Mumsnet Talk

Inspired by another thread.

I remember buying Dogger don't laugh at the title it's a lovely book! and All In One Piece before DS was born as I wanted to pass on the joy these books brought me.

He has recently read The Hobbit; Swallows and Amazons; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; Treasure Island and Charlotte's Web. Books that made my childhood.

I hope he will soon find and enjoy the LOTR books, Hitchhikers Guide, Little Women, and Goodnight Mr Tom.

I feel real excitement at the thought of my DS reading lovely books and enjoying them the way I did. Got me wondering what I might have missed though, are there other books that are wonderful for children and deserve to go on a "Books Every Child Should Read" list?

What were your favorite childhood books, and will you buy/pass them on for your children?

Spot the dog

The Magic Faraway Tree

A wrinkle in time!

The original Moomintroll books by Tove Janson. Just wonderful entrancing magical stories with beautiful iluustrations...miles better than the silly tv cartoon. Highly recommended.

Also all the Dr Seuss books.

Ah the Magic Faraway Tree! That beloved character Fanny. Swallows has a character called Titty. The names didn't stand the test of time even if the stories do!

Dogger here too. I loved it as a child and my DC love it too.

I've started reading Anne of Green Gables to my DD and hope she'll enjoy it as much as I do (and the rest of the series).

Bagthorpes Unlimited
The Family at One End Street
Milly Molly Mandy
Joan Aitken short stories
Mog's Christmas
The Secret Garden
The Boy Who Won The Pools

Have kept them all for Dds - most are hits but a few clearly hadn't aged well.

Oh I like this thread

Children of Green Knowe Series

Chronicles of Narnia

The Little Grey Men

The Wind in the Willows

Charlotte Sometimes

Plus the ones already mentioned

For this time of year, 'The Children of Green Knowe' by Lucy M Boston.

Little White Horse
The Children of Green Knowe
Chalet School books
Anything by Enid Blyton
Anything by Noel Stretfeild
Anything by the Pullein Thompson sisters

Faraway tree, narnia series, the secret garden :-)

Selks - What age for the Moomintroll books?

What Katy Did
The Worst Witch
Gobolino The Witches Cat

So many! Milly Molly Mandy, My Naughty Little Sister, Ramona, most Enid Blyton, Little Women, What Katy Did, Little Grey Rabbit - I saved loads of my old books for DD ( and she does love most of them) and have bought new copies of those I no longer have. Reading was my big love as a kid and I'm so glad DD is also a bookworm.

Oh yes, I loved The Bagthorpe Saga!

Plus horsey books, Jill ones, A Devil to Ride series and boarding school ones, Malory Towers, St Claire's, Autumn Term etc

fungus the bogeyman,

badjelly the witch.

Risks Dahl books and hairy McClairy

You are all reminding me of so many books I loved! Think I need to make a list and get on Amazon.

I heard Olivia, apparently Dick is now known as Rick.

the last of the really great whangdoodles by julie andrews, i loved it as a little girl, had it on loan from the library every other week. have now got my very own copy that i read now and again-my son (20) and daughters (both 13) are not as impressed.

The 'Little House on the Prairie' series, Famous Five, Secret Seven, Magic Faraway Tree....

The very hungry Caterpillar :-)

We read the box of delights every Christmas. Really hope DD enjoys that tradition

Yy to faraway tree and Anne of Green Gables.

<smacks self in face> PRATCHETT! DS has the first three discworld books for Christmas. I am hopeful he will find them as funny as I did.

Dark is Rising

Phew re the change of name in the Magic Faraway Tree - was my favourite book and I have just bought it for a friend's daughter for Christmas.

Another friend still has the original on her bookshelf and is unsure whether to let her DC read it!

Lots of the others mentioned above, plus:

Tom's Midnight Garden
The Little House on the Prairie series
anything by E Nesbit (reading 'The Phoenix and the Carpet' to dd at the moment)
Alison Uttley's short story collections (we have a lovely one of Christmas stories which came out again last week)

Most of the ones you mentioned, op! Also:

I Capture the Castle
101 Dalmations
Anne of Green Gables
The Silver Sword
The Boy with the Bronze Axe
The Children's Crusade
Eagle of the Ninth
Little House on the Prairie
Five Children and It
Little Lord Fauntleroy
The Secret Garden
The Lost Prince

I could go on for days! I love reading and I so hope my children will too.

I liked the Chalet School and the Lorna Hill ballet books. DD didn't like them at all. I also like the Wishing Chair series which DC's did like. And the Faraway Tree. And lots more. I loved all the Enid Blyton's. Mystery Series, School stories, Adventure Series, secret books.

Mallory Towers - but can't see DS reading that.

Hitchhikers
Famous Five

But he's currently more into non-fiction at the moment.

Ooh loads more great suggestions on this thread <bookmarks>

DS has just finished the Silver Sword Alma, not something I read as a child. May go borrow it from him now .

I luffs the Moomins.

The Witch Family
Richard Scarry

The Jill pony books.

The pony books with shanty the chestnut Arab.

Black beauty.

Little women.

The house at worlds end.

Mog stories
Charlotte's Web
Meg and Mog
Mrs Pepperpot
Charlotte Sometimes
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe
When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit
Chalet School series
The Little White Horse
The Way to Sattin Shore
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Narnia series
My Naughty Little Sister- which I loved reading to my little sister
Sadler's Well's Books
Enid Blyton
the Katy stories
The Diddakoi
Thursday's Children by Rumer Godden

As you can possibly tell, I was a bookworm.

In my case I am starting my nephew on books- he loves turning the pages, he loves me reading Dogger to him.

<whispers>

I hated Mog.

The Silver Crown by Robert C O'Brien
The Great Ghost Rescue by Eva Ibbotson
The Amazing Mr Blunden by Antonia Barber (also called The Ghosts)
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Varjak Paw by S F Said
The Snow Spider by Jenny Nimmo

my two have loved all these

I am looking for similar books I can read to them, a couple of chapters each night - am starting to run out of ones I loved that I think will excite them both as well

Heidi
The Jungle Book
The Cave Twins

dd loved Teddy Robinson and Olga de Polga, but tuned her nose up at The Kingdom of Carbonel and Gobolino the Witch's cat.

I am David - forced it onto DD1 and was relieved when she loved it too

Rebecca's World,
Tom's Midnight garden,
The BFG and anything else by RD,
Moon dial,
The Chronicles of Nania.

A Necklace Of Raindrops is beautiful

I Am David very powerful

does anyone remember a book called Puddles In The Lane? It was about three evacuees, it was a lovely book

Oh wow, so many great books mentioned already but haven't seen The Railway Children - loved that one.

I'm building up a collection for DD (18 months so a while til she can read them). Got a beautiful illustrated copy of The Secret Garden and another lovely hardback of Ballet Shoes.
We had the Book People at work recently and I got the full Secret Seven series for a tenner- bargain!

Astrid Lindgren books - Pippi Longstocking and Ronia and brothers Lionhearts - loved them all!

Lots which have already been mentioned.

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (or anything else) by Joan Aiken (I struck up a correspondence with her after sending her a fan letter. She was lovely!)
Judy Blume books, then Paula Danziger books, which were probably all dreadful, but I loved them.

Another vote here for Moomins and Mrs Pepperpot, and Bottersnikes and Gumbles, although that one is out of print now.

Spookysal - any age dependent on the child I think; I don't think they're particularly scary, maybe a little eerie in places. Maybe for fives and over?

Little House on the Prairie
Famous Five, Secret Seven, Magic Faraway tree, the wishing chair
Roald Dahl books
Secret Garden
Little Women
Sophie's World
Nancy Drew
Black Beauty
Rats of Nimh

Oooh, Gerald Durrell. I love Gerald Durrell.

I loved Secret Seven - in my childhood head i was the 8th member!! Also loved Folk of the Faraway Tree and all the other Faraway Tree books. The suspense of whether she'd make it down the tree before the worlds changed at the top!! And the crazy Saucepan man...what was his name?? My DS's would baulk at the idea of reading them tho...they read Anthony Horowitz. Enid Blyton wasn't as much into dismemberment if i remember rightly

I remember my mum reading me & my brother the magic faraway tree books and it was so amazing. I read these books to my now 13 yr old dd when she was 6-7 and it was really nice. Noticed when last at my brothers house he is now reading these books to my 6 yr old nephew they have made names more pc, the children were called dick & fanny

Most of my favourites have been mentioned esp by Sarah Stratton I also loved Monica Edwards,Antonia Forest,Angela Brazil[not for today's dc maybe-2 books at least have a character named Lesbia!]
E.Nesbit is a keeper especially 5 Children and It and The Treasure Seekers
My much loved Abbey books and The Chalet School series.
My dd shared many of these when she was a child [she is 38 now] especially the horse/pony books.
If I had to choose an all time favourite it would be The Wind in The Willows closely followed by Winnie the Pooh.

