In this article, I want to highlight some of the middle-grade series featured in my library and explain why I consider these books worthy of the shelf space. For a series to earn its place, it must meet a few essential criteria: it should have good quality writing, convey excellent moral values, and ideally, each book should work as a standalone that can be enjoyed in any order. These qualities make the books accessible, meaningful, and enjoyable for young readers while supporting their growth as independent readers.

The Happy Hollisters

In the 1950s and 1960s, Andrew E. Svenson, using the pseudonym Jerry West, wrote 33 middle-grade mysteries featuring the Hollister family – a normal American family who solve crimes together. I love these books because the values are timeless and excellent, the action happens with the whole family involved, and the writing is of good quality. My patrons are constantly reading them because they are exciting, funny, and each mystery is intriguing. I love that Svenson’s family is reprinting these books with the original language and values. 

Imagination Station

Paul McCusker, well-known creative force behind Focus on the Family’s Adventures in Odyssey radio theater, created a wonderful series of historical adventures for middle-grade readers: The Imagination Station books. They offer excellent Christian values and are part of the Adventures in Odyssey world, which adds familiarity and appeal. Each book is a standalone adventure that can be enjoyed in any order, making them accessible and flexible. The writing quality is solid, and the historical adventures are engaging and educational for middle-grade readers. Much like The Happy Hollisters, these books help children develop reading stamina while practicing their skills. I consider these far superior to the Magic Treehouse series. 

Swallows and Amazons

Swallows and Amazons, written by Arthur Ransome in 1930, is one of the most perfect children’s adventure novels I have ever read. The Walker family is a normal English family in the non-specific time between WWI and WWII. Father, a sea captain, is away on a voyage to Hong Kong, and Mother has taken a cottage for the summer on a small lake. The children (John-12, Susan-11, Titty-9, and Roger-7) are smitten with the idea of “discovering” the uninhabited island in the middle of their lake, and they petition their parents to let them camp out on the island by themselves. This is high imagination at its best! It has all of the wonder and fun of Narnia but the children are firmly in this world. They take everything they are doing and pretend it is something straight out of the classical children’s books they love. The siblings are good to each other, good to their friends the Amazons, and obedient and respectful of their mama. These children are very realistic and fun to love. My patrons (boys 8-12 in particular) could not get enough of the series. Longish books, written with sophisticated English, and full of old-fashioned references, this series didn’t seem like it would appeal to the average boy reader of today, but once a boy is capable of reading this type of book, he is smitten. 

Beverly Cleary

Cleary writes children as they are – warts and all. But, as Diane so often says about Gary D. Schmidt, she does not leave them there. The whole point of the Ramona books is that Ramona (and everyone around her) is growing up. When the series opens, Ramona is just four years old. As she says in Ramona and Her Father (several years later) – she doesn’t try to annoy everyone. Just Beezus. According to Ramona, sometimes it is fun to annoy Beezus. But, generally, she isn’t trying to annoy everyone else. She is just trying to grow up, and as she says, no matter how old she gets, she can never catch up to Beezus or Henry or anyone else bigger than she is. Ramona has a very good heart, and she is trying to figure out who she is and who she is becoming. She makes a lot of mistakes, but she does learn from them. I completely respect that her stories are not the best fit for some readers. One of my own children did not need Ramona’s antics to encourage their own naughtiness. But, I am grateful for Cleary’s love of children and the stories she tells. 

Carolyn Haywood’s Betsy and Eddie Series

Set in the 1950s, these family life stories capture the innocence and beauty of that time. The school scenes are old-fashioned and endearing. The neighbors and storekeepers would all feel at home in Mister Rogers’ neighborhood. And Betsy and Eddie and their friends are delightfully normal children who are fun to love. Some precious few of the books have been reprinted. Most are out of print and expensive to acquire. I am so taken by the beauty and loveliness of these books that I spent hundreds of dollars on Ebay securing as many as I could. 

Childhood of Famous Americans

Bobbs-Merrill originally started publishing this series in the 1940’s in an effort to draw beginning readers into the lives of famous Americans who helped to shape our great nation. These patriotic and yet delightfully fun books give the young readers a peek into the juvenile lives of men and women from history. My patrons in grades 3-8 will binge read these for several years while they are building reading confidence. And once they have started on someone they are interested in, they will just keep coming back for more and more no matter how unknown to them the subject is. Buyers must be careful, however. Newer versions have been edited and updated, and the traditional values have not always been retained. If you are a member of Biblioguides, check out their CoFA page because they have taken great care to outline the many incarnations of the series and to help buyers find the best editions for their needs.