Aesop, the Fables were written by La Fontaine, a french writer who wrote them for Louis XIV, the Sun King while he was still an infant to teach him about being king. It's the same fables, he just translated them from greek, but in France, it's called "Fables de la Fontaine" XD Although, the most famous here are the Fox and the Raven, or The Ant and the Cigal ^^

My one children's book I always remember is "Mighty Men" by Eleanor Farjean. It's an anthology of the stories of heroic figures of legend, from Achilles all the way to Charlemagne and other figures revered by the medievals, told in a solemn but easy manner that evokes timelessness. I think that book in particular was the most instrumental seed of my own values.

Mine, 45 years ago, were "The Yearling" and "Where the Red Fern Grows"

The first "book" I have a strong feeling of "reading" remembrance was actually a small Lego catalog 😁 It was basically castle theme in there, and they also had like a diorama depicting a battle. You see that images have this powerful impact on our imagination over time, as well! If it wasn't for this tiny little catalog, perhaps I wouldn't even care about Tolkien works today and castle stuff in general, I guess. I tried to find it all over the place on the internet. I have seen many, many catalogs, but that specific one with the specific battle diorama I have never been able to find. Now, it kind of turned out to be a mirage from the past.

The first children's fantasy series that left a deep impression on me was Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series. Loved it. While I read others during that time in my life (early teens), I don't remember them that deeply. Maybe because I wasn't focused only on fantasy. I was also just getting into science fiction through anthologies of classic scifi short stories (not kids' fiction) and also early/classic Dr Who novels.

Through the Looking Glass, is a transitional piece about leaving childhood and beginning to grow into adolescence.

First book read: Go Dog Go Loved it At my daughter’s preschool’s dr Seuss day I read that instead of a Seuss book First book read new was “Step up book of animals “ which was above my reading level when I began the book, but not when I was done.

The stories of Hans Christian Andersen moved me most deeply. Though I first received them through movies and TV: The Little Mermaid, The Snow Queen. Though looking back, those more mostly Disneyfied versions, sugarcoated with happy endings. I really only came to discover and appreciate the original stories as an adult. They're so much deeper and more beautiful for depicting the sorrow he felt at the loss of innocence and beauty in the world. But he never really lost sight of them, and that's what came through for me even as a kid; so much more now. There are also some beautifully illustrated versions of the original stories, which one can appreciate at any age. Especially, I might say, as I approach old age. Same with Tolkien and C S Lewis, of course. The art, movies, and music that have come out of their stories. But Andersen still seems to me without equal; though his stories were never long or heroic. They were very prewar, pre-Bomb. pre-Ring. There's no Morgoth or Sauron. Only the sadness and bewilderment he felt at the cruelties to which adult society subjects people, esp children, and poor children. The Little Match Girl.

My philosophy has always been that no matter how old you get, you should always keep your childhood with you. I certainly read a lot of stories in my youth, but the first actual novel I remember was Charlotte's Web. After reading that I was really hooked on reading.

The first book(s) that really connected with me (other than fairytales and folklore) were Deltora Quest by Emily Rodda. Heroic fantasy that didn't shy away from the horror and doubt that comes with trying to do the right thing in a hostile world.

The First Book I read as a kid that got me interested in Fantasy was the Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander. This series is based on Welsh myths (loosely) and was great. They were popular in the 70s (I am old) and we need to bring them back!

Harrod’s Reading Room waiting for them to unpack C. S. Lewis’s Silver Chair

The first book I ever remember reading was a little golden book about a girl who goes shoe-shopping with her mother. She tries to convince her mother to buy her some "Cinderella shoes". Later on I ended up reading various miscellaneous science fiction, CS Lewis, 1984, and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. The weirder the better.

I love me some Tolkien but have to break a lance here for Michael Endes Neverending Story it's just fantastic and i still like to read it aged 40.

