We’re talking nostalgic books here on the blog today! Even if you didn’t start to enjoy reading until you were older, I bet you could recall at least a couple of noteworthy books from your childhood - even if you can’t remember the titles, or what they’re about. Michaela and I have many similar tastes in books nowadays, but there are a lot of differences in the kinds of books we remember from childhood. One common thread we do have in our lists is that the books tend towards early chapter books-middle grade books, as opposed to picture books or toddler/board books. Keep reading to learn which books we chose and why they stick out for us, and let us know yours!
Jacilyn’s Picks
Egyptology: Search for the Tomb of Osiris
When I was in elementary school, one of my first areas of interest was mythology and ancient history - particularly Greek and Egyptian pantheons and the way their lore was so intertwined in the lives of citizens. Naturally, this interest had me wanting to grow up and be an archaeologist excavating ruins from long ago civilizations along the Mediterranean Sea… so, when I came across this book, I thought it was quite possibly the coolest thing I had ever seen.
For those of you who haven’t flipped through the pages of this book, allow me to tell you a bit about it. This large, shiny gold book is the journal of an Egyptologist who is trying to find the tomb of Osiris, the Egyptian god of both fertility and death. Inside you would find all sorts of interactive surprises, from a letter inside an envelope that you can open and unfold to read, a piece of “mummy cloth” to touch, various other pieces of “historical” paraphernalia, and diagrams, alongside the observations and knowledge from the author of the “journal.”
I loved looking through the book and opening each little pocket, immersing myself in the world of the Egyptologist I wish I could be as a child. Now, I couldn’t begin to tell you if the information portrayed in this book is accurate, and as someone who has worked in museums and taken courses on anthropology, I recognize and want to be clear that the sort of exploration the Egyptologist from this book takes part in is problematic at best.
Guardians of Ga’Hoole by Kathryn Lasky
Another one of my early interests was birds, particularly birds of prey like falcons and owls. The Guardians of Ga’Hoole series is one of the rare examples of me enjoying a book from the perspective of anthropomorphic animals; in the world of this series, there are no humans, but the animals have an interesting hierarchy and the owls behave as humans do, with examples of great evil and great good among them. One thing that has always surprised me looking back on this series as an adult is that there was a whole lot of blood and violence in this series. The main character, an owl named Soren, takes part in a war of owls against owls, donning armor and fighting with claw and fire. I always remember the adventure being incredible, the stakes high, and a twist that was probably the first real betrayal I ever experienced from a book.
There was a movie made that was based on the first book in the series, but I’ll just say this on it…. I would equate it with the Avatar: the Last Airbender film. We just don’t need to talk about it. As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t exist.
The Royal Diaries; Cleopatra
Here again we see my interest in ancient Egypt and history. I loved the Royal Diaries series of books, and I read many of them over and over again, but the Cleopatra one was by far my favorite. This is another one where I really doubt there was much historical accuracy to the content, but I remember thinking it was so cool to experience the mind of a princess who lived in a world that felt so far away from my own. I know a lot of people who enjoyed this series also enjoyed the Dear America series, but I must admit that I was never all that interested in revolutionary or colonial U.S. history so I just never vibed with that series in the same way.
Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
This is the one title on my list where I can’t really talk much about the plot because my memories of it are pretty hazy. I know that it takes place during the time of the Salem witch trials, that there was a love interest of some sort, and that the protagonist was living with relatives in this community. If I remember correctly, she wasn’t the one referred to as the Witch of Blackbird Pond, but I think she ends up becoming associated with the witch and therefore looked at with suspicion as well. I added this one to the list because I know I read it multiple times, and it sticks out as the one pre-20th century historical fiction book that I enjoyed as a kid.
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Return readers probably won’t be surprised at this one. I read the entire His Dark Materials series as a kid, and although I didn’t get everything in the story as well as I do now as an adult, the series was still so important in my life because when it comes down to it, this series is all about questioning and dismantling God and the power He and those who do His bidding have over the world - and the evil things they do in His name. This is a theme throughout the entire series, even though the focus isn’t on God himself much until the second and third books - be that as it may, I read The Golden Compass the most out of any of the books as a kid, and it felt like finding a friend. I had questioned the kind of religious beliefs my family had held in ways that I don’t know that I really understood and saw clearly until reading this.
