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

"I read something once about a younggirl and her brother who came across this strange but kindly elderly brother and sister with a house full of automatons.
American I think.
Elderly brother was called Pilar.
God I loved it but can't remember what it was called and would sooo love to read it again.
Came out in mid 70s I think (I am 39)
Anyone know??"

Moondog - I read a series of books like that were set in the 50s in a now-shabby American town that had been glamourous back in the 19th century. These children discovered an old house, these old neighbours and had fun riding around in old cars.... swimming in old costumes and listening to stories about these old people's childhood. Their parents bought one of the houses frequently mentioned in the stories for a summer house (as you do) and the kids spent every summer there spending time with these old codgers. Quite sweet. No idea what it was called but I loved them at the time.

Moomins!
Arthur Ransome (Swallowdale is fave)
Alan Garner
Chalet School
Enid Blyton (esp Mallory Towers/ St Clares)
Ramona

etc too many to list. Am to much of a bookaholic

Was going to post my list but found I didn't have to - Gingirl has stolen it! I have recently reread every single one of the books on your list Gingirl as I have slowly recreated my childhood library for my own girls!
Will also add
Louisa May Alcott - Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom as well as the Little Women series.
Lucy M Boston - Green Knowe series
The Owl Service - spooky as anything
The Wizard of Earthsea books
Blackcock's Feather by Maurice Walsh (some Irish MNers will remember this as we did it in school)

Badelaide

Back to reading my Army Manual About Eggs. Lesson 3, How to Make a Halved Hard-Boiled Egg...

Holly and Ivy
The Funny Guy
A Stable for Jill

i still have these books.

the first is about a little girl at xmas who didnt have a home.

the second about a girl whose mum was in hosp, and its set in the usa in the 50's.

the last about a girl whose parents are away, and the fun she has in the summer setting up a riding stable!

bit of a lonely kid theme there

I also used to love mrs Pepperpot, and any enid blytons.

Loved one called the Treasure Hunters.

The Doll's House, TM

Did anyone read a book by Rumer Godden about a dolls house (may well have been called A Dolls House) ? Was there a boy doll called Apple ? Anyway, I loved that book.

Books i would love to read agin if I could remember what they were called or who they were by.....

One about a town that broke off from the coast and floated around being a new island (a bit PAsport-to-Pimlico-ish)

One about two children who survive a plane crash and wander through the countryside with their baby brother to look after. . It was a transation from the French. It sounds gloomy but was a great story which my mum read to me. She can't remember the tilte either!)

Clover Coverdale

another joan aiken fan here.
and eric linklater the wind on the moon ooh i cried and cried. was a favourite of my mum's she got it for me.

That wasn't Stranger with My Face by Lois Duncan was it? That was all about astral projection, but dont remember the eagle necklace.

"Does anyone remember a kind of pre teen fiction book about a girl with an eagle necklace and her twin (that she didn't know about) it was to do with out of body experiences etc and turned out her twin was in a hospital and was trying to steal her body?"

i remember this story - not the title though. it was really supernatural and i remember it was the first in which i heard about out of body experiences. and i tried!

my favourite books from when i was a child:

malory towers, famous five (way better than secret seven and they had a dog!), nancy drew (some stories were awful), asimov, etc

i've been reading hubby's old childhood books and loving:
dunstan wood
lord of the rings - how come i never knew this book existed when i was a child?
swallows and amazon

children's books that i love reading now:
the northern lights series
inkspell series
roal dhal (sp?)
apple tree farm (not my choice!)
Harry potter (given!)

children's books i hate:
any of the unexpected events series - so depressing!

Oh Muffin, I've just read your post.
You are another proper fan.

I love it that you named your dog after him. Ds1's middle name is Clement, wasn't quite brave enough in those days to go for it as his first name. Nowadays I'd just go for it and call him Grimble
Must go, I've just chipped the paint on the skirting board when I kicked a coconut. Might try sticking it back on with the stuff from the inside of a banana skin, what d'you reckon?

Welliemum, I thought it was just me, my sis and you!

Come Back Lucy
The Magic Faraway Tree - who wouldn't have given their right arm for one of Silky's 'Pop biscuits' (or was it Moonface who made them?)
The Secret Seven - strangely I always had a yen for chocolate buns and home made lemonade, and was always on the lookout (unsuccessfully, I may add) for chocolate buns in the bakers.
(I'm beginning to notice a pattern here!)
Tom's midnight Garden
All the Pullein-Thompson sisters books
The Phoenix and the Carpet
Little Women

I devoured books as a child, and find I am very hard to please as an adult. I am forever starting books and finding myself bitterly disappointed with them by halfway. Luckily I have 2 DDs who, like it or not, will read all of these (actually DD1 has read almost everything I read as a child)

mummyhill, Nancy drew, that's it! I had spent days wondering what she was called

ooohh love this thread!
My re-reads are:
Noel Stretfield
Rosemary Sutcliffe - she brings history alive!
Elidor
Susan Cooper
Joan Aiken - esp Wolves of Willoby Chase and Is
Chalet School
Malory Towers
Trebizon
Charlotte's Web
Litte Women
Goodnight Mister Tom - still makes me cry
What Katy Did trilogy
Anne of Green Gables all the way to Rilla of Ingleside
Narnia - find so much more in these now I'm older!

Books were big in my parents house, we didn't do television at all!

Does anyone remember a book series called 'Josie Smith'? She had a friend named Eillean.

though now you mention it - the spanking bit does ring a bell...

lordy I really didn;t focus on the maternity bit - must reread with new eyes!

Does anyone remember a book series called 'Josie Smith'?

Until a couple of years ago I thought I was the only person to have read Grimble (well, me and my sisters).

It's a bit like a secret society

Oh Nancy Drew Iused to love them ,but I got a few off readitswapit recently and was so disappointed