The Labyrinth directed by Jim Henson

The Labyrinth movie, directed by Jim Henson, was one of my favorite movies from my childhood. A young woman named Sarah, in a moment of frustration, wishes her baby brother to be taken away by goblins, and that's exactly what the goblins and their king do, wisking little Toby away from his home and into the Labyrinth!

Sarah chooses to go after him to save him, regretting her earlier wish, but the Goblin King works to stop her. Despite this, she finds friends who help her work her way through. But will they make it to the center of the Labyrinth in time? The goblin king only gave Sarah 13 hours to reach her brother, after which he would turn the baby into a goblin, too!

George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl

In George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl, little George Kilicranky is bullied by his mean grandma, especially when his parents aren't around to witness it. What does he do to get back at her? Invent his own medicine for her of course, and give it to her instead of her regular medicine.

What are the results? Some pretty crazy ones! Grandma grows so tall, she breaks through the ceiling into the second story, and again through the roof. What happens after that? Some more pretty crazy stuff! I appreciated the warning that the things that go into the medicine in the fictional story would not work the same way in real life, and could actually be dangerous. (The ingredients include, [among many hazardous things] engine oil, paint, and other things that would actually poison and kill a person in real life.)

Holes by Louis Sachar

Holes by Louis Sachar is a story about a boy named Stanley Yelnats who doesn't seem to have the best luck. His dad doesn't, his grandpa didn't, his great grandpa didn't, and his great great grandpa didn't either. The reason? His great great grandpa, Elya Yelnats forgot to keep a promise to an old lady friend, and he and his family were cursed with bad luck for eternity unless... Well, Stanley, because of his bad luck, is blamed for something he didn't do, and is sent to Camp Green Lake, a correctional facility for boys.

There, he meets X-ray, Armpit, ZigZag, Magnet, Squid, and Zero (all nicknames of course) and is required to dig a hole every day for the duration of his time there. The Warden, Mr. Sir, and Mr. Pendanzki all say it's to build character, but Stanley starts to suspect it's actually because the Warden is looking for something.