I was a ridiculously dorky kid, constantly reading books, so it was hard to remember what got me really hooked on reading, but I'm fairly sure it was The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.  It was the first non-picture book I had ever read (I think), and it was full of awesome and silly wordplay, something like the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but for children.

Edit: It had little sketches in it, so not really a non-picture book... apparently it was hard for me to let go. :P

It was the first "big" book I read all by myself, and it was hilarious. Wicked parents being bested by a tiny little girl who loved to read; audacious adults and quiet heroes. I read it almost straight through when I was in second grade, and couldn't believe I could read a book that big that fast.

The Great Illustrated Classics and Shel Silverstein poem books were also favorites.

My first book was Terabithia too. It was on my 6th grade booklist and i picked it over the american girl series because it was fun to say. It changed my whole world as an awkward middleschooler it was perfect. I love the imigary and the real life trials, an exquisite book.

"Men plan, God laughs"

what exact book because i've just always read and been read to, i just always loved books. plus while im fairly intelligent, in that when i was in primary school i was reading at a high school level, i have a crap memory until its jolted, i cant just bring the book titles out of my head lol

i know that from about year 5 - 8 i was very into jacquline (thts my moms name and yet i cant remember how to spell it how bad is that?) wilson books, and my favourite kids book was this beautifully illustrated santa clause book which i still read every year b4 christmas lol i couldnt tell u the author because its supposed to have been written by "scribbler elf" lol

anyway i think this is a great idea every child deserves the oppurtunity to read their own books, reading certain books can be a life changing thing, so its really wonderful this scheme is taking place.

www.myspace.com/jo_16_

For me the books that really showed me that I could be magically transported to another world and live an adventure there were the Narina books by CS Lewis. 

There was just something so wonderful about making a fort from sofa cushions and blankets and hiding underneath...pretending to be right there when the Pevensies discovered a world covered in snow and ice.

I have been an avid reader ever since.

Mine was "jip en Janneke" but I doubt you will order it since it's in Dutch! But I loved it because it was about a naughty boy and girl and appealed to the little anarchist in me I guess :)

Plus it has what I still consider the best illustrations. Or at least still my favourites!

"call me old fashioned but I prefer feminism that leaves a little something to the imagination!"

Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".  Could not read it fast enough and it inspired so many dreams and nightmares. And the illustrations just added to my already vivid imagination. Loved it.

Even though 1984 is the book that was probably the biggest influence in my life thus far, mostly because it made me appreciate political satire and dystopias and motivated me to become an advocate of questioning authority (or at least woke up those liberal and independent feelings inside me), and Middlesex is the book that really made me believe in the power and beauty of the written word, I have to say that it was the Babysitters Club series that got me hooked. I read those books non-stop, and even though the stories could be considered cliche and overly sweet, I loved that they included such a diversity of characters (a tomboy! an Asian! an African-American! a girl from California! a shy girl! a diabetic!) and really made them go through some hardships not only in their personal lives but also in their professional lives (like in #100, "Kristy's Worst Idea," when the BSC disbands). And I always thought it was so brave of Ann M. Martin to include kids whose parents had either passed away, divorced, abandoned them, or were extremely strict (like Claudia's parents). But most of all, they were just really fun to read!

"Out of the box is where I live." -Starbuck

No one has ever heard of this, but there is a great book called Mooch the Messy that I read over and over as a kid.  It was one of those weekly readers, so I assume that's why no one has heard of it.  That and another one called Robert the Rose Horse.  I wore those books out.

A couple of years ago, my mom ordered an old copy of Mooch the Messy that she found online somewhere and had it sent to me.  And just so my partner wouldn't feel left out, she ordered her favorite book as a kid, too: Coruroy.  My mom's a sweetie! :)

To me, the sexiest thing in the world is sitting around with my fiancee and reading/discussing books. Hawt!

I wonder if anyone's ever heard of Spot the Dog and his series of books written by Eric Hill. Where's Spot? is probably my favorite book of all time, I must have taken it out from the library over thirty times when I was a kid, up until when I left for college. The series is visually very bright and playful, and it was the first book that really drew me in.

If any of you can read in spanish, I recomend 'Carta con diez años de retraso' written by Olga Guirao.

It's the best lesbian book I've ever read, and it's not just a lesbian book, it reminds me Kundera's witting. Really profound and interesting.

How to Eat Fried Worms.  I never did return it to the library.  Fortunately, they didn't hold it against me when I applied for a job.

The one that truly sucked me in to bibli ho'dom, though, was Watership Down.  I read it in one day during summer vacation sitting underneath the tree in our backyard.  Bunny Bliss!

Third grade: Mr. Popper's Penguins

I totally agree with your description of being a biblioholic, too! I'm still trying to figure out how I can get ANOTHER book case in my tiny room so I finally have room for all my books. Half of them are in boxes now, where I can't admire them properly. =(

I believe the first book I ever read by myself was Ten Apples Up On Top -- a Dr. Seuss classic.

