As an Adult, What Children's Books Have You Enjoyed?

Laura ingalls Wilder
Flambards
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Anne of Green Gables
Monica Dickens - Follyfoot
Just William
CS Lewis
Mary Poppins
The Box of Delights
The 'Shoes' books
The Swish of the Curtain
The Children of Greenknowe
Tom's Midnight Garden
Joan Aiken - especially anything with Dido Twite
Charlotte Sometimes

anyone who's on this thread might enjoy Lucy Mangan's Bookworm - a brilliant account of her childhood reading

I loved this, it was so evocative, I felt like I was right back in my childhood.

Danny Champion of the World
They Both Die At the End
How to Train Your Dragon
The Ramona Quimby books

Another vote for Charlotte's Web.

Oh and The Little Princess. Frances Hodgson Burnett. A favourite of mine throughout childhood.

Yes @Thingsthatgo ! Just recently read it to my DD. She asked me if she was my magnum opus.

So many wonderful books mentioned! A few I need to dig back out.
I love Goodnight, Mr Tom. It was the saddest book I had ever read age 12. I cried inconsolably for ages and I can’t even think about it now without welling up, 30 years later.

I see some love for Rumer Godden too. I adored Holly and Ivy. Another one I can’t read without crying my eyes out. I read it to my daughter recently and I got so choked up at the end I could barely read the words.

I capture the castle is a huge favourite of mine. I will also always love The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Alan Garner is also an absolute legend.

Charlotte's Web.

The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer is a good read.

When my DD was little I loved reading The Terrible Underpants by Kaz Cooke to her doing a really strong Australian accent (I am not Australian) It always made me laugh. I also liked reading Julia Donaldson's books aloud. When she got older I enjoyed reading her copies of Harry Potter, all the Percy Jackson series and spinoffs, Lockwood and Co.

As a child I read some books over and over and they still bring me pleasure some 40 years later.
Heidi - Johanna Spyri
Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
The Bobbsey Twins series - Laura Lee Hope.
The Swish of the Curtain - Pamela Brown
Pollyanna - Eleanor H Porter
Alice's adventure in wonderland- Lewis Carroll
I still love Enid Blyton classics - St Clare's / Mallory Towers / Famous Five / Five Findouters and am working my way through these on BorrowBox with my daughter

Goodnight Mr Tom. I read this when it first came out, checking out resources for teaching the Home Front in WW2. At first I was embarrassed to be reading a children's book on the train, but I got involved in it and didn't care any more.

The first book I remember reading to a class as a student teacher was The Witches by Roald Dahl. A lot of Dahl has needed softening, to put it mildly, but I still think The Witches stands up well. And I like the fact that (spoiler alert) it doesn't have the expected ending - the main character doesn't get turned back Into a boy, but he's OK about being a mouse.

I haven't seen Dogger by Shirley Hughes mentioned yet. Not a dry eye in the house - well, not among the adults anyway - as you read 'Then Bella did a very kind thing...'

I also love the classic Peace at Last by Jill Murphy. I had to buy my son a second copy because he'd worn out the first.

The Murderer's Ape by Jacob Wegelius. Wonderful adventure story about Sally Jones (the ape) trying to prove her Chiefs innocence who was framed for murder. I have the sequel on my tbr.

Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky. More of a young adult fiction but the story is about what you would expect from the title.

I don't have kids

My mother read the Little House books at the same time I first did, and it was interesting how her tale on them differed - I identified with Laura, but she was with Ma and thought she must have got so fed up with Pa wanting to move on all the time, and having to pack up and set up home again and again.

Many of the above, but I don't think anyone has mentioned Margaret Mahy or KM Peyton yet.

Pretty much everything by Emma Carroll.

I'm so pleased a couple of people have already mentioned The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper - that is hands down my favourite set of books ever. Please read them if you haven't already.

I should probably try to read some Diana Wynne Jones based on the recommendations here - her son was my English teacher at school but I don't think I've ever read any of her books.

