# Nostalgic Young Adult Books (Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, etc)



## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

Young Adult fiction is a burgeoning genre these days--but it's so different from what used to be on offer for adolescents and teens.  It seems to me that much of the fiction labeled YA really contains adult material put into a book with a teen-friendly cover.

I was thinking back to the things I liked to read as a child and young adult, and they all seem dated and naive--but I still love them!

Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, The Boxcar Children, Cherry Ames, Student Nurse--do any of these bring back memories?  What else do you remember loving as a kid?

Julia


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

I loved Trixie Belden.. and Oh my, I wanted to meet Jim!


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## Eve Yohalem (Apr 1, 2011)

Little Women, A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, Narnia Chronicles, Little House on the Prairie, A Wrinkle in Time, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, My Side of the Mountain...Yeah, most of them are dated now (or worse), but I still love them, too!


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## Michelle Muto (Feb 1, 2011)

Black Beauty, The Black Stallion, Jungle Book...


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## VKScott (Apr 14, 2011)

Boxcar Children, Hardy Boys, nearly all of Bruce Coville's work, with a special place for the "My Teacher is an Alien" series.


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## JennSpot (Feb 13, 2009)

Another Trixie Belden fan here!  I also loved the Misty of Chincoteague series, the Black Stallion Series and borrowing my brothers Three Investigators.  

I still read YA and I agree the themes are much more adult than the books I read when I *was* a youngster.

My favorite days where when we would get the brochure for the Scholastic Books and of course the days when the ordered books actually arrived!


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## Candee15 (Jan 31, 2010)

Julia444 said:


> Young Adult fiction is a burgeoning genre these days--but it's so different from what used to be on offer for adolescents and teens. It seems to me that much of the fiction labeled YA really contains adult material put into a book with a teen-friendly cover.
> 
> I was thinking back to the things I liked to read as a child and young adult, and they all seem dated and naive--but I still love them!
> 
> ...


YES to Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and Cherry Ames. All my favorites!!! Somehow I never ended up knowing about or reading The Boxcar Children. I wonder what happened there!!!


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## Elizabeth Black (Apr 8, 2011)

I wanted to be Nancy Drew so badly when I was a kid! Reading those books got me into Sherlock Holmes stories and Agatha Christie novels later on. I also loved "A Wrinkle In Time".


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## VKScott (Apr 14, 2011)

JennSpot said:


> My favorite days where when we would get the brochure for the Scholastic Books and of course the days when the ordered books actually arrived!


Yes on the brochures! I want to hold some of that thin, crinkly paper again. Maybe more than I want to pop bubble wrap.


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## Margaret (Jan 1, 2010)

Count me in as another Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, and Cherry Ames fan. Does anyone remember a series of books by a British author called the "Shoe Books." Some of the titles were _Ballet Shoes_, _Theatre Shoes_, _Skating Shoes_, etc. They were my absolute favorite childhood series of books.


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## aaronpolson (Apr 4, 2010)

I'm a weird 'un on this, but I remember a little book called Mikey the Microbe our 3rd grade teacher read aloud.  I've never been able to find a copy...


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## ZsuZsu (Dec 27, 2009)

I LOVED the Trixie Belden books!  And I can't believe I forgot about the Misty of Chincoteague books!!!!!!!!  I read all of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books I could get my hands on too-

I found a series of "Annette" books (Funicello) in a box in my grandmother's house when I was about 11- I guess my mom was a big fan (some of the Trixie Belden's were hers too from when she was younger) and I remember LOVING those as well.... Did anyone else read any of those?


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## anguabell (Jan 9, 2011)

I read mostly "adult" books as a child but I loved Arthur Ransome and his _Swallows and Amazons_ series. Definitely dated by today's standards but those books take place in such a lovely world - where kids could have their own life and adventures without adult supervision. Hard to imagine these days.


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## Sofie (Dec 30, 2008)

> I loved Trixie Belden.. and Oh my, I wanted to meet Jim!


Jim was "hot"!


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## EliRey (Sep 8, 2010)

Judy Blume was my favorite growing up though she did cross over in her later years. But I agree, looking back now at what a controversy her book Forever caused back then because of the teen sex, it's almost laughable now. Considering what are teens are reading now that is. By golly times have changed. Makes you wonder what's to come. 