The Narnia books, obviously.
Charlotte Sometimes
The Dolphin Crossing
The Silver Sword
Marianne Dreams
Anne of Green Gables
What Katy Did
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
The Starlight Barking
Chalet school books
Jill pony books
Little Women
Ballet Shoes
White Skates

Anything by Shirley Hughes for younger kids. For those slightly older, The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis; the precursor of the Narnia books. Just reading it to my daughters, it is fantastic.

Ramona the Pest
what Katy did
Mildly Molly Mandy
The Chalet School Books
Mallory Towers
St Clares
Little Grey Rabbit
Beatrix Potter
Winnie the Pooh
Tilly and Tessa

I also liked the Drina stories,
A Little Princess, although I loathed Little Lord Fauntleroy

Grinny totally freaked me out.

Magic Faraway Tree, Wishing Chair, Tom's Midnight Garden, Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet, Malory Towers and St Clare's.

Anne of Green Gables

Moomins all the way. Dh read them to Dd when she was tiny, then she read them herself, then she asked him to read them to her again.

Ones I have successfully introduced to the DCs:
Paddington books
My Naughty Little Sister series
Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf series

Ones I have tried and (so far) failed with:
Green Knowe books
Watership Down
Phantom Tollbooth
My Family and other Animals
All the Diana Wynne-Jones books
Joan Aiken
E Nesbit

I will try DD (10) with some of those again, but DS is 14 and has graduated from children's books. Strangely, I am having more like getting him interested in the adult books I liked as a teenager: he is currently reading Kafka...

Recently read Rebecca's World by Terry Nation to dd. Very relieved that she loved it as much as I did. Not so with King of the Copper Mountain.

All Noel Streatfield's, especially the 'Shoes' books
The Lorna Hill Sadler's Wells Ballet books
Charlotte Sometimes
Rebecca's World
Five Children and it
The Enchanted Garden
The Lost Prince
The Little Princess
The Tree That Sat Down
The Stream That Stood Still
The Mountain of Magic
The Whispering Knights
All Terry Pratchett's

Willard Price adventures
Four Storey Mistake
Harriet the Spy
Dicey Tillerman Series
A Sound of Chariots by Molly Hunter
Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry
Stig of the Dump
Jennings (although I sadly think they may be too dated? All those Latin references, but so funny, even as an adult)
Plus most of those everyone else has mentioned

Great thread.

For me, many of the classics already mentioned:

Anne of Green Gables
Little Women
Heidi
Narnia
Also Pollyanna

His Dark Materials and Harry Potter
(read them as an adult but still can't wait to share them!)

And another very random one which DD1 already enjoys- The Blob Books. Anyone remember them? They were all different colours e.g Primrose Yellow, Poppy Red, Fizzy Orange. They all lived in Paintboxland, there were about 12 books in total but I've never found anyone outside my family that remembers them!

beatricequimby I had forgotten Willard Price and Dicey Tillerman. I loved both those series, thanks for the reminder!

Moondial
Tom's Midnight Garden
The Ghost Of Thomas Kempe
and
The Famous Five, which, unlike the Enchanted Wood books, is still happily full of Dick and Fanny

Love this thread!
I've just finished reading The Magic Faraway Tree to my DD and it was my original copy, so Dick and Fanny ... I have bought her The Enchanted Wood for Christmas ... I'll be gutted if Dick and Fanny have morphed into Rick and Franny :-( in fact my 5yo didn't bat an eyelid at the names i giggled like a child everytime I read them

Many of those already mentioned plus
The velveteen rabbit or how toys become real
Carrie's War
Stig of the dump

TallulahTinsel, strangely, I went to school with the star of the TV adaptation of, The Children of Green Knowe...

For me, it has to be:

Little Miss Pepperpot
Milly Molly Mandy
Six dinner Sid
The bear under the stairs

I have two DSs, so: The Chronicles of Narnia, Watership Down, Roald Dahl (particularly James & the Giant Peach, The Twits and Charlie & the Choc Factory), The Hobbit, The LoTR, Swallows & Amazons, Harry Potter, The Box of Delights....

Pozzled, we had a few of those books. Infact, I'm sure my mum still has some in the loft.

A Traveller In Time and The Devil On The Road. In fact, all the Robert Westall books, as he was an amazing writer and I wish he was still here to spin his tales.

So many good ones here already!

I'll add The Owl Who Was Afraid Of The Dark.

And:
Bread and Jam For Frances
The Tiger Who Came To Tea
Each Peach Pear Plum
Peepo

My Mum saved all of my childhood books, pretty much all of them have been mentioned. They're all on DD's bookshelf waiting for her .
I've got loads of my old Ladybird Books too.
Also the original Topsy & Tim books with their adopted brother & sister Tansy & Teddy. They're not in any of the more recently published ones .

Love this thread.
Agree with so many and would love to find (when time) many of the ones I have heard of but never seem to have read. (Have just got the Magic Faraway Tree out of the library).
For me..The Secret Garden, the Jill books, the Lorna Hill books, Milly Molly Mandy, Malory Towers, the X of Adventure (by Enid Blyton), Biggles, Anne of Green Gables, Little House on the Prairie, Caroline and her Friends, Smokey House (Elizabeth Goudge), the Narnia books, I am David, the Painted Garden, Black Beauty.....Harry Potter (obviously!)
Look forward to hearing about more here.

Pozzled - Willard Price has been reprinted recently (except Cannibal Adventure - wonder why?? and one other). Saw them in Waterstones and they were on the Book People with a big reduction too.

Topsy and Tim
Judy Blume - well a preteen!

Does anyone remember a book called 'The Giant Jam Sandwich'?

A slight tangent as I'm realising what a small proportion of my childhood books in the late 80s/early 90s were contemporary - E Nesbit, Just William, Milly Molly Mandy, Enid Blyton, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Anne of Green Gables, Jennings and Darbyshire, Swallows and Amazons, Little Women, What Katy Did, Alice in Wonderland... I used to get more modern ones out of the library but my shelves at home were full of the old ones. I wonder how much children now are happy to read old books or whether new authors displace them.

Too young to remember what titles were: What were the books with the elephant family? The mum couldn't sleep and ended up in the car in the garage.

Also, loved the one with the man who ended up cooking a giant jacket potato in his house after a fire and everyone came and had some.

Loved mog books and Not Now Bernard

Same here ninja. I think it's because my parents & grandparents gave them to me & I loved to read. I still re-read loads of my childhood books. I've just finished The Little House On The Prairie series & am reading The Box Of Delights to get me Christmassy!

I have a 7yo boy who so far has been unimpressed with most Roald Dahl, Gobolino the Witches Cat, The Little Wooden Horse. I have yet to try him with Joan Aitken. But I was a girl and he is a boy so chances are he will never like what I loved

The faraway tree. Plus Enid blytons book of fairies

I got the faraway tree for the Dd's ( who aint that keen ) but the book of fairies is not easy to find. Costs a fortune basically

DS has a very big mix. From school he tends to bring home newer titles such as the David Walliams books. From me he has inherited many books that were before my time, never mind his. From DP he is into Sci-Fi fiction, Black Library titles mostly.

DS has decided he either wants to be an author or a professional graffiti artist so we try to give him as many books as possible, thank goodness for second hand shops.

Sorry that was in response to Ninja.

mmmmmmmmnoodlesoup What were the books with the elephant family? It was the large family perhaps? All in one piece, Jill Murphey?

Yes the Large Family.

Or Baba Papa?

I've just read the three Faraway Tree books to DS and he cried at the end because there weren't any more. I read several of the Moomins books to him when he was a tiny tiny baby and it might be time to read them properly with him. I'm also looking forward to reading 'The Little Grey Men' with him in a few years - absolutely wonderful book.

Yes that's the one Cortana

Ah can't wait to read books to my boy!

Alan Garner (Wierdstone series) and Susan Cooper (Dark is Rising)... Fantastic British fantasy based on ancient myth; perfect and still read them.

I loved John Wyndham too...Day of the Triffids but think I was quite an advanced reader.

When I was really young it was the Famous Five, Swallows and Amazons etc...wouldn't recommend them though

The elephant one might be Peace at Last by Jill Murphy - or was that bears?

Jill Muphey also wrote about bears Spider about a bear that went to the moon in a box! The Peace at Last is the large family though.

Oh yes, the bear and moon one was lovely. My dad is digging out all my old books for dc in the attic

lots already mentioned but also ...
the children of cherry tree farm!

Can this thread be moved so it doesn't disappear?. I want to write them down for when dc are older

Over sea under stone

My naughty little sister
Enid blythe books
The worst witch
So many more. Still have them on my parents bookcase

Dorrie The Little Witch.

