to ask you for favourite novel as a child?

[grapeswithseeds]

For me it was probably The Famous 5 series, I love adventure!

Ooh I forgot about The Wishing Chair. I also loved a series about a boy called Charlie Bone!

The Machine Gunners
Rats of Nimh
Faraway Tree
Danny Champion of the world

It's great to be able to revisit all of my favourite reads with 7 yr old DD.

The Stream That Stood Still, and The Silver Sword

@Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies , I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you.

Under ten I loved 'A little Princess' and
'When Hitler stole pink rabbit'

One that I read over and over was ‘Time to Go Back’ by Mabel Esther Allen. I loved that book! No one ever seems to remember it.

An Enid Blyton double book called The Children of Green Meadows and More Adventures at Willow Farm (I never read the first Willow Farm book). That's falling apart I read it so much. I rarely ever see it referred to so perhaps it isn't popular. The first story is about two brothers and two sisters who live in this tumbledown old farmhouse near a new housing estate (presumably 1960s) and as they get to meet the children on the estate they find out that they are having to give away their pets because they can't move them into the new flats, so they all come and live on the farm (!)

In hindsight this is a bizarre storyline because I doubt children being rehoused from slums would have had pets to move into the shiny new flats :o but never mind. There's also a whole storyline about the PDSA and a bit of dog whispering where one of the children saves a "dangerous" dog from being shot by working out it's injured.

Willow Farm isn't as good but I always read them one after the other anyway.

First Harry Potter book also fell apart and had to be replaced!

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit.

I had lots of books I loved but those were probably the three favourites.

Have read the latter two with DS1, he loved Harry Potter, enjoyed Pink Rabbit (but not to the extent I did - I LOVED the idea of just going to live in another country and having to be immersed in the language. Have done this as an adult, but not immersed myself v well!) He is totally uninterested in the Enid Blyton. Oh well.

Ohh yes and Danny the Champion of the World - my favourite Roald Dahl book. How could I forget that?

I suppose I was more of a teenager when I loved Harry Potter.

myPersona ... Fifteen by Beverley Clearly. I still have my well worn copy of this! I was going to mention it, but thought no one would have heard of it. It really sums up the joys and insecurities of being a teenager.

And I fondly remember a book called "Jenny Limits" ( can't remember the author) about a girl ( post war) with an American father and Japanese mother. At the time I didn't fully understand the significance of this, but it concerned prejudice against her and her feelings of being different. Must look it up...

Urk...Jenny Kimura. Stop it autocorrect.

@witchend
I'm not sure which one it was now - I'm thinking Secrets of the Gorge or The Man with Three Fingers but I could be wrong. I spent a long time (pre-internet) checking bookshops but I gave up looking decades ago. I will have to locate them and check. They were on my son's bookshelf about 3 or 4 years ago (he never read them sadly) but I can't remember where I put them next. I will let you know when I track them down! One or two are in tatters.

Oh how could I have forgotten The Enchanted Castle. E. Nesbit. My fave of hers. Mabel was brilliant

Goodnight Mr Tom - read my copy until it literally fell apart

I loved the St Clare's series and the Faraway Tree books.

Flossie Teacake's Fur Coat

And as a teen the Adrian Mole books which I still love now.

Londonmummy66 I didn’t know they had been reprinted,, would love to reread them , I remember lending them to a friend and never got them back , I still mourn there loss

Love love love this thread - so many memories and books I’d forgotten about!

St Clare’s and Mallory Towers
Also some lesser-known Blyton books (I remember Mr Galliano’s circus... also the Put-em-Rights and a series about a family who moved from the city to a farm... can only remember that they had a cook called Dorcas and one of the children was called Roderick, I think!) And the Valley of Adventure, Mountain of Adventure etc series, with Lucy-Ann at some other characters whose names I can’t remember.

Bogwoppit! - loved this, think my Dd would too

A little Princess - read until the cover fell off

The Diddakoi, Miss Happiness and Miss Flower and Little Plum by Rumer Godden

The Antonia Forrest books

What Katy Did and the sequels

The Little House on the Prairie books

Also Mandy by Julie Edwards as a PP mentioned

Charley and When Marnie was There by Joan G Robinson

An early Jacqueline Wilson book called The Other Side, about a girl whose mum has a nervous breakdown

And my absolute favourite - has anyone else read The Bewitching of Alison Albright by AD Langholm? Read this over and over again.

I loved little women. Also, the Narnia Chronicles and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I actually still have the sets of the both and have passed them onto my daughter

Water babies
Secret Garden

I love the Chalet School and the Wells books.

I loved these too, can't believe the price of them now! The older Blyton books, River of Adventure etc were also among my favourites.

I also read James Herriott from the age of 11
and My Family and Other Animals.
as a teen it was James Herbert

The James Herriot books were very good.

Love so many of these! I saw this thread pop up on active last night, and had to save it until today as I knew it would send me down a rabbit hole of children's books and I needed to set some time aside!

My favourite hasn't been mentioned yet - Moonfleet by J. Meade Faulkner. I absolutely loved this book and my copy has fallen apart as it's been re-read so many times. It's a suspense-filled tale of smuggling, treasure seeking, and general derring-do. Absolutely brilliant.

It was adapted by children's BBC in the late 80s, if anyone remembers that?

Tbh I must have been very easily led by CBBC adaptations, as I also love Green Knowe and The Box of Delights, two other favourites which I read off the back of watching the TV versions. Visiting the Green Knowe Manor House is on my bucket list but I'm quite far away from there. One day!

Oh also it was great to see Cue for Treason get a couple of mentions, I've never known anyone else who's read it - another fantastic book. I think I only ever read a library copy as a kid, so I've just ordered it to read with my DS - he's 10 so hopefully about the right age.

@SerenDippitty

Leaving aside Enid Blyton, Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr.

That book scared the fuck out of me!

Standouts for me:

A Little Princess
Little Women
Matilda
Several Jacqueline Wilsons