First Book that Hooked You as a Kid . . .

[Oubliette]

I'm not entirely sure what book got me into reading (for myself).  To be honest, I didn't like reading stories when I was a child.  And if I did go the library, I usually took out non-fiction books about animals or places.  If I wanted a story, I convinced either an older sibling or parent to read it to me, or the just tell it to me paraphrased.  I craved social attention, so if there was something that was usually done alone, I didn't like it as much.  The books I loved to have read to me the most as a little kid were the Wayside School books by Louis Sachar or Amelia Bedelia by Parish.

But one of the stories I took out from the library many times as a child was called The Dragon and the Thief by Gillian Bradshaw.  I think reading that book got me into reading more on my own.  Then I got myself hooked on the Black Stallion series by Walter Farley.  So nothing really prestigious when I was around 10.

[ldyofshadows]

So many - there were books everywhere in our house, so I was truly blessed.  Some of the earliest ones I remember include:

The Secret Garden
the Trixie Belden series (think Nancy Drew)
Nancy Drew
Oz books (both L.F.B. & his successor)
er, um...and a crap load of Harlequin Presents in my earliest romance phase which, as memory serves, hit around 11.
Shakespeare, I do remember working on that when I was in 4th grade...didn't get it, gave up on it for a few years.  LIke it now, especially when I get translations as to what they 'actually' mean...Geez, Much Ado aint the same once you get the translation.

[Rachel]

Ahhh... The book that hooked me, heart and soul, as a kid.  I was nine years old when I stole an old, nearly crumbling copy of Brams Stoker's DRACULA, from my Dad's closet.  LOVED that book.  Read it through several times that summer.  Attempted to rewrite the ending a couple of times. 

After I read that book to pieces, literally, I started in on THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY - and I haven't stopped reading since.  When I was 10 our elementary school had a reading contest.  I out-read the entire school by about 100 books.    

[lexcade]

black beauty for me.  i couldn't put that one down.

[K.A.Bate]

I've been reading....well forever.  I was already reading before entering kindergarten, so I spent that year in the back of the class, finger painting.  My first love was The Wizard of Oz, and I was five.  L. Frank Balm was a master.  Then, I found the Keeping Days Series by Norma Johnston when I was ten.  To this day, Letisha and the various forms of the name appear as sub-characters in almost everything I write.

We could all use a Mustard Seed Of Magic!