It's Like Our Own Little Book Fair

My intention was to write something thoughtful about speech therapy but I just realized that Steve is hanging doors in the basement.

This is relevant because I have recently started playing a new PC game (Pirates!) and I am enjoying it tremendously (hello, I get to be a PIRATE) but I can only play it on Steve's computer. Since HE has a snazzy 26 inch flat-screen television monitor for his office and I just have this midget LCD dealie, not to mention a crappy video card for jerks.

So if I am going to terrorize the Carribbean at all tonight I am going to have to wrap this up much faster than usual. Steve is so boring about letting me use his office during the work day; I must set sail and pillage whilst I can.

But I was planning on writing something and I am sitting here so, a propos of nothing but oh so quickly, I give you the books I loved very best of all as a child:

The Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace (quite possibly one of the reasons we live in Minnesota and most definitely the reason that the first house we bought was from the turn-of-the-century.)

The Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander (you know, The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron... have you read it? huh? have you? well go read it RIGHT NOW.)

Constance by Patricia Clapp (Sigh. And then, at the end, when she... sigh.)

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by, um, urrr, uh (apparently I had a thing for those Puritans. Speaking of Puritans, did you know that they actually encouraged premarital sex? No, I am not kidding. I just saw a book review on a book on the subject, which is practically the same thing as knowing something about it.)

The Great Brain series by John somebody (I loved the Great Brain. What a dick that kid was.)

Ballet Shoes and Dancing Shoes by Noel Streatfeild (My tragic lack of talent was the only thing standing between me and my destiny: Broadway Star, but otherwise I TOTALLY would have been the heroine(s) in these books.)

The House With The Clock In Its Walls by John Bellairs (I still get scared by this.)

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (This book is so smart it makes me cry. Why aren't I as smart as this book?)

So that's my short list of the things I have read over and over again for the past 20+ years.

How about you?

(Yo ho ho. Arrrggggghhhh. Avast me hearties....)

Comments

[j]

Oh, I can still remember the picture on the cover of my copy of the Witch of Blackbird Pond. Don't remember much about it any more, but I read it a dozen times.

Also loved "Go Away Ruthie." My vague recollection of this one was that there was a cool girl and a not-so-cool girl. Cool girl has cool boyfriend. Cool girl fixes up not-so-cool girl, who ends up getting pregnant by cool boyfriend. Not so cool.

There is another book of this genre that I cannot remember the name of. It took place in the 50's. Smart girls, future feminist. Kisses boyfriend, won't go all the way. Gets pinned. Maybe finally does it, but then dumps boy. Decides to go to ??? for college, where she can be bohemian.

Loved all of the Anne of Green Gables books. Little House on the Prairie. Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret.

[Lisa V]

I LOVED The Witch of Blackbird Pond, read it several times. My daughter is reading The Westing Game.
Go pillage no2.

[bri]

You don't know me, but I've started reading your blog. I always feel weird commenting to someone I don't know, but I couldn't pass this one up - it's a school librarian's dream post (and that's what I am).

I was also a total freak for Blackbird Pond (Elizabeth George Speare, btw) and read it repeatedly. When I read it again in library school I didn't love it nearly as much, so I prefer to remember loving it instead of re-reading it. Still, all the little 4th grade Puritan-loving girls still read it now and then.

Westing Game I didn't find until library school and I agree it is brilliant brilliant brilliant.

Never read Great Brain but it is by Fitzgerald. I had the most fabulous kid years ago who read those obsessively.

Personally, I read _Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret_ 21 times in a row at the age of 7, beginning a life-long obsession with all things menstrual that only seems to be reaching its inevitable peak (and hopefully conclusion) now, with (preparing to) ttc. Sigh.

Thanks for this.

[Betsy]

I love, love LOVE the Betsy-Tacy series. I think "Betsy's Wedding" is my favorite, but oh, the ending makes me so sad. What happens to Joe? Does he come back? Do they have Bettina? Argh, I'm torturing myself.

Or maybe "Betsy In Spite of Herself." Yes, that one's my favorite. Whatever.

Read "The Westing Game" in sixth grade and loved it.

