90 most awesome old-school children's books

[Heated]

Just been wallowing in nostalgia.

Do you remember any of these?

[BabaYaga]

Oh yes, still have dusty copies the Jill books, Gymnast Gilly, Ballet Shoes, Swish of the Curtain etc etc. I remember my mum hating me reading Sweet Valley High!

[heronsfly]

Yes,Ive still got a lot of these,I loved the Blyton school stories malory towers,st clares ect,but the chalet school books were my real favorite,stil read them now.

[Bumperlicious]

My mum also hated me reading SVH, and 2 weeks ago I found a bunch of old copies at a school fete for 10p each! I bought half a dozen and am enjoying them in the bath in the evneings!

[Bumperlicious]

Pedant alert: No. 64 By the Banks of Plum Creek was a Laura Ingalls Wilder Book as named in no. 10.

I can't believe no one has mentioned the Drina Ballerina books - am I the only one who read them? (I'm probably the only one who still reads them now!).

[heronsfly]

Yes,ive got all the Drina books,and the sadler wells series and I still read them all.

[Campaspe]

Yes, I remember loads of these! And I loved most of them. Thanks for the link

[Bumperlicious]

Have you Heronsfly? I've got most of them. Some of them are really rare and expensive, but I don't want them to collect and make money, I just want to read them!

[zaphod]

What about Watership Down? I loved a lot of the books on the list, especially the Enid Blyton ones (I spent my childhood with my nose in an EB book), and the Little House series.

[BabaYaga]

Um, I've just paid ridiculous amount of money for one of the wells series as I had never read it and they are no longer published . Still got two more to buy and read, but no more money for a while! It's such a shame that people just buy books like this and leave them to sit on a shelf.

[youngbutnotdumb]

Dunnoe if it classes as a childrens classic but I loved and still do love the hungry caterpillar and my DS loves it too. Gives me an excuse to read it and go ooh I wonder what happenss next

[MaryAnnSingleton]

The Woolpack, The Family from One End Street and the Molesworth books - loved them !

[Jux]

Molesworth was great; and anything by Diana Wynn Jones - still enjoy reading them. There are quite a few there I never heard of - amazon here I come. Mum would never let us read Enid Blyton, so they mean nothing to me.

[RustyDaviesBear]

For Lorna Hill fans
And other authors

[dilemma456]

Message withdrawn

[WendyWeber]

Monica Edwards - Punchbowl Farm & Romney Marsh - wonderful...

[Yorky]

I read the chalet school books, and the abbey girls by EJOxenham. My mum is kind of colecting the old hard back ones, not 1st editions or anything. There is a group that somehow photocopy the old unavailable ones and republish them as ring bound A4 versions. I'll ask her what they're called when she gets back next week

[AnyFuleKno]

Huzzah for Molesworth, it is brilliant as any fule kno.

[MaryAnnSingleton]

anyfule ! I gave my ds the complete works for Christmas

[Mercy]

Awesome is so American. I don't like the term.

Whinge alert

[TotalChaos]

Yes I read all the Drina books too! And loved the Chalet School ones. Fortunately a library in a nearby town had a lot of old hardback ones, so I could read many that weren't current ly in print in the 80s. The Chalet School books were amazing, a window into Europe for me.

[colditz]

The Narnia books, all 7 of them. There isn't one I didn't like, and I think the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe is possibly my least favourite.

The Worst Witch was fab...

The HObbit was fantastic too, and the books about that magic tree (with Moonface et al)

the Famous Five books hold a special glory for me, and Black Beauty, and Watership Down, and The Silver Brumby trilogy.

Can I say the Harry Potter books? As I was only 17 when the first one came out, and was reading them with my little sister....

Just think, I bet there are parents here who read them as children!

[heronsfly]

My chalet school books ,Drina ect are mostly from my childhood although I have picked up a few in charity shops over the years,I cant believe how much some of them sell for,but mine were and are read for pleasure,and I dont think anyone would want my food,baby sick covered copies .
A great site for chalet school lovers is the cbb forums they have for sale and wanted ect,but also write follow up and alternate stories thenselves.

[TotalChaos]

what's the cbb forum? I used to have most of the Chalet School books, wish I had kept them rather than donated to charity shops .

[cmotdibbler]

I've read or have most of them

Girls gone by Publishing are a great source of out of print and hard to find titles.

I have some Drina books, so you aren't alone Bumperlicious

Nice to see Barbara Willard on the list. My grandmother was in service to her family, and she sent a signed copy of each book to her (which I have). 'A Country Maid' is based to some extent on my grandmother - Barbara sent her a lovely letter to explain it all in advance of publication

[MegSophandEmma]

My favs were SVH, SVU and the point horror collection.