Which children's books do you STILL read and enjoy?

Oh, and Joan Aiken's Dido Twite/other characters series and her short story collections were all big favourites for me too
And Gillian Avery - I gather she wrote more books about some of her characters than I've seen and I'd love to get to read some of the others
Ruth Sawyer, Roller Skates, about a girl meeting lots of interesting people in late 19th century New York City - written in the 1930s

Lots of old favourites mentioned, a few to add that I haven't seen yet part way through the thread -
Judith Kerr's When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and the sequels,
several Scandinavian writers including Astrid Lindgren (Pippi books, The Bullerby children) and Anne-Cath Vestly's Aurora and Socrates books - Aurora's dad is a student and stays at home with the kids while mum goes out to work
Jill Murphy's The Worst Witch
Catherine Storr, various but my favourites as a kid were probably those about Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf
I'm also sad that as I'm expecting a son many of the books I've clung on to probably won't appeal

Did anyone ever read The Moffats, Rufus M, and the Middle Moffat?
Or The Children Who Lived In a Barn?
There was something wonderful about that book. I think it was the haybox.

You could try Amazon or Play.com. Also, you can search on Ebay. I have found some which were missing from my sets this way. I was very lucky though, as I made my parents keep all my childhood books boxed up in their loft when I left home (because I didn't want to have to re-purchase them when I had children). Now I have tons & tons of them in our loft ready for my dds to grow into. Every so often I sent my DH up to get me some boxes down to sort through. I just can't believe how many horse books I managed to amass too.

ooh i love mrs pepperpot - kids don't find her as funny as i do for some reason!

Bogwoppit
What Katy Did (& Next)
Rufus
Mr Meddle series (Enid Blyton)
Mrs Pepperpot
Paddington

Oh what a lovely thread.

I re-read the Dark is Rising set regularly - the second book set at Christmas time always makes me want to read it round that time.

• ANYTHING by Diana Wynne Jones - I loved Howl's Moving Castle, and The Ogre Downstairs.
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster
• The Moomin books by Tove Jansson
• Sword in the Stone by TH White
• The Phoenix and the Carpet by E Nesbit (well pretty much all her best known stuff is fab)
• A Country Child by Alison Uttley
• Bottersnikes and Gumbles - I've been looking for this everywhere as it is out of print now, and I only have the second book in the series
• I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith

Anyone know any good websites for finding these sort of books? Charity shops never seem to have many of the really old ones (eg from when I was little!).

This may already have been mentioned but 'The Family at One-End Street' was very good when I was in juniors. It's about a poor family but the eldest girl wins a place at a grammar school so there's issues about paying for the uniform, the chiildren all get measles, have to go away for recuperation etc. Quite a lot of period details as well - I think that it's set in the 20s.

Dairy!

Housemum re the Traveller in Time. I just reread it too. Babbington Farm is very close to where we live, a beautiful old collection of buildings. The little church is there too, you can collect the key from the diary and go and look around anytime. (Simon Groom ex blue Peter lives there now).

Have just placed order on Amazon for the 'Gone away' series - hope it's as good as I remember .

I'm working my way through all my old childhood books with my dds. Ones we've enjoyed lately are:-
Flat Stanley
Faraway tree
Moomins
Paddington
Amelia Jane
Milly Molly Mandy
Ponder & William
Gobbolino the Witch's cat

At the moment we're doing the Laura Ingalls Wilder series

the owl service
clever polly
Marianne Dreams
the Jill books
anything by KM Peyton
Just so stories
The Little White Horse

dd1 is getting all these slowly but surely

The wishing chair by Enid Bliten (?), read them as a kid and so bought the books again today, there fab.

Automans are wind-up toys I think but more sophisticated than wind-up mice or pull-back cars.

Thanks for that - I'll have to re-read them now .

Chocolategirl and moondog.

i think the books you are talking about are "Gone away Lake" and "Return to Goneaway" by Elizabeth Enright.

Old people were called Pinder and Minniehaha. They were lovely books, I reread them every now again.

moondog -maybe this isn't what you remember as I don't remember any automatons (whatever they are)

Late to this thread as usual.

Book sleuth on abebooks.com. is good for finding books you remember bits of but can't title or author.

Macolm Saville books - middle-class children who keep coming up against the same she-criminal in various parts of the UK. Good reads though and very descriptive of certain places ie Rye.

Glad this thread has appeared again .

Did anyone else read books by Jean Ure? I'm sure someone did.

I also read Sue Barton books.

chocolattegirl & Rustybear - Thankyou, Thankyou, Thankyou! At some point when I was a kid there was a TV adaptation of this, I think it was done as a series, and I've been trying for years to find out what it was. I'm going to get the book now.
Thankyou!

I still read kids books about as much as I read adult books (which is a lot.)

My favourites, anything by Enid Blyton, but particularly Malory Towers, Magic Faraway Tree, Cherry Tree Farm and Willow Farm. The Anne of Green Gables books, Roald Dahl, The Jill books, Judy Blume and Paula Danziger.

My absolute favourite kids book is called Rebecca's World, by Terry Nation, about a litle girl who gets sucked through a telescope into another world, the baddie on the world has chopped down all the trees to make glass buildings, but the trees kept away the ghosts, so Rebecca and her friends follow a map to find the last tree to collect the seeds. It's fantastic.
If anyone has a copy of this, DON'T send it to the charity shop. Terry Nation was the guy who invented Daleks and Blake 7. It's been out of print for years and even a tatty paperback will fetch a tidy sum of money.
I'm so pleased the bookseller I got my copy from didn't realise this.

Oh Blimey The Doll's House ! That's brought back memories. I remember it being what I considered the first "proper" book I read to myself! I'd forgotten all about it.

Thank you, thank you whoever it was lower down who mentioned Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley - I was thinking the other day about how kids these days take the easy cop-out with TV and watch loads of cartoons given a choice - we had what was on BBC/ITV and that's that - I remembered a children's drama serial with priest holes, the Babbington household etc - it must have been the dramatisation of this. Off to search Amazon for a copy (building a huge library for DD who is only 4 and would prefer Charlie and Lola)

Have recently red Green Smoke by Rosemary Manning to DD - she loved it, and wanted to have notes under her pillow like the dragon left Susan. Green Smoke

That's the one, chocolategirl. I think it was Birdie who died to save Apple from the fire

Is that the book with a doll called Vanessa in it who is snobby and spiteful but has to hide her red flannel petticoats in case the other dolls laugh at her? One of the 'cellouse' dolls melts at the end I think. Good book to read just before going into shared digs .

You're right,TheodoresMummy, it was The Doll's House
Very sad at the end though iirc