The Family at One End Street,
Sparkle you have made my day, I adored that book and you have reminded me of it. Thank you.

I loved What Katy Did, Heidi, Anne of Green Gables, Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, The Little Princess and so many more.

<<happy memories>>

Oh and The Whitby Witches series too. I loved it and most of the Robert Jarvis stuff.

mcpheast I didn't have the giant jam sandwich when I was small, but dd has it and enjoys it. I think it's genius, I've put it away so she can enjoy it again when she's a bit older.

Dogger is indeed a lovely book! 'then bella did something very kind' made me choked a bit when I read it to the dds!

I wish they'd liked Antonia forest, but they didn't.

Swallows and amazons - in fact all of the Arthur ransome books.
Malcolm Saville Lone pine series

**Robin Jarvis, sorry.

And both mine loved Polly and the Wolf long after a reasonable age, almost as much as I loved reading it aloud.

Great thread! Lots of my favourites have already been mentioned..as a child, my desert island authors would have included Noel Streatfeild, Joan Aitken, Lorna Hill, Laura Ingalls Wilder and Elizabeth Goudge. I have found most of my old favourites on Ebay and Amazon....money well spent! People have already mentioned the changes made to modern editions of Enid Blyton...I found out recently that 'The Little White Horse' has been changed to include 'The Men from the Dark Woods', and the new paperback edition does not have the lovely illustrations of the older editions . Anyone know of any other changes to modern editions of classic books?

When I was at school, I remember reading a book from the Book Corner called "Charlotte Sometimes". I read it and was completely haunted by it. I bought it for my son and despite it having a pink cover (!!!) he loved it. My daughter is now about to read it because she read the blurb on the back. Jsu one of those books that stays with you.

(was it Rosie m Banks who wrote Great American Birds, or was she the romantic novelist?)

All our 'classics' are as they were. So we do have Laura shouting 'I WANT THAT INDIAN BABY' etc.

Just marking place to read and comment tomorrow

I remember Charlotte Sometimes!

Joan Aiken. This is a great website...www.joanaiken.com

Black beauty

Agreed TheOriginal, reading it to newborn DS (eight years ago!) it hit me that I was a parent. I was sitting reading the same book my parents had read to me. One of the reasons I wanted to start this thread was that I know I am not the only one who gets a wee tear seeing their DC hunched over a book I loved as a child. I remember being so young and all excited about the world and loving the adventures those books brought for me, and there's my son, just the same. I remember who I was when I read those books and I feel I know his mind a little bit better.

The ordinary princess by mm Kaye. I loved that book.

Also lots of books mentioned here which have reminded me which is great.

Just bought the faraway tree for my niece and nephew!

I lost interest after Wolves, but loved Midnight Is a place, and the short stories. There were some awfully bleak and depressing ones, though. Something about a child called Emmeline and the end of the world?

Oh I could list forever! Here are those I loved.

Joan Aiken books, particularly 'The Wolves of Willoughby Chase'
'The Dark is Rising' series by Susan Cooper
'Weirdstone of Brisingamen' by Alan Garner
Noel Streatfield - particularly Ballet Shoes
Diana Wynne Jones books, particularly Charmed Life, the first I read.
Bogwoppit
The Little White Horse - Elizabeth Goudge
Moondial
The Narnia books
Little House on the Prairie
Children of Green Knowe
Antonia Forest school stories
Sue Barton nursing books
The Bagthorpes
Saddlers Wells' series of books
The Three Investigators series
Pullein Thompson pony books
The Machine Gunners, and anything else by Robert Westall
Flambards - K M Peyton
Tom's Midnight Garden
Malcolm Saville 'Lone Pine' series
Enid Blyton
Roald Dahl
'The House with a Clock in the Walls' John Bellairs
'The Swish of the Curtain' Pamela Brown
'Knock Three Times' Marion St John Webb

Phew....I could add lots more. Eldest DCs are now late teens/20 and have read lots of these (rejecting some - how could they???). Youngest DS and I are currently re-reading Milly Molly Mandy and Roald Dahl.

I loved Roald Dahl when I was younger so am overjoyed that all mine love him too. DS3 & 4 are really into him right now.

I never like Enid Blyton that much, but DS1 went through a phase of loving all the Famous Five, Secret Seven and Adventure books. I read a couple and they were ok, but still not my thing.

My all time favourite is the Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper. I bought it for DS1 and he didn't like it. I'm hoping my others will when they are old enough - DS5 bloody well better like it, he was named after 2 characters in the book!

What Katy Did - but I don't think my boys would be into them, though I re-read them recently.

I loved The magic faraway tree, Malory Towers and Famous Five series' by Enid Blyton, Stig of the Dump, The Wind in the Willows and the complete Shirely Hughes collection at varying ages as a little one. My DD is 3months and already has a bookshelf full of books I hope she gets as much enjoyment from them as I did as a little girl.

Does anyone remember a book called 'The Giant Jam Sandwich'? Oh yes!

"One hot summer in Itching Down,
Four million wasps flew into town."

John Vernon Lord and Janet Burroway wrote it.
(We always used to wonder what happened to the rest of the loaf.)

I would like to add The Borrowers, and Teddy Robinson, and all the Ramona books (Beverley Cleary obviously remembers well what it was really like being a child), Just William, all Roald Dahl, Aesop's Fables, Hans Christian Andersen, Brothers Grimm, The Wind In The Willows, E Nesbit, Catherine Storr's Marianne Dreams (and Clever Polly & The Stupid Wolf), Penelope Lively's Carrie's War, Mrs Pepperpot, Milly Molly Mandy...

I don't think my DS is going to be all that impressed with my choices, he tends to like stuff about vehicles mostly. Hopefully his imagination will develop over time.

Monica Edwards Punchbowl Farm series and her Rye Harbour Series too.

Loved them!

Anne of Green Gables/ Willow Farm
Secret Garden
Anything by Enid Blyton.
Edward Lear/ Nonsense poems.
Pippy Longstocking
Kizzy (Gypsygirl)
Tom's midnight Garden
Hobbit
Five Children and It
Stig of the dump
Black Beauty
OMG there's loads

The Chalet School books
The 'Anne' books
Ballet Shoes
The Secret Garden
Little Women / Good wives
I do hope DD likes them too!

Thank you to the poster upthread who mentioned "Mrs Frisby and the rats of Nihm". I remember that book made a big.impression on me but would never have remebered it did!
Judy Bloom for me in those awkward teenage years.

Wow! You're all reminding me of books I adored but forgot about! Will copy and paste for future reference!

I'm going to get an audio book of Black Beauty.

My DDs will not read it.

I'm going to take them in a long journey without their iPods' and make them listen to it!

I loved reading as a child, but I have boys who also love reading but won't read my old favourites.

What Katy Did
The Little Women Series
Green Gables
Little House series by Laura Ingals Wilder
Anything By Enid Blyton
the Chalet School
Noel Streatfields Books
The Trebizon School series by Anne Digby
Paul Zindel's Books for teenagers
the Awakening Water by J R Kesteven
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner
the Tripod Trilogy by John Christopher
Mary Stewart's Arthurian Legend series (The Crystal Cave)

So far the inly recommendations of mine that's been followed is DD1 did read my favourite book from my teens

(Ken Follet, Man from St. Petersburg - definitely not a children's book)

inly = only, sorry

Just reading the thread. How could I have forgot

Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry - amazing, was so emotional reading it all those years ago.

This is a long shot but I read a book about a little girl who goes to live with I think her aunties not long after the war. She seems to sense a presence or ghost perhaps of another child who was maybe in a concentration camp and had her feet tortured/burned or something. I can't remember anything else really but it was very sad and haunting and I've always wanted to know what it was.

I remember reading 'tooth fairy' and 'balloonia' by Audrey Wood and being captivated by the pictures and story, so bought them for DC as soon as they were old enough for books. They love them too! In fact they still fight over them even though they are way past the picture book stage (9 and 11)

Also loved Janet and Alan Ahlberg books and all the Shirley Hughes books there's something about them that's timeless.

Did anyone ever read "Over sea, under stone" by Susan Cooper?

Roll of Thunder. I made my dd read that last year. Its a bit sad at the end.

Coram Boy has not been mentioned. It is as good as piece of literature that you could ever find.

I love Lucy Maude Montgomery books, eg Anne

I love the little women books.

But really Jean Webster, please google her.

So so many, I might possibly be stockpiling them all on my Kindle in preparation

Little Women, Secret Garden, What Katy Did, Narnia, Five Children and It, Stig of the Dump... I was an avid reader thanks to my mum, I hope to pass that on to DS. In fact I know mum deliberately kept books like What Katy Did for me to pass on to any DC's.