I was already hooked on books in general by the time I read the most memorable books of my childhood. One was Hang for Treason by Robert Newton Peck, author of A Day No Pigs Would Die and the Soup series. This was the book that made me realize how much I liked historical fiction. The other was Lizard Music by Daniel Pinkwater, author of The Hoboken Chicken Emergency and Fat Men from Space. This book was so clever and smart and absurd that it made me realize just how good books could be.

My favorite was/is a book called Jelly Belly by Dennis Lee; it was a bunch of childrens verses. the first book i read myself was one of the MunchBunch series called Supercool... it was about a skatboarding cucumber.

I still have both books on my book shelf.

SW made such an impression on me. Not the sappy version, the one where they make the Queen wear a pair of white-hot iron shoes and dance until she dies. I had nightmares after I read that, but I was hooked! The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper, and the Wizard of Earthsea series were my elementary school favs.

It doesn't count as "reading," but my father would read a chapter a night to me and my older sisters, complete with voices for every character. The first stories I remember were The Iliad and The Odyssey. I still remember lying in bed imagining "the rosy-fingered dawn" appearing on "the wine-dark sea." I always thought Homer had written two cracking good adventure stories and couldn't understand the resistance from my peers when we had to read them in 7th grade.

We're all biblioholics in my family, so Christmas is the most anti-socially social event for all of us. We all sit in the same room on Christmas day, buried in the books we've given each other, only taking breaks from reading to visit the little buffet we put out to avoid having to take time out to cook. Happy as clams, we are!

I think the book was Matilda by Roald Dahl but I can't be sure. I was reading voraciously longer than I can remember.

There's a reason I use the "bibliosexual" as my internet handle so often. (Seriously, it's my LJ name)

Pierre, a Cautionary Tale in 5 Chapters and a Prologue by Maurice Sendak and Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells. I was a brat. :p

Starting when I was an itty-bitty baby bedtime meant m or daddy reading us a story.  The beirnstein bears and the goldenbooks are my first memories.   But I can't tell you what got me hooked...As long as I can remember (litteraly) books have been a huge part of my life...I'm even a literature student...ME NEED BOOKS!!!  long live amazon *grin*

"Nothing is impossible and there is no such thing as a lost cause"

I read voraciously as a kid due to the fact that I had no cable television and few neighborhood kids to play with (I went to a private school in the suburbs but lived in the inner city). I was a huge fan of imaginative literature along the lines of Roald Dahl and Lewis Carroll. After reading Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, I would run outside with a giant bowl every time I heard thunder in hopes of catching a cheeseburger and a milkshake. Where The Wild Things Are had me sleeping under my bed for a month in hopes of meeting a really cool monster.

The gothic mysteries of John Bellairs creeped me out in that really good way and Edward Gorey's illustrations gave me the most vivid but delicious nightmares. But the book that really hooked me was Slake's Limbo by Felice Holman. I was so used to being excited by fantastical monsters and fabulous places that I didn't anticipate on being so profoundly affected by such a simple and realistic story.

Follow My Leader - a weekly reader treasure that taught me that you can survive and thrive even when you are different from everyone else.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Beverly Cleary's Ramona series were also fantastic.

My mom was a teacher and she let me read everything/anything I wanted. I still am a voracious reader. My favorite story about my mom happened one summer when the book mobile was making rounds. I was about 10 years old and used to being able to read anything, so I went to the back of the bus where the adult books were kept. The mobile librarian told me that I could only check out books from the juvenile section ... how boring. So, I left the bus without any books - a huge surprise. My mom asked and I told her what the librarian said. She took me by the hand, we went back into the book mobile and mom confronted that librarian. Mom told that woman that I was allowed to read anything I wanted and that if I had questions, mom knew I'd come to her. I promptly checked out Valley of the Dolls!

the lorax by dr. seuss. i don't know why. i read it a zillion times and would even just look at the pictures when i was bored. all i wanted in life was to feel what a truffula tree felt like.

i remember watching this all the time too:  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6650219631867189375

its kinda like the inconvenient truth for kids now that i think about it.

that I HAD to have was Sweet Valley, first Sweet Valley Twins then Sweet Valley High.  I even had the Special Editions when they were on summer vacation.  I have always loved books and will read almost anything but those were the first ones where I would anxiously await the new arrivals.  In fourth grade I had one the of the SVH books taken away from me in class.  I was passing it around because it described one of the twins being felt up!! 

I remembering wanting to grow up just so I could drive a Fiat like Elizabeth and Jessica.

I still have every one of those...

When I started schooling in Laos, I remembered having to learn my Chinese characters and eventually able to read/memorize the monkey king story. Regrettably, I have not kept up with my Chinese studies and have lost much of my vocabulary.

We immigrated to Canada when I was 12. I don’t really remember the first English book I read, but it must have been a text book of some kind. :) However, I do remember reading the Sweet Valley series of books, as well as Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and the Dragonriders of Pert series. I remember going to the library and stalking that aisles for them.  Ah, memories indeed.