When it comes to buying presents for my niece and nephews, I always head to the bookstore. They don’t need any more toys, they have lots of clothes, but you can never have too many books, right? At least that’s what I think. Buying books for them is so much fun. I sit on the floor at the bookstore and find myself feeling nostalgic - lost in my childhood. The Berenstain Bears, Curious George, Ameila Bedelia, Frog & Toad. Remember William Steig’s Doctor De Soto? What about James Marshall’s Miss Nelson is Missing? Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs? Tomie dePaola used to be one of my favorite authors. Nancy Carlson and all her books? I could go on and on - and I could go crazy, and broke, buying them all my favorite childhood stories.It’s even more fun now that my niece is learning to read chapter books. I can’t wait to expose her to Ramona Quimby, Superfudge – anything Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume, actually - and all the series I used to read: The Babysitter’s Club, the Mandie books by Lois Glayds Leppard, Ann of Green Gables, Encyclopedia Brown.
What books, authors, or series did you love as a kid?