Top Ten Tuesdays is hosted weekly by The Broke and Bookish and anyone is free to participate! This week’s subject is another freebie, so I’m with middle grade or early reader books that give me nostalgia like NO other. These are books I associate with my childhood when I started to read on my own or iconic books from my childhood that were just So. Damn. Good. Again in no particular order here are my top picks for books that give me nostalgia.

  • Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
    I mean, you guys HAD to know this one would be on this list. I demand an accurate TV show of this book; it will inspire girls everywhere. I will always talk about this book because it’s feminist af. Ella was so ahead of her time.
  • Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
    But how could anyone born in the 90s ignore this book? It was LITERALLY EVERYWHERE. No one could escape it. Like alohomora my heart I will never not love these books. I will crush you at Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit. Also Jim Dale is objectively the best audiobook reader.
  • Holes by Louis Sacher
    Pen-dance-ski. Like who could forget this book? Literally no one. And everything just works together like an orchestra. And the warden gets hers and so do all the boys! They never have to dig another hole again. The past and future intertwining was magical and so well done. And everyone will remember this movie as Shia Labeouf’s breakout of Even Steven.
  • The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
    I remember thinking this book was SO GOOD. My introduction to dystopic novels (I started young). And then I was so blow away when The People of Sparks came out when I was in high school. I didn’t even know what to do.
  • Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park
    The sass is strong with this one. Park has this amazing voice and although I listened to most of these on tape, I identified with some of the stories well. Like the first one. Where Junie B. skips the bus and stays at school? That was me, except I fell asleep on the bus and woke up and everyone was gone and I missed my stop. Good times.
  • Eye Witness Books
    IDK about you, but during free time from 2-4 grade I always reached for these books. There were so many pictures and everything was so visually appealing. It didn’t even feel like learning! My particular favorite was The Titanic version. I’ve always been fascinated by The Titanic and it’s tragic sinking.
  • Magic Tree House Series by Mary Pope Osborne
    OK, so I never actually read very many of these books. But they were on every shelf. Like every time you turned around one of these books was staring you in the face. And there’s like a million of them. I would never be able to read them all now, much less as a kid.

What are your childhood favorites? Let me know in the comments below!