TIME: "Top 10 Kids' Book Series We Miss"

[JamesG]

Top 10 Kids' Book Series We Miss
Friday, Mar. 25, 2011


Next week, the girls from Sweet Valley High will return in a sequel about what Jessica and Elizabeth are up to a decade later. TIME takes a look at the young-adult series we cherished in our youth and would happily reread now:




10. Betty MacDonald's Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle







Many of today's kids, just like those in the mid–20th century, when Betty MacDonald published the four original Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books, don't put away their toys. Some don't want to take a bath.

There are, in this day and age, still Never-Want-to-Go-to-Bedders, Slow-Eater-Tiny-Bite-Takers and Interrupters.




But many 21st century kids (despite the fact that in 2007, decades after MacDonald's death, a fifth installment was put out by her daughter, who added several new stories to one previously unpublished by her mother) may not be familiar with the lovable Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.

She could cure any behavioral malady with her magic and wisdom. Who couldn't love a protagonist with such a fun name and an upside-down house?

If only Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle were around today to offer cures for some more grownup problems.











9. Beverly Clearly's Ramona






The eight books Beverly Cleary wrote about Ramona Quimby and her older sister Beezus (real name: Beatrice) are some of the most charming young-adult books ever written.

Ramona started out as a minor character in Cleary's Henry Huggins book series but her silly, happy-go-lucky attitude quickly made her a favorite among fans — and the author herself.




In the books, Ramona gets into all sorts of trouble when she plays with worms, pulls a classmate's curly hair, makes a tiara out of burrs and refuses to eat tongue for dinner. (Who wouldn't?)

The last Ramona book came out in 1999 but if 94-year-old Cleary wrote another one, we would gladly read it.











8. Francine Pascal's Sweet Valley High






Well before young tween readers were obsessed with vampires, they were obsessed with a set of blue-eyed, blonde twins with "perfect size-six figures."

Beginning in 1983, the Sweet Valley High series followed the enviable Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield as the girls navigated the tricky world of friendship and boys.




Though identical in appearance, the 16-year-old twins couldn't have been more different in disposition: squeaky-clean Liz had a heart of gold and the grades to match, while devious Jess cared more about her popularity and constantly rotating cast of boyfriends.

Add a utopian California setting and plenty of hijinx and it's easy to see why the series inspired legions of young fans, not to mention nearly half a dozen spin-off series, a board game and a (short-lived, terribly acted) television show.





Luckily, we don't have to waste time wishing creator Francine Pascal would add to the series.

Sweet Valley Confidential hits stores on March 29, offering us both a peek into the twins' more scandalous lives 10 years later and a chance to revel in some girlhood nostalgia.











7. Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House






The best thing about Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series? The books are actually true. Well, for the most part.

Wilder was born in 1867 in rural Wisconsin, but she spent much of her early childhood in a part of Kansas that was not yet open to homesteading. Later, her family moved to Iowa and Minnesota.

Although Wilder's books are based on real stories (for example, her sister Mary really did go blind), some of the dates and details are fudged to make the books more readable.

But the spirit of frontier life remains intact, making Wilder the U.S.' most famous child pioneer.











6. W.E. John's Biggles






The sole non-American entrant in this list — we'd need a separate catalog of book series from across the pond to do them true justice — the Biggles adventures gets a mention here through the sheer volume of its oeuvre.

W.E. Johns, a former air-force pilot from World War I, wrote nearly 100 books covering the exploits of James Bigglesworth, nicknamed Biggles, a daring British fighter pilot and proto–James Bond figure who can battle in the open sky but also sleuth stealthily in the suqs of the Middle East.

The tales of Biggles' derring-do, translated in numerous languages, were cherished by whole generations of boys in the decades following the end of World War I and into the Cold War.





To some readers now, the books, which channel a much forgotten British imperial swagger, may seem a bit problematic — maybe even at times racist. But TIME finds charm in Biggles' anachronism.

In an era when austerity measures have led Britain to put some of its prized military hardware up for sale, it's fun to revel in these breathless, exciting stories of seaplanes and Spitfires.











5. R.L. Stine's Goosebumps






R.L. Stine likes scaring young people. From 1992 to 1997, his Goosebumps series made every youngster in the U.S. think twice about things that went bump in the night.

With titles like Say Cheese and Die, Welcome to Dead House and A Night in Terror Tower, Stine told horror and sometimes supernatural-filled tales of kids whose dogs turn into werewolves, who find themselves trapped inside a tower of terror and whose innocuous toy shrunken heads give them strange, dangerous powers.




While Stine continues to write under the Goosebumps umbrella with his spin-off series Goosebumps: HorrorLand, we want a return to the original series, which featured kids in their homes and sleepaway camps (the more realistic the setting, the more scary a story is).

TIME wonders what Stine's spooky mind would do with today's technology such as Facebook and Twitter. What happens when those social-networking sites take over your life? Oh wait, they already have.











4. Gertrude Chandler Warner's The Boxcar Children






The Boxcar Children series, which included more than 120 books by several writers, centers around four runaway children who find shelter in an old train car.

They solve mysteries, play with their dog Watch and enjoy freedom and adventures with a reckless abandon most kids only dream about. Which is precisely why the children were so popular for generations of elementary students.

We'd be happy to see a revival of the adventure series considering the grandfather the children tried to escape from is now our editor and our boxcar is our shoe-box studio apartment.











