"OH NANCY!"

I used to read a whole lot. I would gobble up vast amounts of books in very little time. But it seems in the past year or so I have just not been very into reading. TV, at this point in my life, is more entertaining. Someone needs to take the blame for this crisis and I have placed that blame on two separate entities. #1: SCHOOL. When I am forced to spend most of my free time reading things that I don't choose, it can be difficult to actually start to read something on my own. #2: YouTube. Nuf said. Now, I realize that I sound shallow and quite frankly DUMB, so I have decided to get on this problem and try to change it. I thought I would share some of my favorite childhood books to GET IN THE MOOD. Each of these books will be given an adjective so ya'll know how good they are. (: So folks, here they are. 

 #1: The Nancy Drew Mysteries by Carolyn Keene. I am not kidding. These books made up my childhood, I own them all, and I think that anyone who reads them (there are 56, so you had better get on that) will be a better person for it. I learned how to read from these books, and I believe that my vocabulary is more well developed than most people (not to toot my own horn) because of them. My personal favorite is the Secret of the Golden Pavilion. Yes, this post is about books, but you might as well check out the 1970s TV show as well starring Pamela Sue Martin as well as Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy as the Frank and Joe Hardy. Oh, the word is....GROOVY.

#2: Famous Dead People: Henry VIII and His Chopping Block by Alan MacDonald. I have always loved Tudor history, and this book is one of the most hilarious and entertaining ones I have ever read. It is almost entirely compromised of comic strip-like illustrations that are surprisingly accurate. NIFTY

#3: The Great Picture Robbery by Leon A. Harris. This is about a mouse who lives in the Louvre who prevents the Mona Lisa from being stolen by scary people. There are not enough positive words to describe this book so I will just stick with MARVELOUS.

#4: Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants by Dave Pilkey. Most kids at some time have read these books, no matter what gender and that is because they are HILARIOUS. The best part of this book is when you can match up your name to the list of weird words to see what your Poopypants-given name is. Mine: Zippy Potty Biscuits. 

#5: The Boxcar Children: The Mystery Bookstore by Gertrude Chandler Warner. STELLAR. Violet, Henry, Jessie, and Benny, go to New Orleans where they help to save a mystery bookstore. I loved this book because it combined my love of mystery books with New Orleans, where I was born. My favorite scene is where they go to Cafe du Monde and eat beinets. It reminds me of when Fred eats them in Scooby Doo on Zombie Island and gets a powdered sugar moustache...anyone, anyone? 

#6: The Doll People by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin illustrated by Brian Selznick. Again, the reason that I loved this book is because I could connect it to something in my own life, this time my...you guessed it...DOLL HOUSE. Coincidentally, my favorite book of all time, the Invention of Hugo Cabret, is written and illustrated by Brian Selznick! Anyways, I give the Doll People a ZESTY.

Alright, even though there are many other books that could blab about, this is getting too long so I must shove off. One last thing, this is my favorite person of the week-----> www.youtube.com/KieraCass for her BOOK REVIEWS. YAY FOR STICKING ON THEME! 

"How well you understand a mouse." (The Great Picture Robbery)

-Natalie