Back to the subject another one of my all time favorites where the Little House on the Prairie books. I still love watching the shows on YouTube when I'm doing laundry =)


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## KMA (Mar 11, 2009)

Margaret said:


> Count me in as another Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, and Cherry Ames fan. Does anyone remember a series of books by a British author called the "Shoe Books." Some of the titles were _Ballet Shoes_, _Theatre Shoes_, _Skating Shoes_, etc. They were my absolute favorite childhood series of books.


Noel Streatfield. I wore those out. My youngest daughter thinks *Ballet Shoes* is the best book in existence.


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## susan67 (Mar 18, 2011)

For me it was also
Nancy Drew
The Hardy Boys
Trixie Belden
A Wrinkle in Time
My side of the mountain...I so wanted to live that one.
Black Stallion
The books about the collie dog Lad and his descendants.
Jack London books
Clan of the Cave bear
Anything about dogs.
James Herriot books.


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## amandamay83 (Apr 11, 2011)

VKScott said:


> Yes on the brochures! I want to hold some of that thin, crinkly paper again. Maybe more than I want to pop bubble wrap.


Do they still do that, I wonder? The book orders? I remember having book fairs a couple different times and it was almost more excitement than my book-loving, grade-school self could handle.


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## tlrowley (Oct 29, 2008)

KMA said:


> Noel Streatfield. I wore those out. My youngest daughter thinks *Ballet Shoes* is the best book in existence.


I loved the Streatfield books as well. They made a movie of Ballet Shoes a few years ago (with Emma Watson (Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies)). It's available for rental on Amazon, or netflix has the DVD. I thought it was pretty good for a TV movie.


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## Ben White (Feb 11, 2011)

I read everything I could when I was younger--some favourites include the Uncle books (JP Martin), Encyclopedia Brown, Alvin (Alvin's Swap Shop, Alvin's Secret Code etc.), Famous Five, Secret Seven, The Magical Faraway Tree (I remember being utterly crushed when I finished the last book, because that was it, no more, not ever), the Moomintroll books by Tove Jansson, Judy Blume, Betsy Byars, Margaret Mahy ... and although they're not strictly children's authors, Barry Crump and James Herriot were two of my favourite writers when I was a young person.


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## Margaret (Jan 1, 2010)

amandamay83 said:


> Do they still do that, I wonder? The book orders? I remember having book fairs a couple different times and it was almost more excitement than my book-loving, grade-school self could handle.


Scholastic still has the monthly book orders for classrooms. Our students, especially those in the lower grades love them. We also have an annual book fair which is also though Scholastic. The proceeds provide our school library budget for the year.


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

I could not get enough Jules Verne

...and anything about airplanes


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## Shayla Kersten (Apr 17, 2011)

Trixie Belden books were my absolute favorite! I never really got into Nancy Drew but Trixie I loved. Are they on Kindle now? I have to go look!

One of the things I love about Kindle is the old books publishers/authors are uploading. The first book I downloaded when I bought my Kindle was The Lute Player by Norah Lofts. I loved that book back then but couldn't find it in print now. But all of Lofts books appear to be on Kindle now.


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

amandamay83 said:


> Do they still do that, I wonder? The book orders? I remember having book fairs a couple different times and it was almost more excitement than my book-loving, grade-school self could handle.


LOL--your post brings back good memories!

_A Wrinkle in Time_ . . . I reread that book and the whole time quartet series so many times. I still love her explanation of the tesseract. I wanted to travel like that so badly when I was ten.


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## Michelle Muto (Feb 1, 2011)

Oh yes - White Fang & Call of the Wild. Nice one Totally forgot about Jack London.

There was also Go Ask Alice and V.C. Andrews.


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## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

Oh my gosh, this thread has got me feeling so nostalgic!  I did love Misty of Chintoteague and I had a Misty figurine that I kept on my bookshelf.  Lots of happy playtime with that horse toy.

I also loved the Madeleine L'Engle trilogy--I remember being thrilled to find out that her husband played Dr. Tyler on ALL MY CHILDREN.  

