Reading children's books is helping my mental health...

[Helpmeplease1234567]

I'm reading old fashioned pony stories at the moment (KM Peyton and the like)

It sounds ridiculous but I'm finding it very comforting. Sharing in case someone else finds it helps!

Not ridiculous at all. I can't face reading at the moment but I'm really enjoying watching kids TV from my childhood and also listening to musicals I loved as a kid. It's comforting.

When I can manage reading I do the same.

Not at all - I read the famous 5 when stressed. Also ‘watch’ friends - both familiar and comforting

I reread Ballet Shoes this week. It’s my favourite book for when things are stressful. No drama, no suspense, and a happy ending.

I thought it was just me! I’ve started reading the Chalet School books again, it’s like comfort food in book form!

I read 'Ballet Shoes' several times a year, for this very reason. I also love:
Daddy Long Legs
Charlotte Sometimes
The Little Women series
Enid Blyton's 'The Secret Island'
Old friends that are the perfect cure for a touch of the mean reds.

I'm reading Malory Towers with my daughter and loving it. We've also just started the TV series. I'd highly recommend for some escapism.

Are you reading Flambards? I loved that series so much. I have the books that my mum bought for me about 40 years ago. She wrote in each one, she died 25 years ago. They are one of my most treasured possessions.

I bloody love K M Peyton I don't blame you at all!

I prefer to read children's books. I especially like familiar ones.

I'm watching Free Rein and Heartland on netflix. Crack on...

its not ridiculous ,I have read malory towers this week ,also watched it on iplayer ,and have just started on the famous five ,only got books 1-5 tho ,cant justify the price for the rest of them on amazon for my kindle, this time next week I might change my mind tho

I love the chalet school books, in the past few years I have collected a full set and have an ambition to collect the set in hard back. I recently treated myself to two early edition hard backs.

I thought it was just me! Just re-read Moondial by Helen Cresswell and found it so comforting.

I eased be twins at st Claire's and Malory towers when I'm struggling!

Ballet Shoes and the Harry Potter books are my go to when I'm stressed/depressed/anxious. I listen to the HP audio books as I fall asleep too.

Like J.K Rowling said... "Hogwarts (and Madame Fidolia's) will always be there to welcome you home"

Picking up a Chalet School book is usually the first outward signal that my mental health is taking a battering. I love a good comfort read. Also loving the Malory Towers adaptation on the iPlayer. Think I might go through Harry Potter again too.

I am re reading the Malllory Towers Books as I have just got all 12 of them before I watch the new series

For a beautiful (and occasionally sad) modern read, I recommend Flora and Ulysses

The Anne books, anything by E Nesbitt, James Herriot and Gerald Durrell are my go to reads. I know the last two aren't strictly children's authors but I read them in my teens

I bought a pony book in an antique-type shop a few weeks ago and read it in an hour. I love those books. Takes me back to being a pony-mad teen. Airs Above the Ground is one of my go-to comfort read books. Its by Mary Stewart. Lovely book, well written, exciting, horses and utterly comforting.

I still have all my Hardy Boys books. I got the first one when I was 9.

I love Enid Blyton Come to the Circus. I read it as a child and I've recently bought a copy. i find it so comforting reading about young Fenella going to live at the circus with a new family, smelling bacon and eggs in the mornings from the various caravans and the sense of belonging she experienced for the first time makes me feel so cosy and safe.

I’ve been watching Malory Towers and a favourite childhood film War of the Buttons and reading Nancy Mitford . These are the few things which help me escape this .

It's Narnia for me, every time. Oddly enough though, my favourites are The Magician's Nephew and The Silver Chair, rather than the ones that made it to screen. Also enjoyed revisiting Watership Down (never entirely a kids' book IMO) and The Railway Children.

And in the grown up classics section, Jane Austen always hits the right balance between reassurance and challenge. I can read Emma a hundred times and see it differently each time.

I wish I could trust modern fiction in the same way.

Also ‘watch’ friends - both familiar and comforting

Me too! Friends is perfect for that.

I don't actually know where my childhood books are right now, but would probably be re-reading them if I could find them. I am contemplating a re-read of the All Creatures Great and Small books which I first read aged 10, and the other day I was flicking through my old Just Seventeen mags from the 80s when I was in my teens. Nostalgia can be such a comfort.

Just remembered I did recently re-read Mr Galliano's Circus and The Naughtiest Girl In The School by Enid Blyton after stumbling across PDFs online! Not as 'ambient' as reading actual books, but the nostalgia was enjoyable.