On the way home from work yesterday my mom gave me a bit of a mini heart attack. Apparently my dad had been going through some of our storage and had uncovered some boxes of old books that he was claiming we had to get rid of because we didn’t have enough room. Notttt gunna happen!

I have trouble getting rid of books, especially the beloved ones. So I’ve been saving all my favorite series from when I was growing up. Mostly I’m thinking that maybe I’ll have kids who love to read (although with my luck I’ll end up with three boys who all want me to wake up early and take them to hockey *shudder*) but also, who knows maybe I’ll take a stroll down memory lane one day and re-read some of them.

Anyways, the books in storage ended up being my sisters limited collection and some family circus books <3 but it still got me thinking about those old series I used to love. Honestly, I don’t remember what ages I was reading what but here are the series I just couldn’t get enough of.

Baby Sitters Little Sister- The spin off to ‘The Babysitters Club’ (which I never read). About Kristy’s little step sister Karen. Seriously, these books are burned into my brain. Karen was in second grade so that’s probably around when I was reading them.

I remember that every second chapter (as in Chapter 2, not every other) was about how Karen’s parents were divorced and she had two lives. She also had two best friends… Nancy and Hannah. And I can’t believe I remembered that!

I remember when Karen broke her arm and her horrible haircut. Seriously, this kid was one of my best friends for years. I’m actually kind of surprised I never tried the baby sitters club once I grew into them (we actually still sell them at work) but I think it always just felt weird looking at Kristy as the one I was supposed to relate to and not just this older, more sophisticated big sister.

Next I think I moved onto Pony Pals. A series about three friends and their Pony’s. I think a lot of ten year olds go through this stage although my love of horses never went past books. This was definitely the closest I got to using reading as a way to experience a different way of living when I was younger as I’ve never been much of a country girl.

Next up… Sweet Valley Twins! Again, I never got into the more popular Sweet Valley High series although I did read a couple and check out the TV show just to see what Jessica and Elizabeth were up to. Obviously I related more to Elizabeth, the quiet bookish twin but I liked that no matter what Jessica was up to.

All my sweet valley books are still tucked away in the attic and I’m never getting ride of these. When I was looking for a picture to go with this post some fifth grade reader blog said that these books were “alright, but won’t be anyones fav. I think Jessica is snobby and mean” and I really think whoever she is was wrong on so many levels.

Yeah, I’m more of an Elizabeth but I know a lot of people who are more like Jessica and I think if anything I actually learned from these books to appreciate people who had wildly different interests than me. I’ll never be the popularity driven party girl (not that Jessica really was, the twins are twelve in these books) but Jessica always pulled through in the end. Also, their “Scary” books were the perfect level of suspense for a wimp like me :)

Annnnd of course, Miss Nancy Drew was another favorite of mine. I don’t actually remember much about these books though so it’s probably the series I most want to rediscover. Even if I can’t find my copies, this is another that we still have at work from the old hardcover books to the new super thinned down series.

Just thinking about all these books really makes me appreciate what a huge part of my life reading has been so far. Books have taken me from a quiet girl, most at home in a room full of books to an aspiring author, book store employee and book blogger. Yay for books!