What stories that you read or had read to you in your childhood have stayed with you?

[Yourinmyspot]

I remember one, though no idea what it was called about this old man that was grumpy and never smiled at anyone. The local children were frightened of him, but this one little boy used to smile at him whenever he saw the man.

The man never smiled back to start with, but then started to and it turned out he was just lonely and this one little boy just smiling at him cheered him up, then he was happy and started smiling at everyone too.

I wasn’t that old when I read it and it’s always stuck with me, that sometimes just someone smiling or acknowledging someone can make a difference to them.

Enid Blytons Famous Five, James And The Giant Peach, The Twits, Roger Red Hat.

Mrs Frisby & The Rats Of Nimh that we read at school stuck with me. I bought a copy as an adult and read it again, although I don’t know where it is now.

The Silver Sword too.

I remembered a Michael Rosen anthology including the Bakerloo Flea and recently bought an old copy to keep until DS is old enough for it.

I don’t ever remember being read to, but I read to toddler DS every day and hope to continue for as long as he’s interested in listening.

Another one saying Carrie's War, I'm so pleased to see it mentioned multiple times.

Oh yes the Adventure series.

the first one I ever read was the second one.. castle of adventure and it’s still my favourite. I’ve got them all on audio book and it was my go to comfort at night when I stayed with my terminally ill dh in hospital.

Stig of the Dump - loved it as a kid and read it to both of mine. Looking at the state of their bedrooms it made a lasting impression on them too…

Little Women
Charlotte’s Web

Ant & Bee books at my grandparents
When I could read myself, all of Joan Aiken’s books were read and re-read, I loved them all.
Chalet school series were also loved by me.

The name was something like ‘Anancy and the pudding tree’, it was on a record of stories being read aloud (precursor to audio books!) and I will forever remember the line that went ‘a plop, but no pudding’. It was also in that story, or another on the same record, where a character had a litany of trivial complaints which meant he couldn’t do something the other character asked him to do. The complaints included ‘his buttons were undone and there was something in his eye’. My family still ask each other if their buttons are undone or there is something in their eye if they start complaining about trivial things.

I agree with the Chalet School books. I would have hated to go to boarding school but the children and the teachers seemed to have a great time. .Also Enid Blyton books especially The faraway tree and I am looking forward the film next year.

The Ant and Bee books! Now that's a blast from the past @Tormundsbeard

I loved everything by Arthur Ransome, Noel Streatfield and Diana Wynne Jones.

I also have rather disturbing memories of The Secret Garden (the bit at the beginning when everyone dies of cholera really upset me) and a book that google tells me must have been Sun Horse, Moon Horse by Rosemary Sutcliffe.

The Princess and the Goblin is accompanied by The Princess and Curdie - I also loved those books, I think they're in the public domain now.

I loved the Narnia stories, The Phantom Tollbooth, Nancy Drew, the Drina Dances and the Sadlers Wells stories and when I was a bit older all the science fiction I could lay my hands on.

The ladybird books from when I was very young. When the illustrations were lovely in -depth ones rather than the bright dumbed down ones they have now. It’s the illustrations I really remember as it was before I could read independently.

Loved Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl books and so many more!

When I was very small a book about a dromedarie with one hump and a felt drom on every other page. I have no idea of the title or author but remember my gran reading it to me.

Enid Blyton, Streatfield, some wondeful books about family life for a vicar's children who had rich rellies, CS Lewis, Malcolm Saville. I also remember a wonderful primary teacher who told us the Beowulf story in language we could understand. The low point of English Lit at school was a book called "A Pattern of Islands".

There was so much more for my DC in the 90s/00s than there was for DH and I in the 60s/70s.

So sorry you and your DH were going through that @blackheartsgirl but I totally understand the comfort that comes from reading a familiar childhood book. The Adventure series were pure Blyton escapism x