Could be the book you loved the most, the series you daydreamed about, book that inspired you, fascinated you, your comfort read…anything.
And why.
I LOVED the Anne McCaffrey Pern books. I would walk around daydreaming about new adventures set in the books’ world. The Dragonsong books really connected my love of music with my love of fantasy (and animals).
This is pre-teen list:
A Wrinkle in Time - Meg is most people as an awkward youngester who doesn’t quite fit in 100%. Again, she saves the day by rescuing her father and brother, with the help of benevolent mentors/beings who don’t dictate every little step.
Trixie Belden - I’ve forgotten how old she was meant to be but loved how this little girl could solve mysteries by using her brain and curiosity - empowering. And the fact boring ol’ suburbs could have interesting mysteries to solve was another attraction point.
There are many others but these two for some reason are what comes to mind ATM.
Trixie is 13 in the early books. I remember that she seemed much older to me when I read them–around age 11, I think. I read the whole series, which was tricky because the library didn’t stock series fiction back then, and I didn’t have much allowance so buying books was hard to do. Finally got a bunch of them when a store near us was going out of business and I got them at something like 75% off.
Yes, she seemed so sassy and much older than I was when I read them too.
Well-stocked libraries (public funding) are so important for kids! My school’s library just happened to stock the series, but sounds like you got lucky with the sale.
I remember reading Tricia Belden and the Mysterious Code when I was around 8. I loved the idea of secret codes, languages, and ciphers. Also, the world of the 1950s was just as magical, weird, and fantastical as an actual imaginary world.
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