My favorite author as a kid was probably Paula Danziger. I read all of her stuff, but I think "The Pistachio Prescription" was my favorite. She died last July. So sad.

And finally, the book I read backwards and forwards until the pages were all worn out and I had dropped it in the bathtub at least five times was "A Little Princess." Oh, I just loved that book! I still enjoy re-reading it.

[Heather]

Dude. Dude. You asked a book question. THIS IS A QUESTION I CAN SO TOTALLY ANSWER!

Okay, as a kid I loved the Chronicles of Narnia series, The Little House on the Prairie series, Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Cricket in Times Square, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Tuck Everlasting, The Outsiders, and Huckleberry Finn. I still love all of these books.

Don't get me started on contemporary adult stuff, though. I could go on for days.

[Heather]

Betsy's post jogged my memory. I loved The Little Prince. Still do.

[Kim]

Coming out of lurkdom for this...

I *loved* Ballet Shoes and Dancing Shoes. You're the first person I've ever met - is this meeting? - who read those books. I so wanted to be Rachel.

[Croupier]

PRYDAIN IN DA HEEZY!

I was an obsessive little weirdo about Lloyd Alexander when I was young, and one fan letter sparked a correspondence that has continued for fourteen years. (Mr. Alexander is, mercifully, very gracious with obsessive little weirdos.) We still exchange letters and Christmas cards, and on both of my trips to his city, he invited me to his home for a visit. His house is full of gifts that fans have given him--one fan in Africa did a beautiful bronze sculpture of Taran on his horse, and the whole thing sits on the mantel, balanced perfectly on one hoof. I'm sorry I hijacked your blog, but your post brought back some really wonderful memories.xo

[Laura K.]

I was more of a Silverstein kid myself. Now Katie loves us to read Where the Sidewalk Ends to her - she has memorized "Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too"

Although I always loved To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, and A Separate Peace. Apparently I had a thing with boys in boarding schools due to the last two novels mentioned?

Then there's the one about the dogs - gosh, can't remember it - Oh, it's Where the Red Fern Grows. I haven't read it for myself since school, but have read it in the past for my students, and can't ever get throug it without crying at the end. And I am soooo not a crier like that normally, but I am with that book.

One 'school aged' novel that was written long after I was in school but was very good was Holes by Luis Sachar. The movie was okay, but didn't even do the book justice.

And I agree, the Great Brain was pretty much a prick - never liked him. In fact, I think I couldn't get past it enough to get into the series.

Remember those "Choose your own Adventure" novels?

Laura

[Brad]

John DENNIS Fitzgerald wrote the Great Brain series. They all had the same middle name of Dennis for some sort of Irish Catholic reason. I have fond memories of staying up late, reading those books with my dad. And you're right... that Thomas Dennis was a total prick. Aren't all the good protagonists dicks?

[MelG-F]

No Anne of Green Gables fans here?? Two best were the first (of course) and Rilla of Ingleside. I think I read just about everything else L.M. Montgomery put out, but the stories were pretty much the same (spunky teenage girl, has best friend, somebody close to spunky teenage girl dies, melodrama, melodrama).

[melissa]

One word: RAMONA!! I loved the Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary. I love them so much that when I taught second grade they were my read aloud books for the entire year. I also loved her other corny 50's books like, Fifteen and Jean and Johnny. Judy Blume is also one of my faves. Raise your hand, who still has their highlighted copy of Forever?? Oooh, I see lots of hands!! I remember loving Ballet Shoes and Dancing Shoes also! I also remember liking Roller Skates. I thought it was next in the series (and who wouldn't in 1982) But I don't think that was the case. I always liked Little Women, Pride and Prejudice and Little House Series too. I was not into the fantasy fiction genre as much as realistic fiction and historical fiction. For picture books, everything by Eric Carle and Tomie dePaola is emblazoned in my heart. Let's see, what else....Oh yes, and there was of course the copy of Catcher in the Rye that I carried around with me when I wore too much black eyeliner and listened to too much Depeche Mode. I just couldn't get enough. Hee Hee.

[cheryl b.]

