“Reading is fundamental.”

Certainly every person, adult and child, have heard this phrase used more than once. Mostly in school. It basically means that reading is an important or essential part of life. And it’s true in every aspect of this simple phrase. Learning how to read from a young age helps prepare you for the future. It not only helps bring out the imagination in you, but it helps you use it in every area of everyday life.

With knowing how to read, you learn all the words necessary to understand things around you like instructions on how to build that model airplane, directions on making your favorite chocolate cake, writing a special letter or even reading or writing stories. That was always my favorite part while growing up: reading those amazing books where I can easily get lost. Books are always filled with brilliant characters, colorful descriptions, unknown worlds and filled with a genre variety like action, adventure, fantasy, mystery or even romance.

Authors spend a lot of time using their minds to create these wonderful worded masterpieces for your enjoyment. They think of the different characters to participate in the novel, what the plot of the story will be, where it will take place, the timeline of the story and a whole lot more. Sometimes they even add in some awesome illustrations to help boost those descriptive images.

Growing up, books were definitely essential to me. My mother always encouraged me to read just as much as she did, which was pretty much almost every single day. If a book was available, I’d pick it up, skim through, check out the summary either on the inside cover or the back of the book and see if it was to my liking, which most of the time they always were. But even if something didn’t seem partial to me, I still gave it a chance just like everybody should. The library’s always been my best friend when needing new reading material or even online reading from a tablet or nook, though I’ve always loved creasing pages in a novel. It showed just how much someone can enjoy a simple story.

Books have always been around for centuries. If you know some of your history, you’ll know that some stories used to be written on scrolls that are several centuries old. Others were written on something like paper and bound together. However, not many books were made due to lack of a copying machine or printer which not many of the same book were created (Thank goodness they have them these days). Did you know that the first movable printing presses created were actually created in Asia in the late 1370s? (Trust me, I didn’t know either.) Then, in 1440, Johannes Gutenberg introduced the printing press to Europe thus allowing the creation of book copies across Europe. Impressive, right?

Because of these outstanding achievements of great inventors of the past, we are able to enjoy our favorites of today. I know I am definitely grateful of the great books and series I was able to enjoy as a child because immersing oneself into a story is absolutely fun.

Did your parents ever tell you of the stories they used to read when they were younger? Most likely they have or you’re even reading them today. There were several popular books and series that filled the home or library bookshelves in the older generation. Go ahead and check out the top five books/series that I believe were the most popular back then (and might still be today):

5. “Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White

This story told the magnificent story about a young piglet named Wilbur adopted by a young girl. He develops a friendship with a spider named Charlotte who helps him out in a tight spot after the farmer is ready to kill him. With web sayings like “Some Pig”, the farmer and town sees how special Wilbur is.

This story was written back in 1952 and is still popular to this day. Anybody who hasn’t read it, I recommend you read it! It was also created into an animated film if you’d rather check that out, too!

4. “Nancy Drew” by Carolyn Keene

Nancy Drew is a popular character created for one purpose: solving mysteries. In each novel serialization, Nancy comes across different sorts of mysteries that can leave anybody on the edge of their seat.

The series was originally created back in 1930 and continuing until 2003. I’m a sucker for a good mystery and these books always kept me wanting more! They also crossed over Nancy in the Hardy Boys series along with creating a movie back in 2007.

3. “The Giver” by Lois Lowry

This amazing book follows the story of 12-year-old Jonas who lives in what they called a “utopian” community. Learning his job was to become the “Receiver of Memory”, he spends time with The Giver and little by little inherits memories of the world around them. With these painful memories, he realizes that there is an entirely different world out there and feels the need to escape the confinement of this community.

This story was created in 1993. Originally, this is the kind of book I honestly would pass on reading since it didn’t seem to fit my reading profile, but after the mandatory class reading, I found myself drawn to this strange and unusual world created and felt a deep love for the characters themselves. Read this, I recommend! You can also check out the movie that was released about a couple years ago as well!

2. “Harry Potter” by J.K. Rowling

This series follows a young wizard named Harry Potter and his adventures with his friends Ron and Hermione at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The first book was published back in 1997. I doubt there’s anybody who doesn’t know this series, am I right? A highly recommended read if you haven’t yet! Several movies have been created based on this series as well!

1. “Goosebumps” & “Fear Street” by R.L. Stine

These two series are the best to read when you feel the need for a good scare. Whatever you thought went bump in the night, R.L. Stine brings them to life in these amazingly descriptive books. Want to read about a living dummy? What about alien Jack O’Lanterns? Wish you could turn invisible?

The book series ran from 1992 to 1997. Several episodes were created from the books themselves and an awesome new “Goosebumps” film is set to come out, too!

What do you think? Do any of these sound interesting to you? What books would you recommend for a good read?