I also loved Scholastic Book Fairs and would pore over those thin-papered catalogs that we got in class.  My favorite day ever was book delivery day. Well, that and library day, because not only did I get to look at books, but my mom was a volunteer in my grade school library, so I got to see her, too.  


Julia


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## prairiesky (Aug 11, 2009)

Well, I go way back.  Some of the first chapter books that I remember being read to me were The Bobbsey Twins and The Sugar Creek Gang.  I couldn't wait to see what happened next.  I loved reading any horse books.  I think that I read everything I could get my hands on by Walter Farley.


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## hsuthard (Jan 6, 2010)

Another huge Trixie Belden fan here. I first discovered them in my Grandmother's attic. My sister has been collecting first editions for a while, she was so nostalgic.


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## Anna Elliott (Apr 24, 2011)

My mom and I read ALL the Bobsey Twins series, then graduated to Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon.  I will definitely read them to my girls one day (though will be a few years since they are 4 and 20 mos.)  Did anyone else ever read the Sue Barton books about a girl studying to be a nurse?  I absolutely loved them.  And of course the Anne of Green Gables series and everything else LM Montgomery ever wrote--I read them all!


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## mscottwriter (Nov 5, 2010)

My neighbor once gave us the complete series of The Happy Hollisters.  Even as young and sheltered as I was, I found them way over the top in the syrup department, but I still read every one, lol.  I also loved all the Ramona/Beezus/Henry Higgens books by Beverly Cleary.  Those were my absolute favorites!

I write YA fiction, and it is *much* edgier than anything I ever read as a kid.  I don't include sex, but the tone is pretty dark. But there's still a lot of YA fiction that is pretty upbeat.  I'm thinking of Elle Enchanted and those books.  It's almost like the very young kids get the Nancy Drew type books, and the older kids (12 - 16), pick up the edgier stuff.  So I guess there's YA and VYA (very young adult).

I volunteered for many years at an elementary school library, and I was surprised to see how many kids still read Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.


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## Dee Ernst (Jan 10, 2011)

I never read trixie Belden, but loved Nancy Drew and Annette!!  Also loved the Black Stallion series and Albert Peyton Terhune.  For my birthday one year I got a series of animal novels - Lassie Come Home, Rascal, Black Beauty...I still have them. They're a guilty pleasure for me on snowy afternoons.


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## Anna Elliott (Apr 24, 2011)

mscott9985 said:


> My neighbor once gave us the complete series of The Happy Hollisters. Even as young and sheltered as I was, I found them way over the top in the syrup department, but I still read every one, lol. I also loved all the Ramona/Beezus/Henry Higgens books by Beverly Cleary. Those were my absolute favorites!
> 
> I write YA fiction, and it is *much* edgier than anything I ever read as a kid. I don't include sex, but the tone is pretty dark. But there's still a lot of YA fiction that is pretty upbeat. I'm thinking of Elle Enchanted and those books. It's almost like the very young kids get the Nancy Drew type books, and the older kids (12 - 16), pick up the edgier stuff. So I guess there's YA and VYA (very young adult).
> 
> I volunteered for many years at an elementary school library, and I was surprised to see how many kids still read Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.


I loved The Happy Hollisters! And speaking of Beverly Cleary, I loved Fudge and Superfudge.

Oddly enough now that I'm an actual adult I read lots of the 'edgier' YA books--looking forward to checking out yours!


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## mscottwriter (Nov 5, 2010)

> Oddly enough now that I'm an actual adult I read lots of the 'edgier' YA books--looking forward to checking out yours! Smiley


Hey, thanks, Anna!

Yes, there is a *huge* difference between Laurie Halse Anderson (I just finished "Wintergirls") and the Happy Holisters. This discussion reminds me of what I'd read about S. E. Hinton's book, "The Outsiders". I guess Ms. Hinton floored people because her book was so raw (well, for back then, I guess). I just read "The Outsiders" recently, and loved it.


