I didn’t realise this until a little bit ago, but I actually missed out on a bunch of iconic children’s books growing up. I never read The Books of Earthsea, The Inheritance Cycle, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Chronicles of Narnia, A Series of Unfortunate Events, or the Spiderwick Chronicles. I have, of course, heard of them all, and to mark my age I remember listening to the cassette tape recordings of one of the Narnia books, but I don’t recall reading them or having been read them. So, I plan to change this, and spend my summer reading children’s books.

I will acknowledge one thing that is worrying me with this plan: I may not like the books. I don’t want to read the books just to push through them and say I have read them, treating them like accomplishments that don’t have any emotion behind them. I want to enjoy them, feel that childlike wonder and engagement with these books, and really get a sense for the books children had as their first real escape into the fantasy world. I want to see what else there is out there that isn’t the Harry Potter books, because they are what I read and remember reading as a child. I want to advocate for children’s book series that are representative, relatable, and promote positive messages and lessons for young children.

So, to do so, I will be embarking on a great summer journey of library visits, binge reading, and many childhood throwbacks to truly experience the magic of those foundational childrens series. I don’t know what order I will do the reading in, or how I will do it, other than I am currently reading The Books of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin, so they will be getting reviewed first. I have a feeling that smaller novels might be dealt to in bulk library requests and reading them all in one sitting, so they may actually. fall under one series review instead of individual book reviews. Others, like the Percy Jackson books, I will likely stick to my trusted individual book reviews as they are more well known and contain more material to comment and reflect on.

I am excited. In all honesty, I didn’t plan on doing this until I discovered that there were so many I could read (that and I need to get a lot more discussions posts done because my reading currently is a bit precarious). It will provide me a much-needed break from the denser adult reads, a chance to relive childhood movie adventures in their original format, and make it easier for me to read throughout the summer (I am notorious for struggling to read in the heat, so shorter books will be my friends). I hope this inspires you do do a similar thing, whether that be with your own childhood favourites or maybe manga/manhwa you have delayed starting for whatever reason – manga/manhwa will be something I tackle in 2026 because there are so many I need to read and I really have been enjoying Yona of the Dawn which tells me that I can absolutely binge read manga by the dozens. I just have to keep my fingers crossed that the volumes are all available from the library at the same time.

Tell me, what plans do you have over the next month or two to close out 2025? What other children’s book series should I add to my list?