The Hobbit.

First “real” book I read at like 10 or 11 and I just went straight the the whole series after.

Almost any Golden Book (Pokey Little Puppy) or

My Side of the Mountain (Jean Craighead George),

Paddington Bear books.

Along with titles others have mentioned (Scarry, etc.). These are firsts

The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

Edit: by Douglas Adams (yeah, like that addition was needed)

“Nor Crystal Tears”: by Alan Dean Foster

One of the first novel length books I ever sat down to read when I was young.

The first series that I fell in love with was: “The Belgariad” by David Eddings

Say what you want about Eddings, the guy was not a nice guy, but “The Belgariad” was a great series and I leaped from it to LOTR.

Richard Scarry’s “What do people do all day” is such a fun book that even now I wish I had again just to flip through the pages and see the intricacies of the drawings

Honestly I can’t remember. I’ve been reading books since 2nd grade and there’s been numerous I loved

Something by Brian Jacques when I was ten. Probably Long Patrol or Mossflower. turned me from a book hater into a book fiend. Like, literally pissed off my parents because I would read at night instead of sleeping.

Old Man and the Sea, the first reading assignment I actually enjoyed. Sure it took 5 years after being weaned off of picture books to seriously get into reading, but hey I’m thankful because there’s no adventure quite like the kind that comes from a good book.

The 1982 version of “The Amazing Adventures of Hercules”. They re-released it in I think 2004, but butchered it.

The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O Shea. Pure Irish fantasy set in real locations I know in Ireland.

The Planet of Adventure series (it came as a single book) by Jack Vance.
It was more of an adventure book than sci-fi. Light on the science but amazingly descriptive with the details of its world building. It was the first time I could read a book and really experience it like I was there. I dug it out of my dad’s sci-fi collection when I was about 11 I think. It was a Dutch translation and came with a separate map. I loved that map so much, you could follow the journey and fantasize about all those other parts that weren’t mentioned in the book.

So yea, it’s the book that opened a whole realm of imagination for me.

House of the Scorpion. Pleasantly surprised to look it up and see it has pretty good ratings

I got really stuck into the Artemis Foul books as a teen. I always thought they’d make a great TV series.

The King, by Dick Bruna. I can still recite it by heart 53 years later.

Cujo