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Classic Books Series For Kids: Books That Defined Generations

The Huffington Post Canada     First Posted: 03/22/2012 3:12 pm   Updated: 03/22/2012 5:44 pm

As The Hunger Games gets released into theatres this weekend, all of the hoopla over the film can make it easy to forget there was ever a book to begin with. But not so for the tweens and teens who got immersed in those pages starting in 2008, when the first book in the trilogy was published.

For each generation, there seems to be a series that is utterly tied to their identity -- for the age group right before this one, it was obviously Twilight, and before that, Harry Potter. But it's a tradition that goes back many years, with peers feeling equal parts nostalgic and territorial about their personal libraries.

We took a look at some of the most beloved kids' books series over the past few generations. Was yours in there? Let us know in the comments below, or on Twitter at @HuffPostCaLiv.

Nancy Drew
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The series: Nancy Drew Mystery Stories
Publication dates: 1929 to 2003, with TV shows and movies interspersed since
The premise: Girl detective uncovers mysteries, causes mischief with friends, solves mystery. Every. Time.
(Photo courtesy of Flickr/Average Jane)
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pmerv
0 Fans
03:08 PM on 01/12/2013
Winnie-the-Pooh and Beatrix Potter - my father read them to me in the 40s and I read them to my grandkids. Timeless. I love how they are written at 2 levels, one for the child, one for the reader: like this bit from House at Pooh Corner when Rabbit takes a message (which he can't read) to Owl, who can.
"Owl took Christopher Robin's notice from Rabbit and looked at it nervously. He could spell his own name WOL, and he could spell Tuesday so that you knew it wasn't Wednesday...."
I can read these books again and again and never get tired of them, while many of the modern books for children I can barely stand to read through once.
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mejamom
6 Fans
08:21 AM on 03/29/2012
In the mid 60s we had this series of books called "The 3 Investigators" (author(s) unknown) which featured 3- 12 year old boys who solved mysteries. Not lasting literature, obviously, but my brothers and I liked them a lot. One of the characters used to pretend he was Alfred Hitchcock's nephew. They were current for the time period whereas the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books seemed a bit dated at the time. Anyone else read them?
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minidriver
Your micro-bio is empty
100 Fans
02:07 PM on 03/27/2012
Since you threw in Diary of a Wimpy Kid, you might as well throw in some other recent younger children series like Geronimo Stilton, The Magic Treehouse, and Junie B Jones. Slightly older kids would like things like Artemis Fowl, The Mysterious Benedict Society, and of course, the Redwall series.
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Julie A. Carlson
17 Fans
03:02 PM on 03/23/2012
I loved Nancy Drew, especially the Mystery Files. They were published during the 80s and early 90s. They featured Nancy in college, but she posed undercover as a high school student. Choose Your Own Adventure was awesome, too. The Baby-Sitter's Club was fun to read. Although, I was never one for baby-sitting! These series bring back a lot of memories.

Harry Potter remains my favorite, plus The Hunger Games. I liked the first Twilight book. The others are okay. Meyer definitely sparked the paranormal romance craze in YA. Both teens and adults read a lot of these books. The same can be said for Suzanne Collins and the popularity of dystopian books for teens. It seems like most of the YA books coming out this year and 2013 are dystopian, apocalyptic, or post-apocalyptic. There's even dystopian books for middle graders!
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Chaucerian1400
17 Fans
01:32 PM on 03/23/2012
The Animal Tales of Thornton W. Burgess — big stuff when I was in the fourth grade in 1960.
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saskatoonie
388 Fans
12:50 PM on 03/23/2012
Is someone paying for all the Hunger Games articles? I don't think the book/ movie is all that interesting or unique and I think it is in really bad taste to be promoting something like this when there are people all over the world for which hunger is a daily struggle!
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Kristin Duus
24 Fans
09:30 AM on 03/23/2012
Not a "series" per se, but ALL the Judy Blume books were HUGE when I was a preteen. "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret?" "Deenie," "Blubber." Just huge. I, too, loved the Little House books, Anne of Green Gables and Nancy Drew...
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alsm9
Bombshell
466 Fans
09:27 AM on 03/23/2012
You forgot the Flowers in the Attic series by V C Andrews. The creep and ick factors were high in this series but they were really popular when I was a teen.
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trekbette
Country Before Party!
125 Fans
10:16 PM on 03/26/2012
Check slide #18.
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stonepatterson
0 Fans
09:21 AM on 03/23/2012
You left out one of the most loved series by teens/young adults ever... Edgar Rice Burroughs' books (Tarzan, John Carter and Pellucidar series)... Read all 60+ books from age 11 to 16 ! Then I graduated to Ian Fleming's 007 (it was the 60's) novels.
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sgillhoolley
Occupy the discussion.
351 Fans
09:14 AM on 03/23/2012
IF you like the Hunger Games you will probably enjoy Battle Royale by Koushun Takami.
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donnyraindog
Grass shack nailed to a pinewood floor
1995 Fans
09:09 AM on 03/23/2012
In the seventies it was an unwritten law that all wannabe stoners read The Lord of the Rings works.
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eric14
1215 Fans
 
10:03 AM on 03/23/2012
Gormenhghast triliogy.

Spiritual hippies read Hesse, but lefty hippies read Grasse.
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beenzrgud
Can't say what I'd like to here.
200 Fans
09:08 AM on 03/23/2012
I went straight onto things like 1984 and A Clockwork Orange, with a liberal sprinkling of sci-fi. Maybe that's why I don't trust authority.
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donnyraindog
Grass shack nailed to a pinewood floor
1995 Fans
09:06 AM on 03/23/2012
In the sixties I stumbled upon a series that was fictionalized bios of American historical personages as youths,I wonder if they are still around or even remembered?
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Vanessa Burnette
23 Fans
 
09:00 AM on 03/23/2012
Wind in the Willows?
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donnyraindog
Grass shack nailed to a pinewood floor
1995 Fans
09:07 AM on 03/23/2012
"played tea for two,sky was-a-yellow and the sun was blue" Great book but not a series.
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garver
13 Fans
 
08:58 AM on 03/23/2012
Did anyone else read Tom Swift novels while growing up?
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