I’ve been collecting books since I could read them. My collection has now expanded far beyond my bookshelf, but here’s the series that filled them back when I was just getting started:

“Karen books”

Actually, "Babysitter's Little Sister", but that's not what my family called them, especially by the time our collection expanded to take up nearly an entire shelf. Remember the chapter in each book where Karen explained her life? I was probably one of the only kids who did not totally skip it-- I was interested in how the same information could be explained in slightly different ways each time. A future English major indeed.

"Magic Attic Club"

I remember being fascinated by the two stories in each book– “real life” outside the mirror and the magical story within– and the way they connected to each other. In-story, the overall concept was also fascinating: what if you could play dress up and really become anyone from a counselor at a cheerleading camp to a snow queen in a magical kingdom? It would be an imaginative second-grader's dream come true.

"W.I.T.C.H."

A Scholastic book order find. (Remember that thin papery order form? I'd spend the whole bus ride home narrowing down my choices.) Magical girls, elemental powers... and a surprising storyline about good, evil, and manipulation as the series went on. I even made up my own mental fanfic about being discovered by Will or Hay Lin and joining the team. I just couldn't figure out what other element there was for me to control...

"Dear America/Royal Diaries"

Even before I started my own journal, I loved books written in that form. My first Dear America taught me about the Oregon trail, and eventually led to a visit to Register Cliff. (Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, for both the book and the trip!) My favorite Royal Diaries book, Elizabeth I, was my introduction to the wives of Henry VIII. Cleopatra, another favorite, taught me about ancient Roman culture, and that the famous queen was not Egyptian by blood, but Greek.

"Abby Hayes"

This series, which also featured a fictional journal, was the one that inspired me to start my own journals. I loved the parts from Abby's journal (printed in purple, in the earlier books!) because of her sometimes goofy tone, her "roving reporter" news reports, her questioning of idioms, and her love of lists. As you may have noticed, I’m also a fan of lists. For a year or so, my voice in my journals sounded suspiciously like Abby’s. ("Question: Why are eyes kept peeled? Why not chopped, sliced, or cored? I’ll keep my eyes cored for...