to ask you for favourite novel as a child?

[grapeswithseeds]

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

The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, St Clares, Mallory Towers and any of the William series by Richmal Crompton. Later anything by Arthur Conan-Doyle and Thomas Hardy.

I loved the Chalet school series, most of the Enid Blyton series', I adored the Drina books, and the Sadlers Wells books

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively
Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer
Charlotte's Web by E B White
The Diddakoi by Rumer Godden
Thursday's Children by Rumer Godden
The Way to Sattin Shore by Philippa Pearce
Grinny by Nicholas Fisk
Matilda by Roald Dahl
George's Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl
Ballet Shoes for Anna by Noel Streatfield
Children of Winter by Berlie Doherty

Too many more to list, but I was indeed a READER. My friends were within the pages of these stories.

So many of those already mentioned, Judy Blume and Ronald Dahl in particular.
Absolutely loved 101 Dalmatians and The Twilight Barking by Dodie Smith. Also The Singing Tree and The Good Master by Kate Seredy, they were set on a farm on the Hungarian plains and were just captivating. Also one called Pocomoto Tenderfoot about a young cowboy very random. The one that scared the bejeezus out of me was Z for Zachariah.
Also adored The Borrowers series. Have just reread Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh which has stood the test of time really well. Best thing about being a mum is bedtime stories rereading the old stuff and enjoying the new together. Also loved Bogwoppit and a very random one called Bottersnikes and Gumbles great fun.it is only just occurring to me what an amazing small school library we had and how good my local library must have been too!

The Drina books ! I loved them too.
What a great thread.
Lovely to reminisce and find kindred spirits, especially the Jill books.

Secret seven, famous five, Malory towers, st clares , are you there god it's me Margaret I couldn't pick one !

Forgot about the Jill books and for the love of a horse

Watership Down.

Loved Mrs Pepperpot, Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, Charlottes Web, Mallory Towers and everything by Judy Blume.
Then a bit older, all the Lois Duncan books.
Stranger WithMy Face really freaked me out.

Elidor by Alan Garner. Our primary school teacher read it to us and I was enthralled. I bought my own copy and read it until it wore out.

Lovely thread. Reading these replies has reminded me of many books I loved. In particular - The Little White Horse, Ballet Shoes, What Katy did, