Childhood nostalgia poll

[rachelmanija]

Please reminisce, fondly or not, about any of these, or other books read in childhood, especially if they seem to have, deservedly or undeservedly, vanished from the shelves. I'd love to hear about non-US, non-British books, too.

[Poll #1720139]

Comments

[cmattg.livejournal.com]

You left out Alvin Fernald and the McGurk Mysteries.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I never read them. What were they like?

[ejmam.livejournal.com]

Alvin is a boy with a clever brain, an athletic friend, and a young sister. He solves mysteries with spies, a swap shop, environmentalism, and something I'm forgetting. Fun stuff. About fifth grade? Pre-sexual tension.

[cmattg.livejournal.com]

....International trade, town politics....

[grrlpup]

And he invents things! I tried his Automatic Bed-Making Machine with middling success.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I didn't think anyone else remembered these! Although of the E.W. Hildick books my favorite wasn't McGurk but Active Enzyme Lemon-Freshened Junior High School Witch.

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

ZOMG I LOVE THE MCGURK MYSTERIES.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I remember loving them but otherwise not a damn thing about them!

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

Me too! I remember one bit from one of the fantasy books and that's about it.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

I just ordered the first one on Amazon (they're mostly out of print, but seem fairly available used) so that I can refresh my memory!

[mari-redstar.livejournal.com]

I only really remember the only one I owned, which was the one where Wanda (? tree-climbing girl) has her Japanese penpal come for a visit, and she turns out to be a ~super-amazing detective~ and everyone has to A) foil a dastardly kidnapping plot and B) put up with McGurk's increasingly and ridiculously petty attempts to prove that He Is The Best Detective Here Thank You Very Much, and also karate. The rest of the series... I remember something about a lost turtle. And the narrator typing a row of 7s over a row of 8s on their typewritten business cards so they would look all fancy and interesting.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Further research reveals the author also wrote The Active-Enzyme Lemon-Freshened Junior High School Witch, which I utterly adored. And still have around here...somewhere.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Also Encyclopedia Brown (whose best friend Sally supplies the muscles of their team).