What was your (not DC's) favorite childhood story?

Books and stories were not only some of my best friends, they were my teachers and at times, my family and my parents too.

This morning posting and reading and I was thinking about Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mirmaid. At this moment, it was my favorite childhood story. I was particularly happy about the suprise ending:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

On the ship, the Little Mermaid realizes that this is her last night on earth and remembers with sorrow all that she had given up for the Prince. Her sisters then appear and they tell her that they have sold their hair to the Sea Witch in exchange for a magic knife. If she kills the Prince with it, she will become a mermaid again. The Little Mermaid cannot bring herself to do so, and throws herself over the deck, prepared to die. However, because of her self sacrifice, she does not die and instead she becomes a "Daughter of the Air." Another Daughter of the Air tells her that she will gain an eternal soul through 300 years worth of good deeds. When a child is bad, the Daughters of the Air shed tears, for each tear a day is added to their time on earth, but when a child is good, a Daughter of the Air smiles, and a year is taken off from her time on earth, and will eventually go to heaven.

I think that in my children's version of the book, the 'Daughters of the Air' didn't have to pay for other's bad behavior or earn their souls, they just flew around,seeing people, doing good deeds, working as a team and enjoying each other's company. That sounded more fun to me than either being the youngest sister forever or life with the Prince.

I loved how the ending wasn't foreshadowed at all - it just appeared out of nowhere just when it was needed - like the Davidson Young Scholars or this Forum came to my rescue so many years ago.And like this forum, flying all over and seeing in to everyone's families and helping and enjoying the company of you 'Daughters and Sons of Cyber-Air' has been more fun than I ever expected.

So my question is: What was your favorite childhood story, and in what ways has it come true, or do you hope it will come true, for you.

Love and More Love,
Grinity

The Velveteen Rabbit. Love has the power to transform. I always picked up on the constant-ness of the rabbit...and I loved the illustrations.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Magic is possible and you find it where you least expect it. Fellowship, goodness, courage of the soul, a guiding force, forgiveness - all things that were lacking in my life - Oh, how I wished I could step through that wardrobe.

Books have been my love and my escape my whole life. I used to walk to school reading a book!

Great thread Grinity!

I loved Dr. Seuss (especially the Lorax and the Sleep Book); The Betsy-Tacy books; The Melendy family books; Trixie Belden.... I think I've always loved series the most because I tend to fall in love with characters rather than plots. Getting to follow a character across a longer "life arc" was (and is) very appealing

My FIRST favorite childhood story was "A Wrinkle in Time."

Mine was/is "The Secret Garden".

Mine was "The Giant Jam Sandwich" about a town that gets invaded by wasps and makes a giant jam sandwich to catch them all in.
My favorite part was at the end when the birds came and flew away with the wasps. I don't really know why it stuck with me so much, but I still love to read it with my kids.

Roald Dahl, anything & everything... especially "Danny, Champion of the World."

Funny, though, with the exception of Dahl & Baum, I did very little recreational reading throughout school. We just did not have many books at home for kids and I rarely brought home books from the library. My appreciation/addiction/obsession with books did not develop until I was on my own.

My favorite was The Phantom Tollbooth. I loved the play on words and how it brought words and numbers to life in my mind.