All-Time Favorites: Books

I read a LOT when I was younger-- I remember I never went to bed without reading. I think I stopped that in 6th or 7th grade, partly because I was getting more homework, but mostly because I had to read books for school and was "pressured" to read books "in my reading level." And most things in my reading level did not interest me at all. I took my lexile range and put it into lexile.com, and it was mostly historical fiction/action stuff.... I would prefer to read kids' chapter books. I like MOST of the stuff just in the young adult section, but most of it is actually quite depressing!

I actually read a lot of non-fiction....I can spend like 2 hours on Wikipedia or Google, just reading about stuff. I also love reading those "A Smart Girl's Guide" series from American Girl! I still have all those books, haha.

Anyways...today I thought I would share with you my all-time favorite books!

I know that you are thinking that this is quite a random assortment, but these are my favorite books for a reason!

1) Emily Windsnap and the Castle In The Mist
This book was by far the best out of the Emily Windsnap series. Despite the cover being pink and sparkly, this book was ACTUALLY kind of scary. "Haunting" is a better word for it...it's about a mermaid who discovers a castle in the mist. She tries to swim to it, but can't get there, then realizes she needs to stay still to get there, which is like a metaphor that ties in with her life, then she discovers all this "haunting" stuff in the castle....anyway, I haven't read it in a while so I kind of forgot how the plot goes! I just remember how intriguing it was and the overall feel it gave off. The person who wrote that series is an excellent author.

2) Philippa Fisher and the Dream Maker's Daughter/The Fairy's Promise
As you can tell, I love fairies and mermaids. These are by the same author! The first book in the series was Philippa Fisher's Fairy Godsister. The second two topped the first by far, though. The series is about a girl who discovers she has a fairy godsister. In the first book, she gets three wishes but really just becomes best friends with the fairy. But in the second and third books, it gets really deep and complex. The Dream Maker's Daughter goes into the background of the outer fairy "world" (this takes place in England by the way) after Philippa is being contacted through her dreams, and in the third Philippa and her fairy, Daisy, have to use their relationship to keep the worlds from becoming separated, at the same time kind of symbolizing the connection betweens humans and an outer force. This is like my favorite books series, ever. You'd think these books would be geared at younger kids cause it's about a fairy, but I really think anyone at any age could appreciate this.

(Side note: the third book revolved around a stone circle, so I was pretty psyched when I visited one in Ireland.)

3) Finally
I really don't have too much to say about this- it's probably pretty self-explanatory! It was just one of those books that you couldn't put down, was relatable, and really amusing. It's about a girl turning 12 (I read it when I was 11 ok) and is now allowed to do a bunch of things (get her ears pierced, sit in the front seat, get a pet, get a phone, stay home alone....) you can see where it's going.

4) Miles To Go
Don't judge me here people!!! This was actually an amazing book!! (All my favorite books are quite underrated.) You would be surprised at how good this is- it's surprisingly well-written. Of course, the things Miley claims in this book are a bit irrelevant now....

5) Violet Raines Almost Got Struck By Lightning
This book doesn't actually have a huge purpose...it's about a girl in the south and how an annoying rich girl comes and steals her best friend. It's a really easy read. I've read this book like 5 times. If you read it, I promise you will enjoy yourself.

6) Ghost Town (Beacon Street Girls)
Like the Emily Windsnap book, this is all complex and scary!!! It's about 5 girls who go on vacation to Montana. 2 of them get to the hotel and the other 3 end up in an abandoned town. The reason I got such a kick out of the book was I read it RIGHT after I went on vacation to the same exact location. It was really funny, cause they mentioned shopping and going out to eat at the same places I did. They even stayed at the same ski resort!

7) 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny
I don't know why, but I have just always loved this book. I think it is pretty cool that I first read this when I was 8 and could totally relate to and enjoy all the stories in this book when it was meant to be written for adults. It's written about a teacher, telling his life experiences teaching third grade. It was really interesting seeing the things my third grade class went through at the time from a whole different perspective.

I hope I have convinced you to start reading some new books!!! What are your favorite books?