I think I've told you before that it was a mystery series that got me hooked to reading in general; maybe I'll go into a little more detail about that.
For Christmas or my birthday one year (I forget which), my grandma got me the first four books to a series called The Boxcar Children. The first book doesn't have too much mystery in it, aside from the mysterious grandfather the kids are running away from, but it caught me hook, line, and sinker anyways.
What kid doesn't get excited learning about the adventures of four kids living on the run and still managing to have a great time? Henry, Jessie, Violet, Benny, and Watch (the kids' watchdog whom they met in the woods) were just so appealing!
For years after reading those first four books, I would beg for more in the series. The original author has long since stopped writing them, but the series has been continued to include more than 100 normal books and goodness-knows-how-many special books. I now own several (and I mean SEVERAL) of those, and I borrowed even more from the library.
In the first few books, the children aged normally. Summer would come and go and the kids would solve a mystery, and the next book was the same with the kids a year older. But eventually, Henry, as the oldest, would have had to move away; so the problem of Henry leaving was solved by reversing all the kids' ages and keeping them permanently set there.
Henry forever after remained 14, Jessie 12, Violet 9 or 10 (I think 10), and Benny 6.
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