Books from my childhood that I would love to revisit!
Noor's Picks
I loved these books so so so much as little kid. In fact, these were the first chapter books I remember reading and I was absolutely obsessed with them, and I honestly couldn't even tell you if I devoured book after book because I loved to read or if I developed a love of reading because I found a series that I latched on to like this. My little cousin asked me to read one of them to her two days ago and as I was reading it I just remembered why I loved them so much (and essentially did revisit the series, keeping with the theme of the post). How could one not? From Lucille's frilly socks to Junie B.'s crazy behavior, I feel like these were a childhood staple.
I know I picked How To Be Popular here (which is a great book, honestly) but what I'd really like to visit is Meg Cabot's entire collection of books. I remember so clearly the middle school days where I'd go to the library and find the section with her books and half the stack I brought home would just be Meg Cabot books. They honestly were such quality pieces of literature and I'd love to revisit them and just experience them as a 19 year old rather than a 12 year old.
I used to be super into reading Nancy Drew books and I would always try to figure out what was happening or who the shady characters were before they were revealed to us. I got a lot of joy out of reading these books and I feel like I just have thing for this type of theme because I was really into Sherlock Holmes too, like even before the good quality adaptations started happening (or at least before any came into my life). Anyway, I've played the Nancy Drew interactive computer games as well and I can tell you they aren't nearly as fun as reading these books were (at least, for me) and I totally want to dig through my shelves for them and give them a good re-read.
This was another series I totally loved in my pre-teen years. The books were pure entertainment value -- there wasn't a prepackaged lesson about inner beauty or personality thrown in there. From what I recall, the girls in the clique were straight up catty and snarky and I think the one girl who was "uncool" ends up joining them anyway? (That might be wrong but in any case I don't think there's any "accept all friends who cares what brand your sweater is" turning point or anything) Sometimes, all you want is to read about some mean girls and the things they do with their parents' money. The books were entertaining and I think I'd like them as much today as I did back then.
I read Coraline in 4th grade and I absolutely loved it. I really like dolls and puppets and things and I feel like I'm just into creepy things in general which shouldn't surprise anyone to be honest. Anyway, I remember talking about it for a solid period of time because I thought it was just so great. I never forgot the book, of course, just kept it catalogues in the back of my mind, but I don't think I ever registered the author so it really clicked. Of course, years later, when I was a teen (an adult even) and I claimed Neil Gaiman as my favorite author, I rediscovered Coraline and realized that my favorite author goes back to when I was nine years old. Which, of course, coupled with the fact that I just love(d) the book so much as it is, is why I think it's one of the first ones I'd revisit if I ever have the time to sit down and read old books (which will probably be when I'm packing them to move, because I always end up doing that).
Amrutha's Picks
While Noor listed some pre-teen girly reads of mine, this series was probably my coming of age for a second grader. This is what I imagined growing up to be like, and to be honest, I've read every book in this series and I seriously used to just sit in the library next to the entire shelf of these and spend years of my life reading them. I just wonder how I would feel about these books now.
Oh my god, this book was literally everything, and while I only listed this one (because let's be real, this book is iconic) everything by Judy Blume was so core to my growing up experience. This book was everything to me in middle school, along with other classics like Deenie, Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself, Blubber, and of course, all the Fudge books. Judy Blume's writing followed me from the first grade up until eighth, and I literally cannot imagine having grown up without the influence of her writing.
I literally could not pick one because literally every book Roald Dhal has ever written is perfect. These books preached morals in a way that actually forced kids to listen, and Quentin Blake's illustrations were perfection. Roald Dhal's writing forced me to look at the world in a new way and because my mom loved his writing too, we were always reading his books and talking about them together. 10/10 would recommend to everyone again.
Omg, okay. So I read this book, along with Inkheart and that whole series and The Thief Lord and they were really my first real foray into fantasy. Growing up (I mean until I was like 7 or 8) I wasn't a big fantasy fan, but it was this book, along with the rest of Cornelia Funke's writing, that really changed that. This book just opened fantasy up to me in a whole new way that I had never really experienced up until that point, just because seven year old me had never read a book over 400 pages long before. Needless to say, I loved fantasy after that.
I'm putting this on the list, not because I want to revisit it now (because let me be honest, I've read these books so many times over the years and they've never really been left for me to need to revisit them). But, I'd love to revisit these are a kid again, and experience Harry Potter for the first time. I started reading these books in the third grade after Cornelia Funke entered my life because prior to that, I just had no interest in fantasy. Boy, was I wrong. Anyway, I actually owned all the Harry Potter books already (actually, I owned multiple copies of each books) because they were given to me every year for my birthday. I kid you not, at one time in my life I owned 7 copies of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. These books were such a corner stone of my childhood and even my young-adult-hood, they're really one of the most phenomenal collections of literature I've ever read, and I'd really give anything to experience that again for the first time.
What are some books from your childhood that you'd love to revisit?
Let us know in the comments!
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