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## Keith B. Darrell (Apr 27, 2011)

I used to buy a new Hardy Boys hardcover ($1.50 at Walden's Books) each week. Readers Digest published a hardcover series of Children's Classics; they were thick books, with three novels each (like Treasure Island, and Black Beauty). I loved Little Men, Alice in Wonderland, all of the Oz books, and books on fables and mythology.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Julia444 said:


> Young Adult fiction is a burgeoning genre these days--but it's so different from what used to be on offer for adolescents and teens. It seems to me that much of the fiction labeled YA really contains adult material put into a book with a teen-friendly cover.
> 
> I was thinking back to the things I liked to read as a child and young adult, and they all seem dated and naive--but I still love them!
> 
> ...


I read all those by the time I was about 9, and I moved on to more interesting fare. After I read _The Three Musketeers_ I never looked back.


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## docnoir (Jan 21, 2011)

My favorite series was ALFRED HITCHCOCK AND THE THREE INVESTIGATORS. They had a secret junkyard clubhouse and somehow ended up with limo service provided by Alfred Hitchcock, who they met once.

These were much better than the Hardy Boys books because, well, those guys were rich. They had their own boats and motorbikes and etc. I didn't have that, so I liked reading about middle-class kids who were more like me. Not perfect, with a load of other problems.

The movie MYSTERY TEAM reminded me a lot of THREE INVESTIGATORS.

If you want to pop the nostalgia bubble, pick up Joe Meno's THE BOY DETECTIVE FAILS, which is a sad end for our childhood heroes, or watch THE VENTURE BROTHERS, who savagely satirize them all.


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## Averydebow (Jan 20, 2011)

Michelle Muto said:


> Black Beauty, The Black Stallion, Jungle Book...


We had matching bookshelves in our youths. Actually, they're still there on my shelf, just buried under newer titles.


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## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

Anthony, I see THE VENTURE BROTHERS as part satire, part loving tribute.  Obviously its creators loved those shows when they were kids.  

Julia


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## docnoir (Jan 21, 2011)

Julia444 said:


> Anthony, I see THE VENTURE BROTHERS as part satire, part loving tribute. Obviously its creators loved those shows when they were kids.
> 
> Julia


Absolutely. They've got a bit of Hardy Boys, Johnny Quest (who is actually a character on VB), and lots of other nods to nostalgia. Such a great show (but also clearly for adults only).


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## SidneyW (Aug 6, 2010)

JennSpot said:


> Another Trixie Belden fan here! I also loved the Misty of Chincoteague series, the Black Stallion Series and borrowing my brothers Three Investigators.
> ...


I loved The Three Investigators and read many of them. They were kind of like Scooby Doo, strange happenings with logical explanations. Green ghosts, flaming footprints, fun stuff. I had a Trixie Belden book or two as well.

I have enjoyed The Venture Brothers and enjoyed the parody. I think it's true there is some loving tribute in there.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I see my youth in this thread. Anyone else remember "Honey Bunch and Norman?" And my favorite "boy sleuth" series was Rick Brant.


The Trixie Belden, Kindle series is available on Kindle, but, sadly, very expensive as ebooks go.

I also read all the horse and dog books listed here--glad to see Albert Payson Terhune mentioned, my first dog was named "Chips" after _A Dog Named Chips_, which is still somewhere on my bookshelf.

Betsy


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## Tamara Rose Blodgett (Apr 1, 2011)

I hate to admit to it but I really dug the Flowers in the Attic books by V.C Andrews ( as a series) and "cut my teeth" on the Nancy Drew when I was about 11. The Chronicles of Narnia were a fantastic series I tore threw preceding the Drew books... 

I read The Magician's Nephew to my youngest son when he was nine...but he became such a reader, so early that he'd snatch the book, with a big eye-roll and take it to read himself!


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## RachelAstor (Apr 2, 2011)

LOVED Nancy Drew as a kid. I get mixed feelings when I try to read them again - pretty old fashioned - but still takes me back. I have an old _Secert of the Old Clock_ from the 50s (I think) and it's one of my favorite posessions.


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## Alexandra Sokoloff (Sep 21, 2009)

I am ecstatic about where YA is today, I read the edgy and paranormal stuff all the time. But then I always read the darker stuff as a kid, too, and I think Madeleine L'Engle is a great example of dark YA (A Wrinkle In Time made me a writer).