In the last few months before she died she told me she'd kept my collection of George and Matilda Mouse books for me to read to DS when he was born, and that it was her present to him.

Oh, so many wonderful books. My list would include the following:

Understood Betsy
Sensible Kate
The Secret Garden
A Little Princess
Dream of Fair Horses
Charlotte's Web ("No one was with her when she died." Sob.)

And all the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Louisa May Alcott, Antonia Forest (see username ), K.M. Peyton, Susan Cooper, Beverly Cleary. . .

BegoniaBampot, are you thinking of A Coming Evil by Vivian Vande Velde

So many but one I always loved and felt special and still does was the jolly postman. The stories in the story and the opening of all the different post. I think because I was always excited about getting post a whole book full was almost too much excitement to handle!!

"The twits" !

Oh, 'Green Smoke' about a friendly Cornish Dragon & 'Theatre Shoes' & 'Ballet Shoes'.
I keep remembering.
Waterstones occasionally do a Children's Classics display & I found a couple of books that I remembered but couldn't find!

Chalet school books, don't think it's going to happen.
Swallows and amazons. Ditto.

A Traveller in Time; The Secret Garden; When Marnie was There.

So many wonderful books

I loved:
Anything by Nina Bawden
Anything by Rumer Godden
Anything by Noel Streatfeild
Anything by KM Peyton

And so many others. But sadly DD doesn't like reading, never has (be prepared this can happen even in the most bookish families) DS does, is an avid reader, but many of my choices were too 'girly' for him I ended up getting rid of loads of carefully saved books and I hope another little girl found them in the charity shop.

Oh yes earthpixie A Traveller in Time, I loved that!

Black Hearts in Battersea - Joan Aiken.
Elidor - Alan Garner.
Little House on the prairie books.
Little Women etc.
Children of Green Knowe.
Tom's Midnight Garden.
When we were very young and Now we are six - A.A. Milne.

The Phantom Tollbooth.
Fungus the Bogeyman.
Magic Faraway Tree.

I've kept all the best books from my childhood so I just have to pull them out the loft as and when.

Anything by Enid Blyton or Noel Streatfield ..... I loved them all.

Also the Kissy books and Heidi series.

never ever read any Winnie the Pooh or Roald Dahl as a child. - just wasn't on my radar.

'BegoniaBampot, are you thinking of A Coming Evil by Vivian Vande Veldev'

Sparky - can see your connection as sounds similar but don't think that's it. The name Posie for some reason rings a bell.

I bought When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six for DD when she was a baby and she adores them.

I also used to love the Bobby Brewster books and the Magic Faraway Tree.

I also remember borrowing one from the library called Moira's Angel.

Brilliant thread, and I smiled a lot.

Real Grimm and Andersen fairytales, in all their uncorrected grimness.

Antonia Forest's Marlow books. Forest is the Jane Austen of children's lit. My children loved them too.l

Secret Seven.
Famous Five and the other series about Fatty and the four children - all good !
David Walliams books seem to be good !
Foxy, My Friend Foxy and Foxy and the Badgers - you'll need to get them second hand.
The Black Stallion by Walter Farley
Roald Dahl
Jiggy McCue books
For Christmas and for younger readers - SHirley Hues - Lucy and Toms Christmas, Percy the Parkkeeper - A Snowy Day, Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs

We were given a copy of The Giant Jam Sandwich last year for DS1 - I didn't realise it was an old story. (In our copy, the townsfolk queue up at the end to get a chunk of the remaining loaf.)

Loved Jill pony books, the Jackie pony books, and The Phantom Horse books. Was pony mad.) Also Joan Aiken short stories and Roald Dahl. And Joyce Stranger books - are they still around? They were always about animals but sort of adventure/mystery - I loved them.

Read Faraway Tree recently to DD and DS1. They loved them. Shhh, I thought they were repetitive and sloppily written [killjoy]. I loved the Mallory Towers books as a kid though.

For a while after reading Mog, DD kept asking me if burglars were going to come and steel our spoons

I kept my copy of The Owl Service by Alan Garner from when I was a child in the hope that any future child of mine would love it too. Gave it to DS - and he hated it!

His grandpa kept all the old hardback Just William books to pass on to DS as well, and he didn't like them either!

As an adult I fell in love with the Titus Groan (Gormenghast) trilogy by Mervyn Peake and luckily DS likes them too - only on audiobook though. Neither of us has managed Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit

Mandy Loved the owl service.
Have you read The Mabinogion? It's the begining of the tale!

The Jinny pony books - can't remember who by, she was in Scotland and her horse began with an S - loved them!

Aww feeling all nostalgic now. This thread has reminded me of so many books I love [misty eyed emoticon].

The Weirdstone of Brisigamen series
The Moondial
The Owl Service (inspired me to read the Mabinogion)
The Snow Spider (I tried to persuade dh that Arianwen was a good name for dd. he wasn't having it....)
Ballet shoes
Wolves of Willoughby Chase

Does anyone remember a book where a little girl is left at a boarding school and then her father dies. The mean teacher makes her live in the attic and the man next door sees and sends his serpent over with all sorts of lovely thing? I can't re ember what it was called but loved that one.

Not a children's book but read it as a child - twopence to Cross the Mersey series.

Toms midnight garden
Howls moving castle

And so many more!

Mandy and Dawn cross posted!

My copy of the owl service was my mum's, she kept it for me and I'm keeping it for dd (and retreading occasionally!)

*servant not serpent! That would be a completely different story!

I loved Rumer Godden's 'Kizzy', especially when it was made into TV series and also 'a pair of Jesus bits' which was also tv series. The one with girl sent from India to boarding school was also a tv series but can't remember what it was called! Maybe something about a princess?

5speckledreindeer, that sounds like A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (who also wrote The Secret Garden and Little Lord Fauntleroy). A lovely book.

Yes that's the one, A Little Princess

Also Mary Norton, The Borrowers

'Eloise' by Kay Thompson (for girls about 6/7) about a crazy girl who lives in an hotel in the US and spends her day causing chaos & imagining adventures - my Great Aunt sent it from the States in 70's and it is currently on a continuous loop with Clarice Bean and Dr Seuss with DD1.

'The Little Bookroom' by Eleanor Farjeon (we have my mum's copy) - lots of lovely short stories, the one with the fairy & the lady who can't decide what colour bedroom she wants is imprinted on my mind.

We have the 'Giant Jam Sandwich' - didn't have it as a child but been passed down by a godmother.

'The Eagle of the Ninth' - fantastic adventure. 'Ballet Shoes'.

Enid Blyton & Frances Hodgeson Burnett & CS Lewis.

My own DC never really read the books that I loved, so I'll keep them for any future GC!

Jinny and Shantih series
Jill Crewe series
Malory Towers
St Clare's
Black Beauty (my all time favourite)
A Little Princess
The Secret Garden
Ludo and The Star Horse
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Phantom Horse series
A Horse Called September
Wild Horse of Santander
Pollyanna

My mother threw everyone of my books away apart from Pollyanna for some reason, and I've spent years tracking them all down again.

Nurse Matilda (a great source of inspiration for Edwardian baby names if you are looking)
The house at worlds end (?) Monica Dickins
All that Enid Blyton stuff

Loads of great ideas on here. Books I have read to dd1 (7) which she's loved:

Read when she was 5:
First 3 Harry Potters - edited bits
The Hobbit - edited the end as quite a few dwarves die...
Narnia - but not the Last Battle

More recently we've been in a classic book mode:
Black Beauty
The Secret Garden
The Railway Children
The Water Babies

I will pinch some titles from this thread for dd1 and add to her wishlist!

Grimble. My favourite ever book.

The wishing chair/magaic faraway tree - Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton's St Clare's and Malory Towers series
Francis Hodgson Burnett - The secret garden
Little lord fauntleroy
A little princess
Monica Dicklens - Follyfoot and Kizzy
The chalet school books - Elinor M Brent-Dyer
Judy Blume - Are you there God> It's me, margaret

My favourite hasn't been mentioned yet (I don't think) A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin - Wizard school and dragons way before and better than Harry Potter! (although I love those too)
My DS has also been enjoying Shel Silverstein's poetry. I loved his poems as a child and Runny Babbit is the funniest book ever! He switches the letters around at the beginning of the words and makes funny poems even funnier. It's really helped DS with his reading as they really made him think!

OH and I forgot! Oscar Wilde's short stories -
The Selfish Giant
The Happy Prince
(With Charles Robinsons illustrations - soooo beautiful - I have the prints on my walls)
and The Velveteen Rabbit By Margery Williams
BLUB - When I read those I am asked 'Mummy why are you reading in a funny voice?' as I fight back the tears!

