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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.2. The Nancy Drew Mysteries series by Carolyn Keene
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!
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.5. Choose Your Own Adventure books
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.
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.6. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lingren
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.
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
