Daily Archives: June 28, 2025

First Loves…

What books kicked off your love of reading?

Welcome to my Quarter Day’s post!

If you’re a fan of A Slice of Orange, I have to assume you love books and you love reading. How did your romance with books get started? This topic came up in a recent discussion in the Belles Brigade Facebook Group.

My first book binge was the Little House on the Prairie series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, somewhat relatable for me, being a Midwestern girl whose grandparents lived on a farm. My second that I can remember was the Trixie Belden mystery series. I still love detective stories.

Lots of horses and more mysteries

Author Rue Allyn remembers reading The Black Stallion series by Walter Farley. I’m not sure why, but these books never crossed my radar. Maybe my local library didn’t have them. Another favorite for her though was the Nancy Drew series of mysteries.

Author Deborah Williams Craton loved the Bobbsey Twins, a preference shared by author Caroline Warfield who also mentioned the Misty of Chingoteague series by Marguerite Henry. Another series about horses that I’d never heard of. (What did my librarians have against horses?) Caroline also binged on Louisa Mae Alcott’s Eight Cousins and the sequel.

Stepping outside the U.S., Janet, one of the British members of the Belles Brigade said that she started her love of books with the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. The first book, published in 1942 must have been a great escape read for British children enduring the fighting of World War II. (Janet came to it later, being too young for WWII.)

Moving to the Southern Hemisphere, New Zealand author Jude Knight loved The Adventures of Hutu and Kawa, by Avis Acres. Hutu and Kawa are two pohutukawa fairies, “who lived in the bush with friends such as Willy Weka and various pixies and elves.”

Mystery, Adventure, and Lots of Books in a Series

Many of the books mentioned are mysteries and most have at least some adventure. And the publishers were prolific, if not the original authors. Some of the series books were written by multiple ghost writers over a span of decades.

One of the first mysteries I read after finishing all the Trixie Belden books I could get my hands on was The Murders in the Rue Morgue, by Edgar Allen Poe. It scared the bejeebers out of me! I think I’m old enough now to read it again.

Do you have a favorite reading memory that’s not on this list? Share it in the comments please!