I also really loved (and still love) the role of science in the story, especially that of Dust aka dark matter. I remember trying to learn as much as I could about dark matter when I first came across The Golden Compass, but honestly I still don’t fully understand the concept as an adult… nonetheless, the science side of the story really made me feel like the magic of Pullman’s storytelling could maybe be real, and we just didn’t know it. Alternative dimensions existing simultaneously with ours, a reality out there somewhere where souls exist on the outside of our bodies in the forms of daemons like Pantalaimon and Lyra. This remains one of my all-time favorite books and holds a very special place in my heart.
Michaela’s Picks
I actually have tons of picture books that I remember from childhood but far less chapter books. This is because when I was in elementary school I absolutely hated reading, could not stand to do it. That may seem surprising since I now co-run a book club blog! But actually when I was young I abhorred how slow at reading I was. In elementary school I, and most children in the U.S., were constantly taking standardized tests that are timed and at my school we had to do reading assessments with teachers quite often. During these reading assessments we had to read as fast as we could and then tell what we remembered. I can read extremely fast…but I’m just reading words at that point, there is no comprehension when I read fast. This actually still holds true for me today, but I am better at it at least. Constantly being timed and then judged on how slow I was reading for comprehension and then told I was behind on reading speed, even though I was ahead for comprehension level, does not promote a young child to read more! Also makes no sense to me even still, why is speed more important than comprehension? Does not compute people! I only started to enjoy reading when I hit about 7th or 8th grade, this just so happened to be when those timed reading comprehension tests stopped. Shocking right? So here’s the few books I remember enjoying reading when I was in elementary school.
Magic Treehouse: Ghost Town at Sundown by Mary Pope Osborne
In this particular Magic Treehouse book, Jack and Annie end up in an old western ghost town where they go on a huge adventure involving horse thieves, rattlesnakes, and some interesting cowboy characters.
This is the very first chapter book I ever remember reading and enjoying it. I was, and still am, an extremely picky reader (hence this book club specifically to explore!) so finding a book I was willing to read was rough. However, I actually enjoyed this book so much that I think I stole it from my 4th grade classroom (sorry Mrs. Barber!). I grew up watching western movies with my family, who did rodeo, I competed in trail riding horse shows, and we raised horses, so this book was one of those “finally a book about something I know things about”. And bonus, it was about a haunted ghost town! I loved creepy things when I was little, but looking back now I see how tame those “creepy” things were. But I just adored this book so much that I just wanted it with me, I finally had a chapter book that I wanted to read.
Runt by Marion Dane Bauer
This is the next book I remember loving, though it has its dark parts. This book is about a wolf pup named Runt by his father because he’s the smallest in his litter of 5. They all have names related to their best attribute which I found fascinating, Thinker, Leader, Sniffer, and Runner. His parents' names are King, the alpha male, and Silver, his mother's name because of her silver coat. Runt goes through a lot of different scenarios of actual threats and situations real wolves deal with.
SPOILERS AHEAD!................At one point Runt, and his sibling named Thinker, get attacked by a porcupine and Thinker actually passes from complications. Runt gets taken in by humans who help him with his injuries. I remember he meets these humans’ dog and he just cannot understand why this dog doesn’t want to be free like wolves are but that dog doesn’t understand what free even means. Then later Runt is shunned from his group because he smells like humans, eventually he is allowed back after he finds the pack food in the form of a weak moose. His name even gets changed because they now see him as more than just the runt.
This book is definitely not the best choice for all children, I’m sure, but as a kid who had tons of animals I loved how real it was. It is quite realistic and doesn’t shy away from the hard stuff. The book is told from Runt’s perspective so you’re seeing this up close look at how a wolf pack works. Obviously this is fictional and we don’t know that wolves name eachother and whatnot but for me it was almost magical. I was seeing into the minds of my childhood favorite animal.
Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe
I think Bunnicula was quite popular in the early 2000s, I’m sure some of you have read it. This went along with my “creepy” book interests. I believe there are about seven books in the series. I remember feeling so cool reading this book for some reason. Anymore I hardly remember anything that happened in these book and I think I only read one or two of them but I do remember that the so-called Bunnicula drains the life out of carrots and other vegetables! Love it!
