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Original poster

What were/are your favourite children's classic books?

141 replies

AsThePageTurns · 22/10/2023 18:05

I'll leave it to you what constitutes a classic. I'm not the thread police.

I'm torn between Anne of Green Gables, Black Beauty and A Little Princess.

What were your favourites growing up?

OP posts:
PrincessesRUs · 22/10/2023 21:10

What Katy Did
A little princess
Anne of GG
Little House on the P

What Katy did - was probably an all time favourite!

chickbean · 22/10/2023 21:11

yikesanotherbooboo · 22/10/2023 20:48

@chickbean
I couldn't remember the name of the Melendy books when I was thinking about this but had The Four Storey Mistake which was one of my favourites.

The 3rd one, "Then There Were Five" is also great.

NannyGythaOgg · 22/10/2023 21:12

Enid Blyton, The Bobbsey Twins,
Followed by The Borrowers, Swallows and Amazons
Followed by Chalet School (and Mallory Towers) and Cherry Aimes (Student Nurse etc)

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Books Children's books
bloodyeffinnora · 22/10/2023 21:13

also loved
Milly Molly Mandy
Bobby Brewster
My naughty little sister
Mallory Towers
The Naughtiest Girl in the school
The children of Cherry Tree Farm
The Secret Seven
The Famous Five
Mary Poppins

pointythings · 22/10/2023 21:27

Aargh, forgot the Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper.

AdaColeman · 22/10/2023 21:30

pointythings · 22/10/2023 20:00

Everything Diana Wynne Jones ever wrote
Everything Alan Garner wrote (did you know he wrote a sequel for adults to the Weirdstone/Moon of Gomrath series?)
The Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander (can't believe nobody has mentioned those!)

I was so disappointed when Alan Garner's Treacle Walker just missed out on the 2022 Booker Prize!

CoffeeLover90 · 22/10/2023 21:31

Aww I forgot about white fang until I read it here.
Stig of the dump
The famous five books
Peter pan
Goodnight Mr Tom
And the short but sweet The Prince and the swallow

Lostmyway86 · 22/10/2023 21:33

The Little Princess
Goodnight Mr Tom
All the early Jacqueline Wilson's

sleepD3pr1ived · 22/10/2023 21:45

NannyGythaOgg · 22/10/2023 21:12

Enid Blyton, The Bobbsey Twins,
Followed by The Borrowers, Swallows and Amazons
Followed by Chalet School (and Mallory Towers) and Cherry Aimes (Student Nurse etc)

The Chalet school and the Borrowers - I had forgotten about those!

Thegirlfromredfern · 22/10/2023 22:13

VisaWoes · 22/10/2023 21:10

Yes. And the sequels. Was one called Thunderhead? I loved these. Still have a copy of my friend flicka

Show quote history

Yes. Now you say I rembered it was actually a
trilogy..I googled it the last one was called green grass of wyoming...you actually have a copy that's amazing! I loved them!

Catsmere · 22/10/2023 22:21

I read so many of these but top for me were the Silver Brumby series, or at least the first four.

Thighdentitycrisis · 22/10/2023 22:27

Alan Garner - box of delights

MotherOfCatBoy · 22/10/2023 22:36

@Thegirlfromredfern Yes! Loved the whole series. Some of it was quite deep, there was as much about adult relationships as there was about Ken growing up.

GrannyWeatherwaxsBroomstick · 22/10/2023 22:48

Narnia
The Famous Five
I loved the Bagthorpe Saga and have a full set that I have passed on to DS.
Biggles

MothralovesGojira · 22/10/2023 23:00

The Famous Five
Black Beauty - my second favourite
Charlotte's Web
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Watership Down - my very favourite

These were the only books that I possessed and I read them many, many times - my parents saw no value in books or reading and I had to really fight to be allowed to join the library.

MothralovesGojira · 22/10/2023 23:02

I still have my copies of Watership Down and Black Beauty on my bookshelf

RainbowBasket · 22/10/2023 23:10

What Katy Did
The Secret Garden
The Railway Children
The Wind in the Willows
Five Children and It
Tom’s Midnight Garden

bluesatin · 22/10/2023 23:38

Tarzan
E. Nesbit books
Just William books
Narnia
What Katie Did
Journey to the Centre of the Earth (not so keen on other Jules Verne)
Flatland
Alice Through the Looking Glass

LostInTheColonies · 22/10/2023 23:59

The Fell Farm books, esp. Fell Farm for Christmas
The Little White Horse
Lone Pine Club
Little House on the Prairie
Chalet School
The River of / Island of / whatever of Adventure
Five Find-outers
Arthur Ransom, specifically Picts & Martyrs & Winter Holiday
Ballet Shoes
Little Princess
Secret Garden
My Naughty Little Sister
And so many more by Enid Blyton

I wanted to camp/explore/go to boarding school/sail/live on a farm - all of it as a result! Doors in walls still evoke secret gardens. DD is a great reader but has a weakness for Jacqueline Wilson which I find very pedestrian in comparison.

CatsLikeBoxes · 23/10/2023 00:12

@Saverage I don't think I've ever come across anyone else who's read it

@pointythings I love all the Diana Wynne Jones books too except I couldn't get into the dalemark books. The dark is rising I still like reading at Christmas

Sunriseatsix · 23/10/2023 00:22

The Velveteen Rabbit
Ballet Shoes
The Secret Garden
The Railway Children
Tom's Midnight Garden
wind in the Willows

Jellycatspyjamas · 23/10/2023 00:31

The What Katie Did Next series, each book was given to me as a school prize three years running - I loved those books. The Chronicles of Narnia, I read the full series to my kids over lockdown. The Mallory Towers and St Claire’s books were favourites too which I’ve shared with my daughter now. I loved reading as a child and am still an avid reader.

EBearhug · 23/10/2023 00:40

So many of these!

If you're missing books from series, try looking on Abebooks. I filled in a few gaps from there, although some were at some cost. Also, Girls Gone By publishers have republished a lot of girls' school stories, but also all the Swish of the Curtain books.

Don't think anyone's mentioned Moonfleet by J Meade Faulkner.

Nor Asterix.

When I went to Australia, I went to the Snowy Mountains because of the Elyne Mitchell books - and I did see wild brumbies, but not silver ones.

Onthelastdayofseptember · 23/10/2023 00:43

White boots by noel Streatfield
Wind in the willows
Winning the pooh
James and the giant peach

As a parent, I've loved reading the Julia Donaldson books, and Roald Dahl.

Can't stand David Walliams! Reading has such competition now - having to badger dc to turn screens off and get to bed in time for stories. Wonder if imaginations snd concentration will suffer as a result?

LoreleiG · 23/10/2023 00:55

So many of these. Also Rumer Godden The Greengage Summer and The Peacock Spring.

Charlotte Sometimes was probably my favourite. And Marianne Dreams.