Thank you Dawndonna love the Owl Service etc didn't know about The Mabinogion will add to Christmas wishlist check it out...x

'Over Sea, Under Stone' was the first in a series of 5 books by Susan Cooper called 'The Dark is Rising' (and IMO the weakest), which I loved. In order they are:-

Over Sea, Under Stone
The Dark is Rising
Greenwitch
The Grey King
Silver on the Tree

Fabulous, fabulous books. They made a film of the second book called something like 'The Seeker' and it was SO disappointing - having a transplanted American boy playing Will. I hated it as much as the film of 'The Little White Horse' which was (I think) 'The Secret of Moonacre' and wrecked the book entirely! It was the most hideous and least like the original book of any film I've seen. Room 101 should contain script writers who take a fantastic children's book and produce a truly diabolical film of it!

The Chronicles of Narnia
A Wrinkle in Time
The Diamond in the Window
The Agaton Sax books
The Doctor Who novels
Trillions

Greensleeves - thank you so much for mentioning The Silver Crown by Robert C O'Brien -- this book has stuck in my mind since I was 10 -- I am now 45 -- I could not remember the title but remembered the cover. I cant wait to get it for my daughter. Anyone remember Una and Grubstreet by Prudence Andrew or "Across the Barricades" about Kevin and Sadie from either side of the tracks in Belfast?

Am I really showing my age to remember loving my copy of Tootles the Taxi

We have a first edition here, in a very well loved condition.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Matilda
Dogger
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
any book featuring Alfie and Annie Rose
The Secret Seven
5 Minutes Peace
Are you there God? Its Me, Margaret
Super Fudge

Oh and loved Ramona Quimby too

Oh and The Sheep Pig and Dick King-Smith's Sophie books!

Wind in the Willows
The Hobbit
Minnow on the Say
Just So Stories
all the Flower Fairy books for their beautiful pictures
The Borrowers books

Judy Blume- Starring Sally J. Freedman as herself

Posy and Sam- Ruth Silcock

and has anyone read Which Witch by Eva Ibbotson??

So many memories on this thread. I went through a phase of buying books from my childhood- I got 'Bogwoppit', 'The last of the really Wangdoodles' (written by Julie Andrews,under her married name) and '99 Dragons'. I really want 'Rebecca's World' by Terry Nation- but I can't seem to find a reasonably priced copy.

Another book I loved was ' Marianne Dreams'. I absolutely loved that.

yes to all of these.
Also "When hitler stole pink rabbit" is a book that has stayed with me forever
"Carbonel" is another.
Moomins

Anyone remember the Mary Plain books?

Charlottes web
Olga da Polga (found a copy recently on eBay and had to buy)
The Magic Far Away Tree
Ramona
Toms Midnight Garden

The Ogre Downstairs - Diana Wynne Jones

The little Princess
secret garden
Roald Dhal
Little Women
Anne Green Gables
E nesbitt - esp five children and it

There are some great lists here.

My all time favourites (already mentioned) are The Silver Sword by Ian Serrallier - if I could only ever read one children's book, it would be that one and the Wolves of Willoughby Chase series, especially Blackhearts in Battersea - it's steampunk before steampunk existed.

Modern classics: Holes, Small Steps - both by Louis Sachar (and all his other books - especially There's A Boy in The Girl's Bathroom which I credit for having stopped a child bully in DS1's class); The Thief Lord - fabulous.

Ds1 is 11 and a reluctant reader and not keen on fiction generally but we enjoyed reading the following together:
My Side of the Mountain
The Alex Rider Series
The young Bond series
Stig of the Dump
I have bought him the first young Sherlock Holmes series by Andrew Lane for Xmas. Will introduce him to Kestral for a Knave in a couple of years time
For the younger dcs:
Olga de Polga
My naughty little sister
The gift from Winklesea
The Oscar Wilde stories for children
The Secret Garden
Tubby and the Lantern
The Witch in the Cherry Tree
We're going on a bear hunt
Topsy and Tim

Does anyone remember the "Emil the Detective" book(s) set in Germany, I think.

I can't believe that no-one has mentioned the Richard Scary books: "What do People do All Day", "The Busiest Story Book Ever", "Cars, Tructs and Things that Go", "The Funniest Story Book Ever", with Goldbug, Huckle and Lowly worm. They are lovely and so detailed, lots to see and look for on every page. I have even snapped up a couple of really old ones of the nursery rhymes and children's dictionary, illustrated by Richard Scary. I nearly wet my pants in excitement in the charity shop.

Ooh yes, I loved Emil, Santa!

Narniaaaaaaaaa. All seven in a box set. Or dogeared and well thumbed.
Actual Sherlock not abridged.
Wind in the Willows
Swallows and Amazons
Tom Sawyer
Treasure Island
Swiss Family Robinson
Oxford Book of Famous People
Three Musketeers
The Black Tulip
October Sky
The Secret Garden
The Little Princess
Ballet Shoes
Five Children and It
Lorna Doone
Richard Scary
Roald Dahl
Nancy Drew
Secret Seven
Chalet Girls
Malory Towers
Nothing by the current children's laureate Anne Fine as too creepy.
The Hobbit
Animal Farm
Malcolm Saville Lone Pine
House at Greene Knowe etc
PG Wodehouse

How old are the children. Unlock the bookcases. Throw the world wide open.

Loved reading His Dark Materials books by Philip Pullman to DS. We made a special trip to Oxford to visit the Pit Rivers Museum and Botanic Gardens (and sit on the bench).

Charlotte's web and Fantastic Mr.fox which I read about 100 times!

Just re-read the title, and realised that these books don't really qualify as I wasn't a child when I read them! But still worth mentioning I'm sure.

By these books I mean the Philip Pullman ones (really do need to use preview message more....)

McPhee, you've just reminded me about toodles the taxi. I loved that book, especially the page with the caravan. There were some little rabbits playing in the grass and the windows were all aglow. I really must get into my parents' loft to find it and all my old books.

I read just about anything as a child. I loved reading my mum's old books because they were from another age and full of wonderful expressions and old fashioned ideas.

I started reading The Magic Faraway Tree to dd1 a few months ago but she didn't have the concentration.

I hope the dc will enjoy Enid Blyton, Judy Blume, Diana Wynne Jones and many many more.

I hope they enjoy reading as much as I did. I'm looking forward to them introducing me to all the books that have been written since I was twelve so I can discover some new favorites as well as rediscover some old ones.

SantasComing, I had the Richard Scary nursery rhyme book. I asked my mum to look it it of her loft after dd1 was born and she confessed she'd binned it. It had been a hand-me-down and she'd felt no attachment to it. I'd loved that book. On the 'star light star bright' page someone had dropped spice ring biscuit crumbs into the spine and it smelled delicious. I had a look on amazon but it said it was out of print .

Oh yes, to so many of these!

Another vote for Diana Wynne Jones!
And for Rosemary Sutcliff - the Eagle of the Ninth but also Knight's Fee, Mark of the Horse Lord, Frontier Wolf, the Armourer's House...

Can I add Playing Beattie Bow, or My Sister Sif, both by Ruth Park - anyone else read them?
The Indian in the Cuboard, by Lynne Reid Banks
Last Legionary quartet, by Douglas Hill

McPheastofStephen
I think your Joan Aiken story about Emmeline might be The Dark Streets of Kimball's Green, in Harp of Fishbones. Great stuff, and you're right, pretty bleak!

Lots of those already mentioned here, especially Chalet School, Five Find-Outers and Phoenix and the Carpet; also Five Dolls in a House by Helen Clare, Daddy Long-Legs by Jean Webster (loved this but no one else seems to remember it!) and Curtain Up by Noel Streatfield. Oh and Shadow the Sheepdog!
I took Pamela Browne's Swish of the Curtain out of the library so many times that, when they came to sell it off when it was getting tatty, they put it under the counter for me!
Ooh and when I was younger - the Blackberry Farm books. I can still remember the pictures and crying at Rusty the Sheepdog! Other favourites were Ernest Owl Starts a School, Mother Hen and Mary and Postman Joe.

101 Dalamations - it is a fantastic book. I remember reading it in one sitting as a child on a day that I was off school poorly. Nothing like the film and so well written.

dementedma Mary Plain - oh yes! I loved 'the unusual first-class bear from the bear-pits at Berne'. Mary-writing, 'svisiting', 'cream buns', and the 'pomes' - very funny!

Bringing back lots of memories, loved lots of those already mentioned. Read Over Sea, Under Stone but didn't get on with the second book. Also the ones I read over and over were The Little Gymnast and all the Judy Blumes (I bought Forever a few years ago as I wasn't allowed it as a girl and read it in one day!)

oh and Paddington Bear and Narnia. DD has read The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe but doesn't want to read the others. She's currently reading one of the Little House on the Prairie books lent to me by a friend. I've never read them though

Just looked on Amazon and found St Clare's books by Enid Blyton (couldn't remember the name) - loved these and Famous Five

Glad I'm not the only one who loved Emil and the Detectives! I'm still wary of falling asleep on trains (just in case an evil man nicks the notes I've pinned inside my jacket pocket...)

