I had a pretty healthy reading appetite growing up. Two ongoing distinct memories I have are frequently roaming the bookshelves of my elementary school’s library for books to borrow that I hadn’t read yet (which got pretty difficult towards the end of 5th grade.) I also remember bringing at least 10 books with my on our two week lake vacation ever summer because all I did was read. I read in the cabin, I read on the boat, I read on the pier. I flew threw books on vacation. Want to know what I read that kept my nose in books? Might I suggest scrolling down?

  1. Nancy Drew
    My bookish heart will always belong to Nancy Drew and her sleuthing activities. I read a few series growing up and through my life, but Nancy Drew was the first I really obsessed over. I’ve probably read hundreds of Nancy Drew books over my life time. I still read them to this day and collect the old yellow bound hardback.
  2. Boxcar Children
    While all my friends were reading Goosebumps and The Babysitters Club, I was reading Boxcar Children. I loved this series so much. The children were so close and it actually made me want to live in a train boxcar. They made the life sound so glamorous! My guess is this is where my current love for trains originated
  3. American Girl
    Well this was pretty much a requirement of all girls growing up, to have an American Girl doll and read the books. But I loved going back in time and hearing about the lives of these girls that were my ages. This series really allowed my imagination to stretch into different eras. By the way, I had the Samantha doll. And by had I mean I still have her. Because I’m awesome.
  4. Animorphs
    I almost forgot about this series until I started to think of what to include in this blog post. Did ANYONE else read this series? I think so, but I haven’t met them. All I remember is that it involved kids who could turn into animals and that I really REALLY enjoyed reading them.
  5. The Secret Garden
    A childhood classic for so many, myself include. Oh how I wished I had a garden to escape to and daydream about all kinds of different worlds, scenarios, and people. This book was so beautiful to me even as a kid. I can’t wait for my future daughter to read it one day and I hope it’s just as magical for her as it was for me.
  6. Ellie’s People
    This one you’ve probably never heard of. It’s a series about young Amish women growing up. Random right? But I read like 10 books in this series and devoured them. I think I liked the simplicity of them and the love stories in each one (I’ve been a sucker for a good love story from a young age).

Needless to say the seed for reading planted long ago as blossomed into a full-blown obsession. I still love reading and the imaginative stories and now as a writer I get to imagine my own stories. I know that any abilities I have as a writer wouldn’t have been possible had I not read so much as a child. So thank you to each of these books and series and the countless others I read but didn’t have space to include. You made my childhood magical.