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[ivyblogs]

I read a lot of kid and YA fiction. I'm not sure I ever stopped reading them once I became an adult. Vintage books are fun reads (I'm a fan of Beany Malone). There's so much YA fiction nowadays you don't have to look hard to find something good

Comments

[kpacklight]

Well, Nancy Drew. I guess my writing standards rose a little, and when compared to something like LOTR or Narnia, well..

But! I loved reading the Bobbsey Twins and Trixie Belden again. Even with the sort of one-dimensional writing. So maybe I just related better to those than Nancy way back.

The Wind in the Willows. Such beautiful stuff, the unabridged version, natch.

How disappointing Little Women and the Little House series was as an adult. Boo. I loooved those books when I was young, read them a thousand times. But The Secret Garden? I will likely read another thousand times. I just love it.

[ivyblogs]

Really? I've read Little Women and Little House again and still loved them (Though you sure see Little House in a different light when you figure out the reason all those Indians are starving is because settlers are taking up all their land).

I've never been able to get into The Secret Garden, and I've never met anyone who read it and didn't like it. I'll have to try again.

[mimimimi_word]

Trumpet of the Swans by E. B. White. It wasn't nearly as good as I remembered.

OTOH, I loved Little Women, and still do today. I'll re-read it just because.

I'm reading Danny Champion of the World to my 6 YO now. I loved it as a child. It's held up well, unfortunatly,my son doens't appreciate it as much as I did/do.

Another one that I was really dissapointed in as an adult was The Best Christmas Pagent Ever.

[ivyblogs]

I liked Trumpet of the Swans too. Haven't tried to read it as an adult.

I've never read Danny Champion of the World. I'll have to look for it at the library this week.

[keryx]

Most of the Katherine Patterson books. They are seriously overwrought.

Oh, and all the later Anne of Green Gables (basically, after the first two, when she shifts from being plucky and smart to wanting to get married and be a mother, like she couldn't do both).

You know which ones didn't disappoint me, though? Lloyd Alexander's 'Prydain Chronicles' - still read em.

[ivyblogs]

You know, I was trying to remember a fantasy series that I was into as a kid, and I think it might be the Prydian Chronicles. I'm going to have to check them out again.

I only read the Katherine Patterson books as an adult. I really liked The Same Stuff as Stars.

[keryx]

You probably read the L. Alexander books - the chronicles are 'Black Cauldron', 'High King', etc.

[dragonfly1867]

I kept meaning to reply to this. I love Beany Malone, Lenora Mattingly Weber is such a great writer. I actually didn't discover those until college. Recently they were reprinted, along with the Katie Rose/Stacy Belford series--did you read those as well? I found it kind of sobering that I was now as old as Katie Rose's mother, who always amazes people that she has teenagers because she looks so slim and pretty, haha. I was also surprised in rereading the books that the mother smokes, although she always talked about quitting

[ivyblogs]

I didn't find Beany until I was an adult- around six years ago. I bought a couple books from a used book dealer at a flea market- one was Beany Malone and the other was a book called something like Three Party Line about young women who became telephone operators. I was really happy to find the reprints- though my local library is little and old enough that I actually found quite a few of her books there

[dragonfly1867]

Yes, it was pretty bad around here for a while, with stacks and cartons of books everywhere.

I think Weber was really the best in that teen genre, she had a lot more depth to her characters and the problems they encountered. Some other teen writers from that time who are pretty good are Rosamund du Jardin, Betty Cavanna, Bianca Bradbury. Florence Crannel Means and Mary Stolz are okay, but I have had a harder time really getting interested in the characters.

I think it's Four Party Line, and most likely you got the book club edition from the Best Loved Girls' Book Club. I am not sure how long the club was in existence, I have found quite a few books that were part of it (all the books were published as regular books first, and then the book club would distribute them in a later printing). Some are very good, some are really silly. One in particular had to do with a fourteen year old girl whose mom was worried because she wasn't interested in dating so kept forcing her to go to parties so she could meet nice boys. It was so awful!