to ask you for favourite novel as a child?

[grapeswithseeds]

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

I wanted my daughter to read Swallows and Amazons but she disliked the first chapter and refused to read them. I loved S&A books!

I've recently won an auction on eBay for 9 Famous Five books. So glad it's meant to rain today! 📚

@Hairydilemma I read the books about the town children moving to the country too. I wish I could remember what they were called. Roderick had an older sister called Melisande I think.
I'm wondering if it was a Pullein-Thompson book. Off to search!
@BramblyMess I read Moonfleet as a teenager and loved it! Have since visited Chesil Beach :)

Ah PamDemic, I’m so pleased to find another Alison Allbright fan!

And Medieval, I remembered Mellisande (surely a made up name even in Blyton circles?!) after I wrote it. Also remembered that I think they were the posh ‘town’ cousins who cane to stay with their country-mouse cousins after their house burnt down..? Seem to remember Mellisande bursting into tears because someone mentioned a ‘blaze’ on a horse’s nose and it reminded her of the fire.

Off to try and find their name now...

@MediaevalMiss ta-dah!

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mistletoe_Farm

Love these threads!!

Please let me know if you find it @Hairydilemma!
My overriding memory is of Mellisande using face cream, and the country girl thinking she was ridiculous, until her mother asked her if she wanted to look like the dried up old women at the market.
Also Mellisande didn't like the noises the 'old house' made....

Oh wow!!! It was an Enid Blyton! Thank you and well done!

I wish those old books could be put on kindle!

@Mediaevalmiss you’re welcome! And heaven forbid any of us end up like dried-up market women!

I know, a shocker, right?

Oh I forgot Heidi! Loved that. I seem to remember one of my infant school teachers telling my mum she should get it for me because I'd love it. I remember going to Waterstones and carefully spelling the author's name out to the shop assistant who found it on the computer system (very impressive) and then we read it the next year in class. My copy was different from the teacher's copy and the teacher one had Miss Rottenmeier called "Fraulein Rottenmeier" and she explained to us this was a word in Germany for a woman who had never married, but I could never remember what this strange German word was! I worked it out from context when I was much older. I later got a beautiful illustrated edition as well.

I would call my daughter Adelheid, but DH doesn't like it which is probably for the best as we live in Germany and it's still a name for old grannies here.

Oh I loved "Moonfleet" too! I remember it as a very tense atmospheric read.

Not sure if "I Capture the Castle" has been mentioned, but it's a lovely story, pure escapism, I must re read it very soon!

As a child, I depended upon the County Council Library Van, which came every fortnight, bringing a desperately longed for supply of books. I think you could take out four at a time, I was always pestering my Mother to put extra books for me onto her ticket.
Later, a small permanent library opened not far away, which was filled with amazing delights such as an ENTIRE series by a favourite author!

@Mediaevalmiss
Theres loads of vintage books on Project Gutenberg.

www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Children%27s_Literature_(Bookshelf)

Yay Moonfleet appreciation! Yes very tense Ada - I re-read it a couple of years ago and parts of it still made me so nervous - the bit where they climb the "Zig-Zag" and John has a broken leg?! And when Elzivir is bidding against Maskew for The Why-Not? The tension!!

Will have to add Chesil Beach to the bucket list. Maybe a children's literature-based tour would be good?

I love I Capture the Castle as well, although I didn't read it until I was in my 20s.

Those of us mentioning Enid Blyton are revealing quite a lot about how old we are!

Really not. Her books were extremely popular with children for at least 50 years. Many of them still are, in fact.

@MyPersona @FuzzyPuffling
Decades after I first read it I still think Fifteen is the perfect first love story.

Really not. Her books were extremely popular with children for at least 50 years. Many of them still are, in fact.

I agree, my son absolutely loves The Famous Five... pure escapism.

Really not. Her books were extremely popular with children for at least 50 years. Many of them still are, in fact.

This:
My mum read Enid Blyton as they came out, I and my siblings read Enid Blytons, all my dc have read Enid Blytons. All of us at times would chose Enid Blytons over other authors.

There is no other author I could say that about.

When I was seven I read Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang: I loved the idea of a children's prison. We went on a school trip to see it in the theatre.

As a teenager I loved books by Lesley Glaister, especially Digging to Australia (13 year old living with her naturist grandfather); even though they're certainly not children's books!

@BertieBotts You mentioning a shop assistant looking up a title reminded me of a childhood experience: the title was not looked up on a computer, but on a microfiche reader. I thought that was amazing (in 1989).

To be honest, it might not have been a computer, I can't remember. Would have been early 90s.

Famous Five, Billy Bunter snd Just William.
When my DC were small, driving to Cornwall got holidays would listen to Famous Five audio books and get the same thrill anticipating smugglers and caves 😀

@FuzzyPuffling oh how fantastic that you still have a copy, it really was a wonderful book. There used to be a poster on here called Jane Purdy.

The Swish of the Curtain
Flambards series
The Dark is Rising
The Magician's Nephew
The Chalet School
Swallows and Amazons
The Sea of Adventure etc

@MyPersona..you've inspired me to find it and read it now! I must have loved it to keep it for 50 years!