Marking my place :-)

This thread is great. I loved The Bagthorpes, and had forgotten about When Marnie Was There and Playing Beattie Bow.

There was a book that I really loved as a child about a girl who went to live in a caravan on her own. It was a hot summer. Perhaps she'd run away from her parents? I remember a bit where she bough a bottle of orange squash. I really can't remember anything else about it but someone here might remember [hopeful]...

Already shared and loved with dd:

Ballet Shoes
Phantom Tollbooth
Beezus and Ramona
Little House on the Prairie
The Little Princess
Wolves of Willoughby Chase
The Borrowers
Malory Towers
Famous Five
Professor Branestawm
Asterix

I am really looking forward to:

The Dark Is Rising (she's too young, I think)
Alan Garner esp. The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (see above)
The Railway Children
The Four Story Mistake
Anne of Green Gables
Little Women
Ballet Shoes for Anna
Secret Garden
The Ogre Downstairs
Charlotte Sometimes
What Katy Did
The Tripods (perhaps when she's older)

DollySisters, any of these any good to you? No 26 has a bookseller's photo, sometimes helpful... I remember a Richard Scarry book we had with a pig who went to market to buy gloves as a present for someone, but when asked what size he needed, replied: "MY size, if you please!" We loved that book, would like to have it again if anyone remembers that part?

I also loved Mary Poppins books and Bobby Brewster, thanks to the poster who mentioned him (bonkers stuff, but so-o entertaining)

McPheast we also have Tootles The Taxi (and tons of Ladybirds I've collected), my favourites are Archie The Ambulance - love the nurses' uniforms - and Minnie The Milk Float

Oh dementedma and Rosie I loved Mary Plain and her Owl Man and Fur Coat Lady, I have my mum's 1930s copies, v tatty now but still fun.

The tiger tha t came to tea

Ooo swallows and amazons defo.

Am dying or my girls to be pad enough for Mallory Towers and Twins at St Claire's.

Am desperately trying to remember a book I read with a dragon in it - I looked at Green Smoke on Amazon and don't think it was that. I just remember there being some ovens in it and the dragons cooking the things in them? bizarre the bits you remember

My children loved the Ant and Bee books.

Glad there are other Mary plain readers out there. leonie I love your name.These old shades and Devils cub ........

mulranno,
I remember reading "Across the Baracades", I think it was the first of a series of 3 books.

It explained the "Troubles" to me in a very accessible way as a 12 year old. The books were still in print a few years ago.

Anything by Rumer Godden, especially the one about Totty in the Dols House.

BadJelly the witch by Spike Milligan - we used to cry with laughter at Dullboot the giant.

And John Mouse by Roger Hargreaves - sadly out of print now.

Thanks, stabby. I may see about one for dd2's birthday.

Only one mention of Rosemary Sutcliffe? Superb historical novels; I still re-read mine (and I'm grandma age )

TH White, The Sword in the Stone. A unique take on the Arthurian legend. And his 'Mistress Masham's Repose' (I think its called) - Lilliputian's abandoned by Gulliver in the English countryside.

Books I loved as a child........

The jinny series (pony)
The Jill series (pony)
The Silver Brumby series
Little Women series
Anything by Enid Blyton
Alan Garner
Heidi
Flambards series
What Katy did
Narnia series
Roald Dahl
Little Black Sambo (now called The Boy and the Tigers)
Ballet Shoes series
The Land of Far Beyond...

I collected a series of 23 classic books via our local newspaper, cant wait for DD 4yo to actually be able to read them all

I actually still have all of my childhood books but sadly they were kept in a cupboard in an attic room and have been overrun with mice... I cant quite bring myself to touch them now, never mind give them to DD....

I just bought a load of hardback Enid Blyton books at a carboot sale. Bedtime tales and things like that

The wolves of Willoughby Chase

A little princess

The little wooden horse

Gobblino

Willard Price Adventure books

All Enid Blyton except famous five and secret seven. They annoyed me!

Judy Blume novels especially Blubber and Sally J. Friedmann

I'm not religious but I loved children's bibles too. Chock full of great and shocking stories.

Laura Ingalls Wilder too. LOVED that series.

Little Women , DS shows no interest and I made a pilgrimage to her childhood home last year which he found slightly ridiculous, brat.

( Somewhat off thread, sorry, but dollybird I notice I have chosen a username similar to yours. Would you like me to change it when I lose my Christmas name? Please say if you want me to. I have only been here a month or so and do not mind. )

Thanks dementedma that's a whole other thread about favourite adult books . . .

Love this thread! I love books (but rarely get time to read now, gone are the days when me and a bottle of wine and a book would spend the evening together)

Does anyone remember Bobby Brewster, the ordinary boy to whom magical things happened? I loved those books and remember crying when I realised I'd read the entire series in our local library. They were ancient even then, so I suspect they're not even in print now

Robinson Crusoe
Children of the New Forest

Apologies if any of these have been mentioned before and I've missed them!

Bogwoppit
The Ogre Downstairs
Stig Of The Dump
The Machine Gunners + Devil On The Road (maybe for slightly older children)
Any of the James Herriot books
Ditto Gerald Durrell
The Tiffany Aching books by Terry Pratchett. I wouldn't personally recommend the regular Discworld ones for kids, unless you want to spend time explaining what a "seamstress" (hem, hem) is.
The Three Investigators ones written by Alfred Hitchcock

fishjam glad you read ogre downstairs too - wasnt sure if it was popular or not but i LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Little Princess - yes thank you kitchen!

So many books here I'd forgotten all about but now I'm going to have to dig them out or buy them again!
The little white horse
Five children and it
The Phoenix and the carpet
The sword in the stone T H White version
Mistress Mashems repose
Totty the story of a dolls house - cant believe I forgot that, we even had a gerbil called Totty!

One I don't think has been mentioned for really small children: Each Peach Pear Plum. I discovered recently I can still recite it

Wind in the Willows was my absolute favourite. Loved lots of the books already ementioned and The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler.

Dollybird was the dragon book 'The Dragon's Quest', in the same series as Green Smoke? He worked in King Arthur's kitchen.

The Phantom Tollbooth
My Friend Mr Leakey
Winnie-the-Pooh (have introduced ds age 4 to this)
Willard Price, some Enid Blyton, Little Grey Rabbit, Diana Wynne Jones, Flat Stanley... I read everything!
I have a couple books from when my grandmother was a child, an ABC with short stories, and an Illustrated Dictionary, which I loved once I was deemed old enough to handle them - and confounded my English teachers by using words like inglenook, fairy-cycle and quadcar...

NotYou, I read most of Bobby Brewster and have a couple of the books still.

Does anyone remember 'Help I'm a prisoner in a toothpaste factory'?- I loved that. Remember it being on jackanory. Jackanory was brilliant- introduced me to all sorts of things. Bernard Cribbins reading 'Arabella's raven'- very funny indeed.

I think this is officially my fav thread ever.

I'm with everyone who's mentioned LM Montgomery or LM Alcott (she's the reason my dd is Louisa!).

Thrilled to see Bogwoppit - I loved it as a child, and often call my dcs Bogwoppits Hurrah for Bottersnikes and Gumbles too, can't believe it is out of print. Have read that to several classes - always gone down well, as has Olga da Polga which I've just bought for my Goddaughter.

How about
Follow that Bus! Pat Hutchinson - so funny!
Children on the Oregon Trail - I so wanted to be in that family so I could prove how brave I was
Island of Blue Dolphins - really moving

Enid blytons
Drina series
Gemma series
Back home by Michelle Magorian
A girl named Francesca

I have a library in the office full of books to hand down to the DCs

marking place as I'll add a contribution later! (good thread...)

I love reading so I hope DS loves to read when he's older too!

One of my favourites was 'The BFG' by Roald Dahl. I made my DM read this over and over again for my bedtime story

Ah yes, we3, I enjoyed Help I'm a prisoner in a Toothpaste Factory. In a bonding moment, I found that DH had liked it too. We also both liked Joan Aiken books, but that seemed less surprising, they are a bit better known.

Very Hungry Caterpillar - check (both DCs obsessed with it)
Dear Zoo was a hit too, as was On The Way Home.

Another favourite I want to get hold of is Willoughby Wallaby

When they are a bit older - Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, Swallows and Amazons, Worst Witch and any of Enid Blyton's adventure/mystery stuff.

Totty the story of a dolls house - cant believe I forgot that, we even had a gerbil called Totty!

omg never read book byt LOVED THE TV series

Where The Wild Things Are - both the pics and words are perfection.