"Where thee Red Fern Grows" is still my favorite book. Everything by Roald Dahl is amazing. I re-read his books all of the time (and I can't wait for the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to come out, it looks like it follows the book very closely). The "Wrinkle in Time" series is amazing, I can still read those over and over.
Does anyone remember a book about a little blue dog (Binky, Bianka, something with a "B")? She teaches the little girl in the book to fly? Anyone?
Great topic, I could talk about books all day.

[maya]

Up a Road Slowly

The Little Witch (about a witch who wants to be good and eventurally finds out her mother is a fairy not a witch..she was kidnapped by the witch)

The Boxcar Children (the first book I ever read by myself that I didn't want to end)

B is for Betsy (the "other" betsy series...this by Carolyn Heywood)

and some newer children's books that I love:

The Tale of Desperaux (about a "mouse, a princess, a spool of thread and some soup")

Running out of Time (about a girl living in the 1860's whose mother tells her a secret one day.... it's not really the 1860's...it's 1998 and they are trapped in a town that is set up for tourists to gawk at them through one way glass above them..she needs to escape to bring modern medicine to the dying children)

[wix]

we are reading 'the westing game' to CX right now! well, not right this second, because he's snoring beside me (but very softly, in an endearing way), but that's his bedtime story at the moment. we've already read most of the harry potter books to him, and 'the hobbit', and 'hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy'. it's taken us almost 11 months to read those books to him--we started reading to him when he was about four weeks old, i think, and we started trying to get him into a bedtime routine.

anyway, what a tangent, sorry! 'the westing game' is one of my all-time favorites. i'm working on a post about books in response to a request by one of my blog friends. if you're curious, wait until sunday and toddle over to check it out.

[jess]

Anne of Green Gables, etc.
Chronicles of Narnia
Lloyd Alexander's books
Harriet the Spy
Tale of Despereaux
Stuart Little
A Wrinkle in Time, etc.
Zilpha Keatley Snyder's books
Natalie Babbit's (Tuck Everlasting, The Search for Delicious)
EL Konigsburg (Mixed Up Files ROCKS but her new ones are pretty spiffy, too)
All of a Kind Family (please tell me I'm not the only one that loved these)
Little House books
Mary Poppins
Bridge to Terabithia

This is kind of a cheaty list because I still love most of these, and some are newer or I only recently discovered them. Again, a librarian with books coming out my ears.

[Jenn in AK]

Ramona Quimby was awesome! Choose Your Own Adventure books were great, too.

I've never known anyone else that's read The House With The Clock in it's Walls - but I love it.

What else...Little House on the Prairie, Encyclopedia Brown books, anything by Judy Blume, loved Nancy Drew Case Files.

Jenn

[Judy]

I wish I had liked to read as a kid (unfortunate side effect of a learning disability). Over the past few years I've been trying to make up for lost time, and thought I was doing a good job until viewing all those lists of good books I've missed. To think I was going to start a re-read of Lord of the Rings..

The only book I remember loving was Catcher in the Rye. I also really liked Night and Hiroshima, but obviously not in a warm and fuzzy way. Oh, and I loved Stephen King novels. Shit, this list makes me sound like a psycho..

Julia, I've noticed that several of your posts have me making very large Amazon purchases..

[wessel]

Oooooh! I love this question! And I'm so surprised to see some of my favorites listed here by other commenters, favorites that I thought were a bit obscure.

Ok, here's my list, in no particular order, spanning a large age range:

Little House series
Anne of Green Gables
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Strawberry Girl (Lois Lenski)
Meet the Austins
Henry & Ribsy, Ramona, and all Cleary books
Up a Road Slowly
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Henry Reed Series
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
I Am the Cheese (very disturbing but good)
A Separate Peace
I, Katrina
Old Yeller
Kavik the Wolf Dog
Charlotte's Web
That Was Then, This Is Now
The Boxcar Children
The Moffits
The Wind in the Willows
Nancy Drew series
Summer of my German Soldier
The Giver
It's Like This, Cat

Just as an end note--I think I must be the only person in the world who doesn't like Winnie the Pooh--didn't like it then and don't like it now.

[Sheridan]

I do remember - I read The Witch of Blackbird Pond for school - but I don't remember loving it. I wonder if I still have it somewhere....