3. Franklin W. Dixon's The Hardy Boys






This series was so popular that it inspired the equally loved Nancy Drew series (and even paired the two on television in the 1970s). It followed Frank and Joe Hardy, amateur detectives who stumble upon mysteries to solve and murder cases to crack.

It was popular with young boys because of the wholesome nature of the two characters who unwittingly got involved in clashes of good and evil. And, of course, good always prevailed.

There was only a brief TV series, so maybe it's time to bring the Hardys back for a new generation of boys, this time as the "Hardy Men" with Justin Timberlake as Joe and Sean Penn as Frank.











2. Ann M. Martin's The Baby-Sitter's Club






Perhaps the most important book series in the lives of young girls in the late '80s and early '90s, Ann M. Martin's Baby-Sitters Club made young girls everywhere wish they were babysitters.

It all started with Kristy's Great Idea, and 131 books (and several spinoff series) later club members Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia and Stacey, and later Dawn and junior members Mallory and Jessi, had seen it all.

There were ghosts and house fires, birthday parties, boyfriends and breakups, absent parents, summer camps and kidnapped cats, all carefully documented in the journals the club members kept and the books' lucky readers enjoyed.




Today, the babysitters would be pushing 40 and there are so many questions:

Did Mary Anne and Logan reconcile and get married?
How is Stacey doing with her diabetes? And does she still dot her I's with hearts?
Is Dawn a vegan now?
Did Claudia ever kick that junk-food habit?
Does Kristy still coach Kristy's Krushers?
How did Jessi's ballet career turn out?
And what about Mallory? Is she selling children's books somewhere?



Clearly, we need a "Baby-Sitter's Club: Where Are They Now?" Ann M. Martin, are you listening?











1. Carolyn Keene's Nancy Drew






Fictional teen sleuth Nancy Drew had been around since the 1930s, solving crimes and irking adults with her snooping.

The books, written by a number of ghostwriters under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene, depicted Nancy first as a 16-year-old smarty-pants who graduated high school early and pursued her dream of being a detective.

(Later editions raised her age to 18 and also did away with some of the racist stereotypes that had appeared in earlier versions.)





In 2003, after more than 70 years of solving mysteries, the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series ended.

Nancy would go on to appear in a series called Girl Detective, in which she drove a hybrid car, used a cell phone and bugged some readers who felt that the new Nancy was ditzy and constantly involved in tedious teenage banalities.

We want the old Nancy back. The perfectionist, nerdy Nancy who wasn't afraid of a dark alley and popped out a magnifying glass from time to time.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/pa...061334,00.html

[catlover79]

Boy, that list brings back some awesome memories. Here are two other series I loved as a "tween":

[steevo]

My brother had an entire collection of those original Hardy Boys books. We used to enjoy reading those when we were young.

[ZeldaGilroy]

Is it bad that after reading this I am planning to go out and get Sweet Valley Confidential on Tuesday? I loved those books!

[angiefan]

I'm planning to get Sweet Valley Confidential. I hope our borders doesn't close I can order Sweet Valley Kids,Out of print. I need to get 2 of The Martha years[Little House] The Charlotte years[?] The Caroline Years and The Rose Years.

[Miss Lisa]

I used to love Goosebumps. Did anyone on here ever read Junie B Jones?

[ZeldaGilroy]

Originally Posted by Miss Lisa

Did anyone on here ever read Junie B Jones?

When I taught first grade I used to read Junie B. Jones aloud to my class every day. I loved it as much as they did! I have all of them in multiple copies.

[catlover79]

How about this lady, who always took everything literally, with disasterous (and hilarious) consequences? I STILL love her!!!

[JamesG]

I remember seeing most of the books on this list from my school library.

I was really into the Goosebumps books and The Hardy Boys.

I also read a few of The Boxcar Children books but they never interested me.




LOL, I also used to look at all the girls on the covers of the Girl Talk and Baby-Sitter's Club books.

Sometimes when our class had "free-time" the boys would ask each other who they liked. We had all the books laid out and some of the girl classmates, who actually wanted to read them, got mad at us.





Not listed here I liked the Curious George books as well as Judy Blume's Fudge series.

I also watched the Fudge tv-series but it didn't last that long.

[catlover79]

I just bought a Curious George book for my nephew yesterday to put in his Easter basket. I also loved the Fudge books - and I do remember the TV show. Eve Plumb played the mom, and her Brady mom, Flo Henderson, played her mom on this show as well.

[Torgo]

Hardy Boys is the only one from the list I read. Still have them.

Also read the Encyclopedia Brown series, Fudge series, McGurk Mystery series.

Also loved Choose Your Own Adventure and Dungeon & Dragon Endless Quest(which were like Choose Your Own Adv )

[browneyes106]

I liked the Goosebumps, Ramona and The Babysitters Club series books. I did read some books from the other series on the list a few times when I was growing up. Did anyone else like Stine's Fear Street book series?

[Marvo301]

I read a lot of Bobbsey Twins books when I was a kid.

[old grouch]

As a kid, I enjoyed 'The Hardy Boys', 'Little House' 'The Bobbsey Twins' and 'The Boxcar Children'. That 'Biggles in Borneo' looks pretty intriguing, too. Does anybody else remember 'Little Britches'???

[fol_fan1989]

I liked the Amelia Bedelia, Junie B Jones, Baby-Sitter's Club, and Boxcar Children series.