Today I wanted to take a trip back to the 90s/ early 00s and chat about my favourite childhood / young adult reads. There were so many beloved stories to choose from so it's been a tricky one to boil my list down to just 5!
Here's what I've selected:
1. Harry Potter Book Series by J.K. Rowling (obviously!)
I had to put all of the Harry Potter books together, otherwise they would have filled up this entire blog post, and how on Earth would I have picked a top 5 out of the 7?! I love them all, they are all the best, forever.Even 17 years on from when I first started reading the series, I am still a massive HP geek. I didn't even want to start reading them when I was 12. I thought that they were this uncool thing that I had no interest in wasting my time over. But then one day in the library I spotted a copy of the third book, all alone on a shelf. I picked it up, took it home, read one chapter and wasn't that fussed about it so went to sleep. The next day I couldn't resist picking it up again and the rest is history!
2. Jacqueline Wilson Books
I used to absolutely love these as a kid/early teen. To the extent that I would get the books on the day they came out in hard back. Some favourites include the entire Girls In Love series, The Illustrated Mum, The Story of Tracy Beaker, The Suitcase Kid, Sleepovers (this totally spoke to me as a preteen with 'frenemies').
3. The Famous Five by Enid Blyton
I LOVED the Famous Five. They had such great adventures and I was always in total suspense over every scrape the 5 got themselves into. I loved that George refused to fit into a mould; she had a nasty temper, but was who she wanted to be. Anne, of course, let down the whole feminist movement. The girl was obsessed with kitchens! Here is a typical scene from the books:
All children: "Wowee, a cave, what larks! Lets have lashings of ginger beer!"
Anne: "It's like a little kitchen! Those rocks can be shelves for my miniature crockery! You all go on and have an adventure, I'll stay here and sweep the floor."
4. Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (Angus, Thongs & Full-Frontal Snogging, etc.) by Louise Rennison
I loved these as a teenager! Basically all the girls in my friendship group read them so we could pass them around to each other. They made me laugh so much and I'm not ashamed to admit that I now have them all as audiobooks.
5. The Sophie Stories by Dick King-Smith
When I was a little I loved these books. It was so funny because I loved Sophie even though she was so different from myself, and hated her enemy Dawn, even though was probably closer to me! There was an infamous scene where Dawn trod on Sophie's pet woodlouse, so Sophie jumped up and down on Dawn's My Little Pony. It was brutal. However it does explain why I used to love woodlice as a child - but I did have My Little Ponies too!
Other childhood faves included: Bobbo's Magic Stocking by Enid Blyton (Bobbo is a greedy kid who gets his comeuppance), Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore (a cat with a massive appetite owns all the people in his neighbourhood), the Sweet Valley High series by Francine Pascal (could Jessica and Elizabeth have been any cooler?!), the Babysitter's Club series by Ann M. Martin (they were friends and they made money babysitting, I'm not really sure how so many books were written about that!), My Naughty Little Sister by Dorothy Edwards and Shirley Hughes (as the youngest sibling who was mostly well-behaved, I could live vicariously through this rebellious girl).
There are probably so many more that I've forgotten! As a child I seemed to have much more time for reading, or maybe it was just life before the internet, Instagram and Netflix.
What were some of your childhood faves?
Lisa xx
