Well, the earliest I can remember being a "reader" was with Laura Ingles Wilder's books, and I was crazy about the Box Car Children!

But, actually the Harry Potter books did it for me, and I am now a reader for LIFE!

I always liked reading thanks to my Mom who read to me everyday before I could read to myself.

The Babysitter's  Litle Sister series mainly.  But Bridge to Terabithia didn't hurt either ;-)

All of you have such interesting books - my first book turn on was the National Geographic Magazine, lol.  There was an article about goldfish in Japan which, for whatever reason, really caught my interest.  This was from a mag in the 50's.  Then, it was the World Book Encyclopedia - particularly the article about dogs.  Back in those days, the WB didn't have so many photos as today, it had what must have been paintings.  I pored over those dog pictures for hours on end.  Then, somewhat later, I learned how to read and imagine my surprise when I discovered that the book also TOLD me about the dogs, besides showing me the wonderful pictures!  Imagine my surprise when I realized that the National Geographic article had things to SAY about the goldfish in Japan!  Ever since these days, I've been a complete book nut.  I read anything and I read obsessivly.  I'll simply never forget the sensation of the sudden realization that the articles I had been obsessed with went beyond pictures!  I had a simple childhood, lol.

My parents, got me the Little House series for my 9th birthday. Still some of my fav. books

I can remember being read to as a child - "Mother West Wind's Children" and Kipling's "Just So Stories" were faves. My Mom had a whole set of books for young readers that were from when SHE was a child - I read them and the first books I can remember getting from the public library was the whole Oz series.

Does anyone else remember being able to order books from (I think) Scholastic in grammar school?

I always loved The Babysitter's Club books and Ramona.  However, the first non series book that I read that REALLY got me reading other books outside of the Babysitter's CLub was Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith.  I think I was in 5th or 6th grade when I read it.  I was so proud because it was the longest book I had ever read and the subject matter was much heavier than the Babysitters.  I loved the story at the time, however, 20 years later I hardly remember what the story was about, just that it really grabbed my attention and helped spark my love for reading.  Another thing that really got me reading was seeing my mom every morning reading her Bible and during the day reading various other books. 

marguerite henry's books. king of the wind is still one of my favorites to this day. =)

The first books I read that got me hooked were the "Little House On The Prarie" series. I also loved the "Nancy Drew Mysteries." I think I  was around 10 or 11 years old. 2 years later I found the V.C. Andrews books starting with "Flowers in the Attic" and I really fell in love with reading. I started reading so much people started calling me a geek. It was a great way for me to just go into a fantasy world of my own. Now at the age of 39 I am building my own library in my home, collecting a lot of the books I enjoyed as a child! This site is wonderful for that. Thank you PBS and all of its members!!

The Little House on The Prairie books, then Judy Blume and then V.C. Andrews books!

When I was in first grade, a classmate's mother came in every day and read a chapter from James and the Giant Peach. I still remember the disappointment I felt when the chapter would end and the excitement I felt to hear what would happen next. That was the first true 'chapter book' that I remember reading or having read to me. I still love the feeling of getting hopelessly sucked into a good book.

I spent the majority of my allowance money on Nancy Drew books and The Bobsey Twins.

Another favorite was Charlotte's Web.

It is a toss-up between the Little House on the Prairie books and the Trixie Belden books. I love both and will still read them now every once in a while just for nostalgia. 

I first 'got into' reading with the book I learned to read from! 'Won't Somebody Play with Me?' by Steven Kellogg - I still love the book so much, and I adore his artwork :) I had it memorized before the age of four, and made the connections between print and sound... and I took off from there! I have to say, though, first grade helped - my first year of chapter books. Charlotte's Web was the first chapter book read to me, and I read and loved The Boxcar Children (series) myself that year.

Does anyone else remember being able to order books from (I think) Scholastic in grammar school?

The days the Scholastic books arrived were always like Christmas for me! My parents always let my brother and I order a few books each. I would pour over the catalog for hours deciding which books to get.

Mary, I also read through the entire Oz series by checking them out from the library.

I couldn't  answer this question. I had picture books when I was a little as two years old and soon began to tell my parents a story to those pictures. I read my first book at age four or five but I can't remember which one it was. So I always read and don't remember anything hooking me. :-)

I don't remember a time when I wasn't reading.  When I was younger I enjoyed all the Beverly Cleary books, the Trixie Beldon series, and Janet Lambert.  When I was 12 my grandmother suggested I read Gone With the Wind.  I couldn't put it down and have read it several times since then.  When I was 15 I realized my mother and I were reading the same books and we've been discussing books ever since.

I have always loved books as a child...

The one that really got me hooked on reading was Rebecca's World, by Terry Nation. It was an ex-library book that was just lying around my room...Im not really sure who purchased it...and I was bored so I picked it up and started reading, and that was it. I was reading that book the entire day and never really stopped since. ^_^

I also would read in class and get in trouble for it...I LOVED Gone with the wind in middle school, and remember feeling so dissapointed when I found out she never wrote another book.

I remember discovering Walter Farley's Black Stallion...and then I read the whole series!  (At about age 9 or 10.)

I also loved "Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West" by Marguerite Henry.

I also remember my, probably, second grade teacher reading aloud "Beautiful Joe" and "Bambi" and loved those stories.

It is probably a toss up between the Outsiders and The Catcher in the Rye. Both were hand me downs from my non-reading brother (school reading lists). Catcher was a bit beyond my ability at the time, but it introduced me to an entirely new world of lit.

For me it has to be Little Women, by Alcott. It's the first one I can remember reading over and over - and then Eight Cousins and Jo's Boys.  I really should find a nice set of these for my library...and read them again...and again.

And yes, Felicia - I remember how much I LOVED ordering books in school from Scholastic.  The day we got the catalog was my second favorite day of the whole month - the first was when the books came, of course!!! 

It was the summer to first grade and my mom brought home Alexander and the terrible, no good, very bad day" by Judith Virost. I absolutely loved it. That was it, I was hooked for life.

I remember reading the Ramona Quimby books too.  I liked Dear Mr. Henshaw too.  I think the ones that really got me going reading a whole lot of books were Francine Pascal's Sweet Valley Twins books.  I read a ton of those when I was in elementary school.

I was always SO excited to get the Scholastic order form at school. This was probably second grade or so.

I would take it home, look through every title, and then carefully cut out the tiny little pictures of all of the books I wanted. I would take a handful of those tiny little cut-out books to my mom to show her the ones I wanted. This process also resulted in me inadvertantly cutting up the ordering form as well. Somehow, through the help of my mom, we managed to order the books I wanted. Or was I given a limit...? Come to think of it, I probably had to pick my top three or something because I remember cutting out a lot of little books and only getting a few of them.

What fond memories - Scholastic books... I remember being so excited, too.  My father would let me order as many as I wanted because I was a very lucky girl, lol.  I still have some of my old Scholastic books.  What memories.  I wonder how responsible Scholastic is for me being a bookworm, today?  (Probably very)