I passed my old Asterix books onto my ds and had great satisfaction when he literally fell off the bed laughing!

Does anyone remember an American teen book, where the girl got pregnant and there were lots of Edgar Allan Poe references? Incredibly moving, I'd love to track it down again, for me not the kids.

"The Children of Green Knowe" by Lucy M. Boston. I love more than any other book I have ever read. DS is only 18m, so I have a while to go before I can inflict read it to him, but I am so looking forward to sharing it with him!

The children of green knowe was amazing. Do you remember the tv adaptation?

I remember so many of these. I didn't like 'Mary Plain' I'm afraid, and we had several of the books, but I liked Mistress Masham's Repose. Loved 'The Family from One End Street'. Loved 'Dear Daddy Long Legs' and we had a follow up, called (I think) 'Dear Enemy' but that wasn't as good.

Anybody remember 'Mary Mary' whose brothers and sisters were called Miriam, Martyn, Mervyn and Meg?
'Dear Teddy Robinson'
'My Naughty Little Sister' stories
'Grimble'
Arabel's Raven
The Marlow series by Antonia Forest
Lizzie Dripping
'Smith' by Leon Garfield and 'The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris'
'Louie's Lot' by E W Hildick
'The Cherry's' series by Will Scott
'The Secret World of Polly Flint'

We also had the books of Richard Carpenter's TV series', 'The Ghosts of Motley Hall', 'Dick Turpin', 'Smuggler' 'Catweazel' and 'Robin of Sherwood'. I loved all of these.

We also had a whole set of children's hardback classics which I read - Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Lorna Doone, Little Women, The Children of the New Forest' 'Ivanhoe' and goodness knows what else. Anyone else read 'Little Men' - which I much preferred to 'Little Women', and also 'Jo's Boys'.

Finally, (long post!) does anyone else remember 'Marigold in Godmother's House' which was by the author of Milly Molly Mandy. That was my mother's favourite book as a child and she used to read it to us. Our copy must have been published in the 1930s and is still much loved today.

Did anyone read books by Ruth M Arthur. I devoured all her books when i was eleven . They were quite ghostly and atmospheric and had to be read all in one sitting.

Oh Crypes - I was just looking at 'A Candle in her Room' and remembering how good it was. I might re-read it tonight . I think that was the only one of hers we had though.

Love this thread!

Lots of my favourites have been mentioned over and over so I'll just add my votes to:

Nina Bawden - The Peppermint Pig, Carrie's War
Frances Hodgson Burnett - especially A Little Princess and The Secret Garden
Ruth Mabel Arthur, especially A Candle In Her Room, but actually pretty much all her books, and the illustrations were wonderful too.

BegoniaBampot are you thinking of A Candle in Her Room? It follows the lives of four women, the fourth, Nina is asked about her mother Edie dancing, and she tells whoever asked her - her aunt Judith maybe - that Edie couldn't dance, the Nazis burnt her feet. It's set in Pembrokeshire, I can't remember the name Posie from it though.

Ladybird books - they had a couple of series of science and factual books which aren't in print any more.

Puffin books, and the Puffin club that used to send out a list of twelve books four times a year, and I wanted to read at least three of each selection. Where are they now? Who are the good authors now?

Ive just googled the 'Ghost in her room' and it looks bloody scary. I dont think my DD would get past the front cover.

Paddington Bear
Beatrix Potter
Famous Five

Brambly Hedge.
Secret Seven.
Famous Five.
Charlotte's Web.
The Little White Horse.

Sorry i meant 'Miss Ghost' by Ruth m Arthur. Really bloody creepy.

Everything by E Nesbit

Carbonel and Carbonel's Kingdom

Half Magic by Edward Eager

The Wizard of Oz

The Narnia books

Amber Spyglass etc

The Jennings books

Does anyone remember Nicholas Fisk? (sci Fi for kids when I was little in the 70s and 80s) I believe they did a childrens BBC adaptation of Starstormers.

Awkward Magic by Elizabeth Beresford

Has anyone mentioned The Wizard of Oz yet? Mind you, I can't get DD to read anything except Malory Towers any more. She reads them all, then starts again at the beginning. I think she must be on her 30th reading by now!

Oops - cross post with Bearcrumble!

Astercote, Wild Hunt of Hagworthy by Penelope Lively
The Owl Service and Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner
Z for Zachariah - terrified me.
Most things by Betsy Byars. 18th Emergency etc.

There was another book I loved about a sort of dystopian future where machines were banned and a group of children were travelling the country in a canal boat? I'm sure it was called The Necromancer or something and the author was Peter something. But I can't find it by googling.

life - The Changes by Peter Dickinson i think is the books you're thinking of

lifeintheolddogyet your're talking about The Changes trilogy by Peter Dickinson. I put that book firmly in the category of Cold War books that won't make sense to our kids. Like Z for Zachariah. I can't really explain why The Changes seemed like a Cold War book, perhaps it's more 9/11 that is the dividing line.

Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
Watership Down
Colin Dann books, all of the Animals of Farthing Wood series and my favourite book ever King of the Vagabonds
All the Narnia books
Rumer Godden - The Peacock Spring

So so many, I adored books. Was in love with them.

Glad pleasenomorepeppa mentioned Green Smoke - loved that but couldn't remember what it was called. Have ordered a seconhand copy from amazon.

Going to go back and read - in the meantime The Iron Man by Ted Hughes is awesome.

Yes, the Iron Man is great but weirdly, I really don't like The Iron Woman at all.

The books I remember being read as a child were the Noddy books, which had a little problem with racism and had to be changed, and the book: Little Black Sambo. Rather banned as well!

Then I shan't read it.

I love Iron Giant so much, I don't want to taint it with substandard sequels (and I've resisted thus far).

I've been collecting my childhood favourites for DD for 6 years now, as most of my original books were attacked by damp in a garage.

My most read books were horse and pony related

Silver Brumby series
My Friend Flicka, Thunderhead etc
Black Stallion
Punchbowl series
Flambards
Horse in the House
Ponies Plot

then the Narnia books
Malory Towers, St Clares
Chalet School series
Six Cousins and Six Cousins again - Enid Blyton
Little Women
What Katy Did
Ballet Shoes, Silver Boots
A Little Princess, The Secret Garden
Adventures of a little wooden horse

I'd forgotten about A Candle in her Room, must go and look that up.

I used o love these, and have now got them as firm favourites for my children too...

The Tiger That Came to Tea
Spot The Dog
Mr Men
Roald Dahl books such as The Twits and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory

I keep trying to get them into Enid Blyton and a bit of The Famous Five, Secret Seven, Ship of Adventure etc but as two boys they're having none of it.

Recently bought for myself to replace my old collection

Enid Blyton St Clares series
Magic Faraway Tree (the original one. Not the stupid updated version!)

I love Little Women and as DD is named for one of the characters, I would love her to read and enjoy it too.

I was 17/18 when Harry Potter was just taking off, and they had me hooked - I hope she enjoys those too.

I also loved Twins at St Clares, Famous Five, Babysitters Club (not fussed about her liking BC).

A lot of my old childhood books are on her bookshelf (at the top as she is only one and can't be trusted yet).

Dahl. I can't wait to read him The Twits, Danny the Champion of the World & George's Marvellous Medicine. I remember the BFG was the first "proper" book I read on my own.

Loving the current stage but looking forward to something more grown up too.

I used to love the Pullein-Thompson books (horsey stuff novels) and I was delighted when I saw a huge hardback book with loads of their short stories.
To read to DD you understand.
They've all been updated and lost 90% of their charm. So gutted

William Goldings "Lord of the Flies" is a long-term favourite of mine. I showed my DC the film to introduce the subject of bullying (Piggy who was common, fat, glasses, asthmatic. Raised by his aunt. Completely different socially and physically to the other boys.And bullied mercilessly)

Too many to count, I think.

DD is just getting into longer story books at bedtime - DH is currently reading her Wind in the Willows. I have Rumer Godden's "Holly and Ivy" all waiting to start reading to her on Christmas Eve.

I've already read her Heidi (which disappointingly wasn't quite as good as I remembered it), and looking forward hopefully to her enjoying the Chronicles of Narnia, Black Beauty, The Secret Garden, the Railway Children, A Little Princess, the Sword in the Stone, the Green Knowe books, Little House in the Big Woods, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Secret 7, the Famous Five, Malory Towers, Billy Bunter, Just William, Jennings, The Worst Witch, Mrs Pepperpot, Milly Molly Mandy, Goodnight Mr Tom, The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, The Revenge of Samuel Stokes, The Animals of Farthing Wood, The Whitby Witches...

