Former Favorites is a fairly new feature in which I highlight a book series that I loved as a child. So far, I have done the BSC, Animorphs, Little House, and Sweet Valley. Today's series is:
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
There are four books in this fantastic series: The Face on the Milk Carton, Whatever Happened to Janie, The Voice on the Radio, and What Janie Found. I remember much more about the first two than the last two, so I will focus on those.
The series is based around a girl named Janie Johnson who, while eating lunch at school, discovered that the picture of the missing child on her milk carton is actually HER. She recognizes her toddler picture and remembers the itchy feeling of the dress. When I read this in late elementary school, it blew my mind. I couldn't even IMAGINE finding out that I was a missing child. It freaked me out, but was insanely intriguing at the same time.
The Face on the Milk Carton basically follows Janie as she tries to find out who she really is and if her parents actually kidnapped her. Her boyfriend, Reeve, is a major part of the story, and probably one of my first book crushes. He was a bit older than her and pretty awesome, as I remember it. I wanted a Reeve.
One of the great things about this series and all Caroline B. Cooney books is that each book is short. They are pretty appealing to people because of that, especially middle schoolers. She is a great writer and I am always sucked into her books immediately, including this series. Give it a try if you never read them as a kid!
Sweet Valley Twins!!
Sweet Valley Twins and all of its variations was another series that I loved as a kid, but not as much as the BSC. The BSC was my go-to series that had a ton of books and a million spin offs, but I did enjoy the Sweet Valley Twins books a lot as well.
I was first introduced to Elizabeth and Jessica when I was in elementary school and read the series about them as second graders, much like the BSC Little Sister books about Karen. I of course identified with Elizabeth at an early age and that continued as I progressed into reading the books about them as middle schoolers. I thought Todd Wilkins was adorable and thought Bruce Patman and Lila Fowler were tools. Rich, rich tools. Elizabeth was my homegirl.
I didn't read too much of the Sweet Valley High series. At that point, I think I'd grown out of them, plus the high school series seemed really dated. I do remember reading one about Elizabeth getting into a motorcycle accident and being in a coma throughout the book; at that point, it was like, really? A coma? After all these Wakefields have been through so far?
There was ALSO a Sweet Valley University spin off series, but I'm not sure how many books were in that. I remember looking at one at a grocery store, which featured the twins on the cover in very revealing bikinis. I specifically remember being embarrassed looking at the cover, wondering how Elizabeth could WEAR that. In my mind, she was still this brainy little writer who would never dream of showing cleavage!! (Obviously, I am over that crisis now.) I never read any of the University series, mostly in fear that my parents would see the book and be like, what is this pornography???
The Sweet Valley books, finally, introduced me to the idea of ghost writers. During my SV heyday in late elementary, I remember wondering how Francine Pascal wrote ALL those books and consequently learned that she didn't. It blew my mind that she was credited for each book as the author on the cover, even though she was just the creator. Verrrry interesting to tween Kyle.
Former Favorites is a relatively new blog feature in which I highlight my favorite book series as a child. This week's series is:
Little House on the Prairie
I ADORED this series as a kid and I still do. It definitely stood up to the test of time for me and I look forward to sharing the series with my future kids.
My mom bought me the complete set when we took a road trip to Florida to go to Disney World. I was skeptical of it, but after reading a few chapters of Little House in the Big Woods, I was hooked. I read all of the books as quickly as I could and loved every single one (although Farmer Boy was my least favorite).
The Little House series was the starting point for my love of historical fiction. Reading about how life was back in the 1800's was/is fascinating for me. When I was younger, life back then seemed so much more interesting and I often wish that I lived in that era. I'd venture to say that I was slightly obsessed :)
As I've gotten older, I've learned more about Laura and her life and realized that a decent amount of the Little House series was fictionalized, but that didn't change my feelings about the books. Learning about Laura's actual life compared to the books is really interesting and I even own a biography about her. I really don't think I'll ever get tired of the books and look forward to rereading them again and again, especially These Happy Golden Years, which is one of my very favorite books.