Lois Duncan, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Jane Langton - fantastic YA supernatural/psychological/paranormal.  Loved The Three Investigators but also loved Beezus, Ramona, Henry Huggins, and anything Beverly Cleary put on paper.

Never read Trixie Belden. 

But on the more wholesome side, no one's mentioned Leonora Mattingly Weber - the Beany Malone series and Katie Rose series.  My old library had them... set during WW II and so well-written it's scary.


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## geniebeanie (Apr 23, 2009)

I read and had just about every  Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Sue Barton, Cherry Aimes, Hardy Boys, Misty, Box car Children, Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, Black Beauty, A Wrinkle in Time, The Black Stallon, I read a series about a little girl named Trixie who was about five but cannot remember her name, Peter Pan, Wizard of Oz I remember when I saw the movie I could not understand why the shoes were ruby and not silver, Treasure Island, Alice in Wonderland, Madeline, Any book by Suess, A little Princess, The little Prince, When I was growing up I always had my nose in a book, my favorite possession was my library card, My mom would takes us once a week and if our grades were okay, we would get a new book.  I had about 5000 books in my childhood, which now I regret I packed up and gave to a local children's hospital  It was called Children's Seashore House in Atlantic City.  I wish I still had a lot of them.


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## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

T.I.--I think your solitary book-loving childhood has made you the person you are today!

But the Internet sure has changed the possibilities for people who want to find like-minded friends.

Julia


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## BrentNichols (Mar 18, 2011)

I really loved the Rick Brant Science Adventure stories.  I still read them now.  Someone mentioned the Three Investigators.  They were really neat, too.


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## luvmykindle3 (Dec 5, 2010)

Growing up, I loved to read. I Loved Nancy Drew!!! I used to get the books in the mail every month. Little Women was a favorite too.  I tried to get my daughter into Nancy Drew, but she did not like books.


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## EGranfors (Mar 18, 2011)

Sue Barton
Bobbsey twins


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## navythriller (Mar 11, 2011)

docnoir said:


> My favorite series was ALFRED HITCHCOCK AND THE THREE INVESTIGATORS. They had a secret junkyard clubhouse and somehow ended up with limo service provided by Alfred Hitchcock, who they met once.
> 
> These were much better than the Hardy Boys books because, well, those guys were rich. They had their own boats and motorbikes and etc. I didn't have that, so I liked reading about middle-class kids who were more like me. Not perfect, with a load of other problems.


Me too! I loved the Three Investigators books. Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews were my heroes. Those stories were sooooooooooo much fun.


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## JILLIAN DODD (May 11, 2011)

I loved Nancy Drew, in fact my family recently purchased me a group of hardcover Nancy Drew books. I started reading them to my daughter when she was in second grade, and I would always have to stay up to finish them after she went to sleep. I thought Ned was dreamy. Another book that greatly affected my when I was young was A Wrinkle in Time.


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## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

I was a huge Trixie Belden fan.  I still have them all after my mother decided to clean out her attic.  She threatened to throw them out but I HAD to rescue them, so now they're sitting in my attic, lol.  I re-read the first one and boy was I surprised to see how dated it was.  Golly and gosh just aren't in any teen's vocab anymore and they'd probably laugh if they read a Trixie Belden book.  Still, I can hope that my daughter might enjoy them one day, so I won't be throwing them out just yet.


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## Maryann Christine (May 18, 2011)

I remember Trixie Belden! I think I bought some at Woolworths back in the seventies with my allowance money? And I may have found some at my grandparents' house. 

I remember Lois Duncan too. Anyone remember Paul Zindel? He wrote YA books in the seventies, such as "Pardon Me, You're Stepping on My Eyeball" and "My Darling, My Hamburger."


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## caseyf6 (Mar 28, 2010)

T.L. Haddix said:


> Trixie Belden - wow. I inherited two or three of those and then went on to scourge the earth for the rest. Obsessed is the only word I can think of to describe myself while I was on that quest as a young girl. I also read Nancy Drew, but I preferred Trixie. And yes, I wanted to meet "Jim", as well!
> 
> I grew up in the late 80s, early 90s, and right about that time is when they started releasing the second Nancy Drew series. Then there was Laura Ingalls Wilder, the whole Anne of Green Gables series (I have a first edition of the first book somewhere), Sweet Valley High, The Hardy Boys...
> 
> ...


