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Original poster

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

282 replies

Swizzler · 11/04/2007 19:10

Am re-reading Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising sequence and yes, it is still good

So which children's books did you enjoy as a child and still read - read for your own pleasure, that is, not read to your DCs.

OP posts:
mummyhill · 15/04/2007 14:59

Saltire - was it Nancy Drew? I read a few of those and they were OK.

MuffinMclay · 15/04/2007 14:18

This has made my day! I've never come across anyone else who has ever heard of Grimble before, let alone read and enjoyed it.

I named a dog after him, and people were always saying 'where on earth did you get that name from', and wouldn't belive me when I told them.

welliemum · 15/04/2007 09:15

Muffin, come out of that Grimble closet at once!

Badelaide and I can be seen exchanging Grimble in-jokes further down this thread...

welliemum · 15/04/2007 09:13

Was just re-reading the thread and I came across Aloha's and Swizzler's mentions of the "buns" episode in A Little Princess.

How odd - I haven't read the book for years but I remember that bit very vividly and sometimes think about it - it must be very powerfully written to have stuck in my mind like that - and now I see I'm not the only one.

suejonez · 15/04/2007 09:07

waswondering - can;t beleive someone else read the Sue Barton books - she wasperfect and her dishy perfect doctor husband

MuffinMclay · 14/04/2007 19:52

I've just been re-reading Paddington (inspired by the free audio CDs that came with the Telegraph recently)

Enid Blyton - Malory Towers, Magic Faraway Tree series

Roald Dahl - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Goodnight Mister Tom

and my all time favourite (at the risk of shattering my MN anonymity to those who know me well in RL), Clement Freud's Grimble. Can't believe it is out of print these days.

saltire · 14/04/2007 19:28

This thread has just made me go into the loft - me who's scared of spiders and ladders! I knew that DS1 was given a boz set of books when he was born , from MIL, and A Little Princess and the The Railway Children and The Secret Garden are amongst the books in it so I went and hunted it out.

I also loved

Little Women
What Katy Did and the others in the series
Narnia
all the Enid Blyton books, I had all the secret 7 and Famous 5 books.
I aslo used to read books about a young detective, nancy something, it's really going to bug me, I can't remeber her name or who wrote them.

DS2 has all the Roald Dahl book and i enjoy reading them with him

Waswondering · 14/04/2007 19:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsJohnCusack · 13/04/2007 23:34

I just reread the Bagthorpes including a couple I hadn't read before that I found in a charidee shop

genius

MrsJohnCusack · 13/04/2007 23:34

I just reread the Bagthorpes including a couple I hadn't read before that I found in a charidee shop

genius

Ash80 · 13/04/2007 20:22

I absolutlely loved the 'The magic faraway tree' by Enid Bylton!!!

Marina · 13/04/2007 20:19

colander - GGBP - can you give more info about the Antonia Forest reprints?

becaroo · 13/04/2007 20:06

I loved all the roald dahl books, Georges marvellous medicine was my favourite and I could read it again today. Also the moomin books. Emil and the detective was a fave too.

suejonez · 13/04/2007 19:57

Sue Bartin - District Nurse (all 7 of them)

mummyhill · 13/04/2007 19:56

Elizabeth Beresford Stephen and the shaggy dog was a nice change from the wombles which I also liked.

colander · 13/04/2007 19:27

Anything by Antonia Forest - all my copies have fallen apart but GGBP are reprinting them all (slowly) which is fab.
Loads of the others mentioned too, and also some great lists which have made me want to dig out the books I haven't read for ages. So thank you for a great post!

babster · 13/04/2007 19:26

I loved Mrs Pepperpot and couldn't wait to buy it for dd1. My favourite story as a child was Mrs Pepperpot and the Bazaar - where she wades through the snooty ladies' layer cake and smashes the tea service. A must-read for PTA-phobes

Chocadora · 13/04/2007 19:12

the precious - did you read the nantucket one - an all time favourite of mine all about telepathy between triplets

FrannyandZooey · 13/04/2007 18:18

I love Bagthorpes, too

v funny

filthymindedvixen · 13/04/2007 16:44

oh Franny, I adored those books...i wanted to be Maddy.

my mum has original copies, very mildew smelly and falling to bit-sy which I always read when I go 'home'.

I also love Worzel Gummidge books.

And a fabulously funny series about a boy called Jack and his dog Zero - the Bagthorpe Saga.

StripeyKnickersSpottySocks · 13/04/2007 16:23

Chalet school books.
Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.

theprecious · 13/04/2007 12:16

I can't believe no one has mentioned Joan Aiken (or maybe someone has and I missed it). The series with Dido Twite, and also the Bridle the Wind Trilogy.

She's fab - great role model for girls, she does it all herself.

FrannyandZooey · 13/04/2007 08:57

LadyG - the hall where I run my groups was the original "Blue Door" hall in Swish of the Curtain

welliemum · 13/04/2007 04:08

i think my favourite John Wyndham is still "The Chrysalids" (about telepathic children in a post nuclear, fundamentalist society).

Great story, and really made me think about "What is normal" - and still does even now.

badelaide - I think the green ink message is my favourite moment, along with the comment about "disgruntled" meaning "somewhere between all right and angry".

Aloha · 12/04/2007 23:37

I read everything he wrote! The Kraken Wakes kept me awake at night for ages. V scary.