Favorite Childhood Books

There are several authors and book series that I really enjoyed reading when I was in elementary school, and today I'm going to be listing several of them.

One of the first series that got me into reading was the Magic Tree House series. They are about siblings Jack and Annie who stumble upon a magic tree house full of books. This tree house transports them back in time; a different place and time period each book. I loved reading about Jack and Annie's adventures as they met historical figures such as Leonardo Da Vinci and the like. I've read up to #38 in the series (there are currently 52 books so far) and eventually grew out of them as I got older. They gave me kind of an overview of different historical events and places and it was a lot of fun reading them.

Andrew Clements was one of my favorite authors growing up. He's written a ton of children books, each one with different characters in different situations. I loved reading about each story and one in particular, Landry News, a story about a kid-written newspaper, inspired me to write my own "newspaper" which lasted 2-3 years until I lost interest in continuing it. Nevertheless, Not only does he write realistic-fiction, one of his books, Things Not Seen, is about a kid who wakes up one day and finds himself invisible. It had a sci-fi twist which I really enjoyed.

Roald Dahl is a British author who wrote many books, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The Witches, The BFG, and many others. His books are always really funny and enjoyable because they always have some twist whether it's a s genius Matilda or a big friendly giant. His children books also have a sense of adventure with them, and still contain that childish lightheartedness and humor. Two of my favorites are Matilda and The Witches. Roald Dahl's books are definitely ones that I will always remember as books I loved during my childhood.

The Main Street series is about two sisters, Flora and Ruby, who move to Camden Falls where their grandmother lives after their parents died in an accident. Now what captivated me the most was the description of Camden Falls because I wish it was a real place that I could visit. It talks about how the sisters try to adjust to life in Camden Falls and how they make new friends. Ann M. Martin also wrote other books I've read such as The Doll People and  A Dog's Life, both of which I also loved and found so unique. The Main Street series is about the adventures the two sisters and their friends have in Camden Falls and I loved the characters and the setting.

The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes is about fifth-grader Abby Hayes. The book is written from Abby's perspective (she keeps a journal of everything) and you get to see her journal entries and all the adventures she experiences with her friends. I really liked this series because of the writing style (the journal) and the narratives. Abby also has several siblings with distinct personalities that also make's the characters fun and humorous. It was one of my favorites as a kid and I loved reading about Abby and her friends and the things they did as elementary school students and even into middle school.

The Mysterious Benedict Society is the first of three books in a series by Trenton Lee Stewart. It's about a group of four gifted kids - Reynie, Constance, Kate, and Sticky - and how they try to stop an evil mastermind, Mr. Curtain. I loved the characters and their quirkiness as they tried to solve the puzzles and what not. I really loved the first book; it was full of riddles and it was cleverly written (especially the test they had to take in the beginning). But from there the series kind of degenerated. The series as a whole was decent, but the last two books were less than amazing.