Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday: Rewind - Top Ten Childhood Faves

 
Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's Top Ten called for a rewind, and boy did I rewind. Top Ten Childhood Favorites is plucked from the archives of last December. Before I even KNEW about Top Ten Tuesdays.

I was a voracious reader as a kid. It's hard for me to pick only ten. So I tried to narrow it down to series that I loved to devour. Here goes, in no particular order:

1. The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The series chronicles the memories of Laura Ingalls Wilder's childhood. The stories told in the third person with Laura Ingalls as the central character. You can generally find them classified as fiction rather than autobiography in libraries and bookstores. Laura's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane assisted with the editing. The books have remained continuously in print since they were originally published between 1932 and 1943 by Harper and Brothers. Four additional books were published posthumously in 1962, 1971, 1974, and 2006. The first book in the series is titled Little House in the Big Woods.

I love the TV series as well. I watch reruns anytime they're on. My kids used to call it the "Pa show" when they were little. So cute!
2. The Nancy Drew Mysteries series by Carolyn Keene
Oh how I read and re-read about Nancy's adventures! She was rich, smart, kind, and lovely. Nancy was created by Edward Stratemeyer who also thought the Hardy Boys) and first appeared in 1930. The books have been ghostwritten by a number of authors and are published under the collective pseudonym of Carolyn Keene. The first four titles were published in 1930 by the Hardy Boys publisher, Grosset and Dunlap. The first title in the series is The Secret of the Old Clock.
3. The Cherry Ames series by Helen Wells
Cherry (short for Charity) Ames was mystery solver and job-hopping nurse extraordinaire. The series was published also by Grosset and Dunlap between 1943 and 1968. Helen Wells originated the series and wrote #1-7. Julie Campbell Tatham helped transition the books from a wartime series to a mystery series and wrote #8-16. Helen Wells wrote the remaining. The first book in the series is Cherry Ames Student Nurse.

The set that I loved to read belonged to my Mom, who became a nurse. Inspired? I don't know, I'll have to ask her now that I think of it.

4. The Trixie Belden series
Western Publishing published the series between 1948 and 1986. Julie Campbell Tatham (who wrote Cherry Ames #8-16, and also created the Ginny Gordon series) wrote the first six books. The rest of the series was then written by various in-house writers at Western under the pseudonym, Kathryn Kenny. There are 39 books total. Today Random House owns the rights to the series.

Throughout this girl-detective mystery series, Trixie (Beatrix) Belden and her friend Honey Wheeler formed a club with Trixie's brothers and friends, called the Bob-Whites of the Glen to solve mysteries that have stumped the authorities. Trixie struggled in school, especially with math. The first book in the series is The Secret of the Mansion.
5. Choose Your Own Adventure books
The series was based on a concept created by Edward Packard and originally published in hardcover by Vermont Crossroads Press as the Adventures of You series. The first title was picked up by Archway and reprinted in paperback as Choose Your Own Adventure.

These books were so much fun to read. Called gamebooks, each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actions and the plot's outcome. Originally created for 10-14 year olds, the books are formatted so that after a couple of pages the reader faces two or three options, each of which to leads to more options and then to one of about 40 endings. Talk about value! So many stories in just ONE book. #1 in the series is Sugarcane Island.

Choose Your Own Adventure was one of the most popular children's series during the 80s and 90s, selling over 250 million copies between 1979 and 1998.
6. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lingren
Pippi was named by Lindgren's then nine-year-old daughter, Karin, who needed a get-well story one day while home sick from school. Oh how I loved to read about the shenanigans that Pippi got into. There are three full length Pippi Longstocking books, the first of which was published in 1945 and titled simply Pippi Longstocking. Pippi Goes on Board and Pippi in the South Seas were published in 1946 and 1948, respectively. There are many short books based on chapter excerpts from the original three.
7. Ramona Quimby series by Beverly Cleary
Who doesn't remember reading the Beezus and Ramona books by beloved author, Beverly Cleary? If you don't go out and grab the first in the series Beezus and Ramona which was first published in 1955. You will not be disappointed. It is the only book in the series written from the older sister (Beezus) point of view. In it, Beezus struggles with her feelings of exasperation because of her annoying little sister, Ramona. The rest of the titles are written from Ramona's point of view.

Well folks, that's all the time I have for right now. I have to go bake a birthday cake. My first-born turns 22 today! Seems like only yesterday he was swimming in the kiddie pool in his Under-roos at this time of year. Oh how time flies. I'll get some pictures to share, if he'll let me.

Have a fantastic Tuesday. Talk to you soon,
Angela
 
 
 
 



28 comments:

  1. I did the same topic this week!! I also loved Nancy Drew and the choose your own adventure books :)

    Here's Mine

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    1. Hi Michelle,
      I loved the Sweet Valley High books too!

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  2. I picked childhood favourites too. I totally forgot about Choose Your Own Adventure, but they were such great fun when I was a kid, I loved playing along (although I did cheat once or twice and flip ahead before totally committing to which answer I'd choose...).

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  3. I loved Nancy Drew Mysteries as well! I think my favourites were the Nancy Drew Files. I never got around to reading the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super mysteries though. Have you read them?

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    1. Hi Savandi,
      I remember reading Hardy Boys, but can't for the life of me, remember if they were the Super Mysteries or not. Dang it.

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  4. Little House on the Prairie was one of the first chapter books I read as a kid. Loved it!

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    1. They really are great reads. Thank you so much for stopping by. I really enjoyed your list of favorite characters :)

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  5. I loved the Little House books, too, and still occasionally watch reruns of the TV show. When I was a kid, I thought that the Choose Your Own Adventure books were the coolest thing ever.

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    1. I KNOW!! It's so great to know that others liked to read the same books I did. And enjoyed them!

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  6. I loved all of these books when I was a kid! Great list!

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  7. I am right there with you Angela! I loved most of the series on your list and they are such a big part of my childhood. I have not read Cherie Ames or Trixie Belden- but the rest are books I adore. I loved Choose Your Own Adventures because I could pick different outcomes and the book would end differently. :)

    ~Jess

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    1. They were a huge part of my childhood too, Jess. I'm so glad that others remember and loved the Choose Your Own Adventure stories as much as I did. Thanks a million for stopping by.

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  8. I STILL love the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. Mine are well-loved. They and Pippi Longstocking were some of the very first books I can remember reading.

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    1. Me too, Leanna. Thank you so much for coming by.

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  9. Man, I didn't think anyone even remembered Cherry Ames.... I'm with you on her and that Drew girl.

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  10. The first set of books I ever remember reading and loving were The Little House on the Prairie series. So, those are near and dear to my heart :)

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  11. I used to love Choose Your Own Adventures...and I've heard good stuff about Nancy Drew, though I've personally only played the games as a kid.

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    1. You should check them out. They're fantastic. Thanks so much for stopping by.

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  12. I think the only ones of these that I don't know are the Cherry Ames books. I'll have to check them out. The others are great loves of my childhood as well. Last year, I put in some effort and managed to collect the entire original Nancy Drew series, plus the Nancy Drew Files. I can't wait to share them with my students and my own kids!

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    1. That's fantastic! You're going to do have so much fun introducing new generations to the timeless Nancy Drew.

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  13. Awesome! So many good memories for me on this list- seeing them all together makes me look forward to revisiting them with my own kids in a few years.

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