I loved The Borrowers, Nancy Drew, and anything that took place in a girls boarding school - especially the Chalet School series (all 70+ of them!). In fact I am still obsessed by these today and collect them madly.

The Secret Seven and the Famous Five, and even Trixie Belden. Little Women.

And AA Milne poems. I used to hold recitals in the hallway for my Mum and Dad. OK now I'm embarrassed..

I always wondered why you lived in Minnesota. Not because there is anything wrong with it, but I get the impression you are not originally from there?

[Boulder]

Uh oh. I could seriously post the longest list ever. And the best part is I still have most of these books. Here's an overview:

Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
Sounder by William H. Armstrong
Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
Sing Down the Moon by Scott O'Dell
Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
Incredible Journey, by Sheila Every Burnford
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
Then Again, Maybe I Won't, by Judy Blume
Deenie, by Judy Blume
Blubber, by Judy Blume
Forever, by Judy Blume
Heidi, by Johanna Spyri
Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes
Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell
National Velvet, by Enid Bagnold
Misty of Chincoteague, by Marguerite Henry
Sea Star Orphan of Chincoteague, by Marguerite Henry
Stormy: Misty's Foal, by Marguerite Henry
The Outsiders, by S. E. Hinton
That Was Then, This Is Now, by S. E. Hinton
Rumble Fish, by S. E. Hinton
Henry Reed series by Keith Robertson
Encyclopedia Brown series by Donald J. Sobol
Ramona et al series by Beverly Cleary
Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene
Hardy Boys series by Franklin W. Dixon
Bobbsey Twins series by Edward Stratemeyer (aka Laura Lee Hope)
Eloise series by Kay Thompson

Also recently read & liked (discovered it while at the library w/friend's child):
The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares
(will be back @ the library to check out the next ones she's written.)

[Chookooloonks]

(As I sit here in the Caribbean, shaking in fear at the havoc you are about to wreak)

Don`t even pretend `Are You There God, It`s Me, Margaret` wasn`t one of your favourites. You KNOW it was.

And clearly, Nancy Drew kicked ass.

[kate]

Ring of Endless Light by Madeline L'Engle was my favorite. I like most of her other books too, especially how the characters migrate from book to book. It was a great book as a confused tween, and it is still great now.

Kate

[Jen (yup, another one)]

Wow! Great way to start the day - and so many connections. I'm a school librarian, too, and I've read and loved almost every book anyone's mentioned.

Did you know that there were tons more Shoes books? Acting Shoes is the only one that comes to mind, but my whole family devoured them.

Ohmigod, that scene in the House With The Clock in It's Walls where they're driving and they can see the spectacles in the rear view mirror STILL scares the crap out of me!

I'm surprised that on an IF board no one has yet mentioned Baby Island (I think by Carol Ryrie Brink of Caddie Woodlawn fame). I looved that book and so wanted to be those kids - stuck on an island with four babies to take care of!

The Girl With the Silver Eyes (kid who doesn't fit in has supernatural powers, finds other kids like her, has a blast).

My favorite Ramona book is Ramona the Pest: the dawnzer, the slipper made of paper towels, boing-boing curls, everything. It all cracks me up just writing about it.

The Anastasia Krupnik series

Edward Eager's magic books: Half Magic, Magic or Not, etc.

I keep the Great Brain series on the shelf because *I* love them, even though it's really rare for anyone to check them out.

I'm so excited to meet someone else who loved Meet the Austins!

The Four Story Mistake and The Saturdays

I was also drawn to biographies (especially if they included babies) and loved Karen, With Love From Karen, and The Family Nobody Wanted.

I have tons more but I have taken up lots of blogspace and I need to get to work!! Thanks again for this fabulous post.

[Ruth]

Hooray! I'm not the only adult who still loves -- and reads -- children's books!

