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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly event hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, created due to a fondness for lists. Each week they post a new Top Ten topic. After that, it's bloggers UNITE! Participate with your own Top Ten post, have fun, and get to know your fellow bloggers.
This week's topic is books from childhood. That means that I will totally be dating myself with this post. I'm sticking with books I read before about age twelve. None of the books I'm listing were published after about 1990. So...I'm old. Not a Harry Potter novel in sight. But...I do have some good ones.
All of these books totally make me nostalgic. I love the feeling it gives me just remembering reading them. There are a lot of happy memories associated with these books. They are nearly all ones that I've recommended to Darian as he's grown older. Some he liked and some he could have gone without, but I think that's more to do with him being a boy than to do with them not being relevant. A few of them are still standard curriculum books for elementary readers, so I must not be choosing too awfully.
Ready?
10. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
This book is just beautiful. I remember loving it so much that I read it several times through. To be perfectly honest, I could probably stand to read it again.
9. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume
The perfect coming of age story for girls. I actually did reread this one last year to see if it still rang true. It did. There were a lot of things about this book that made me feel better about myself when I was just pushing into adolescence and I think it is still a good resource for tween girls today.
8. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
I bawled several times at this book. Several. I have this one on the bookshelf at home now and I made sure that Darian read it. It's just a great story about a boy and his dogs. I loved this book. I still love this book.
7. The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
My best friend owned a few of Ms. Snyder's books. This was the first one she got me to read. It was an early introduction to mystery and it was great. After I read it, we spent several weeks playing an Egypt game of our own. I love books that encourage imagination.
6. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
I now own this book, but back in grade school I loved it so much that I checked it out several times over the course of a year. This was my first introduction to poetry. If you haven't read his books, you're missing out. They're fantastically hilarious.
5. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
Oh, Fudge. This entire series is awesome, but this was the first book that I read out of it. I'm pretty sure I started this series around second or third grade. I still find it hilarious. It's a really great series for kids with younger siblings. Judy Blume was totally a staple in the author department when I was growing up.
4. Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary
Speaking of staples... Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume pretty much go hand in hand. The Ramona series is more or less the girl's perspective of Blume's Fudge series. Once again, hilarious for elementary age kids and perfect for those with younger siblings. These were a great first foray into chapter books. I own every single one of them.
3. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
This one is a must read. Period. If you're an adult and you haven't read this book, you need to. It's perfect. Wilbur is a bit of a whiner, but Charlotte is just totally kick ass. I love this book.
2. Amazon Adventure by Willard Price
I found the Adventure books through the help of a children's librarian. I am ever so grateful. These books are somewhat difficult to find in libraries now, but they are still in print and they are really fun reads. They were really written for boys, but I liked them just the same. If I remember correctly, I started reading these around fourth grade. I would totally read them again.
1. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Hands down my favorite author for books I read before I was a teen. I loved all of the books I read by Madeleine L'Engle. A Wrinkle in Time is one out of a series of five. She also has the Austin Family series which is nine additional books. I haven't read them all, but the ones I have read have all been great. A Wrinkle in Time still ranks up there with my favorite books of all time.
Did any of my books make your list? Which ones have been your favorites? What books do you feel I missed?
I forgot about Island of the Blue Dolphins! I loved that book! I should have put Charlotte's Web on my list since it's why I've been a vegetarian since I was 7 years old. Great list!
ReplyDeleteMichelle @ Michelle's Minions
My TTT
Shel Silverstein and A Wrinkle in Time made my list, and I allllmost included Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume. I'm still toting around my slightly battered elementary school copies of Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic. They're always good for a smile!
ReplyDeleteWell I'd say we're pretty evenly matched. You had a few of my other favorites on your list as well! I'm still a sucker for Shel Silverstein to this day. The man was hilarious.
ReplyDeleteYou're much braver than I am. No way could I be a vegetarian. I'm far too weak for that.
ReplyDeleteI had to chuckle when you said you were old and gave 1990 as your cutoff date. I graduated high school in 1980, so my list doesn't have anything published after about 1976 on it! A Wrinkle in Time made my list, and the only reason Island of the Blue Dolphin and Charlotte's Web didn't is that while I loved them as a child, for some reason I haven't reread them as much since leaving college. But I still own my childhood copies!
ReplyDeleteWell that makes me feel a little bit better. I always feel so much older than most of the book bloggers floating around (especially with my love of YA fiction). I still need to reread a few of these for sure.
ReplyDeleteI think you just showed my age too LOL. I read most of these (and my list would not have Harry Potter either). I LOVED LOVED LOVED Ramona! Where the sidewalk ends and Charlottes' Web were also favorites. I also read Dr. Seuss and the Bereinstein Bears. Wow, taking me back!
ReplyDeleteI'm finally on here on a computer! Love the new layout. :)
ReplyDeleteI was absolutely a Judy Blume girl growing up, too—my mom was a huge fan, so she was always happy to buy me another one. :)
The Egypt Game has popped up on a few people's blogs... I didn't initially think I'd read it, but I'm wondering if maybe I did and forgot! To Wikipedia I go...
Thanks!! Zilpha Keatley Snyder was one of those authors that you either knew and loved or had no clue existed. I didn't know anything about her until my best friend gave me the Egypt Game to read.
ReplyDelete