From Trixie to Taffy: My Favorite Childhood Books

Jump to Comments

I have been an avid reader ever since the 2nd grade when my teacher, Mrs. Morgan, dazzled and impressed me (and every other kid in class) with her animated readings of Charlotte’s Web, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, and the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series.  Like many, I devoured standards such as The Wonderful World of Oz, The Secret Garden, and The Chronicles of Narnia.  And though I enjoyed the standards (Narnia in particular), what I truly craved and savored was my pre-chick lit.  Some of my favorites, with the book covers I recall from my childhood, were as follows:

         

I’m willing to bet there isn’t a girl my age who didn’t read Are You There God?  It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume, or at least one of her other classics.  When I received Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great by Judy Blume for Christmas in 1983, I was convinced that it was going to be the worst book I had ever read based solely on its cover (those crop pants were hideous).  I read every Ramona Quimby book twice to to stall before finally giving in and reading it.  Proving the old adage about not judging a book by its cover true, I loved it from the first page.  Starring Sally J. Freeman as herself featured a 10-yr. old girl growing up in the 1940’s.  She listened in on people’s phone calls and attempted to prove that her neighbor was really Adolph Hitler.  I can’t imagine the damage I would have done as a child if I had been granted access to a party line.

    

In no uncertain terms, I wanted to be Harriet the Spy.  I had all the requisite tools– binoculars, notebook & pen, invisible ink, and a magnifying glass.  I probably owe a great many apologies to my childhood neighbors and my brother for my investigative efforts.  Hawkeye & Amy books were very similar to the Encyclopedia Brown series.  Each chapter was a mystery waiting to be solved, with the solutions located in the back of the book.  My favorite part was that you had to use a mirror to read the backwards-printed solutions.  Incidentally, I didn’t really like Encylopedia Brown books, but I read many of them because I was in a summer reading program at the library and the pickings were pretty slim otherwise.  I am was very competitive about contests.

     

Trixie Belden mysteries were undoubtedly my favorite childhood books (think Nancy Drew, only better).  Consider yourself warned– I fully intend to do a lengthy (and quite possibly interesting only to me) post on this subject someday.

    

Betty Ren Wright gave me goosebumps with The Dollhouse Murders and Ghosts Beneath Our Feet before Goosebumps books even existed.  Think Flowers in the Attic, only much younger.  In The Dollhouse Murders, a girl discovers a dollhouse in her great-aunt’s attic.  She witnesses mysterious occurrences in the dollhouse, and uses these clues to solve an old family murder.  Ghosts Beneath Our Feet featured ghosts rather than dolls…I remember liking the dollhouse one much better.

         

I must have had a thing for attic settings.  Two more of my favorites were Behind the Attic Wall and Secrets in the Attic .  In the former, a young girl is kicked out of another boarding school and sent to live with two aunts who don’t want her.  She starts hearing voices and enters a fantasy world of sorts.  This was probably the most mature children’s book I ever read, and I’d like to read it again to someday to see if I missed something back then.  For the life of me, I can’t remember what Secrets in the Attic was about.  I just know that I liked it at the time.

  

No girls collection would have been complete without the tales of grade school woe by Barthe DeClements.  Slumber parties, friendship issues, body image– Nothing’s Fair in Fifth Grade and Sixth Grade Can Really Kill You covered all of the critical issues of the day.  I think it’s interesting to note that many of the Amazon reviewers mentioned insensitive references to an overweight child as being potentially offensive in the present day context…just another way that society has changed over the years.

    

While I’m on the topic of grade school angst, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Taffy Sinclair books by Betsy Haynes.  I relied on my friend, Jenny, to lend me her Taffy books from time to time.  Thankfully Jenny had a generous lending policy.   [Stacy (BFF), Jenny, and I actually had our own "libraries" back then.  We placed envelopes and index cards inside each book for official check-out purposes.  We also affixed This Book Belongs To: Allison/Jenny/Stacy stickers in each book, lest there be any confusion or thievery.  Yeah, we were dorks.]

These books were an important part of my childood.  They entertained me, taught me about human nature, and kept me company each night before I fell asleep.  There were many a nights when I awoke at midnight to find the lights still on and an open book at my side.  I fall asleep way too quickly nowadays to even attempt a night-time read.

Does anybody else remember any of these books?  I’m also a little curious, what did boys read?  Hardy Boys??  My next project is a list of my favorite young-adult books (mid-chick lit).

24 Comments

Filed under Books, Literature, Nostalgia, Reading

Tags: 80's, Books, flashbacks