Most of the books I loved have been mentioned (but I can't help listing them anyway):

The Chronicles of Narnia
anything by Katherine Patterson, but especially "The Bridge to Terebithia" and "Tuck Everlasting"
every single thing that Beverly Cleary ever wrote
all Marguerite Henry ("Misty of Chincoteague", "Brighty of the Grand Canyon", "Born to Trot")
"My Friend Flicka"
The "Little House" books (and any biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder)
"From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler"
"The Saturdays" and "The Four Story Mistake"
"The Enormous Egg"
the "Black Stallion" series (sensing a horse theme here?)
Lois Lowry ("Number the Stars", "The Giver")
Nancy Drew was AWESOME with her little coupe!
"Ginger Pye"
all of James Harriot's books ("All Things Bright and Beautiful", etc.)
"The Secret Garden"

more, more, more. One of the best parts of being a mother is sharing these books with my kids.

[lynn]

Tikki Tikki Tembo ruled when I was four. Then the Little House series and everything Judy Blume took over. I have recently re-read the Little House books, and man, how much I see from Ma's point of view now. I never even heard of the Prydain series ... must go get!

[Karen]

When I was younger, Velveteen Rabbit was a hands-down favorite. My book was so well worn - its one of my few childhood books that is still with me today.

I was also a huge fan of the Dr. Doolittle series as well as Black Beauty.

(yes, quite an animal theme here. In fact, as a child I did not play with dolls - I had my very own family of Panda bears...momma bear, poppa bear and baby bear).

[Floyd]

oh my gosh! Baby Island! I had totally forgotten about that one! Loved it.

Loved A House With A Clock in it Walls (and the others he wrote). Loved all the Wrinkle In Time books. Loved Harriet the Spy. Island of the Blue Dolphin and Witch of Blackbird Pond. Loved the shoes books, too. Loved all the Ramona books.

Also loved an obscure on - The Grounding of Group 8 - no clue who wrote it.

What great memories! Thanks!

[Christine K]

Anything by Noel Streatfield!! I got all of her books finally - even the out-of-prints off Ebay. Some of the greatest books ever.

Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner (how critical is the Chandler? Are there really lots of Gertrude Warners out there writing books?)

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books by someone - Macdonald?

Anne of Green Gables and the other girl series by LM Montgomery

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles

Pippi Longstocking

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Happy Hollisters series

And for less famous - Chocolate Fever, The Ghosts Who Went to School (I can still picture exactly where in the library that book was I checked it out so many times!), Rickets and Sprockets, Danny Dunn series, and Encyclopedia Brown books!

We used to go check out ten books and then go home, read them all in a day or two and come back for more. The librarians absolutely loved us - I'd go show them my new shoes every time I got a new pair. Would march right behind the checkout counter and hold up my foot with whatever new great footwear I had on!

If you haven't found them yet, can I suggest checking out Chinaberry? they have a web site, but I find the best way to truly enjoy them is to get them to send you the catalog. Something about holding that magazine and looking at all the gorgeous descriptions of books is just pure heaven. Also love how the break things up by age group so well. But you seem like the type who probably knows about them already.

Oh, my sister is a librarian and has been gifting books to my son (3) for a while - wanted to share his two most recent favorites: the Froggy books (Froggy gets Dressed, Froggy Bakes a Cake, etc) and the Jake books (Jake and the Vacuum is his absolute favorite - I think Patrick would enjoy the sucking up of family members as much as my son does).

[Molly]

CONSTANCE OF EARLY PLYMOUTH! Totally!

I loved that book in middle school! I actually wrote about it in this post. It's out of print now, but I won it on eBay when I was in college -- that's how much I loved that book, my awakening hormones all aflutter . . .

[Molly]

Shit, what happened there? I meant -- I actually wrote about it on my 100 things list on my blog. It's out of print now, but I won it on eBay a few years ago -- that's how much I loved that book, my awakening hormones all aflutter . . .

[patty]

Cheryl B.,
Are you thinking of No Flying in the House, by Betty Brock? The dog's name is Gloria and the cat's name is Belinda. I loved this book too and still have it. (Along with most of my childhood books.) Amazon has it so you can check it out and see if it's the same.

I'm on my way to work so I'll have to come back later with my favorites.
Patty

[jen]

Ohh. I love this question.

Just about any Newberry winner was a favorite.

Jacob Have I Loved, The Great Gilly Hopkins, and the Bridge to Terabithia (LOVE Katherine Paterson)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM
Island of the Blue Dolphins
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
The Black Pearl
Sing Down the Moon

Lois Lowry— I loved her. A Summer to Die is still one of my all time favorites. Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye.

