I Love Children's Books

 

I just finished reading The Star that Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson, and I thought, “This may be one of my new favorite books.” Not THE favorite, but near the top.

I love reading children’s books, and especially middle-grade fiction. The Star that Always Stays is about a girl living in Michigan in the early 1900s. Most of it takes place among people who don’t share her Ojibwe heritage, and she doubts herself for several reasons. I won’t tell you any more in case you want to read the book.

It isn’t my top favorite of the recently published books for children, however. That distinction goes to The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, which tells the story of a British girl who evacuates to the countryside during World War II. The sequel, The War I Finally Won, is almost as good. Again, I won’t give you any details in case you want to read them.

Then there are all the books that I grew up with or read to my own children. When asked, I usually say that my favorite is Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maude Montgomery, but I'm not sure that’s true. That list is probably topped by The Borrowers by Mary Norton. I love the creativity involved in finding a different use for ordinary objects.

The list of my favorite children’s books would be incomplete without Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie series, C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series, Louisa May Alcott’s books, and the more recent historicals by Sandra Dallas.

I can’t finish without mentioning some books for younger children. The Amelia Bedelia books make me laugh as she takes everything literally, and The Boxcar Children series starts with the same creativity I enjoy in The Borrowers.

Actually, this list barely scratches the surface, but it makes the point.

I love reading children’s books.