Thanks for inviting me, Steve. During the young adult period you've mentioned (age 9 to mid teens) my family lived on a remote Alaska homestead in the 1950s. Having no electricity, I read a lot. I suspect the books I read pre-dated most of those you've mentioned and some were "older" or "more mature" in content. I read

Tarzan

Bomba the Jungle Boy

Baseball Joe

Riders of the Purple Sage (Zane Grey Books)

Myriad westerns, mysteries and who-dun-its

Late teens, I read JRRTolken, Leon Uris, James Mitchner and magazines like Boy's Life

My interest in this genre stems from stories I used to tell my children as they grew up. They were intended to promote use of imagination, entertain and educate, but were not written. I've had thoughts of writing them, but other writing and "life" got in the way. They are not novels, but short stories that were told at bedtime.

Thanks, Jon. I am always looking for adventure stories to read for myself, and love lists...:)

Oh, so many. I loved reading as a child.

All of the OZ books

The Borrowers series

The Wind in the Willows

The Mary Poppins series

Winnie the Pooh

Grimm's Fairy Tales

Little Women series

The Secret Garden and as an adult...

The Harry Potter series

I love OZ...moreso than the movie. It is one of my inspirations.

I wanted so badly to be Princess Langwidere, so I could change my head every day.

I still do. :-)

(Hmm, TBD offed the photo)

I know they are somewhat dated now, but the Hardy Boys were always something that kept me engaged at that age...It would be nice to have them updated in some manner, maybe they already have?

Good children's books are never outdated in my world. I would hate to see them modernized. I could see them as...

The Hardy Boyz...wearing crooked baseball caps, and pants that hung halfway down their undies...