Books of My Childhood, Books of My Life

A million. books get published in a year and there are TOO MANY for us to consume. Oh, but try we do. Before I started blogging, I read some amazing books. Books that are amazing and that I love to this day. Reviewing them would be ideal but I can’t review every book I’ve ever read. Too much time has passed  though and my memory isn’t that great.

These are books that I grew up with. With some of these I remember having to wait for the new releases, which was kind of a new thing for me since these were the first series I’d read that hadn’t already been fully published when I started reading them.

There are really some great books here that I think y’all should check out if you haven’t already, or hand to a younger reader. So here’s a list of books/series that I read when I was younger and absolutely loved and have very fond memories of now to this day. These are some of the first book series I ever completed.

1. The Books of Pellinor by Alison Croggon

I know these are by no means the greatest covers in the world, but I absolutely adored this series. This series was published about 10 years ago. I remember excitedly waiting for The Singing to become available to buy in the US. This world was so enveloping and this is a series I would really like to have on my shelves and reread.

2. The Land of Elyon by Patrick Carman

Okay, there are technically 5 books in this series but the original three are the best and the ones that I truly fell in love with as a kid. (they are also the best ones.) I have read these books multiple times. My mom actually gave me this series and I still have it one my shelf to this day. I’ve actually be thinking about rereading it to be honest.

3. Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan

Okay, this series has 12 books in it, so I’m not going to put every single cover in this post, but I’ve read nearly every book in this series twice. I would like to go back and reread the series and write up reviews for them all on the blog but I don’t know if that’ll ever happen. This was easily my favorite series and I still read books from this world. The author is continuing on with a sequel series as well as a prequel series and they it is absolutely wonderful.

4. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

I remember eagerly waiting for these books to come out. And then I’d have to wait until my mom finished reading them before I could read them. Depending on who got their hands on it next, I may have to wait until my sister finished reading the new release before I could. These books were a hot commodity growing up and it was really exciting for me to hear that Mull is continuing Seth and Kendra’s story through his new series, Dragonwatch.

Honorable Mentions:

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini: Okay, I read and liked this series growing up. This series is SO long. Paolini’s editor really needed to… well, edit a lot more. They’re still really good.

The Hobbit  & The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien: So I actually read The Hobbit when I was quite young. It took me years (literally) to read this entire series but I did it. Great books, y’all. This is really down here because I feel like y’all already know how much I love it, but yay for starting it young! (I didn’t finish this series until I was 17…)

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling: I started this series young but wasn’t allowed to finish it until I was older (long story) so I only read the first couple of books and had to stop reading for a long time. It wasn’t until my mid teens that I actually was able to finish the series. The movies were my gateway for a long time. So while it was definitely a story that I grew up with, it just doesn’t quite fit on this list for me.

The Secrets of Droon by Tony Abbott: I never finished this series but I read the first 12 books in it. These really sparked my imagination and love for the fantasy genre.

Pixie Tricks by Tracey West: This is the first series I ever finished. I was so proud of myself for finishing it y’all.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians by Rick Riordan: I couldn’t resist putting this on the list. I’m not really sure why, but when I think of books that I read growing up this series just doesn’t really come to mind, even though I did actually start it over a decade ago.

What are some books/series that you grew up reading? What are some of your favorites? Did you read any of the books I listed when you were younger too?