Well I was dawdling along, I couldn't help but feel nostalgic for my wee days as an avid library junkie.
Here are some of my favorites:
American Girls Collection: the Samantha Series
These books could make my list just by their mere aesthetic value. I loved their quality white trade paper pages and their beautiful colored illustrations. I read all of the old-school series (Kirsten, Molly, Samantha). I think my fixation was partially derived from my blasé attitude towards the current period that I lived in (It was such a bore growing up as a SoCal Korean-American girl in the 90's!), because I loved hearing stories from a different era especially Samantha's period (1904, "The Edwardian era"). I really wanted to be Samantha Parkington (no kidding... for my 10th birthday, I even dressed up like her and had a Samantha-themed party).
These books could make my list just by their mere aesthetic value. I loved their quality white trade paper pages and their beautiful colored illustrations. I read all of the old-school series (Kirsten, Molly, Samantha). I think my fixation was partially derived from my blasé attitude towards the current period that I lived in (It was such a bore growing up as a SoCal Korean-American girl in the 90's!), because I loved hearing stories from a different era especially Samantha's period (1904, "The Edwardian era"). I really wanted to be Samantha Parkington (no kidding... for my 10th birthday, I even dressed up like her and had a Samantha-themed party).
Judy Blume "Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself"
The lighter, less serious of Blume's books (Blubber was just too mean, Are You There God? talked too much about periods and boobies which my pure, innocent mind wasn't ready for)... Sally J. Freedman was a fun read that still sticks with me today. She was so adventurous and full of spunk. I felt very connected to her and her very real, unglamourous experiences growing up (e.g. getting head lice, fighting with her brother, being brought up by her granny, even getting pooped on by a bird & finding a cockroach in her Chinese food). I didn't know who Adolf Hitler was at the time, but I remember I started suspecting random neighbors of being Adolf Hitler.
The lighter, less serious of Blume's books (Blubber was just too mean, Are You There God? talked too much about periods and boobies which my pure, innocent mind wasn't ready for)... Sally J. Freedman was a fun read that still sticks with me today. She was so adventurous and full of spunk. I felt very connected to her and her very real, unglamourous experiences growing up (e.g. getting head lice, fighting with her brother, being brought up by her granny, even getting pooped on by a bird & finding a cockroach in her Chinese food). I didn't know who Adolf Hitler was at the time, but I remember I started suspecting random neighbors of being Adolf Hitler.
E.L. Konigsburg "From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler"/C.S. Lewis "Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe"
Thanks to these books, I always checked every closet in hopes of finding another world and tried to trick my parents in letting me sleep over the mall countless times (I know... the kids slept over the Met, but there wasn't a museum in close vicinity of my home and besides, the mall has so much more amenities). My friend and I even constructed this intricate, "fail-proof" plan of being stranded at our mall: we would tell our parents that the other person's parent was going to pick us up, and we would sleep in the Department store beds, get hotdogs from the Hot Dog on a Stick booth, play with all the toys at K.B. etc.. But our parents talked to each other, and we got caught!
Thanks to these books, I always checked every closet in hopes of finding another world and tried to trick my parents in letting me sleep over the mall countless times (I know... the kids slept over the Met, but there wasn't a museum in close vicinity of my home and besides, the mall has so much more amenities). My friend and I even constructed this intricate, "fail-proof" plan of being stranded at our mall: we would tell our parents that the other person's parent was going to pick us up, and we would sleep in the Department store beds, get hotdogs from the Hot Dog on a Stick booth, play with all the toys at K.B. etc.. But our parents talked to each other, and we got caught!
Donald J. Sobol "Encyclopedia Brown" Series
I had the biggest schoolgirl crush on this boy (I guess I've always had a soft spot for geeks). Though some of his "cases" were kind of bogus, I loved the interactive element of these books. I also liked the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series, but they kind of spooked me out (and plus I would always cheat).
Ann M. Martin "Babysitters Club"/ Francine Pascal "Sweet Valley Twins" I feel as though the Wakefield twins and the BSC members were like my childhood friends. I lived vicariously through their school dances, movie dates, club meetings, trips to Hawaii, murder mysteries, Christmas specials, etc. Oh how sweet it is to be a young, pretty, white pre-teen~ Okay, I have to cut Ann M. Martin some slack... so the BSC was a bit more ahead of their times with an Asian girl (Claudia <3) and a Black girl. And I liked how Claud wasn't a stereotypical, nerdy, unpopular Asian either... in fact, she was kind of illiterate.
Jerry Spinelli "Maniac Magee"
Spinelli frequents the theme of "the outsider overcoming all odds." Magee would be #2 in my creepy list of young fictional boys I wanted to date while I was a kid. This book is like Westside Story, Forrest Gump, and Huckleberry Finn wrapped up in one story. Even as a elementary student, I could remember reading this book and thinking it was amazing. I tried reading some of Spinelli's other books, but "Stargirl" and "Eggs" annoyed me to no end.
Louis Sachar "Wayside School Series"
Until this day, I have yet to find childrens' books that are as funny, clever, and entertaining as this series (Actually, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid"is pretty good). Sachar is a genius. I was always jealous of the kids at Wayside and was discontent with my lame flat, one-storied elementary school. I loved his stories and his characters: Poor Todd always getting detention, Benjamin Nushmutt and his unfortunate name, Miss Mush and her mystery meat, Miss Zarves and her non-existent 19th story classroom. I remember feeling a little depressed and going into mourning when the school was shut down in the sequel "Wayside School is Falling Down"... but then, they made a comeback with "Wayside School Get's a Little Stranger" and it was all good.
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