TL, I was in Tucson, with my head in a book. When I couldn't get to the library, I scrounged for Readers' Digest til I got my own subscription. I always felt like Trixie and her friends would have liked me and invited me along. I was in love with Jim (he liked people who could read and who weren't perfect).


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## caseyf6 (Mar 28, 2010)

Sofie said:


> Jim was "hot"!


Snicker. Yes, he was.


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## ChristinaDaley (May 21, 2011)

I loved Nancy Drew. I'm a rather slow reader, but I think I read through the whole series in one summer. I tried to read the Babysitters Club and the R. L. Stine books, but that was just because everyone else was reading them. I read a couple and then lost interest.

I feel a bit embarrassed to say, but I read a lot of comic strip compilation books as a kid (do those count as literature? lol!). I still have my rather extensive collection of much "loved" Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes treasuries.


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## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

I also remember reading a few books in a series about three stewardesses who lived in an apartment together, probably in New York.  I got the book out of my little school library in the 70s, but I can't remember the name of the book, the author, or the "girls" who lived together.

Does it sound familiar to anyone?  I remember liking it a lot back when I was in seventh grade or so.

Julia


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## TraceyC/FL (Mar 23, 2011)

My kids recently found a couple of boxes of my old books in the garage - I'm upset they were in there, which is a whole other story.

Anyway, my 15yo was psyched to see a bunch of my Nancy Drew books - promptly adding them to "her" collection. The middle one is now reading one of my Black Stallion books.

I'm sad though because there is obviously still a box of books missing. My collectors copy of Little Women is what is standing out....

I sold a ton of books from my youth in a yard sale before I had kids. I'm still sick about that.... The ex (mr anti-books/bookshelves) didn't think we needed to save them and I caved. sigh....

The teen was the Trixie Belden reader, my mom got her a couple and it went from there. She doesn't have them all because she was buying them from the bargain bin at BN.

I love books from "back then" and enjoy reading them still. Makes me long for the times when kids could be kids....


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## mikelewis (May 31, 2011)

I loved E Nesbitt as a child - the Five Children and It, etc.

I moved on to reading adult books at the age of 12 because I had read out the whole of the junior library.

I also loved the Robert Heinlein juveniles such as Have Space, Will Travel which I bought recently for nostalgia.

Mike


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## Fancy Maverick (Mar 22, 2011)

I LOVED Trixie Belden, but was beginning to think I was the only one! I was also a big fan of Nancy Drew. I still love mysteries today. I have been unable to find Trixie Belden books as easily as I can locate Nancy Drews.


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## navythriller (Mar 11, 2011)

I loved Phyllis A. Whitney's YA mysteries. _Secret of the Stone Face_, _The Mystery of the Angry Idol_, and the rest. Good stuff!


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## navythriller (Mar 11, 2011)

mikelewis said:


> I also loved the Robert Heinlein juveniles such as Have Space, Will Travel which I bought recently for nostalgia.
> 
> Mike


I can't believe I forgot those. _Space Cadet_... _Rocketship Galileo_... _Red Planet_... Oh yeah!


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

What, no one mentioned the Bobbsey Twins


And I never heard of Trixie Belden growing up


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## KateEllison (Jul 9, 2011)

i was a HUGE Nancy Drew fan when I was about 8 years old. The first "book" I wrote (also at age  was a 3-chapter Nancy Drew knock-off that about a girl detective named Brooke. Good times.


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## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

The Famous Five by Enid Blyton and The Secret Seven. Kids solving mysteries. made me want to be a secret agent or PI. Either way, it fostered my love of reading at a young age. Thanks for reminding me of a more innocent time.........


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## Casper Parks (May 1, 2011)

As a child, never cared for Hardy Boys type of books. Read some Johnny Swift. Mostly read stand-alone books.


