Guess I'll start to number mine:
#18 - The Indian In The Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
A favorite of mine as a child, it was fun to delve back into the story of Omri and his magic cupboard that brings plastic toys to life. I was wondering if it would be age appropriate to read to my daughters this summer, but it's a 1980 book that's a bit...shall we say...stereotyped. Not horribly so, but enough to make me put off reading it to my girls until they are a bit older and can understand that it's a reflection of it's time and not the way we would view things/people today. Still, it's a cute story despite that and, eventually, I'm sure they will pick it up.
#19 - Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
Another one from my childhood that I loved. I was into the whole "kid survives on their own in the wilderness" stuff at one point, as evidenced by my earlier stated love of Hatchet. I also read this one with the eye of "can I read this to my girls" and I think the answer to that one is yes. What really got me this time is...I don't think I'd ever read the afterword in the book. This time I did and was both pleased and surprised to find out that, while the story is fictional, the girl it is based on was actually real and she really did live on her own for a period of time. It definitely makes the story all the cooler!
#20 - Timeline by Michael Crichton
One of my favorite Michael Crichton books, I've read this one probably three or four times over the last maybe 20ish years. It's the first book I ever read and thought "I want to make this into a movie when I grow up." (PS - the movie came out when I was in college and it stunk!) I just love getting lost in the medieval world and following along with the time travelers who find themselves stuck there without a clear way home again.
#21 - Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
I read this book for the first time the summer before I entered the 6th grade. It was on my summer reading list (one of those "here's 20 books, choose 5 and do a book report" kind of things) and I had just given up on A Wrinkle In Time. My mom told me I would probably hate Where The Red Fern Grows because it is about a boy who, along with his two redbone hounds, hunts racoons in the Ozark Mountains. I decided to read it anyway and it swiftly became a treasured favorite, even now in my adulthood. I have read it I don't know how many times over the last 27ish years and I have never once made it through without crying by the end. It's just such a beautiful story with a heart shattering, yet equally beautiful, ending.
