Posted on 08/14/2025 5:48:57 PM PDT by kawhill
I read about 40 of the books during the 60s - later discovered that “Franklin W. Dixon” never existed and a crew of different authors wrote books under that name, with the same basic formula - most of the ones I read were either 212 or 214 pages..
Let’s not forget the Doc Savage series....
My brothers and I had these, that are wonderful classic European-style children's stories graduated by age into 12 books, with great illustrations. We also had many Hardy Boys books, and a subscription series of glossy paperback books by the Smithsonian about world cultures, that were very interesting. Back then, other cultures stayed in their own countries.
Now that brings back memories. We had that set too. There was also a series called “Best in Children’s Books” that consisted of excerpts and short pieces from all sorts of children’s literature.
I’d love to get my hands on all the books we had back then. I think the parents donated them all to Goodwill or some such after we had all left home. Oh, well, there’s no way I could have kept those books and moved them around with me for all those years.
It’s funny how wonderful cultures in other countries look in the pages of National Geographic and Smithsonian.
Much different when they insist on sharing theirs with you, uninvited and unasked, in your own neighborhood.
In all my nearly 20 moves, I hung onto the Book House books!
I just looked; there are sets available online for a few hundred dollars. Apparently they’re popular with homeschoolers now.
Nostalgia’s all very well, but I have better things to do with the money.
Most of the old stories were morality tales, and the ones harking back into Europe are supportive of Western Civ values, so those books still have value for patriot families who read to their kids. Homeschoolers often have associations with other families to offset the cost.
Have you considered a Christmas list?
I think my younger brother waged a months long battle to be taken to “A Clockwork Orange”. Can’t remember if my parents ever did take him!
The book is really a great read, that I do recommend.
At last someone who recalls the Three Investigators. Portly Jupiter Jones, bookish Bob something and Pete the athletic one.
Yup and their headquarters was super cool.
A camper completely buried in junk at Jupiter’s dad’s junk yard.
They used a tunnel to get into it..
Pete Crenshaw
Took me a while...
I’m still working on Bob’s name.
Those books must be timeless. My sons were born in the late 90s and early 2000s. They all loved to read, but they each preferred different books. One of them loved The Hardy Boys books from the old days. A more modern version was published, but he preferred the older books.
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