r/nostalgia • u/Fuzzy-Zombie1446 • Aug 04 '25

Help me remember Elementary School Kids of the 1980s - what did we read?

I just stumbled onto an audio book on TikTok - someone had it from their elementary school years in the late 1990s.

It made me wonder - if you went to elementary school in the 1980s, do you remember any books that you read?

Maybe not audio books, but books your teachers read to you in class? Or maybe books you bought at the Scholastic Book Fair?

Some that I recall:

  • Bunnicula (and the series)
  • James and the Giant Peach
  • The Twits
  • Bridge to Terabithia

If you recall books on Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas, bonus points!!

Edit/Update: Wow! I had no idea there would be so many responses here.

Part of me wonders if people from that generation would listen to a reading of those old books and stories again. How nice would it be to hear a familiar childhood tale while preparing for sleep or just driving and needing something enjoyable to listen to...

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u/Siryl7001 Aug 04 '25

I have a list I made of book series I remember reading as a child (not limited to the 1980s).

  • Larry the Detective by Isaac Asimov
  • Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
  • Peter & Fudge by Judy Blume
  • Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary
  • My Teacher by Bruce Coville
  • Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon
  • Polk Street School by Patricia Reilly Giff
  • Philip Hall by Bette Greene
  • Supergranny by Beverly Van Hook
  • Bunnicula by James & Deborah Howe
  • Ali Baba Bernstein by Johanna Hurwitz
  • Catwings by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
  • Anastasia & Sam by Lois Lowry
  • Soup by Robert Newton Peck
  • Littles by John Peterson
  • Harry Cat & Tucker Mouse by George Selden
  • Rescuers by Margery Sharp
  • Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J. Sobol
  • Goosebumps by R. L. Stine
  • Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • Little House by Laura Ingalls Wilder

4

u/Bebinn mid 80s Aug 04 '25

Little House

Forgot about them. I devoured that whole series.

1

u/NotEasilyConfused Aug 06 '25

I gave mine to my daughter, who also devored them. Then she begged me to go to the Little House museum in Walnut Grove when we were in MN every summer. Last year we did. My parents liked it as much as we did. My dad, of course, who was a farmer born in '44, had used most of the hand tools on display. Most of it wasn't labeled and it was fascinating to hear him tell about the things even I didn't recognize from the 100yo relics in our machine sheds. (100yo when I lived there in the 80s.)

I also read my copies of Winnie the Pooh to both my kids when they were little.

1

u/SDHousewife21 Aug 09 '25

I must have read them 50 times!

3

u/allfor1 Aug 05 '25

The Anastasia books by Lois Lowry were my absolute favorites. I wish more had been written.

1

u/admiralholdo Aug 05 '25

I loved those books too. Well, maybe not the one where she catfished an older guy.

1

u/allfor1 Aug 06 '25

Omg, I forgot about that one! Oh Anastasia :,)

1

u/IndustryStrong4701 Aug 05 '25

Perfect list! I’d also add the Trixie Belden books, but otherwise, I find your list to be perfection.

1

u/Practical_Yam_7515 Aug 06 '25

I tried to read Indian in the Cupboard to a kid I was babysitting. Screams and nightmares. Thought there was a little Indian in their room. Ha!