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## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

I so agree about Phyllis A. Whitney. I still remember buying one of her YA novels when we were on vacation--I can still see the cover--called THE MYSTERY OF THE GULLS. The main character's name was Taffy. That's about all I can recall, since I was probably about 12 when I read the book. But I recall loving it, and her, and really prising that book above all else.

Here's a link to the book, but mine had a more updated cover with a picture of a girl with long brown hair.

http://www.phyllisawhitney.com/Mystery%20of%20the%20Gulls.htm

Julia


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## Candee15 (Jan 31, 2010)

Julia444 said:


> I also remember reading a few books in a series about three stewardesses who lived in an apartment together, probably in New York. I got the book out of my little school library in the 70s, but I can't remember the name of the book, the author, or the "girls" who lived together.
> 
> Does it sound familiar to anyone? I remember liking it a lot back when I was in seventh grade or so.
> 
> Julia


Was that book Coffee, Tea or Me? I believe that was the first in a series but am not positive.


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## LunaraSeries (Jun 19, 2011)

I read almost all of the Hardy Boy books.  They are still great books to me.  

I was disappointed when I found out that it was a bunch of ghost writers but what can you do?


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## Patricia (Dec 30, 2008)

Candee15 said:


> Was that book Coffee, Tea or Me? I believe that was the first in a series but am not positive.


I bought that book in paperback when I was newly married. I don't remember it being part of a series, but it might have been. I'm looking forward to the new ABC show about '60s stewardesses called "Pan Am". The promo for that show reminded me of this book (although I don't really remember what the book was about).


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## Patricia (Dec 30, 2008)

LunaraSeries said:


> I read almost all of the Hardy Boy books. They are still great books to me.
> 
> I was disappointed when I found out that it was a bunch of ghost writers but what can you do?


I was really disappointed, also, when I heard that those books were written by a series of writers. I wanted to believe that Carolyn Keene and Laura Lee Hope were real people!


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## BowlOfCherries (May 8, 2009)

I also loved reading the Nancy Drew mysteries growing up.  There were so many great stories and adventures -  My Side of the Mountain, Kon Tiki, The Pearl, The Hardy Boys, Majorie Morningstar, Call of the Wild, The Prince and the Pauper, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,  To Build a Fire, Joy in the Morning, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

To whoever mentioned *The Outsiders* by S.E. Hinton -- she was only 16 when she wrote that. It came out in 1966 (or maybe 67).

This is a very interesting book -- a series of letters from Ursula Nordstorm, covering 4+ decades. She was the children's book editor at Harper and Row and edited many of the books that people here grew up with, including my all-time favorite *Harriet the Spy* by Louise Fitzhugh. Unfortunately, the book is not available in a Kindle version.


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## 31842 (Jan 11, 2011)

Anyone remember the old Linda Craig series?  It was like Nancy Drew... but on horseback!  My mom used to bribe me with those books... an "A" on my spelling test meant I could have a Linda Craig, Nancy Drew, or Bobsey Twins book.  I was a HUGE fan of the Shoes books and Trixie Beldon, too.  My other favorite book was The Indian in the Cupboard.  Anyone?  Anyone?


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## NikiBurnham (Jul 23, 2011)

What a happy thread!  

I'm another one who loved Trixie Belden.  I still have roughly 70 Trixie titles on my shelf, all from the early- to mid-80s.  Along with Trixie, I read Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys.  Read a few Bobbsey Twins, but by the time I'd heard of the series I was past it.  After Trixie, I read every Robert Louis Stevenson (loved anything with adventure), Jules Verne, and then Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.  Moved on to S.E. Hinton (Rumble Fish, The Outsiders), had a mad Judy Blume glom, and read The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings followed by the Clan of the Cave Bear series (man, was that series eye-opening for a young teen!)

As for what's between the pages of YA books today:  some of the books I read when I was younger, like the Trixie books, would likely be categorized as middle grade now, which--when I think back--is actually when I read those books, about 5-7th grade.  Today, Percy Jackson and Allie Finkle books have a huge portion of those bookshelves, along with some of the classics I read.  When I was an older teen, there was very little between those type of books and stories like Clan of the Cave Bear.  It was pretty much Blume and Hinton.  So I'm glad to see that gap filled by the books that are labeled YA/Teen today.


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