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Children's books

'classic' books - can you help??

41 replies

scaredoflove · 31/08/2009 15:39

Having a discussion today with my teens (15 - 20) and realised that many books I loved as a youngster, they haven't read. I have 2 prolific readers, both had sets of books and styles they loved and I tried to steer them to ones I liked but had no joy when they were younger. Now they have decided want to read them and I should have pushed what I liked on them!

I'm in my 40's and I am thinking of books I read in primary and preteen, nothing written in last 20 years. These are what I have come up with so far (I'm going to get them for christmas presents)

Tom's Midnight Garden
Secret Garden
Little Women & sequels
Wind in the Willows
Great Expectations
Alice in Wonderland
Black Beauty
Peter Pan

Can anyone help remind me of other books that I may have read, I know I read loads or any I didn't read but should have

OP posts:
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FlamingoBingo · 31/08/2009 15:41

Can't remember what age is good to read Arther Ransome's books - Swallows and Amazons etc.

Carrie's War

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Tidey · 31/08/2009 15:44

I liked the Narnia series and the What Katy Did books.

Some other ideas:

A Little Princess
The Railway Children
Swallows and Amazons
Anne of Green Gables (and sequels)

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FlamingoBingo · 31/08/2009 15:45

I Capture the Castle

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scaredoflove · 31/08/2009 15:46

Ooh yes, will add all those to the list, keep them coming please

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janeite · 31/08/2009 15:46

Goodnight Mr Tom (sob)
Charlotte Sometimes
Ballet Shoes - only if girls though!
What Katy Did
The Winnie The Pooh stories
The Little Princess
Daddy Long Legs

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FlamingoBingo · 31/08/2009 15:48

To Kill A Mockingbird (if they aren't being forced to study it, which might ruin it for them!)

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janeite · 31/08/2009 15:48

Sorry - just noticed that Tidey already said A Little Princess.

Poetry? De La Mare / A Child's Garden Of Verse /

The Five Finder Outer books by Enid Blyton are a hoot.

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Tidey · 31/08/2009 15:51

Heidi
Mary Poppins
Back Home
Little House series
Gulliver's Travels

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Tidey · 31/08/2009 15:52

(Actually, Back Home probably doesn't count, but I loved it when I was about 12)

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seeker · 31/08/2009 15:54

Treasure Island
What Katy Did
Children of the New Forest
Pride and Prejudice
Mary Poppins
The Land of Green Ginger
Come Hither
The Secret Garden
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Biggles

A Chalet School or two

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Stayingsunnygirl · 31/08/2009 16:05

Watership Down.
The Finn Family Moomintroll series.
A Wrinkle in Time.
A Box of Delights.
A Wizard of Earthsea (and it's sequels).
The Lone Pine series.
The Hobbit.
Little House in the Big Woods (and it's sequels).

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Mumcentreplus · 31/08/2009 16:08

Charlotte's Web, Marmalade Atkins,

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bobs · 31/08/2009 16:11

To but - look on The Bbook People or Red House Book Club - I'm sure they do some classic books in really cheap sets and Red House has Free p&p

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Stayingsunnygirl · 31/08/2009 17:05

I don't believe I forgot Charlotte's Web!

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florence2511 · 31/08/2009 17:21

Little House on the Prairie??

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TheEgoHasLanded · 31/08/2009 17:27

i doubt a 20 year old will be interested in most of the books listed...or maybe i'm reading the op wrong..?

catcher in the rye...classic book, about right for teenagers.

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Takver · 31/08/2009 17:31

Martin Pippin in the Daisy Field, and Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard
The Uncle books
The Stream that Stood Still, the Tree that Sat Down
Just William
Jennings

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scaredoflove · 31/08/2009 19:35

I will run all these by them and see which ones they fancy the most, can't afford all, as much as I'd like to

Ego, the 20 year old will read anything and it was her mainly that said she would like to read the books of my childhood. I would say some/most of these are classics and all kids/people should read them at some point in their life

They are also working their way through my video collection, classics that they'd heard off but never seen, like Gone with the Wind, The Breakfast Club, Streetcar named desire, the gooonies to name just a few. All before their time but highly enjoyable

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Spacehoppa · 31/08/2009 19:55

101 Dalmations,Tarka the Otter,Mrs Frisby and the rats of NIMH, Bambi, Duncton Wood and sequels...Rather into furry friends when younger. (Think Watership Down, Charlottes Web, Black Beauty have all been done but mentioned again as made me

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tvaerialmagpiebin · 31/08/2009 20:05

Z for Zachariah
Apple Bough and anything by Noel Streatfield
Adrian Mole
Swallows & Amazons
Biggles

gosh am thinking a trip to Book People in order for me now......

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jkklpu · 31/08/2009 20:13

All of Little House in the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls' stories - there are 9
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabit - Judith Kerr
If they like animals:
James Herriott's books
Joyce Stranger's series of books about a vet - Vet on Call, Double Trouble, Vet Riding High (and loads of her other books feature animals)
Jim Kjelgaard's books about dogs - Big Red, Irish Red, Stormy, etc.

The Franchise Affair - Josephine Tey
A Town like Alice (not exactly children's but first read as a teen and adored it)
The Wasp Factory (though I know there was a thread about this not long ago)
The Crow Road

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5Foot5 · 07/09/2009 19:41

Glad there are so many other "Little House" fans - there are about 7 on that series which DD and i only deiscovered recently. i thought it was a trilogy.

Hurrah that someone has included ballet Shoes and Jennings.

But OMG!! What Katy Did etc I thought the most abysmally boring books ever!!

Others I loved which have not so far been listed:
Tom Browns School Days (then recommend the Flashman Papers!)
The Children Who Lived in a Barn
The Little Grey Men

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Celery · 07/09/2009 19:48

I wonder if anyone can help me with a book title and author? Read when I was about twelve, a classic book about three brothers who run away and live in the woods for a year or so, fending entirely for themselves.

I think it may be set in WWII, but could have been written before that? I loved it when I read it and would love to read it again, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was called. Any ideas? I know my dad read it when he was a boy, but I can't ask him now.

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Celery · 07/09/2009 19:56

Lord of the Flies

Of Human Bondage ( lovely book, don't be put off by the title!)

The L-Shaped Room

Fortunes of War trilogy

These are all books I read as a teenager and adored.

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Celery · 07/09/2009 19:59

Heidi

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