a rekindled love

For whatever reason lately, I have once again discovered my love for middle grade books. I think my mind is just so incredibly serious, too serious for my own good, that I tend to try to hunt out novels to match that, either in topic or emotion. That generally lands me amongst the classics, which I do love...but I can rarely get myself to read much anymore. I seem to have those lovely favorites (Great Expectations) that I feel just can't be topped, and enter into the books with too high of expectations and quickly find myself tossing it aside when it isn't met early on in the novel. I think the only classic that I've truly been pulled in to read in a long time has been The Count of Monte Cristo, which I've just been hesitant in starting that monster of a book now that I have the unabridged version.
Now, my mother loves going to garage sales whenever she can and finds great deals on middle grade books (such as $.25 a book sometimes!) for my girls and sends them our way. We have an abundance of wonderful series, all in pretty hardbacks that look to be new....that are not being read, simply because my daughters' have different interests at the moment. I couldn't get myself to be rid of them though, and have just been moving around these stacks of middle grade series from one room in our house to another. A couple of weeks ago I decided to pick up Midnight for Charlie Bone, the first book in Children of The Red King series. I was reminded how much I really enjoy reading books from this 9-12 year age group; they are just fun! I think sometimes I have these labels of age groups stuck in my mind and I don't even realize it. Middle grade books is something I know a lot about, I browse through them all the time finding ones that are interesting, but never really pick them up for myself- just because, I guess my mindset is that I need to find a more serious, adult book for myself. I have been so wrong though! I was flooded with memories of other middle grade books that I have read and thoroughly enjoyed over the years (my adult years), and found myself wondering why I haven't acknowledge that I should be indulging myself in these magical tales all the time!
So, I think you will be hearing a lot more about books from this genre more often on my blog. I am guessing I must need them to help balance me out in some way. I am also guessing that my college background (I have a Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education) has me relating quite easily to these books. I am also hoping that reading middle grade books will help to bring some creativity to the surface that has been hidden for some time, as I use to write a lot of stories for children in this age group and would like to do so again. Anyways....I'm sure I rambled on enough! Now I will share some series that we have floating around in our house not really belonging to anyone in specific that I intend to read through:

Inkworld Trilogy by Cornelia Funke. We own all 3 books.

Children of the Red King series by Jenny Nimmo. We own all 8 in the series.

Leven Thumps series by Obert Sky. We own all 5 in the series.

Emily Windsnap series by Liz Kessler. I believe we own at least 3 of the 6 books in this series.

Wildwood Chronicles by Colin Meloy. The first book in this series actually does have an owner...me! As of this past weekend, it was one of my two books that I couldn't part with in the bookstore. So far there is 3 books out in this series. I have really high hopes for this book series and hope I fall in love with it. This first book really reminds me of Into the Woods by Lyn Gardner, and I loved that book. I believe Lyn Gardner also wrote a sequel titled Out of the Woods that I should probably also read...which by the way, if you love fun fairytale mash-ups, I would definitely pick up Into the Woods!

 

So, I have a lot of books just laying around our house that are begging to be read. Aside from those books I listed, there are also other series that my girls own and love that I am sure they would be tickled to have me asking to borrow. I think all of these books will keep me busy for quite a while! I think I am also going to really try harder to use our local library more often, as opposed to buying books. I think with reading middle grade readers, I feel that it is easier for me to do so, which I know doesn't make any sense! However, if I do love Wildwood as much as I am thinking I will....I most definitely will cave in and buy the next two. I just have a feeling they will be books that I will want to reread a lot. Anything else that strikes my fancy, I will be pulling off a library shelf!