Growing up as students, textbooks were often drier than the desert and plowing it often felt like a heavy trek through the Sahara while trying to keep your eyes peeled.

On the other hand, storybooks – with their adventurous worlds of imaginary and fantastical intrigue – offered a safe haven, a place to escape.

So, for a good dose of nostalgia, here are six children’s book series we grew up with.

1. Harry Potter

“You are a wizard Harry!

Who can forget this iconic line from the seven-part series about an orphan boy who discovers the magical wizarding world.

The first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by JK Rowling was published in 1997 and from there we grew up with Harry, Ron and Hermione through their adventures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Witchcraft, culminating in Potter’s final battle with Lord. Flight of death.

The hugely popular series naturally spawned an entire Wizarding World film franchise that grossed over US $ 9.2 billion (S $ 12.3 billion) at the global box office, making it the third franchise. highest grossing movie ever.

Other books have been pulled from this series as well, demonstrating how much Harry Potter content fans want – like this one unofficial harry potter cookbook and an overview of the making of the Potterverse.

If you want to revisit the Potterverse, Storytel has a amazing selection of Harry Potter audiobooks here.

2. The Chronicles of Narnia

We’d be lying if we said we haven’t tried browsing our own closets at home after reading The Lion, The Witch, and CS Lewis’s Wardrobe.

The fantasy world of Lewis of Narnia was brilliantly constructed, and just like Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie, we were fascinated by the cute talking animals (remember the brave Reepicheep?) And maybe a little scared of them. the white witch.

If you want to relive the magic of Narnia, Storytel has the complete set of all seven audiobooks in the Narnia series – covering nearly 34 hours of storytelling. Go knock yourself out.

3. Nancy Drew

Moving away from the magical worlds, we come to the world of mystery.

Nancy Drew is arguably one of the most recognizable characters in the world – aside from Sherlock Holmes – when it comes to fictional detectives.

Drew, has been described as a super girl of sorts:

“… was a good painter, spoke French and had often driven motor boats. She was a qualified driver who, at sixteen, “entered the garage with a skill born of long practice”. The prodigy was a sure shot, an excellent swimmer, a skillful rower, an expert seamstress, a gourmet cook and a good bridge player. Nancy played tennis and golf brilliantly, and rolled like a cowboy. Nancy danced like Ginger Rogers and could administer first aid like the Mayo brothers.

Here’s a little-known fact: The Nancy Drew series was not written by a single writer. Created by American publisher Edward Stratemeyer, the Nancy Drew stories were written by ghost writers who published under the collective pseudonym “Carolyn Keene”.

This is why, over the years, the character has changed since his first appearance in 1930, as cultural norms evolved, even with regard to masquerading as a non-white character at some point (although this reimagined TV series never saw the light of day).

Storytel has a range of audiobooks by Nancy Drew if you want to embark on another mysterious adventure.

4. Goosebumps

We might be afraid of the things crawling under our beds, but we certainly love reading about them and more, from haunted masks and talking dolls to werewolves.

Goosebumps by American author RL Stine is the second best-selling book series in the world, after Harry Potter by JK Rowling. It has sold over 400 million books worldwide since its debut in July 1992.

Stine once said that his books are successful as children’s series because they are free from drugs, depravity, and violence. The characters are often placed in surreal situations which are not too serious and do not meet with death.

But we’re guessing that as kids these can be pretty scary.

If you want to relive the fears of your childhood, Storytel has many Goosebumps audiobooks to choose.

5. Captain Underpants

Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants is possibly the most irreverent and hilarious illustrated children’s series we’ve ever read.

The story revolves around two children – George Beard and Harold Hutchins – who managed to hypnotize their cruel principal Benny Krupp. Whenever the boys snap their fingers, Krupp transforms into their iconic book character: Captain Underpants.

The main series launched with The Adventures of Captain Underpants in 1997 and concluded with his twelfth book Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot in 2015.

Some audiobooks in this series are available on Storytel here.

6. Books by Enid Blyton

Enid Blyton is arguably one of the world’s best-known children’s book authors, selling over 600 million copies worldwide and translated into 90 languages.

Some of his best-known series include the Famous five, Secret Seven, Malory towers, Adventures of the wishing chair, and The enchanted wood.

The adventures of the wishing chair was Blyton’s first complete novel, and tells the story of two children who are carried by a chair with wings to a mysterious place called “Goodness-Knows-Where”.

The following stories follow the children and the flying chair on further adventures.

Another popular series from Blyton’s is the Famous five, which follows four children and a dog (Julian, Dick, Anne and Georgina and Timmy the dog) as they solve mysteries involving criminals and lost treasure while they hike, camp, or vacation in a place.

If you want to get carried away on this nostalgic adventure, you can find Enid Blyton audiobooks on Storytel.

Today, Storytel has plenty of audiobooks and story ebooks that you grew up with and loved.

You might have passed them, but you can still share these stories with your kids or young readers around you and take them to the magical world of stories you once loved.

Storytel offers Mothership readers a 30 day free trial for you to try out its comprehensive database of 250,000 audiobooks and e-books.

Good reading!

Thanks to this play sponsored by Storytel, this writer was able to take a trip down memory lane.