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Original poster

'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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mrsgboring · 06/10/2009 16:45

celery it wasn't the forest but cd you be thinking of the machine gunners? robert westall

lavenderkate · 28/09/2009 22:07

My friend Flikka

The green grass of Wyoming.

Such wonderful stories that for a forthcoming big birthday I plan to round up cattle on horseback on those Great Plains.

AvengingGerbil · 10/09/2009 15:53

Oh, and I can't remember the author, but I loved the 'Drina Dances...' series (I'm thinking Estoril, but may be wrong) and two books by Linda Blake called Ballet for Laura and Laura's Summer Ballet, which I still love though they are out of print and I've never met anyone else who read them.

(Have you been following Lucy Mangan's column in the Sat Guardian on building a children's library? Or are you LM looking for your next suggestion )

AvengingGerbil · 10/09/2009 15:51

K M Peyton's Pennington series

nickelbabe · 10/09/2009 15:39

My family and other animals - gerald durrell
emil and the detectives - erich kastner
mrs frisby and the rats of nimh - o'brien
ballet shoes and all those books by noel streatfeild
flambards - k m peyton
the house in norham gardens - penelope lively
the little bookroom - eleanor farjeon

Bettymum · 10/09/2009 15:24

Noone's mentioned The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. My favourite books as a child.
Also The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley was one that stuck in my mind for years.
Tom's Midnight Garden is another beautiful book.
Lots of fab books mentioned above!

choosyfloosy · 07/09/2009 20:41

Lots of the above plus:

Betsy by Dorothy Canfield
Eight Cousins and An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa M Alcott
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
the Wolves of Willoughby Chase series by Joan Aiken
A Necklace of Raindrops and the other Joan Aiken story collections
Molesworth
the Gemma books and White Boots by Noel Streatfeild
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
The Sword in the Stone
Stuart Little
The Cricket in Times Square
Walkabout
The Princess and the Goblin
I am David

Oh God this is joy. Having to stop for a bit.

Sandy22 · 07/09/2009 20:21

Enid Blyton books:

All the mystery series
Famous Five series
St Clares
Mallory Towers

I loved these books read them over and over

barbarianoftheuniverse · 07/09/2009 20:19

Box of Delights and The Midnight Folk- John Masefield
Treasure Island RL Stevenson
Coral Island (Ballantyne -I think)
Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday -Steinbeck
Love in a Cold Climate and The Pursuit of Love- Nancy Mitford
David Copperfield
The Little White Horse

MNHQ
OliviaMumsnet · 07/09/2009 20:13

Oops sorry Tidey has already listed.
As you were

MNHQ
OliviaMumsnet · 07/09/2009 20:13

Where is ANNE OF GREEN GABLES?!

Celery · 07/09/2009 20:08

Stig of the Dump
When Hitler stole pink rabbit.

Celery · 07/09/2009 20:07

No, it wasn't Children of the New Forest. Am frantically googling at the moment.

Celery · 07/09/2009 20:06

The Railway Children

Carrie's War

pania · 07/09/2009 20:04

All the E.E. Nesbit books.

Celery it wasn't Children of the New Forest was it? .... Probably not, since I think at least one was a girl, and it was set in the time of Oliver Cromwell - still, it's a good book anyway.

bodiddly · 07/09/2009 20:00

Diary of Anne Frank

Celery · 07/09/2009 19:59

Heidi

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.

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.

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

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

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......

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

Original poster
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

OP posts:
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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