But most emphatically not The Chalet School books (which enjoyed great popularity amongst my friends, but which I always considered to be absolutely dire. I never liked the Phantom Tollbooth either <controversial emoticon>

Gosh this thread has me oohing and aahhing!! I haven't even read all of it.

Fantastic Mr Fox
Judy Blume Freckle Juice (and all the others from that series)
The turbulent term of Tyke Tyler
Lizzie Dripping
The worst witch

My mind is spinning now... off to read the rest of the thread.

DD2 is having What Katy Did as her bedtime story. I'm enjoying it as much as she is! Though I'm sure I will probably hate it now - as a child it all seemed so moral and lovely, I will probably want to slap smug old Cousin Helen when she comes into it.

DD1 is 19 so already nostalgic for childhood books - she never liked any of mine (sniff!) but here nostalgia fest includes:

Teddy Robinson
The Mousehole Cat
Jessica Harriet's New Neighbours
Nothing
Percy the Park Keeper

I loved:

Green Smoke
Angela Brazil school stories (my mum's books)
Trebizon/Chalet School/Malory Towers/St Clare's
Wishing Chair
The Enid Blyton "Funtime Tales" "Sunny Day Stories"etc - DD3 is having those read to her at the moment, full of things that probably go straight over her head like milkmen, darning socks, rag and bone men etc Incredibly patronising little moralistic tales but I loved them!

BTW we bought a Richard Scarry book from Asda or the Book People, called something like The Funniest Storybook Ever - DH thinks it should be had under the Trades Description Act as he hates it with a vengeance! I had Busy Busy World as a child and loved it, can see what he means though - I think you need to be a child to like it.

Ah so many memories on this thread! Can't wait for my DS to be old enough to be shown these. He already loves books at 20 months so I have high hopes.

Glad to see mentions for Joan Aitken, The Snow Spider (Ah!), Carbonel, Children of Greene Knowe (spelling?!) The Box of Delights and some other wonderful titles. I have some very special memories of my father reading a beautiful edition of The Hobbit to me. I also loved Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. Grim tales. So many...

Did any of you ever read the Chronicals of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander? Loosely based on Welsh mythology and a cracking read!

I remember when every winter the BBC would show really fantastic adaptations of children's stories on Sunday afternoons that would often inspire me to hen go read the books, which were always better. A big part of family life was settling down in front of the fire and the telly with a cuppa tea and cinnamon toast to watch the sunday afternoon children's program. The Henderson workshop fairytails with John hurt were wonderful.

Fab thread, a trip down memory lane. What about Super Gran or was that just me?
Think most of my others have been mentioned.

Oh oh Jeffy the Burglars cat! Brilliant!

The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge.

The E. Nesbit books.

Noel Streatfield books; White Boots: Ballet Shoes, and the rest.

Anne of Green Gables.

Little House on the Prairie.

Family From One End Street.

Am gutted she likes none! I was bookworm. Must accept she's not. Gritted teeth.....

PepeLePew

The book you recall was Charlie by, I think, Joan G Robinson

O

Robin (still love it, but probably out of print)
The Saturdays
I've recently discovered Rummer Godden's children's books - eg Little Plum. The DCs love them.
So pleased that DC1 loved the whole Laura Ingalls Little House series (about 7 of them).
But left to herself, she'll read the modern fantasy stuff.

Housemum I managed to find an affordable copy of Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy World on Ebay....it brought back lots of happy memories, and DD (5) loved it! Worth every penny!

Oh, and The Tree that Sat Down by Beverley Nicholls.

And the Flambards series.

And a book called To Be Looked For, can't remember the author

And lots of others mentioned here. Love this thread.

Hope these haven't already been mentioned,
Both my two loved

How to Train your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell

The Great Hamster Massacre by Katie Davies (plus the rest of her books)

My son loved the Katie Davie books so much that they were the first ones that he read by himself.

Lots of good ones here, but can I second Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster? (If we're allowed American books!)
Just finished Milly Molly Mandy with my 5 year old and she adored it. She also loves Famous 5, Secret 7 - we're moving onto My Naughty Little Sister and Pippi Longstocking next!

UrbanSpaceMum no way! I read Z for Zachariah in about 1985 at about 8 or 9 and was totally unaware of the Cold War. I mean I knew about the Iron Curtain and everything but that fear wasn't there. It's struggle, isolation, survival, resilience... the plume of smoke growing ever closer too is an image that stays with me even now!

I can't remember much about the Peter Dickinson (thanks Urban and splishsplosh ) but there was that sense of peril that is so thrilling as a child. To be safely scared iykwim.

minicooper I snapped up a nice copy of Daddy Long Legs in a second hand books shop recently so that my 2 year old will have one when she needs it. ( it's a really nice one, a wee hardback, lovely). I couldn't believe how ancient it is!

Has anyone said Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, by Rumer Godden, and the sequel Little Plum? And The Story of Holly and Ivy, very Christmassy.

I loved those Rumer Godden books, though they used to make me feel a built guilty for not caring as much about my dolls! Loved the descriptions of Gem Tiffany Jones's room and clothes....

I liked Daddy Long Legs, too, though thinking back it's a tad dodgy really isn't it? And Judy was a bit annoying.

There are some very dodgy names lookign back - as well as the Fannys and Tittys (do you change to -ies if it's a proper name?) what about Enid Blyton's Mr Pink-Whistle? Think he's on a register somewhere....

So many great recommendations! I will come back to read this thread over Christmas - I want to look up a few authors I haven't heard of, and may be spending some Christmas money on Ebay and Amazon!

ninjasquirrel it could be Green Smoke but it didn't sound familiar on amazon. Does anyone remember an Enid Blyton one with six step brothers and sisters I think who lived on a farm. I mainly remember them having 'high tea'!

I was not a child when I read them but I hope my DCs enjoy lemony snicket (not the horrific excuse for a film though), his dark materials (ditto) and Artemis Fowl.

Dollybird - no, not Green Smoke, The Dragon's Quest, which was in the same series but set in the past. The little girl (Susan?) wasn't in that book.

dollybird The Enid Blyton one is 'Six Cousins on Mistletoe Farm' followed by 'The Children of Willow Farm' if that's any help! I loved them as a child, and still have them.

The Six Cousins on Mistletoe Farm and Six Cousins again are great books. There are 3 down to earth farm children living in a grubby farm house with dogs and horses, and their uncle's house burns down and their 3 towny snobby cousins have to come and live with them. The town children have posh names - Melisande and Roderick, and the farm kids are called things like Susan. Brilliant, classic Enid Blyton stereotyping.

I loved The Summer Birds and Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer
The Dark is rising Saga by Susan Cooper
Any of the horsey books by Emily Dickinson
The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett Hodge
and I can't remember the names of her books but I used to love the author known as Miss Read!

BlingLoving - that's what I was going to say! I adored and still adore The Ordinary Princess. I was such a fairy tale junkie when I was young and it was a wonderful antidote to that, but also a lovely tale in its own right. (When I got a bit older I also enjoyed some of MM Kaye's adult stuff like Death in Zanzibar. I never quite got round to The Far Pavilions though. Maybe it's time I did!)

Bluebellswood - that's the one!! Thank you so much.

No-one's mentioned The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald.

Also a Book of Princesses ed by Johnson 1965 which has stories by giants such as Oscar Wilde, E.Nesbit etc etc. I didn't notice the authors when I was a child but their stories resonate still. In fact I can't find our copy. My daughter has left it somewhere yet again.

Cynthia Harnett's The Woolpack - great historical stuff.

And I inherited Violet Needham books from my mother which I loved, although she put some pretty dodgy of-their-time ideas into a few of her stories.

I am not a child -oldish- and have had these read to me recently by a young man,who enjoyed them as much as I did.We read them slowly and sparingly.Wonderful! Trilogy by Steve Augarde...The Various, Celandine,and Winter Wood.

Also ,almost compulsary for little ones...The Giving Tree.

Off the top of my head, The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Richard Scarry, Dogger, Miss Jaster's Garden, Mallory Towers, St. Claire's and Trebizon (?) When older, Great Expectations, The Great Gatsby and Wuthering Heights. Also anyone remember Mr A.Mazing Monster books http://www.amazingmonsters.com/a_mazing/ I loved them.

Happy Christmas Olivia, and everyone.

I am overjoyed at this thread. I have remembered so many books I had read and loved as a child but had forgotten the names of. Glad this is now in books, I plan on scouring charity shops and amazon for the next 12 months, make DS's little library something special.

The talking Parcel by Gerald Durrell and all of the above. My DS is currently reading 'The Growing Summer' by Noel Streatfield and is absolutely hooked - not sure that I will convince him to read 'ballet shoes' though!

The Summer of my German Soldier! That made me cry till I was sick, when I was 12 and all lovelorn with nobody yet to love.