Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books from My Childhood/Teen Years to Revisit.

It's Tuesday, which means another Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the lovely folks over at The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they name a topic, and book bloggers give their list to match.

When I saw this week's topic, I got very nostalgic and excited, so I knew I had to make an effort to figure out the titles for this list. And, once I got started, I was super excited to write out this list.

I hope you can relate to some of these titles, and perhaps find a few titles to check out. :)

In no particular order...

1. It Zwibble, The Star Touched Dinosaur: This book was one of my childhood favorites. I know I still have my copy somewhere, but I haven't seen it in awhile, and I miss it. The story basically follows It Zwibble, who is sent to earth in search of lost dinosaur eggs. It's adorable. There's a toucan and a moose. And it is made of awesome.

2. The Sweet Valley High books: I discovered these as a preteen during a library book sale. There was a big brown paper bag full of them, and I begged my mom to buy them for me (this was the mid-90s?). I became obsessed with the series and read them all numerous times. I have no idea what happened to my old copies, but I do feel a wave of nostalgia just looking at that cover-the drama. The heartbreak. Ugh. And I still can't believe my mom let me read them when I was only in the 5th or 6th grade. 

3. Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder: No list about my childhood would be complete without this series. I actually reread them a few years ago and blogged through the process, and they stood the test of time. I know I read these at least a dozen times as a girl, and there are scenes that are still incredibly vivid in my memory. They also remind me of my grandparents, since their copies were the ones I originally read.

4. The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell: I actually loved all of O'Dell's books, and my copies are safely tucked away in a box somewhere. I actually read this one after one of my older brothers came home from school and complained about it. I fell so hard for Karana's story and this jump-started an early love of history. I also went on to read all of O'Dell's books, and all of my copies are beat up from multiple rereads.

5. The Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Books by Betty MacDonald: I can remember reading these in the second grade, hidden away in our classroom castle (yep-we studied medieval times and built a castle in the classroom). I LOVED these books. Of course, they're cheesy and meant to teach children lessons, but I loved them anyway. When we moved into this apartment and I had to decide what books to keep on shelves, you better believe Mrs. Piggle Wiggle is out. YEP.

6. The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner: This was another big hit in the second grade. My teacher had this big bookshelf FULL of books, and the Boxcar Children were always in big demand, especially this second book. Everyone fought over it (no idea why), and it was always joyous when someone new got to read it. I went on to read a majority of the series (my older brothers also had them). Great series of books!

7. The White Dragon by Anne McCaffery: I have another vivid memory for you. In 8th grade, my English teacher told us we had to read a book outside our comfort zone. My best friend Jenny and I decided we needed to read the same book. We scoured the school library and painfully passed up our beloved Mary Higgins Clark (it was a phase....at one time I owned everything she wrote). This was the only book we found that had two copies and that our teacher agreed to. DO YOU SEE THAT COVER? Anyway, it ended up being the best thing ever, as it launched my love of fantasy. I own a bunch of the Pern novels (some are more battered than others), and I know I need to reread them at some point.

8. Loves Music, Loves to Dance by Mary Higgins Clark: So....like I said, I went through a phase in 7th and 8th grade with my friend Jenny where we obsessed over Mary Higgins Clark. I have no idea why it started, but I blame Jenny completely. We each bought tons of her books, traded with each other, and gushed over the "romance" and "mystery." This one was a favorite of ours, and I'm pretty sure I read it 5 or 6 times. I'm happy to say that I sold all my Clark books years ago, and while I have a huge wave of nostalgia every now and again, I've resisted. ;) And please know I say that all in good fun.

9. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card: I debated whether or not to put this book on my list because of the controversy surrounding Card, but this title remains a large part of my reading history. This was required summer reading for my 9th grade English class (we actually had to choose between this and David Copperfield, which I now love, but would have hated then. And for those interested, the other required titles were My Antonia and The Count of Monte Cristo). I loved this book. It created my love of science-fiction and really drove me as a reader throughout high school. It also encouraged me to branch out to trying new things and exploring different kinds of fiction. Now...I have mixed feelings about the book and Card. I actually taught this book in the fall to my struggling readers class, but they hated it and the experience was not that much fun for me....but it still remains a book I keep on my shelf and think about from time to time.

10. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling: This series started to debut when I was in high school, and while I avoided them at first, I caved in when my aunt gave them to me when I ran out of things to read on vacation. I soon became a Harry Potter nerd, attended midnight release parties for the last 3 books (the first 4 were already out when I started reading them), and saw all the movies on their debut. It's a series I will always love. I mean, it's Harry Potter, you know?

So, there's my list. There's a few more I could have added, but I think these were fun and representative of my early reading life. :) Do we have any books in common?