I had sooooo many favorites, but the "So You Want to Be a Wizard" series by Diane Duane hooked me in a major way

Books from my childhood and youth that founded my thinking: the Bible, Tales of the Kingdom series, Robinson Crusoe, Pilgrim’s Progress, Encyclopedia Brown and Hardy Boys books, Narnia Chronicles, Lord of the Rings, Count of Monte Cristo, White Falcon, Prydain Chronicles, Redwall books, The Lost Princess by George MacDonald, Hans Brinker, Treasures in the Snow, Tom Sawyer, Huckberry Finn, The Long Vacation by Jules Verne, The Bobbsey Twins, the Boxcar Children, Oliver Twist, Persuasion, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and many others… AMBA

Based on your last definition of children's stories, Jess, The adventures of Oliver twist, David Copperfield and a bunch of other stories written by Dickens our children's stories. I wonder how Dickens would feel about that. Although, that comment might go to show you just how little I've read about Charles Dickens. I vaguely recall reading that Tolkien was the first writer since Aristotle to seriously study fairy story.

While, like much of my generation, Harry Potter was my first real foray into reading novels, the series I really got into beyond that is The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. Those came to me at a particularly formative time and I love them deeply. I'm in my 30's and still re-read the series every few years! Seeing Taran grow and discover what it is he really wants out of life always brings a smile to my face!

First story that ever truly scared me: for me, this would be a movie, not a book - one of the Frankenstein movies, no idea which one. It was at a sleepover and I wound up having to get them to call my parents to pick me up, I was so scared. I was young enough that I don't have clear memories, especially since I dropped the story halfway through, but this is probably from the scene where Frankenstein brings his monster to life. Still haven't read the book or watched any of the adaptations to completion. First series that you got really excited about: Lord of the Rings. Honest. I read it in its entirety in Grade 2, after the school librarian tried to refuse me the chance to check out the first book (she gave me the condition that I had to read the entirety of a random page she opened the book to. The only word I struggled with was "Aragorn." And I still love it, so I guess this fits question 3 as well but... Story that wormed into your head and never went away: Redwall. Also Lord of the Rings, the X wing books from Star Wars, the Myst novels, Elizabeth Boyer's norse-inspired books (particularly Elves and the Otterskin), Raymond E Feist and Janny Wurts' Empire trilogy, Magic the Gathering: Arena (which is a Count of Monte Cristo style revenge story that is so much better than any 90s novel tie in to a game IP has any right to be)...all of those have a flat in my brain they get rent free, but Redwall's the one that keeps surprising me. Like...Basil's a good name for a rabbit or hare, right? There is no reason to assume that unless you know Redwall and the memorable character Basil the Hare of the Long Patrol. And unlike the rest of these, I've not even touched a Redwall book since I was a teenager, it's all just sitting there in my subconscious and the more I type this the more just leaks into my mind and it's really kinda unnerving so I'll stop. See? Definitely Redwall.

The internet, for all its potential, is a desert of wholesome material, one that I brave on a daily basis in search of nothing short of something enlightening and inspiring so I can perpetuate the types of stories I love. So thank you, for being a channel I can turn to when all other lights go out.

My first two "proper books", i.e. not picture-books, at age around 8, were The Hobbit and... Biggles Buries a Hatchet by Captain W.E.Johns. Johns had been a WW1 pilot and was a marvellous writer and storyteller. My candidate for first real children's writer is Charles Perrault. He had a simple but effective style and a wonderful way with symbol -- the glass slippers, the spindle. How strange that Tolkien dismisses his work, and that of his successors, as "these French things" (On Fairy-stories).

In pre-school, my very favourite book was The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown. When I was around 6 years old though, my father read Lord of the Rings with me, and it's been my favourite for the 30 years since, and shall likely remain so. (But I do still occasionally re-read Color Kittens)

I think I was about seven or so when I found the first series that I truly fell in love with--one that wormed its way into my everyday thoughts and would not leave me even if I tried. I absolutely adored 'The Sisters Eight' by Lauren Baratz-Logsted, truly a shame it never got as much love as it deserved.

Firstly, the hair looks stellar. Secondly, The Secret of Nimh!

My first book was Rootie Kazootie Baseball Star! LOL, my mom picked this up for me when I was a toddler and I apparently made her re-read it to me about a thousand times! Riveting story! I saw a copy a few years ago, and it was amazing how I recognized each page's artwork and the entire story. Rootie was, I've heard, a 1950's child's cartoon, although I never saw it. My first real story was probably Black Beauty, about the horse. I also had books based Peter & The Wolf, and an adaptation of Disney's Pinocchio. At age 8, I moved on the the Hardy Boys juvenile mysteries. I read every one of them until around the 50th novel. I still have them in a box somewhere in my basement. I guess I wasn't into your subject here, fables and fantasies, so much. Unless you want to include Peter Pan as such.

