I struggled a bit with this weeks topic. I think I follow reading trends and popularity more than I’d like to admit. Then I thought about some of my favorite children’s books that I’m shocked other people never read. A lot of these book are from celebrated and incredibly popular authors, but the books themselves I think are underrated. For example, more people have read Ballet Shoes and Half Magic than have read Theater Shoes and The Time Garden (even though too many people never read any of these books). Let me know if any of you read these books as a kid, or what some of you favorite underrated novels are in the comments.
Thanks to The Broke and the Bookish for hosting this weekly book meme.
Alison Doherty 
I loved Bloomabilty as well as Sharon Creech’s other books while I was in middle school. I never hear about her, so YAY for another Sharon Creech lover. Chasing Redbird was my favorite book of hers. Great idea for this week’s list!
I haven’t read Chasing Redbird, but I loved Absolutely Normal Chaos as well.
I love your idea for this list! A series I used to love when I was younger that it seems nobody has every read(I may be exaggerating slightly) is the Tuned In series by Julia DeVillers I think it’s technically a Middle Grade contemporary series, but anyways I loved it. =)
I think a lot of these are middle grade … and your right – I haven’t read or heard of the Tuned In series. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for it.
I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t read any of these books! They look so intriguing though so I’ll have to look them up.
Don’t be embarrassed! You are definitely not alone. The Pink Motel is definitely my favorite, but it’s out of print so it’s basically impossible to find.
Hah! You had the same idea I did for the theme, though I’m still nitpicking some of mine…spoiler: The Gammage Cup is totally in my list too, though! No one else has ever heard of it!
Also, everyone in my family has read The Pink Motel and loves it! Also the All-of-a-Kind Family, although it doesn’t get the same hype in our house. We also all love Half Magic, but for some reason my mother failed to notice it had sequels. I came across this fact a couple of years ago and have not only read The Time Garden, but made sure my niece did too-and she just asked to reread it this summer!
In short, excellent list, I heartily approve, and now I must get down to final decision-making here.
Kindred Spirits! I’ve met a few people who know about The Gammage Cup, but I’ve never met anyone who read The Pink Motel! This is such an exciting moment for me. I can’t wait to look at your list.
I really like your idea for this week’s list. I hadn’t even considered books I read when I was younger. Honestly though, I read a lot of Boxcar Children and Magic Treehouse; most people have heard of those series. You came up with a really great list.
I loved the Boxcar children!
I have Mandy somewhere but haven’t read it. I’ve heard great things about The Five Little Peppers but never read them. I’ve enjoyed going back and reading these kind of children’s books as an adult so I will have to go look for the rest of these.
I definitely recommend both of them. Especially Mandy. That was such a favorite of mine.
These look like such great books, I too had to look towards my childhood reads to try and find some not overtly popular books.
I must say, I haven’t heard of these, but now I definitely want to check them out for my kids to read someday! Such a fun list idea 🙂