Classics Club: Question of the month

I missed the opportunity to blog about the Classics Club question of the month in December.

Question:

Let’s talk about children’s classics! Did you read any classic works as a child? What were your favorites? If not, have you or will you try any classic children’s literature in the future? (We’re aware children often read at an adult level. Please feel free to share adult OR children’s classics that you treasured in childhood OR children’s works that you’ve recently fallen for.)

Answer:

When I was eleven or twelve I went through a jag of reading lots of classics: David Copperfield; Pride and Prejudice; White Fang;  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer are a few I remember reading specifically. Now, as an adult, I look back in amazement that I was capable of reading these books so easily and happily. Then a month ago, as I wandered around a used bookstore, I came upon a cache of children's books in the Great Illustrated Classics series. The books looked suspiciously familiar. Now I am fairly sure the classics I read as a kid were these highly abridged versions of classics that include illustrations.

I am sure I didn't read all of these Great Illustrated Classics, but I read many of these abridged classics.

In addition to The Great Illustrated Classics, I remember reading the Chronicles of Narnia; 1001 Arabian Nights; Heidi; The Secret Garden; and Little Women (in fact, I read the whole series by Alcott.) Somewhere a long the line I read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. I don't recall if they were abridged or not. As a teenager I read the Lord of the Rings series, but by then no one should be shocked that I was reading them. My favorites, then and now, are the romances: Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and of course, Pride and Prejudice.

What classics did you read as a child?

See responses by others at The Classics Club.