@alphabettispagetti if you haven't already try and get a copy of "Pioneer Girl" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It's the original (previously) unpublished version of her books. It also includes explanations and historical information about her life.
It's a massive heavy hardback - but a brilliant read.

I read Little House on the Praire and the other books in it as a child and enjoyed them. I started reading it to DD a few years ago but she found it too slow. I re-read them all and found them fascinating as an adult.

Whilst not the simplest task I've had to deal with to-date, I do like the Dot-to-Dot books. They are really clever and sometimes when you think your going to be drawing an elephant it turns out to be a lion devouring a snake!
It does make me laugh, and it can
lighten a whole Cabinet Meeting when we are all.puzzling what the final picture is going to be and it turns out to something completely different - a bit like the economy, I suppose!

I’m reading the Lockwood & Co series to my tween and young teen, and I’m really enjoying them. I love the vivid, atmospheric descriptions of haunted London, and some scenes are as scary as any “adult” horror fiction I’ve read.

The phantom tollbooth is excellent.

Don't think anyone's mentioned Tom's Midnight Garden by Phillipa Pearce yet - that's a wonderfully written book.

Agree about Sylvia Waugh's The Mennyms series - not sure how easily available it is now though?

One all time fave is Penelope Lively's The House in Norham Gardens - some of it is a bit dated now but it's immensely evocative of a time and place.

Anyone mentioned Nina Bawden's Carrie's War?

A bit off topic but anyone who's on this thread might enjoy Lucy Mangan's Bookworm - a brilliant account of her childhood reading

The summer I robbed a bank by David o Doherty. Really funny!

All Diana Wynne Jones,
Lucy M Boston’s Green Knowe series,
Antonia Forest’s Marlows series,
Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series,
Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer,
The Ghosts/The Amazing Mr Blunden by Antonia Barber,
Come Back Lucy by Pamela Sykes,
Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co series and Bartimaeus series,
Garth Nix’s Sabriel series and Shade’s Children,
Cynthia Harnett’s historical novels,
Rosemary Sutcliff’s historical novels,
All Laura Ingalls Wilder,
A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley,
Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart series and the two Dragon Rider books,
The Rainbow Opera and The Dream Quake by Elizabeth Knox,
Tove Jansson’s Moomin’s series,
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr,
Watership Down by Richard Adams,
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame,
All Edith Nesbit,
The Secret Garden and A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett,
Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery,
Ballet Shoes, The Circus is Coming and White Boots by Noel Streatfeild,
Mardie’s Adventures and Mardie to the Rescue by Astrid Lindgren,
The Borrowers series by Mary Norton,
The Mennyms by Sylvia Waugh,
The Dolls’ House by Rumer Godden,
Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights’ trilogy,
Terry Pratchett’s Bromeliad trilogy, Johnny trilogy and The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents,
Cold Christmas, Well Met by Witchlight, A Visit to Folly Castle, and Under the Enchanter by Nina Beechcroft,
Barbara Willard’s Mantlemass series,
Tom’s Midnight Garden, A Dog So Small, and Minnow on the Say by Philippa Pearce,
The Ghost of Thomas Kemp, and The Voyage of QV66 by Penelope Lively,
All Nina Bawden, but especially Carrie’s War and The Peppermint Pig,
Smith, Devil in the Fog, and Black Jack by Leon Garfield,
The Tripods series and Empty World by John Christopher,
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein,
Harry Potter series by JK Rowling,
A Bag of Marbles/Un Sac de Billes by Joseph Joffo,
A Pocket of Silence by Barbara C Freeman,
Penny’s Way by Mary K Harris.
Hilary McKay’s Casson Family series, the Exiles series, The Skylarks’ War, The Swallows’ Flight, and The Time of Green Magic.
Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders,
CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia (and I really, really want to read Francis Spufford’s eight chronicle, The Stone Table, which is supposed to fit seamlessly but the Lewis estate will not give permission to publish it).

And probably a lot more that have slipped my mind and I will kick myself for forgetting.