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The first science fiction book I remember reading is The Runaway Robot by Lester del Rey. It was a scholastic book that I ordered for a ridiculously small amount of money when I was in second or third grade. Sadly, I don't still have it. I would love to read a little bit and see if it is the way I remember it. Then again, I probably wouldn't like it now and maybe my memory is best left undisturbed. The first fantasy book I remember reading, if you don't count out and out children's books, is The Hobbit, which I got for my birthday when I was eight, or maybe it was for Hanukkah, which would have been just a month before. That book hit me hard, in a good way. The writing was magical, and he had me at the scene in which the dwarves come to Bilbo's house one or two at a time. The goblins, the dragon; this was a great adventure for a little kid. Probably my favorite scene even now is the one with the three trolls. I'm sure I read that book a dozen times or more, and I might read it again someday. I still have the copy that I got when I was eight. When I was old enough to be allowed into the adult section of the Charlottesville public library, I was in heaven. At the time, the science fiction books were marked with a little rocket on the spine. I think it was an actual metal rocket, but I could be wrong about that. In any case, it made it easy to find the books I wanted to read. I read Clifford Simak, Andre Norton, Keith Laumer, and many others, but I don't remember which ones.