Okay, so we all have our Narnia and L'Engle favorites that stand the test of time. And Harriet the Spy was a movie and is still very popular, as are the Beverly Clearly books. But there were many books I loved in grade school that seemed to fall off the face of the earth...

As recently as 2002 many of these were out of print, though thanks to J.K. Rowling, kids started reading fiction again and many have been reprinted.

These are not my ten all-time favorites, but they are the 10 books (or series of books) I loved that no one seems to talk about anymore...but which are available again.

In no particular order...

1a to 1h. The Great Brain series (Don't miss the "discovered" book that was found just a few years ago after John D. Fitzgerald died.) Tom and his brother JD ar e Catholic in Mormon territory in a series of misadventures of early 20th century. Great books.

2. The Witch of Blackbird Pond...spooky and delicious

3. Five Little Peppers and How They Grew: One of the most enduring children’s books. It is very dated and the turn of the 20th century mindsets can be off-putting, but the family’s love is manifest and the feelings are genuine.


4 & 5: Gone Away Lake and Return to Gone Away Lake, Elizabeth Enright. City kids discover a lost summer colony and fun and mystery ensues.

6a to 6d The Melendy Books by Elizabeth Enright: The Saturdays; The Four Story Mistake; And Then There Were Five; and Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze. These books, set right around the late 30's and early 40's tell the tale of the Melendy family. Ask my siblings. They found it hard, if not impossible to live up to my expectations of siblings after reading these wonderful books.


7a to 7g The All-of-A-Kind Family Series: Five Jewish sisters in NYC before WWI…simple pleasures, tragedies large and small. These books introduced me to Jewish traditions and opened up my world a bit.

8a to 8c: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
Black Hearts at Battersey
Nightbirds on Nantucket
(The first 3 books in the "Wolves Chronicles" by Joan Aiken)
Victorian grand guignol for the pre-teen set. Great adventure stories with mostly, but not exclusively, female protagonists. (Warning: IMHO, the newer books in teh series were a blatant attempt to horn in on the Harry Potter franchise and just don’t hold up.)


9. Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates
Dated 19th century children's book but a great yarn nonetheless.

10a to 10?: THe Encyclopedia Brown books...fiction with a quiz...too much fun. I read them all cover to cover as soon as they came out. I wanted to be him.

Honorable Mention: The Bobsey Twins