White Boots

I remember not understanding a lot of stuff in Ballet Shoes when I first rea dit at maybe 7 or 8. Like the Kuala Lumpur stuff about rubber growing in trees, what the 'license' was about, even what a stye was when poor Winnie got one. Everything dates though. I've been rereading all my Judy Blumes and they just scream 80s

Ballet shoes for anna was too tragic for me.

Strange, because i love Ballet shoes which is equally tragic viz orphans

But the children's lives just seem so bleak and real in BSFA

Hope not hooe

Yes, lots of stuff you would not get in chikdren's fiction today.

Remember in Ballet Shoes, Nana says of Petrova: "let's hooe this one's got brains because it's easy to see who'll be miss plain in my nursery"

I once found a copy of The Painted Garden that made me realise my "original" copy had been abridged. Can't remember if I still have the unabridged one though.

I love Apple Bough with Myra the truely great one in a family of musical brothers and sisters. And Ballet Shoes for Anna and Curtain Up. And many others too

There is quite a split on ebay between Streatfeild and Streatfield which can sometimes be advantageous.

O yes chewing gum, who had to be left behind! I do wonder how much of it will go over the next generations head though. It's a real shame. Haven't they tried to update the Blytons a little for a modern audience? It just doesn't work (and I hate Blyton anyway)

Booboo
I wanted Frances for Dd1 but it does not work with our surname, so Dd1's first dolly was named Frances / Franny.

Yes! Painted Garden is fab.

The train journey across America was really evocative of another era.

Peaseblossom was such a sensible egg. I was so embarrassed for her in New York when she asked the policeman for help finding a cafe and he more or les blanked her. :)

I loved that Jane was plain and not skinny but the real star, in terms of the film of the Secret Garden but also the book itself. She was a fascinating character, not dissimilar to George in the Famous Five but more rounded. She even had a much loved dog, Chewing Gum, to match Timmy.

I am avoiding naming my dc after fictional characters as it would be too much for them to live up to! I just couldn't label a boy Zooey as much as I would want to. Again, a book my grandma passed down to me. I really should call her more often

The Painted Garden. LOVED it and I must dig out my copy. In fact, I may have read that one more than Ballet Shoes even. I got it for pence at a church jumble sale when I was about 8 or 9

Oh, just seen your name, Booboo. We must have very similar taste in fiction. Top of my list of names for boys were:
Seymour
Jerôme
Zachary (vetoed by DH for being downmarket)

We only have girls so far.

Well, Ballet Shoes of course goes without saying. it is a classic.

I have already read ir to my 4 yo and she loves it. She wants to be known as Pauline and has started calling her baby sister Posy. Occasionally, i have to play the role of Mrs Simpson. She has asked for a string of pearls, per Petrova, for her birthday. I am delighted.

But what about the lesser known titles? I still love The Growing Summer and think it is cracking.

Oooo yes I adore Noel Streatfield. I reread this recently. I cannot wait until my dd can be passed down all my old ones, Ballet Shoes was my absolute favourite, it was my grandma's, then my mums, then mine. I still remember the night my mum gave that book to me, and it;s been reread many times since :)

Swanriver
Yes, but i always felt puzzled (like Nana is, in the book :) ) by "brackets"

Oooooh yes!
Lala was v spoilt but came out alright in the end
I loved the word "embassadress" which is what her aunt thought she would grow up to be. Hmmm. Best laid plans.

I always wondered why I had not one in my acquaintance who had a governess at home and learnt ice skating

I loved it. I read it again the other day. Awful Aunt Claudia, and all those hardworking brothers Harriet has... Never having skated properly there was a charm to all the technical stuff too - intergold, intersilver that sort of stuff.