15 Books From Your Childhood You Forgot You Loved (or Loved To Hate)

In no particular order, from Scholastic elementary school classics to picture books to the downright weird. Millennials, welcome back to a time before your friends pretended they all read Infinite Jest.

1. Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

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Debuting on Reading Rainbow in 1994, Stellaluna taught us it's okay to be different, it's normal to be accepted as such, and that sometimes, even bats are cute.

2. Sideways Stories From Wayside School by Louis Sachar

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Before he brought us Stanley Yelnats, Zero and Holes, Sachar gave us a school 30 stories high (no 19th floor) with one room each, the evil Mrs. Gorf (who later turns into a potato salad) and characters like Virginia, a grown woman in Miss Zarves' class who never went to bathroom in 32 years.

3. The Captain Underpants Series by Dav Pilkey

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Loved and hated by children and parents alike, toilet humor never educated so well. The comic book format low-brow comedy "novels" had a deceptively sophisticated vocabulary for its demographic, and pointed out that troublemakers often aren't hopeless cases but creative learners.

4. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

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Written in the 1960's but still practically nationwide required reading, IotBD is based on the true story of Juana Maria (here Karana), a Native American left stranded on San Nicolas Island off the California Coast for 18 years before being discovered in 1853. All I remember is Karana's dog Rontu dies, but really soon she finds a new one who she names Son of Rontu and it's like come on, be original.

5. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

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This 1972 classic about one kid's worst day ever is getting a movie adaption this fall, starring Steve Carrell and Jennifer Garner, and the trailer doesn't look half bad!

6. Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

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The only book so far to have an author with just two LAST names, the story of a little bald (baby?) boy who basically has the power of God in his hand is, for some reason, still awesome.

7. Frindle by Andrew Clements

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Clements' first non-picture book, it's the story of some kid Nick who thinks he can just name his ballpoint pen "frindle" and everybody treats it like a real thing and it gains national attention and eventually he becomes rich. For inventing a word for a thing that is ALREADY a thing. I have friends so turned off by the title alone that they refused to read the "dumb-ass" book, and honestly, they have a point.

8. Mrs. Armitage on Wheels by Quentin Blake

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Beautifully crafted by the now illustrious Sir Quentin Saxby Blake (of Roald Dahl illustration fame), Mrs. Armitage is whimsical, intelligent, and absolutely unflappable. That bike certainly did need "a bit of extra oomph."

9. Any of the Thornton W Burgess Books

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Beautifully illustrated and lovingly written by the noted conservationist and "Bedtime Story Man" Thornton W Burgess, these books continue to inspire children and parents to rediscover what there is to love about our forest friends.

10. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszca & Lane Smith

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A meta-critical parody of fairy tales, Scieszka and Smith poke fun at not only the content but the form and layout of children's books. It's as irresistibly bizarre and immature as it is sophisticated.

11. The "I Spy" Books by Walter Wick and Jean Marzollo

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Much more fun than Where's Waldo, these riddle books were the first introduction to photography as an art for many of us and a true testament to creativity. To this day I have trouble accepting tilt-shift photos of real life as not actually cleverly detailed miniature sets.

12. The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews (Edwards)

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Julie Andrews (for it is her of Mary Poppins and the Sound of Music fame) can truly do no wrong. A wonderfully imaginative testament to the power and need for wonder and curiosity, after all these years I still haven't forgotten how she pointed out how too often we forget to "look up" every once in a while, complacent in our boring yet safe routines and missing the magic that permeates the everyday.

13. SHREK! by William Steig

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Before Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Dreamworks got their hands on it, there wasn't much to love about Shrek, but that was the way we liked it. Reveling in his disgusting ogre-ness, he sets out to see the world and finds the equally disgusting ogre of his dreams, and neither of them go through any sort of character development. They're awful and we love it.

14. Elbert's Bad Word by Audrey and Don Wood

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Though a cautionary tale about swearing in an inappropriate context, Elbert taught ME just how fun (albeit visually gross) and chaotic swearing can be, especially in the RIGHT context.

15. The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate by Margaret Mahy and Margaret Chamberlain

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Notoriously colorful wig-wearing Margaret Mahy of New Zealand's ode to having fun even when you're grown up enjoys a continued life after her passing in 2012, most often in the form of community stage productions around the world.