Tuck Everlasting

Nancy Drew

The Little House series

Anything Beverly Cleary

Lois Duncan—Killing Mr. Griffith, I Know What You Did Last Summer (not the movie), Stranger with My Face, Down a Dark Hall, Summer of Fear.

I wish I had more time to think more.

[giddy]

Most of my faves have been mentioned already, but I have to add the Rob't McPherson (?) books about Homer Price....esp the story about the doughnut machine......I also had 2 books about a Jewish family in New York with 5 daughters and eventually 1 son (Charlie, I think) that I loved--but the titles and their author have long since faded from my brain. Maybe one of the librarians might remember?

And, the Phantom Tollbooth, by Norman Juster, where the kid gets the box and it turns out to be a magic travel machine.....and the rest of the book is all kind of plays on words, like when he jumps to conclusions he finds himself on an island called "Conclusions." Juster also has a clever little book (30-pg picture book type) called something like "The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Higher Mathematics" and it's all about a Line wooing a Dot.

[rothbeastie]

Hi, long time fan, first time writer-inner. My childhood books, in no particular order, most of which have already been mentioned but need to be mentioned again:
The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series of books
The Ramona Quimby series of books
The Anastasia-Krupnik-does-this-that-and-the-other series of books
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
The Moomin series of books
Harriet the Spy
Bridge to Terabithia
And books on Greek mythology. I found that fascinating.

[Jen (yup, another one)]

That's All of a Kind Family (Jewish immigrant family w/ 5 girls), another series I keep on the shelf mostly for me but I did turn on a kid tothem earlier this year).

I am so in love with this topic that I am sneaking it on my palm pilot in a meeting!

[Tine]

Little Women. Read it ten times. I'm not kidding: once a year from age 8 to 18.

[bad penguin]

I loved all of the books on your list, particularly the Westing Game and Ballet Shoes. I'd add:
anything by Madeleine L'Engle
Jacob Have I Loved and The Master Puppeteer by Katherine Paterson
Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry
the Narnia books
From the Mixed Up Files of Ms. Basil E. Frankweiler
the Little House Books
Five Find a Secret Way by Enid Blyton
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O'Brian
Secret of the Seven Crows by Wylly Folk St. John
Half Magic
Soup by Robert Newton Peck

and about a million others, so I should just stop now!

[Arwen/Elizabeth]

I LOVE the Betsy books. I still read them quite often. Also love anything by Madeleine L'Engle or L.M. Montgomery. When I was younger I read a lot of Louisa May Alcott, although now she kind of gets on my nerves. I also read all the Streatfeild books numerous times.

By the way, Jen, thank you so much for mentioning the All-of-a-Kind books - I read them when I was a kid, loved them, but lost track of them and couldn't remember name or author. Just ordered the whole lot off Amazon!

Julia, this is a great thread!

[KatS]

Drat! I was gonna post this stuff soon, myself. Maybe I will still.

Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising SERIES

[Rachel]

I'm always so excited to find other Betsy/Tacy fans. One of my most prized possessions is a "real" copy of "Betsy's Wedding" that my mom bought at a library book sale for a quarter. I have all the rest in the reissued paperbacks, but I still look longingly at eBay auctions every now and then to get the rest in their more original format.

I'm also a huge "Westing Game" fan. That book is so very, very clever, it just blows my mind.

My other major love as a child was the Trixie Belden series. I always found her to be much smarter than Nancy Drew and not nearly as smug.

[Casey]

Let's see.

Children's: *Blueberry Pie Elf* *Teeny-tiny and the Witch Woman*

YA: I read so much Madline L'Engle (I even met her once!) and Paul Zindel (The Pigman, etc). Lois Lowery. There was another author I loved who wrote mysteries. what was her name? She wrote *I know what you did last summer?*. I can't think of it. Also, the book *Matilda* was a big hit with me. I think the book that most traumatized me was *That Was Then, This is Now* or maybe *A Day No Pigs Would Die*

Just for the record, I'm still obsessed with children's lit. I think I've read the Harry Potter books a zillion times, and now I'm obsessed with the Sabriel series.

