Books I'd Like to Revisit From Childhood

I've been a lover of books since before I could remember. Just this weekend, when I was carpooling with a friend I've known since elementary school the topic came up. They mentioned how they remembered me back in school and how I was constantly reading and always had a million points for the Accelerated Reader program. Which... why wouldn't you want to have a ton of points? If you got over 100 you got to go to Haunted Trails. Basically... a spooky version of Chuckie Cheese, but better.

Yet, when I try to think of my favorite books from when I was a kid, I had a hard time remembering. I think part of the novelty of my reading all of the time was because I was good at it. I read quickly, and since I couldn't play sports and such, I just kept reading book after book. While I'm sure I thoroughly enjoyed them, I feel like I didn't really "get" why reading was so awesome until I was older. However, I was able to think of some books from my childhood which truly stood out.

Midnight in the Dollhouse by Marjorie Filley Stover

I still have my original copy from when I read this in the fourth grade. This book was awesome. It was about this girl during the Civil War who broke her hip and had to stay in bed for three months. (Something I could relate to.) To keep her entertained and not just wallowing that she couldn't run around with the other kids, her brother built her this massive dollhouse and got a family of dolls to go with it. Naturally, when the girl was asleep the dolls would talk to each other and have adventures. I then bought my own dolls and named them after the ones in the books and I like to consider it my early form of fan-fiction.

Meet Molly by Valerie Tripp

This really is for all of the American Girl books because my sister and I were addicted to them as kids. We had all of the books for Felicity, Kirstin, Addy, Samantha, and Molly. I think we had some Josephina too - but by the time she came around we were growing out of the books. I still have my Molly doll. She was the best. She was a picky eater (like me), had a huge imagination (like me), wanted to be pretty and glamorous but was pretty much just awkward (like me), made her friends do crazy and ridiculous things they didn't want to do (like me), and was bad at math (like me). These books I'm pretty sure is the reason why I now love anything WWII.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madelene L'Engle

I read this book in 6th grade for my reading class and it was my first venture into real sci-fi/fantasy books. Obviously, I loved it. While I had always liked the books we read for classes in school, this was the book where I learned that the books we were required to read could actually be ridiculously awesome. 

The Outsiders by SE Hinton

If I remember correctly, I also read this in 6th grade. (Or was it 8th? I had the same reading teacher for both grades so the two years gets mixed together in my brain.) It was the first book I read that was a legitimate YA book where it didn't feel like it was just required reading. Our entire class got into it, and hearing that the author was only 16 when she wrote it, only encouraged my crazy dreams of being an author.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

This is another book where I have my original copy from the 5th grade still sitting on my shelf. For being a wimpy 5th grade girl- this book was intense! It was also my first glimpse into novels about kick-ass girls who weren't just from the American Girl series. Charlotte was 13, the only woman on a ship sailing to America (I think?) and then was accused of murder. CRAZY! I remember crying when it got too intense and had my mom read it to me in the kitchen.

Are You My Mother? by PD Eastman

I don't know why I loved this book so much. I just remember going to the library and asking for it all of the time and being really sad when I had to be on the waiting list. I read it out loud at the preschool not long ago and it was awesome.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

My third-grade teacher read this book out loud to us and I remember being completely enthralled with this fox who helped save his town. I wanted to see the movie but never got around to it.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

Speaking of my third-grade teacher, she also read this book out loud to us. I found a copy on Amazon a few years ago and ordered it, and it was even better than I remembered. One of my all-time favorite Christmas stories ever. 

Voyage on the Great Titanic by Ellen Emerson White

This really represents all of the Dear America books I could get my hands on as a kid. I loved historical fiction and I thought the idea of having diaries of girls in the past was pretty awesome. I picked the Titanic one to feature because well... who didn't have a Titanic phase as a kid in the 90s?

How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess

When I was a kid, my uncle had gotten my sister and I this huge book of Dr. Suess stories. As an adult, I've now found editions of it still around at Barnes and Noble and give it as a gift for baby showers. However, I feel like The Grinch is the only one I ever really read. Or at least that was the one I read the most. It's still one of my favorites and I love both movie versions.

What books did you love as a kid? Are there any that you still read? Do you read any of them to kids now?

Linking up with The Broke and Bookish for Top Ten Tuesday!