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

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I read the shit out of the Boxcar Children books. Those were so good! I think that is the start of my thing for people reacting sensibly to extreme situations. Also Encyclopedia Brown (10-year-old who's read the entire encyclopedia solves crimes by virtue of the knowledge gained thereby. obviously pre-Wikipedia, smart phones, the Internet).

But you know what other books I actually really liked that I would probably still recommend to other people? The McGurk Mysteries! (http://www.thrillingdetective.com/mcgurk.html) They also feature a bunch of kids solving utterly normal, not actual crime, mysteries. The characters are well drawn, they're funny, and actually every so often deal with real issues in non-faily ways.

I have never read Enid Blyton.

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

I loved the McGurk Mysteries! I wonder how I'd like them now. Did you ever read the Ghost Squad books? I loved those too, and I picked one up used a while ago. Haven't read it yet to step back into my teenage self.

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

I still find myself thinking of a few details from the McGurk mysteries every now and then--the one with the contractor who wrote Greek E's in particular. I don't think I ever read Ghost Squad, though.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

McGurk Mysteries! I am so glad Rachel posted this, simply because I know what they're called now.

I did always like the way the mysteries solved in the McGurk books were mostly, well, genuinely child-scale mysteries--without seeming boring or stupid.