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AIBU?

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Original poster

To love re-reading old childhood favourites

269 replies

balletnotlacrosse · 27/04/2015 10:07

Having found a stash of my old childhood books in my parents' attic a few years ago I have become hooked, once again, on school stories, ballet stories, etc etc and love buying old Noel Streatfeild books, Chalet School stories and so on to re-read.

AIBU to spend as much time reading children's books as adult's book and to enjoy them more just as much?

OP posts:
BabyTuckoo · 27/04/2015 11:34

Antonia Forest doesn't need any indulgence as a 'children's writer', though - she's unspeakably good on any terms! (Hels, are you on the trennels LJ community?)

I must see if the Ruby Ferguson Jill books are in my parents' attic. London, yes, I think I read all the Pullein-Thompsons' books. God knows why, I used to ride and was never all that mad about it as an activity, I preferred reading about evil rivals and gymkhanas and pony treks. (My favourite Jill book was the one where she pretends to be a nasty girl called Amanda with a perfect pony called Plum in order to ride in some competition, though the details escape me.)

Provencalroseparadox · 27/04/2015 11:37

Judy Blume has a new book out this year. I am really excited about it despite being 45 years old!

BabyTuckoo · 27/04/2015 11:38

I would be the first to admit that the Chalet School books, or at least the vast majority, are terrible - repetitive, coyly Christian, obsessed with 'delicate' girls and the manly doctors who end up marrying them and subsequently giving them sedative with alarming regularity, and the eternal Joey, who morphs from being a nice madcap schoolgirl to being a gruesome school-obsessed know-all always chirping 'When I'm 80, I'll still be a Chalet School girl!'...

... but I still have a soft spot for them, especially the best, early ones, when the school is still in Tyrol, and Joey hasn't yet become the patron saint of the school.

Original poster
balletnotlacrosse · 27/04/2015 12:00

Baby Jill and the Perfect Pony. I found it in a second hand books shop a few weeks ago. It was always one of my favourites as well.

OP posts:
Original poster
balletnotlacrosse · 27/04/2015 12:03

The Armishire Chalet books are the best ones. Not only do they have the interesting WW2 setting, but they're not as saccharine as some of the Tyrol ones or as formulaic as the Swiss ones. And Joey is still quite sane and hasn't got into this race to have more children than anyone else stuff that made her quite annoying in the later books.

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londonrach · 27/04/2015 12:09

Never understood the sweet high, everyone was so beautiful and nice..... For those re reading the enid blydon school series there are extras added by pamela cox. Tbh i didnt think they were too bad and did add on the stories. Do you remember jo who was fat (enid blyton really was un pc) and ran away with a first year. Well one of the new book adds on the story....

londonrach · 27/04/2015 12:10

Baby and ballet i do remember the jill stories. Thanks for the thompson girls name. Will look out for them.

fassbender · 27/04/2015 12:34

I love reading old books, I really want to get all the old Judy Blume ones to read (Tiger Eyes, Forever etc) as I remember all the emotions they brought up. I am sure it would be different now, but I loved them.

Mamab33 · 27/04/2015 12:41

Not U at all! Smile love it. My treasured books were disposed of accidentally. I love rediscovering them and finding new ones. Loved the Jill books too. Always wanted soap flakes.

BabyTuckoo · 27/04/2015 12:45

Ballet, remind me why exactly Jill is pretending to be Nasty Amanda?

The Armishire CS ones are good, bar the introduction of Mary-Lou! Though admittedly she's a normal little girl early on, not the Inheritor of Joey's Butting-In Mantle she becomes later with a tendency to quote psalms about mountains and nearly fall over in shock when she meets an unbaptised fellow CS girl.

It cracks me up that, having initially written Mary-Lou as a plain child, sturdy and brown-haired, compared to violet-eyed dazzler Vi Lucy, once EBD reinvents her as Joey Mark II, she gives her a serious head injury that completely reconfigures her appearance and makes her tall and slender, with golden-brown curls (after head-shaving) and a finely-chiselled mouth!

Original poster
balletnotlacrosse · 27/04/2015 12:48

Baby Amanda is not that interested in horse riding but her parents have arranged for her to stay with some friends whose children are taking part in a team event at a gymkhana and need another member. She doesn't want to go and persuades Jill, who is dying to ride Plum the Perfect Pony, to take her place. Jill and Amanda's parents are both away at the time, so they are able to pull it off.

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UsedToBeAPaxmanFan · 27/04/2015 12:54

There's a Trennels community? where?

I loved Antonia Forest as a chd, and as an adult have bought call her Marlow novels. I reread them for comfort. She is an excellent writer though.

I also read Anne of Green Gables from time to time. All the Anne books are available on Kindle, including "Rilla of Ingleside". There was an article in The Guardian on Saturday about Gilbert being the perfect hero. I think I am still a bit in love with him.

5Foot5 · 27/04/2015 13:02

I have just finished re-reading the entire Jill series - and yes "Jill and the Pefect Pony" was one of my favourites too. Actually I only had a couple of them as a child but bought the whole lot second hand for DD when she was younger.

In fact that was one of the nice things I found in having a DD. Until she was about 11 we always read her a bedtime story (even though she was an avid reader herself) and often this was an excuse to seek out an old childhood favourite to introduce her too.

"The Children Who Lived In a Barn." Marvellous!
Lots of Noel Stretfield. Mallory Towers. Jennings and Derbyshire.
Great stuff.

