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Can I start a thread about nostalgic Young Adult/Children's books we used to read in the 80s/90s?

136 replies

guineaholic11 · 16/11/2017 01:28

I love going to second hand bookshops or charity shops and browsing the children's sections to see if I can spot any books I used to love reading then?

I used to love anything by Jean Ure, (anyone remember the Peter High school series she wrote?) Anne Digby's Trebizon series, Noel Streatfield, Antonia Forrest's school books with the Marlowes, and endless pony books by Patricia Leitch (anyone remember Jinny and her Arab horse Shantih?) Also went through a serious Sweet Valley phase...goodness knows why, looking back those books were full of fat shaming and bitchiness!

OP posts:
mintich · 25/11/2017 22:18

I also loved Ramona Quimby!!

mintich · 25/11/2017 22:17

Oh and the sisters series! My favourites were Cassie and Daphne

Can I start a thread about nostalgic Young Adult/Children's books we used to read in the 80s/90s?
mintich · 25/11/2017 22:14

Loved so many of these!
I also remember reading Tallahassee Higgins and Kumquat May I'll always love you

ptwmummyof2 · 25/11/2017 22:11

Broomstick - The Song of the Lioness series are my all time favourite books. I can't wait to share them with my daughter when she's old enough. I was about 12 when I first read them.

Also loved Sweet Valley High, anything by Christopher Pike, L J Smith. Love this thread - must dig out some of the old classics to re-read...

CoffeeAndEnnui · 24/11/2017 12:38

@endehors, I can't remember. I feel like they married and she was pregnant/had a daughter at the end but I may be mixing it up with another series. It was a melodramatic, book-heavy timeGrin

starkid · 24/11/2017 12:21

I remember:
Philip Ridley books (Scribbleboy, Dakota of the White Flats...), they were pretty weird!!
Animal Ark series by Lucy Davis (Pony in the Porch, Puppy in the Pantry...)
All Jacqueline Wilson books
The Sleepover Club series by Rose Impey
Pig-Heart Boy by Malorie Blackman (And later her Noughts and Crosses series)
The Secret Life of Sally Tomato by Jean Ure

CurlsandCurves · 24/11/2017 12:03

pollyhemlock Yes! Thank you so much!

PerfumeIsAMessage · 24/11/2017 05:48

Drina! I read all of those too!

wasMissD · 24/11/2017 02:47

Aw man! Nostalgia trip.

I loved Point Horror, Sweet Valley and Babysitters Club. The Babysitter in Point Horror was terrifying!

I want to read them again now Smile

endehors · 24/11/2017 02:30

Apparently it was Daughters of the Air, up thread, not Sisters of the Light. Close enough...
I’d almost forgotten the Sadler’s Wells books. Didn’t she marry Sebastian in the end?

CoffeeAndEnnui · 23/11/2017 23:17

Ooo, also a ballet series called (I think) Sadler's Wells with a heroine called (?) Veronica. She had to travel to near Hadrian's Wall whenever she stayed with family and was always about to fail at the start of each performance before the opening score magically cured her!

BusterTheBulldog · 23/11/2017 23:05

The ogre downstairs I also loved!

BusterTheBulldog · 23/11/2017 23:04

Did anyone read ‘the fortunate few’ where gymnastics is the number one sport? Loved that book.

Love this thread! Caroline akrills eventers trilogy was one of my favs, along with trebizon and point horror-still remember some with a shiver!

TheLesserWeevil · 23/11/2017 23:03

BroomstickOfLove
How old is your DD? Was thinking of getting a set of Tamora Pierce books for my DN for Christmas - she's 13, is that about right? I loved those books but can't remember how old I was when I read them.

Temporaryanonymity · 23/11/2017 22:59

My sort of thread!

Loved Lois Duncan.

Anyone remember a post nuclear war series set in the US? A teenage couple I think, walking across state. Absolutely loved it but never got to finish the series.

bobbyshafter · 23/11/2017 22:56

Anyone remember Ramona Quimby?

KittyVonCatsington · 23/11/2017 22:47

Not Adrian! Drina! Stupid autocorrect ruining my nostalgia! Grin

KittyVonCatsington · 23/11/2017 22:46

Lots of lovely nostalgia on this thread!

I remember being obsessed about a series of books about a ballet dancer called Adrian by Jean Estoril. Loved them!

Can I start a thread about nostalgic Young Adult/Children's books we used to read in the 80s/90s?
Katurah · 23/11/2017 22:23

Sati by Christopher Pike is the sole reason I studied Philosophy and am now a philosophy teacher. I loved all of his books. Also loved The Changeover by Margaret Mahy, SVH, Virginia Andrews (The Heaven saga in particular), Garth Nix and Phillip Pullman.

Eddmr · 23/11/2017 22:17

Was Dance on my Grave part of the Pan Horizon series? It was about homosexuality.

fruitpastille · 23/11/2017 22:15

@Ridingthegravytrain Urn Burial is by Robert Westall, a great author of many children's classics. I must reread some!

Apileofballyhoo · 23/11/2017 22:11

Oh my goodness, I remember Stranger with My Face, but not what happened in the end! My friend had it, and also quite a sad book about a teenage swimmer who was teased about being gay, though she wasn't.

Also remember SVH, Judy Blume and Virginia Andrews doing the rounds.

PerfumeIsAMessage · 23/11/2017 21:56

Talk of Second Star to the,Right has reminded me of another- I never promised you a rose garden. Jewish American girl is in a psychiatric hospital, and her therapist is German (set in the 50s) very heavy but also strangely uplifting.

CoffeeAndEnnui · 23/11/2017 21:15

That's really cool, Buckets. I'll be honest, I'm kind of sitting on my hands to stop myself hitting Amazon for them all.

I can picture them all too, bookworm. Right down to where they were on my bookcase!

Night Kites had a really vivid description of a fringed leather jacket with a car crash painted on it. For years after I used to turn whenever I saw a swing of fringe just in case Nikki's distinctive style had made it to the real worldSmile

Papergirl1968 · 23/11/2017 20:59

There definitely wasn’t the range of books for older kids and teens that there is now, Boldly. By 13 or 14 I was raiding my mom’s collection too - Catherine Cookson, Danielle Steel etc.
Somehow Judy Blume passed me by. I don’t ever recall reading any of hers.
I also loved and still reread the Little House on the Prairie Series.