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo & A Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin
Both of these books were not my favorites but they were ones that I read for class in 5th grade and I cannot forget the, they have just always stuck in my mind as important reads for me. Because of Winn-Dixie was not a particularly sad book technically, just one with serious themes, but to me it always felt sad. The main character, Opal, is very lonely because she just moved somewhere and she has no friends, eventually she gains many friends with the help of her new found dog, Winn-Dixie. I remember really relating to Opal and her loneliness. In grade school I moved states, and therefore schools, three times and it was really rough for me as a kid. Like Opal, I wasn’t good at making new friends. SPOILERS AHEAD!................ At one point Opal loses Winn-Dixie because he got scared by a thunderstorm and I remember being devastated at that part of the book because I have always had dogs and I love them so much. Spoiler, she does find him again and the book ends relatively happy. But the whole book always gave me that happy/sad feelings.
A Corner of the Universe is about a young girl who finds out she has an uncle and that he has special needs, and he moves back in with her grandparents after his school closes. I also have an uncle who has special needs so it was another book I had something in common with, though he and the character in this book don’t have hardly anything in common and I’ve always known my uncle, so it was kind of a false sense of familiarity. My uncle always watched Mary Poppins with me while I showed him my toys when I was little, some of my favorite memories! But back to the story, this is another book that is just not for every child. This book does have a pretty big trigger warning in it. SPOILERS AHEAD!................ This book has some pretty serious themes and even ends with a suicide, just in case you were thinking of reading it. Huge trigger warning there. I remember liking this book despite the sad ending though because it did show how some people treat others with special needs, how inappropriate or mean they can be and how we can never understand people as much as we think we do. All people deserve love and compassion no matter how they were born or how much you don’t think you understand them.
The Long Lost Book I am Doomed to Never Remember
There’s actually one last book I really wanted to talk about but alas it has been almost two decades and friends…. I CANNOT REMEMBER THE TITLE OR ANY CHARACTER NAMES. In fact I hardly remember anything, it’s like a fever dream or something! I hate everything! I remember exactly where this book was in my elementary school library, the bottom shelf at the end of the last row on the right side of the room right by the bay windows. So the author's last name probably started with a Z or Y or something. It had no dust jacket, emerald green hardbound cover, with faded gold embossed lettering. It was about two kids playing in an old dusty attic and for some reason they encounter a wizard. That’s it! That’s all I got! But I remember just freaking loving this book. It was magical, it was spooky, it had adventure, it was even mysterious with having lost its cover art. I have literally been searching for this book for almost 15 years but I clearly have little to nothing to go off of besides how the book made me feel. If I find any kind of afterlife after I die, I’m asking whoever the hell is in charge what this book was!
Book I Wish I Had Read as a Kid
Now that I’m much older and have learned that I can enjoy reading when I’m not being judged and graded on it, there are some books I wish I could give my younger self to love. These three series of books would have completely captured my soul when I was a kid but at least I have them now. First off, the Harry Potter series, I actually did not read any of this series until I was 13/14 years old. But if I had had this in elementary school I would have fallen in love with it. I remember seeing the first movie on TV once when I was probably 8 years old and I couldn’t take my eyes off it but I was still too scared of reading. I remember seeing them at the scholastic book fairs (RIP school book fairs!) but they were so thick that I never would have even touched one.
The next series was also one I watched on TV as a child, Redwall by Brian Jaques. This series was made into a cartoon in the late 90s/early 2000s and I watched it every Sunday morning. This series follows anthropomorphic animals who live in Redwall Abbey and the surrounding countryside called Mossflower Wood. Every book is a new adventure usually involving the Redwall Abbey animals being warriors and protecting their home from various bands of marauders. I believe the books were written primarily for older children but I would have loved them and since I loved the show I would have made the effort to read them I think. But I never even knew the books existed until I was in late high school. The audiobooks for this series is wonderful, it has different voice actors for every character so it would be a great intro to audiobooks as well or just an easier way for some kids to enjoy it.
The last series I wish I had read as a child was The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. I read them for the first time about two years ago. There’s so much magic and adventure, my childhood heart would have been overcome. I know a lot of people don’t like the religious “undertones” of the series, but I actually find it really interesting. I am no longer religious, and haven’t been for quite some time, so reading these things just feels like a magical world thing rather than an our world religious thing. It’s all about perspective while reading it, I think. As a kid, I never would have even noticed anything religious about the series, to be honest I only noticed as an adult because someone told me it was there first. I would recommend first time readers of the series, who are children, to read in publication order rather than chronological, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a way better introduction to the series than The Magician's Nephew. Adult first time readers take your chances! The audibooks for this series, like the Redwall series, are fantastic!
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