I have been a reader for most of my life. I was very excited to read “chapter books” when I was 5 or 6 years old. By the time I was heading into middle school, I was reading King, Grisham, and Clancy. I have no idea why my adolescent brain liked Tom Clancy, I can’t stand his writing now, but goodness, I read Executive Order like 50 times back then. Jack Ryan was my hero. I was a loner who preferred books. Damn, I’m still like that. 🤣

What I thought would be fun would be to try to remember some of my favorite books from my childhood. These are books I read over and over again, and most of them stick with me even today.

Matilda by Roald Dahl⌗

Matilda was Harry Potter before Harry Potter. And despite being a boy, and probably thinking that girls were icky, I loved Matilda. The idea of rising up against the school leaders was a story that any kid could get behind. And there was magic. I loved the movie too, and watched it over and over and over again. Drove my family nuts.

Charlie And the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl⌗

Another classic. The book is way better than the movie, by the way. Not to say that the original movie is bad, but the book is just so epic the movie can’t compete. Again, this is a story that all kids can relate to. We all knew kids exactly like the “villains” in that book. Or perhaps we were like those kids.

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude CHandler Warner⌗

I loved these books. I only remember a few of them vividly, but I read them all, and loved every single one.

Fear Street Series by RL Stine⌗

I’m no longer a horror kinda guy, but I loved that shit back in my pre-teen and teenage years. The Fear Street books were amazing. I loved the situations that those teenagers found themselves in, and Stine has a way of writing that just pulls you into the story. It didn’t hurt that there was always a beautiful teenaged girl on the cover. I was a boy, so sue me.

Goosebumps by RL Stine⌗

I wasn’t as big a fan of this series as I was of Fear Street but there were some good books here, and the TV show that went along with them back then was awesome.

The Fudge Series by Judy Blume⌗

I loved Superfudge. It was probably my favorite book for a couple years.

Mrs. Firsby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien⌗

Smart animals are always cool. The story surrounding the Rats of NIMH was/is amazing. The idea that they were so smart and built up their own little civilization? I loved it and probably read it 100 times. I never got into the sequels that were written by O’Brien’s daughter, but the original was amazing.

Executive Orders by Tom Clancy⌗

I found this book on the new releases rack of my library in 1997 (it came out in 1996, but we live in BFE, so it took a while to get it). I was 12 years old. I proceeded to read it over and over and over again. There’s just something about a regular dude becoming president that got to me. I don’t know why. I was 12. I no longer care for Clancy’s writing, but Executive Orders which is actually quite deep into the Jack Ryan series, was my entry point into that world. I went back and read Hunt for Red October and all the rest, and found I liked quite a few of them. Without Remorse is probably my favorite, but I didn’t read that until high school, I don’t think.

I’m sure there are more that I’m forgetting. What are some of your favorite books from when you were young?