Celebrity Book Picks
The books that touched the lives of headliners in the music industry, television, movies, law, publishing, and sports are the subject of a survey released February 22, 2001 by the National Education Association.
Would you have guessed that Stephen King's favorite book as a teenager was Lord of the Flies? Or that Steven Spielberg loved Treasure Island as a child?
We asked our respondents about their favorite children's book and their favorite adult book.
| Name | Children's Book | Teenage/Adult Book |
| Troy Aikman, football player | Dr. Seuss books | *** |
| Laila Ali, boxer | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum | The Color Purple by Alice Walker |
| Tim Allen, actor | Curious George by Margret and H.A. Rey | Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig |
| Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX) | *** | Call of the Wild by Jack London |
| Margaret Atwood, author | Grimm's Fairy tales | *** |
| Alec Baldwin, actor | *** | To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee |
| Tyra Banks, model | Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears by Verna Aardema | Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume |
| Dave Barry, author | Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne | Robert Benchley books |
| Halle Berry, actress | The Three Bears (The Brothers Grimm) | Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume |
| Leslie Bibb, actress | *** | Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells |
| Bigg Tigger, TV personality | Durango Street by Frank Bonham | The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison |
| Drew Bledsoe, football player | *** | Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe |
| Judy Blume, author | Madeline by Ludwig Bemelman | *** |
| Jim Brady, former press secretary to Ronald Reagan | Rhythm of Redmen (author unkown) | *** |
| Sarah Brady, activist | Little Women by Louisa May Alcott | Nancy Drew books by Carolyn Keene |
| Justice Stephen Breyer, U.S. Supreme Court | Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson | Nostromo by Joseph Conrad |
| LeVar Burton, actor | *** | Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling |
| Kate Capshaw, actor | Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers | The plays of Albert Camus and works of Jean Paul Sarte |
| Jim Carrey, actor | Dr. Seuss books | *** |
| Cheryl Chase, actor | Hansel and Gretel (The Brothers Grimm) | Florence Nightingale by Basil Miller |
| Chevy Chase, actor | Doctor Doolittle books by Hugh Lofting | Moby Dick by Herman Melville |
| Julia Child, chef | Ralph on the Engine by Allen Chapman | *** |
| Tom Clancy, author | *** | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne |
| Former President Bill Clinton | Dick and Jane Readers (Scott Foresman Publishers) | The Silver Chalice by Thomas B. Costain, and The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper |
| Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) | Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown | *** |
| Katie Couric,TV personality | Light a Single Candle by Beverly Butler | *** |
| Courtney Cox, actor | The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco | From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiller by E. L. Konigsburg |
| Paula Danziger, author | The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper | The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger |
| Tomie DePaola, author | Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachael Field | *** |
| Kirk Douglas, actor | The Bobbsey Twins by Laura Lee Hope | You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe |
| Michael Douglas, actor | Oh, The Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss | *** |
| Michael Eisner, Disney CEO | *** | White Fang by Jack London |
| Hector Elizondo, actor | Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson | The Pearl by John Steinbeck |
| Gloria Estefan, musician | Charlotte's Web by E. B. White | A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith |
| Marshall Faulk, football player | Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss | *** |
| Jaime Foxx, actor | Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss | *** |
| Morgan Freeman, actor, Read Across America Chair | Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp by Mercer Mayer | *** |
| Eddie George, football player | *** | The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger |
| Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-MO) | How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss | *** |
| Danny Glover, actor | Curious George by Margret and H. A. Rey | *** |
| Cuba Gooding, Jr., actor | Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak | *** |
| Former Vice President Al Gore | Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater | *** |
| Katherine Graham, author | Little Women by Louisa May Alcott | Great Expectations by Charles Dickens |
| Alex Haley, author | *** | The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway |
| Darryl Hannah, actor | Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss | *** |
| Charlton Heston, actor | *** | Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson |
| Catherine Hicks, actor | Lassie Come Home by Rosemary Wells | A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens |
| Faith Hill, musician | Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss | *** |
| Whitney Houston; musician, actor | The Bible | Yes, I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis, Jr. by Sammy Davis Jr. et al |
| Kathy Ireland, model | Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman | The Bible |
| Molly Ivins, journalist | *** | The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger |
| Janet Jackson, musician | The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss | *** |
| Bill Joel, musician | *** | A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain |
| Earvin "Magic" Johnson, retired basketball player | Jack and the Beanstalk (author unknown) | *** |
| James Earl Jones , actor | The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss | *** |
| Dean Jones, actor | David Goliath (The Bible) | Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson |
| Steven Kellogg, author | The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame | *** |
| Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) | Lad, A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune | *** |
| Larry King, journalist | Jack and the Beanstalk (author unknown) | Lou Gehrig: A Quiet Hero by Frank Graham |
| Stephen King, author | McElligot's Pool by Dr. Seuss | Lord of the Flies by William Golding |
| Lisa Kudrow, actor | Stuart Little by E. B. White | *** |
| Ricki Lake, actor | The Lorax by Dr. Seuss | *** |
| Ann Landers, journalist | Charlotte's Web by E. B. White | The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery |
| Kristine Lilly, soccer player | Oh, The Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss | *** |
| Lucy Liu, actor | The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein | Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume |
| Keith Lockhardt, conductor | The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster | *** |
| Patrick McEnroe, tennis player | The Sloth's Birthday Party by Diane Redfield Massie | Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain |
| Donovan McNabb, football player | Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss | *** |
| Bette Midler, actor | The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame | Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll |
| Taylor Momsen, actor | Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak | *** |
| Mandy Moore, musician | A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith | A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks |
| Paul Newman, actor | Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain | The Building of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes |
| *NSync | Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss | The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton |
| Bill Nye, actor | Carry On Mr. Bowditch by Jean La Catham | Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein |
| Rosie O'Donnell, actor | Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume | The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger |
| Haley Joel Osment, actor | The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien | Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card |
| Angela Perez, Miss America 2001 | Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak | Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt |
| Annie Potts, actor | The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett | *** |
| Secretary of State Colin Powell | *** | My Antonia by Willa Cather |
| Rob Reiner; actor, director | Boys and Girls Together by William Saroyan | The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger |
| Former Attorney General Janet Reno | The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame | *** |
| Former Secretary of Education Richard Riley | The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper | A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens |
| The Rock, professional wrestler | *** | The Life and Times of Martin Luther King, Jr. (author unknown) |
| Fred Rogers, actor | The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery | *** |
| Tim Russert, journalist | The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss | Black Like Me by Howard Griffin |
| Renee Russo, actor | The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss | *** |
| Winona Ryder, actor | *** | The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger |
| Warren Sapp, football player | The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle | *** |
| Former Rep. Patricia Schroeder | Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter | *** |
| Retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf | *** | White Fang by Jack London |
| Willard Scott, TV personality | The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper | *** |
| Maurice Sendak, author | The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald | The Pirate Twins by Willian Nicholson |
| Jane Seymour, actor | Grimm's Fairy Tales | Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield |
| Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala | The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper | *** |
| Molly Shannon, actor | The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss | *** |
| (Judge) Judy Sheindlin | The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck | *** |
| Will Smith, actor | Dr. Seuss books | *** |
| Kevin Spacey, actor | *** | Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, et al |
| Aaron Spelling, actor | Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain | The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger |
| Steven Spielberg, director | Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson | The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper |
| Gloria Steinem; author, activist | My Book House by Olive Beaupree Miller | Little Women by Louisa May Alcott |
| Connie Stevens, actor | Black Beauty by Anna Sewell | The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger |
| Barbara Walters, journalist | The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery | *** |
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