If you ever need an idea for a short video, you should look into the Queen of Denmark and her relationship with LoTR. She even became the illustrator of one of the Danish editions under a pseudonym - and it's really beautiful

The book I read the most I got in 4th grade from the Scholastic Books sale (which I LOVED). It was The Ghost of Dibble Hollow a fun ghost story mystery which you can read a complete scan of on The Internet Archive. Then in 6th grade our English textbook which was a sampler of story extracts had the entire chapter Riddles in the Dark and I was hooked! I found in the notes what it came from and that sent me down the road to The Hobbit and in middle school and high school, The Lord of the Rings. That was pretty much it, I was done for.

I was an avid reader growing up, so have a list of favourite books that's as long as your arm, including Moomintroll, Famous Five, and Narnia. Two favourites which others might not have heard of though are Dodie Smith's The Starlight Barking (the sequel to The Hundred and One Dalmatians) and Paul Gallico's Manxmouse.

The first book that was really my own was The Illiad. I found a copy in my elementary school library when I was waaay too young for it and fell in love. My second was The Hobbit.

The first book I remember reading was a children's version of Beowulf. The first series I got excited about was the My Teacher Is an Alien series. The first time I ever got scared reading a book was probably Scary Stories To Tell In the Dark

I made up my own stories either with one of my friends or alone. One of my friends made up an entire Role Play World inspired by Super Mario. The fantasies were kind of wacky but also fun to indulge in when I allowed myself to.

My teacher read us The Hobbit in primary school. I remember being fixated and engulfed. One of the only things that got me to pay attention

Age rating are a thing of course. The hobbit has a tag that says 9+ I think. Still, I read the hobbit at 27, and it is one of my favorite fictional books to this day.

I had a double book when I was a kid! One half was Robinson Cruesoe, and the other was Swiss Family Robinson. I absolutely loved Swiss Family Robinson as a wee lad

My earliest books were also mouse related, "Mouse and the Motorcycle" and "Runaway Ralph" by Beverly Cleary.

my parents didn't read to me growing up. When I was old enough to buy books or spend my time reading I bought dinosaur encyclopedias. It wasn't until I was a teen when I started reading Tolkien and Harry Potter, both were really meaningful to me then as they are now that I'm a father. I read Farmer Giles and The Smith of Wotton Major to my kid, fellowship and all the HP books, she loves every bit of it. My wife reads her Jane Austen which I think she she loves even more than fantasy books lol

That being said, from what I've read, the modern tradition begins with French author Jean de la Fontaine (1621-1695), with his animal stories taken from the Arabic translation of Ibn Al-Muqaffa of Indian stories. It's even been said that the old Greek stories of animals originally come from India!

My dad read the Hobbit to us as kids, as far back as I can remember, so I don't remember a time I wasn't aware of Hobbits and the story of Bilbo. Along with the books of Roald Dahl, and Mrs Frisbee and the rats of Nimh.

Jess, I will tell you something...for many many years now, since I have become a grown-up, I find and have found that all the best books are in the Children's section of the Library. I am always and forever combing thru those stacks, looking for something to catch my eye. The head Children's Librarian became a friend, and she is the one who put the library's copy of HP & the Sorcerers Stone when it first came out into my hands. It's there I found Lloyd Alexander, among many others I had missed as a child... I was reading Dickens and Dumas and Twain as a kid, the Andrew Lang series of Fairy Stories, mythology, Robin Hood. Oh Hans Christian Andersen. And no childhood could be complete without Dr Seuss and Maurice Sendak. I found Tolkien in high school, and it was finding the Holy Grail of reading.

Loved this video, like all the others. Thank you for the hard work

24:30 The Blitz and setting of The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe is 20 years after World War 1. While similar in horror World War Two set off very different literary styles (Slaughterhouse Five) from World War One (The Sun Also Rises).

The first book I remember wanting to reread over and over again was The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley. And the first book series I became obsessed with was Animorphs though I also found Warriors later on and was obsessed with it too.