I did a lot of reading as a child, and I can recall many excellent books that were enjoyed along the way, but my hands-down childhood favorites were The Happy Hollisters series by Jerry West (Andrew E. Svenson). This series chronicled the adventures of the Hollister family consisting of Mom & Dad, along with children Pete (12), Pam (10), Ricky (7), Holly (6), and Sue (4), plus Zip the Collie and White Nose the cat.
Some of the stories took place around their new h
ometown of Shoreham, while others took place at various locations within the U.S. or other countries. Each book provided plenty of adventure and always a mystery, with lots of clues and humorous mishaps along the way. The fun was wholesome, and good triumphed over evil. Illustrations by Helen S. Hamilton also helped to fuel my imagination.
The author, Andrew E. Svenson, also wrote books for other popular series including The Hardy Boys and The Bobbsey Twins, and his Hollister adventures were loosely based on the experiences of his own large family growing up. I was recently delighted to discover that the books are now being reprinted in paperback on CreateSpace and available through Amazon at $9.95 each! This has allowed me to purchase some of the books missing from my own collection (I have about 20 out of 33 hardbacks). If I had kids age 8-12, they would be reading these!
