Yesterday, I was speaking to some friends about books that changed deeply affected our childhood. I cannot speak for my friends, but for me, it was a walk down memory lane. I remember writings from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Anna Sewell, Gilbert Morris, Samuel Clemens, HG Wells, Mary Shelley, and so many other books that captivated my imagination and even inspired me to write.

I thought it would be fun to share a few of the books that kept me up all night when I should’ve been sleeping for the next day of school. This is not a complete list, but they all have merit.

• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer & The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (aka Samuel Clemens)
• The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
• The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
• The Cat in the Hat & The Cat in the Hat Comes Back by Dr. Seuss
• The Daystar Voyages by Gilbert Morris
• The Seven Sleeper Series by Gilbert Morris
• Hangman’s Curse & Nightmare Academy by Frank Peretti
• The Martian Chronicles by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• The Invisible Man by HG Wells
• The Strange Case of Dr.  Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
• The Box-Car Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner (created by her, by subsequent writers have continued the series)
• The Berenstain Bears by Stan and Jan Berenstain
• Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
• David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• Captain Courageous by Rudyard Kipling
• The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle*

*I would like to make a note about The Hound of the Baskerville. It was the first “real” novel I read as a kid. I was seven years old and my parents bought me a condensed kid’s version, but it sparked my imagination. Sure, the Berenstain Bears and Dr. Seuss were first,  but my love for reading came from a Sherlock Holmes mystery about a giant glowing dog. After that, I never was the same.

So, thank you, Dr. Doyle, because I owe for the many adventures my imagination would take me on.