[Casey]

Oh, and how could I forget: *Sideways Stories from Wayside School* Awesome!

[Casey]

I swear this is my last comment!

*Sarah, Plain and Tall*
*The Whipping Boy*
*Dicey's Song* *Homecoming* and *A Solitary Blue*
*Julie of the Wolves*

I have to stop thinking about this and get back to work, but I love this thread!

[LT]

I occasionally get a Betsy-Tacy fix and go to the library to check them all out. I walk out with my stack of Betsy-Tacy and try to act very official, like I'm doing a scholarly paper on juvenile literature and this is clearly just research. But who am I kidding? Those books are the greatest. I intend to buy the whole set someday but I want the same version of the books that I got from the library when I was little, and they're harder to find.

Also a big fan of Little House and have been known to snag a few of those at the library while I'm at it. Get a few of Anne of Green Gables too and I'm on the couch for the weekend.

I was very into series books, like a lot of kids, and I also read the Marjorie Dean series. Has anyone heard of it? They were my friend's grandmother's books and I haven't found them since.

[Rosemary]

I LOVED the Great Brain books! I haven't thought of those in years. I also was a big fan of Lloyd Alexander books, the Narnia books, Mrs. Frisby, and Nancy Springer's Silver Sun.
Different genre, but still great: My Brother Sam is Dead and Johnny Tremain

[KellyH]

I LOVED the Great Brain books. I hope I still have mine somewhere so my kids can read them when they're old enough. I also loved the Anastasia Krupnik books, Ramona Quimby, and S.E. Hinton, Encyclopedia Brown, the Dicey books, all Judy Blume, L'Engle (I turned my hubby on to A Wrinkle In Time and A Wind In The Door last year). The Betsy/Tacy books- don't recall them, but I read a book called Understood Betsy- is this one of them? Bunnicula books are good too, I read them for the first time last year. (Yep, I'm another one who still reads kids' books- glad to know I'm not the only one!)

[Jen]

Ah, reading this and these comments is terrible--I want to just walk out of work and go to my mom's house (where all my childhood books are carefully packed away in boxes for me) and read them ALL again!

I adored the Betsy-Tacy books; I have re-read them countless times! I absolutely loved "Betsy and the Great World"--I think it inspired my own European adventures (I had to go to Venice, because that's where Betsy met Marko!). Those, and the Trixie Beldens, were actually passed on to me by my mom.

I also loved the Westing Game--read it again & again. In a similar vein--the View from the Cherry Tree. Freaky, but darn good.

I adored the "All of a Kind Family" books, and the "B is for Betsy" series. My mother bribed me into reading the "Little House" series & "Little Women" books by giving me a Caramello for each one read (I loved to read & did so voraciously, but I heartily resisted these books--didn't tell mom that I really enjoyed them!).

I loved the Noel Streatfield books--I also think he did a Gemma series? Whoever did those, I liked them.

Loved, loved, loved Elizabeth Enright, especially her "Gone-Away" and her Melendy series--starting with "The Saturdays." Also a huge Lois Lowry fan--both Anastasia and otherwise. Anne of Green Gables, of course.

Younger, I loved "Frog & Toad" and the "Frances" series.

Mmm...books...

[Lola]

Me too, I loved Noel Streatfield's books when I was a kid!!! I think I managed to get my hands on every thing she had published, but I loved Ballet Shoes and Dancing Shoes the most. I also loved all the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books, The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, and the Narnia Chronicles. Ohh, and remember all of the Fudge Books (Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and its progeny)? Ditto on the Katherine Patterson books too.

Some other books I fell in love with were all of Jane Austin's books (Pride & Prejudice, Emma, etc) and Charlotte Bronte too (well, mostly Jane Eyre).

Now I've gotten so nostalgic writing this that I'm seriously considering spending my lunch hour on Amazon hunting them down and reading them again.

[JK]

Oh Julia,

I shall read your blog forever if only because you love the Westing Game. I loved that book and I've never met others (though I see from the comments that there are others) that have heard of it, let alone loved it.

Thanks for the post and I'm thinking of you!

JK