The Old Country by Mordicai Gerstein

The Old Country is and has been the one book that has held me captive for years since I first read it around the age of 9 or 10 and set one definitive, though minor part of my life in stone. It was one of the first books I read completely on my own. The book is about a young girl, a “crag” girl, who changes bodies with a fox, and has to find a way to get her body back. This is, however, amid a very World War II esque situation, with her “craggy” kind being similar to the Jews of the situation. When I was little, I knew this book was saying more than I could read into it at the time. I enjoyed it all the way to the end, and rereading it only strengthened by love and admiration of it. This book is the reason my favorite animal is the fox.

Like the other books here, this is my original copy of the book.

The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls by Elise Primavera

This was one of the many books I read with my mother growing up. I was around 8 when we read this together. It’s an odd story, taking many characters from The Wizard of Oz of all things. Witches, scottish dogs, other worlds. All about the girls of Gumm street who do not get along. I remember the witches starting out looking like pretty teen girls, but they enslaved the main girls to make french fries for them, so they got fat and pimlpe-faced. I remember the two scottie dogs. One always says “Did you ever?” and the other always replies “never!” It was very odd, and I like it for that. It helped build my creativity.

The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley

The Sisters Grimm is a mystery series centered around two sisters descended from the famous Brothers Grimm. I was about 9 or 10 when I started reading this. The sisters go around solving mysteries related to the lives and tales of various fantasy characters. I adored the sense of humor in these books and took a lot of it for myself. The twists on each fairytale were always appealing to me. These stories just captured by interest in every way.