Hi Friends! Happy Friday!
Today, I wanted to talk about one of my guilty pleasures – re-reading favorite childhood books! Does anyone else do that, or is it just me? Interestingly enough, I rarely have time (but really, the mental energy) to read age appropriate books, but there’s something comforting and nostalgic about revisiting childhood favorites.
If I go to my parents house in Atlanta, I’ll scan bookshelves and select a book to re-read before going to bed at night. If I’m ever in a bookstore to kill time, I might thumb through an old favorite I haven’t seen in years. I might have even ordered a select few on Kindle when I saw they were available/on sale!
But despite how fun it is to take a stroll down memory lane, a few things have stuck out, now that I’m not 10 anymore. Not to burst anyone’s bubble, but…
Anne of Green Gables Series: I adored Anne. I thought she was so brave and imaginative and independent – the perfect heroine. I think my favorite was Anne of the Island, where she goes off to college. But re-reading some of the books, I feel like she’s overly dramatic and a little annoying. As are some of the other beloved characters. And why is she so mean to Gilbert? He definitely should have stopped liking her if he had any self-respect, haha. (Yes, he called her “Carrots,” but she already got even by breaking her “slate” over his head.) She was also kind of mean to that guy, Roy.
The Baby-Sitters Club – by Ann M. Martin! Although, apparently she only wrote the first 35 books, and the rest were completed by ghostwriters. I especially loved the “super specials” where alternating chapters would be in the points of views of the different members. Those girls went on so many adventures – vacations, getting stuck in a blizzard, getting stranded on an island! How did they afford their lifestyles? I guess babysitting money?
This is the craziest part – I remember thinking the girls were so grown up, but the books take place when they’re 12 and 13 years old! Children! (Mallory and Jessi, the junior babysitters were ELEVEN). Can an 11 year old babysit?? And most of the girls had a “steady boyfriend.” Like Logan, Mary Anne’s boyfriend, and Bart, Kristy’s boyfriend. And Stacy kind of started dating Kristy’s brother Sam? They’re 13! But I do appreciate the attempts the books made to cover hard topics like divorce, death, racism, religious differences, health issues, etc. I don’t think I even noticed when I was a kid.
Little House on the Prairie Series– I loved those books so much, with the exception of Farmer Boy, which featured Laura’s husband as a child. I thought it was so boring, but the last time I read it, I liked it. Almanzo and his family were always eating delicious food, like ice cream they froze using summer hail stones. It made me realize how ingenious that actually is, in the times before refrigeration.
But why was 25 year old Almanzo creeping on Laura when she was 15? Laura’s Ma was definitely racist. And Mary, who was blind, was NOT nice and Laura just had to take it. Also, they made their poor dog Jack WALK from Wisconsin to Kansas. They wouldn’t let him ride in the wagon! Even when they had to cross a river.
The Boxcar Children Series – I thought Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny were so cool and resourceful for providing for themselves. Remember when Jessie made Benny a stuffed bear out of old socks? But someone call child protective services, please.
American Girl Series – I never owned any of the dolls (they were like $80 or more!) but I did love the books. I think they have a bunch of new characters now, but when I was a kid, it was Felicity, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha, and Molly. A few years ago, I re-read a Samantha and Molly book, and they were still good. Apparently Samantha was phased out though because since she was rich and Victorian and unrelatable, haha.
Dear America – I liked these books just because they looked like diaries and had pretty ribbons down the spine. Some of these were not well written, but a few were really good (by Kristiana Gregory). I liked the ones about the Gold Rush, the Transcontinental Tailroad, the Oregon Trail…also there’s one where a girl named Maria Rosalia is a servant on a ranch, and at the end, you find out the ranch owner is her uncle. Twist! I’ve scanned through a few of these in the past couple of years, and they’re not as exciting as I remember, but I think they did good job of making kids more interested in history.
What were your favorite childhood books?
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