5Foot5 · 27/04/2015 13:04

I actually discovered Antonia Forest only last year. I can't believe I missed her during my childhood. I've read all of the Kingscote books

Where did you get them from? We have Autumn Term but can't get hold of the others at all without paying huge amount of cash

Tagetes · 27/04/2015 13:14

My Mum had the whole set of Arthur Ransome books (Swallows and Amazons et al) and left them to me when she died. I loved them as a child and still do. They are just the thing for reading in bed on stormy nights. And they remind me of her Smile

Original poster
balletnotlacrosse · 27/04/2015 13:18

5foot5 I got End of Term and Attic Term for reasonable prices (even including p&p to Ireland which is much more than within England). Cricket Term is expensive though so I splashed out on that. Keep an eye on Topsy Turvy books and GilBilski though. Sometimes books are a bit cheaper on those sites.

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BabyTuckoo · 27/04/2015 13:20

Thanks, Ballet!

UsedTo and other Antonia Forest fans -

trennels.livejournal.com/

They've just finished a full read through of all the novels, and I think are finishing up with the two historical ones, but will then move onto discussing themes etc. Everybody is equally obsessive about AF and although its well-moderated, feelings occasionally run high, as in a now-notorious argument about whether Mrs Marlow was unfair to blow the proceeds of the family tiara on horses for herself and only one of her children!

You don't need to join LJ to post.

5Foot, I've had most of my AF's since my childhood, helped out by some of the Girls Gone By re-issues (have a look on their website to see what's currently in print) and a couple of very expensive presents from DH. Some of the trennels community seem to have PDFs of some of the novels, though...?

BabyTuckoo · 27/04/2015 13:21

Gil Bilski was where DH bought me some AF's come to think of it. You can still be lucky in secondhand bookshops, too, only most places now realise AFs are potentially valuable!

ThinkAboutItTomorrow · 27/04/2015 13:22

Oh yes, I'm loving this with DD as well.

Better still I'm discovering my DP's children's favourites and loving him all the more for introducing me to The box of delights.

Original poster
balletnotlacrosse · 27/04/2015 13:26

Sorry 5foot I meant to say that I got most of them on Abe Books. They will sometimes have Attic Term and End of Term at reasonable prices.

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hels71 · 27/04/2015 13:29

M message board all about antonia forest and the Marlows. Well that's the ironing forgotten for another day!!!

Mumbledore · 27/04/2015 13:42

I love re-reading Anne of Green Gables and Ballet Shoes. I saw the Magic Faraway Tree in The Works recently and was going to buy it until I realised that Dick and Fanny are now Rick and Frannie! Couldn't do it then as it just wouldn't be the same. I also want to read Ultramarine by Jenny Nimmo as I really loved it.

Knittingbat · 27/04/2015 13:44

Er my God I LOVE this thread! Just bought An Ordinary Princess which I somehow missed.

OF COURSE it is okay, nay the greatest thing ever to read children's books as adults. Every time I reread Harry Potter I am amazed at how well-read JKR must be, and how well she subtly references so many things - HP is like the Ulysses of children's books in that regard, every time you read it you pick up something else.

Lots of adult writers do this too - there's a scene in a Maggie O'Farrell novel which is very reminiscent of The Secret Garden (the bit in India where everyone dies… harsh!) and When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman has a harum-scarum character called Jenny Penny… as all good Anne of Green Gables fans know, there is a harum-scarum Jenny Penny in one of the later books too!

I think the Victorian ones are very interesting in that all the characters start off feisty, and then as the books must have become more popular, the heroines become more and more saintly. Anne of Green Gables is the classic - she is plain and carroty and loud at the beginning, by the end she's 90% mists and clouds with a dash of ethereal beauty, AND she has 800 children but is still half sprite/half nymph etc. She'd give old Joey a run for her money. Same for What Katy Did - she is so painful by the end, plus there's a couple more books about Clover where the good girls are so SMUG! Same for Little Women etc. And Jo adopts about 800 kids! God, the idealisation of motherhood! I reread the one where Anne just gets married and is coyly pregnant, WHEN i was pregnant - it was all just staring out across the misty sound and making the odd bit of lace for the bebe, then a quiet bit of groaning behind doors - this did NOT make me feel great in my heaving, 400 stone, farting, walrus-like pregnancy and high-intervention birth. Huff. Although tragically her baby died.

There's a great book by LM Montgomery called The Blue Castle which is great! Available on Kindlle

Knittingbat · 27/04/2015 13:47

ALSO, sorry so much to say, YES re Kingscote - have built up a collection over the years, worth keeping an eye on ABE books. And YY re Mary-Lou. And YYY re Jill - just found gorgeous editions of Rosettes for Jill and another one in charity shop, hurrah!

Sorry, just reread above post and meant to say JKR v well read in children's book world. Also her favourite, The Little White Horse is my favourite book too - immaculately written.

Also I Capture the Castle. Amazing.

BabyTuckoo · 27/04/2015 13:50

Hels, forget the ironing for days. Or possibly weeks - the Trennels archive of past discussions is huuuge! And actually it's a great discussion community for alerting you to obscure novels from the past, too - and if you like fanfiction, there are quite a few links to people who write AF 'what ifs', or follow up Lawrie's subsequent theatre career, or what would have happened if Miranda West and Janice Scott met up years after they left school in the course of Jan's legal career.