Colleen Gleason had a fun Thursday Thirteen up this week....advocating the teenage sleuth Trixie Belden over her more famous colleague Nancy Drew.Now I was a huge Trixie Belden fan for all of the reasons that Colleen mentioned...most especially Jim Frayne....my first red head literary crush, but not my last by a long way. I think I actually have all of my books in a box around here someday! One of these days I will get around to unpacking them all!
As for kids books, I really loved Enid Blyton's books. The Faraway Tree and The Wishing Chair were among my favourites. The way the kids were able to be transported to whole new worlds, and never knowing quite what they would fine was amazing to a little girl who just wanted to escape!
So, two questions. What kids/teenage books do you remember reading and loving? And who was your first literary crush?
I've never heard of Trixie Belden or Enid Blyton! I feel so out of the loop.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite books when I was a preteen were the Babysitters' Club books. I had the whole series. Kristy, Claudia, Stacey and MaryAnn. And one of them had a boyfriend... LOGAN! Yeah, that's it. MaryAnn's boyfriend Logan. He might have been my first literary crush. :)
When I was 12 & 13 the mother in the family I babysat for was a teacher. She turned me onto Bronte. So Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights was probably my first crush, although I clearly remember wondering why they were behaving so stupidly and why class was such a big deal. Ah, the innocence of youth.
ReplyDeleteI did read age appropriate books too. I loved Beverly Cleary books and still steer kids toward those.
Hard question! I devoured Enid Blyton's novels and 'The Chalet School' series, even though they always made me miserable because all the nice girls in them were good at games and I wasn't :-(. Also read Nancy Drew obsessively fro a while. I loved the Narnia chronicles most - they were probably my absolute favourites for a long time, along with The Wind in the Willows.
ReplyDeleteFirst literary crush - Faramir from Lord of the Rings. Still have a soft spot for him, actually :-)
Oooh! Marg, I loved not only the Trixie books (and Jim of course), but my very first literary crush was in a Carolyn Haywood book!
ReplyDeleteRemember "Betsy's Busy Summer", "Eddie and the Boys", etc.? Well, my first literary crush was another redhead, believe it or not, when I couldn't have been more than seven or eight...and it was Rudy, I think his name was. One of Betsy's or Eddie's friends. LOL!!
I also loved Enid Blyton's Adventure series. And bunches of other books. (Actually, I was going to blog about that this coming week, after the response I got to the Trixie/Nancy post...so I'll add more there later.)
Great post and thanks for coming by my blog!
It is so wonderful to read that others also know who Enid Blyton is.. I have mentioned her on a few message boards I go to and people have no idea who I am talking about? I was also a huge Trixie Belden fan and Nancy Drew, plus Cherry Ames :) I am always looking for the books I loved as a child, my hubby goes crazy over all the books I keep bringing into the house :)
ReplyDeleteHow sad is it that I don't remember my first literary crush? LOL
ReplyDeleteWell, my first memories are Nancy Drew and Freddy the Pig books :) As far as I know, I'm the only one who's read Freddy the Pig.
ReplyDeleteJennie, I don't think I ever read a Babysitter's Club book. I did read a few, and I mean a few, Sweet Valley High books, but that's about it!
ReplyDeleteRosie, you know I have never, ever read Wuthering Heights! It's another one of those "someday" books!
Colleen, afraid I don't remember those books! I look forward to what else you have to say later this week!
Carla, my 85 year old grandmother still loves Wind in the Willows. Whenever I read it or hear it mentioned it is like a bond between us.
Roseygirl....I don't know who Cherry Ames is. :(
Kristie, you must be the only one! Never heard of it myself!
I've been re-collecting (is that a word?) all the Trixie books from my youth (can't believe I sold them all!) I also had a crush on Jim, but I think I've had a crush on every main male character in every book I've ever read. Sad, I know ;-)
ReplyDeleteBut perfectly understandable! LOL!!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely LOVED Enid Blyton's books growing up. I lived on a mission compound and one of the single missionary ladies would read the Faraway Tree books to a bunch of us kids. I just loved those stories!
ReplyDeleteHi Debi!
ReplyDeleteThanks for leaving a comment! I am thinking that I am going to start reading some of these stories again myself! If my son wants to listen then even better!