Which books from your childhood would you like to re-read?

[Idontknowhatnametochoose]

I'm feeling quite down lately and been thinking I'd like to re visit some of the books I loved as a child. At the moment I want to read...

Enid Blyton:

Adventure series, starting with The Island of Adventure.
St Clares series
Mystery series starting with The Burnt Cottage.

Patricia St John:

Treasures of the snow
The Tanglewoods Secret

Jill Murphy:

The Worst Witch

Just wondered if anyone else is re - reading old books?

I don’t know if this counts because I was more a teenager than a child but I read Flowers in the Attic again for the first time since I was about 12 and enjoyed it.
The other day my YouTube randomly suggested I watch Rupert and The Frog song.. I did and it was so nostalgic, loved it as a kid.

Stig of the Dump! I'd forgotten that for 50 years. Thanks! Plus, yes to 'What Katy Did'. And 'What Katy Did Next'.

I never went on a swing again after I read what Katy Did! I was convinced I’d end up paralyzed and they were basically death traps. Climbing frames, seesaws, slides and running along the top of high walls were perfectly fine though!

Haven’t read many books at recently. Would like to read the Little house books (includes Little House on the Prairie)

I re read Tom’s Midnight Garden recently, and also visited the real house the Green Knowe books are based on

As well as Enid Blyton I also loved the William Books by Richmal Crompton. They used to make me laugh out loud and they did again when I reread a couple of them a few years ago. Little Women I have read so many times and will go back to again and again.

I read and re-read a lot of children's and girls' books of the past. Some that I don't think have been mentioned here:

The Abbey books by Elsie Oxenham (they are on Faded Page).
The Dimsie books by Dorita Fairlie Bruce.
Rosemary Sutcliff - her books for older children have been mentioned, I think, but she has some sweet ones which read middle school age to me: The Armourer's House and Brother Dusty-Feet.
The Sue Barton nursing series, and another series about acting by the same writer (Carol on Stage).
The Pollyanna books, though I know a lot of people find them cloying.
Mabel Esther Allan's books, and her Drina series written as Jean Estoril.
Penelope Lively - some books are darker than others; The Revenge of Samuel Stokes is good.
Helen Cresswell's Bagthorpe books.
Honor Arundel's Emma series.
Nina Bowden; Cold Christmas is good.
Cynthia Harnett's historical novels.
For those who re-read the Chalet School books - Girls Gone By publishers have published a lot of "fill-in" titles by new writers. Quality varies, but if you like the series it's worth trying some out.

I used to love the Sue Barton books and any Honor Arundel books.

Has anyone read the Cherry Ames nurse books? They were more like mysteries than about nursing.

It was a comfort read when I was a pre teen. I guess I don't want to be disappointed.

Oh and the Green Knowe books! Also Marianne Dreams, Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series and Moondial by Helen Cresswell. If anyone here has trouble sleeping, I recommend having children's books as audio books, lying in bed listening to childhood favourites is an excellent way to drift off - it feels like being a child being read to all over again!

I think they genuinely stand up to adult rereading, even if you inevitably find yourself pondering the ethics of homesteading, ‘moving on’ native Americans, and whether Pa wasn’t just a major fuck-up. (I certainly find myself far more attuned to Ma’s concerns about things like living near a railroad camp or Laura working in town — I mean, those places were violent and lawless, overwhelmingly male, and with prostitutes moving west along with the settlers because business was so good. Even escorted in and out by her father and sewing at a respectable dressmaker’s Laura would have seen stuff.)

I think the ones I most enjoy rereading as an adult are the teenage ones — Little Town on the Prairie and The Long Winter.

The Song of Pentecost by W J Corbett. I challenge anyone not to cry at the end!

I wonder if anyone can remember this book, from my vague description as I don't know the author or title?
The story is I think set in Exmoor or some other moor maybe. Anyway about 4 children were on holiday staying with their relatives, they make friends with each other through riding horses and for some reason they were sneaking out at night time with their horses trying to catch sheep rustlers. I don't remember much more about the plot apart from one of the girls had a horse called Whitesock and they were packing picnics & dressing all in black jumpers and jeans so they couldn't be seen by the hustlers and they put mufflers on their horses hooves so they wouldn't be heard when riding their horses along the road.
It was one of my big sisters story books but she can't remember it at all. I've tried Google they just keep coming up with Lorna Doone & it's definitely not that.

I re read them as an adult. The works were selling a full set. I noticed the religious symbolism but other than that I enjoyed them.

I particularly liked rediscovering Reepicheep.

Loving this thread, so positive and gentle.

I can NOT believe you'd be disappointed - they're still wonderful. Maybe you could approach via this terrific biography: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Prairie-Fires-American-Dreams-Ingalls/dp/0708898688

"Marianne Dreams"

I haven't read it, but isn't that the book that the film "Paper House" is adapted from? Such a strange, atmospheric film.

Oh yes - I love the whole series, her characters are so complex. When Dicey comes a bit unstuck in Seventeen against the dealer, I have to brace myself to go on through.

I re-read one just the other day, but nobody else ever seems to have heard of it - Chalky, by Howard Apps. It’s a cracking read, an adventure story of 2 boys who are reluctantly sent to help an elderly apparently impoverished neighbour, which ultimately sets them off in a search for a lost diamond. Partly set in the Essex marshes.

I also have Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St John but I haven't re-read it since I was younger. I don't think I've ever come across anyone else who had her books! I used to have some others, they were given to me at Sunday School.

I also enjoyed The Family from One End Street (which is about a working class family in the 1930s), the Swallows and Amazons series (like another poster Winter Holiday is my favourite), Little House on the Prairie books and 101 Dalmatians.

I read Treasures of the Snow and another (Rainbow Garden, I think) by Patricia St John. I think they were Sunday School prizes for my sister.

I've got now Twice Freed by her about a slave in Roman times, Onsimus, who runs away from his master Philemon but then falls in with St Peter.

I love reading. I have a the famous five malory towers and St clares books which I bought as an adult. I read them Every few years. Love them 💕

I remember 2 books from our school library. One was something about Mr Peabody and the other was Anna by EM Almedingam. I'd love to read it again but can't find it anywhere.

I regularly re read Anne of Green Gables, Antonia Forest, Monica Edwards and Noel Streatfield. Less regularly, Elinor Brent Dyer. I have a special shelf for them all!