I'm talking about the ones that you re-read, and could still read now. Books that absorbed you and made you want to read them more and more.
For me it is probably these:
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Charlie & The Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Norby: The Mixed Up Robot by Issac Asimov
an honourable mention goes to The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall, as well as the rest of Dahl's output. Also a book which I loved when I read and had a profound impact on me... but that I can't remember the author to, or even if I know the correct title. I believe it was called Tomorrows World, and was a sci-fi novel with two children at the center. The lead character, a girl, whose father had created a machine (called C3, short for some three word name) that controlled the weather, and the very lives of the people in their city. Eventually it was out of control and had to be stopped, but it destroyed itself after it accidentally blinded her while tring to kill her friend. It was such a well done story. Any recognise it? Please tell me...
Also I found, as I worked over this entry in my head, that it wasn't just single stories that affected me, but certain areas of fiction. Specifically: short stories - esspecially those of Stephen King and Issac Asimov, but mostly any sci-fi short from the 50's. It is really a lost art...
What about you?
[edit = I FOUND IT!! It only took going through all the damn books in Amazon's Childrens section with Tomorrow in the title to find it! *dances* It's called The Tomorrow City by Monica Hughes... yaaaay