Everyone’s talking about the new BSC series on Netflix, and I’d bet that a lot of us are digging the throwback to our simpler, neon-tinted childhoods. If you are in your 30s, you definitely remember aspects of being a kid in the ’80s and ’90s. What a time it was! We wore baggy pants and tie dye, drank Snapple Elements and Hi-C, took out library books with stamped due dates, and sat through TV commercials. The internet was but a distant twinkle in our collective eyes. Before I started writing this post, I asked Facebook what ’80s–’90s kids book series they most fondly remembered. That got more engagement than anything else I’ve ever posted. People really want to reminisce about their beloved childhood books, especially because books were so formative to us pre-internet kids. Often authored by ghostwriters, it’s impossible to know every author who worked on these books. However, in terms of the authors associated by name with each series, they are all white. In the ’80s and ’90s, the publishing industry was not prioritizing kids book series by authors of color. On Book Riot, we do our best to actively promote diversity in books and publishing so here is a link to some recent middle grade books by Black authors. The industry has begun changing, and hopefully those changes will continue. Now, for some ’80s–’90s kids book series classics: Many of these ’80s and ’90s kids book series are still available in libraries and book stores today, so slip on your hot pink leggings and matching scrunchy, grab your Skip-It and a vintage paperback, and settle in for an afternoon of blissful nostalgia.