Anyone else still love this amazing series?
I recently decided that I'd like to start my own weekly feature for the blog called Former Favorites in which I highlight series or standalone books that I loved as a child. Today's favorite:
ANIMORPHS
I believe that I first discovered the Animorphs series, written by K.A. Applegate, when I was in 4th grade. After a couple years of reading Babysitters Club and the like, I cautiously gave this weird looking science fiction book a chance AND MY LIFE WAS NEVER THE SAME. I thank this series for turning me on to science fiction/fantasy books and making me feel like it was perfectly fine to like them and other non science fiction at the same time.
The whole concept of Animorphs blew my mind. Teenagers who could morph into an animal after touching it once? Only 2 hours before you are stuck as that animal forever? Parasites? Aliens? I was immediately sucked in. I loved the diverse group of kids: Jake, Cassie, Rachel, Tobias, and Marco. I had a little crush on Jake and thought Rachel was a bad ass. Each book had a different narrator, which I loved as well. Oh and Ax! Can't forget about our alien friend!
When I was in 4th and 5th grade, there were three other kids in my class that also loved Animorphs, two boys and another girl. We would constantly talk about the books at school and one of the boy's mom always bought him the newest book, so he would read it and then pass it around to the rest of us. Of course, everyone read it within one or two nights. I remember the four of us trying to figure out when Jake and Cassie would finally kiss (you know, that 13 year old sexual tension). I can't even imagine overhearing that awkward conversation.
Nickelodeon tried doing a TV show version of Animorphs; it sucked. I try not to let it get in the way of remembering these awesome books. I still have a bunch of them back home and plan to pass them on to my hypothetical future children (who will be nerdy and awesome). Hopefully they will spend some time bemoaning the fact that they can't morph into animals, just like I did.
I recently decided that I'd like to start my own weekly feature for the blog called Former Favorites in which I highlight series or standalone books that I loved as a child. First up:
The Baby-Sitters Club (Say hello to your friends!)
I read my first BSC book in second grade at the recommendation of my teacher, Mrs. Jones, who always encouraged me to read as much as possible. I was in an advanced reading group at school and she told me that even though the BSC books were meant for older kids, she thought I could handle them. As a second grader reading books with a reading level of fourth grade (or RL 4), I thought I was the shit.
Those books were like crack to me and soon an obsession was born. My elementary library had a ton of the BSC books and I read them all very quickly. My mom bought me a few but since I read them so fast, she started refusing the spend the money on them, so I got a lot from the library and used book sales, or would just read them in an hour at the bookstore. Side note: my elementary school that I attended from first to third grade did a book fair every year in which students and teachers brought in used books to sell. Paperbacks were 25 cents and hardcovers maybe 50 cents. My mom used to give me five dollars and it was essentially the greatest day of my life. I could get 20 paperbacks for five dollars! I loved it.
Anyway, I loved those books and those characters. I loved that the girls (and Logan) would write a journal entry for each job. I memorized everyone's handwriting and used to write down their names and club position all the time, in each person's specific handwriting. Honestly, I could probably still do it. Those girls were my bookish life for probably three to four years and I worshiped at the altar of Ann M. Martin. I wanted to be Dawn and Stacey, who were so effortlessly cool, while I was a nerdy kid who wore denim overalls and giant t-shirts.
Looking back, I'm grateful that I read all the BSC books, mysteries, Super Specials, and the autobiography books (not to mention the Little Sister series, but let's save that for another post). Not only did they begin my obsession with reading, but each book has its own little lesson about growing up. We learned that it's ok to just be yourself and that your friends will accept you for who you are. The BSC taught me that it was ok to be a little bossy and headstrong like Kristy, sensitive like Mary Ann, artsy like Claudia, fashionable like Stacey, healthy like Dawn, a graceful dancer like Jessi, a writer like Mallory, an opposite of your twin like Abby, and then whatever Logan and Shannon were supposed to be.
So thanks, Baby-sitters Club, for starting my journey to becoming the bookish person that I am...although I could have done without the chapter in every book about how the club started. Always skipped that one.
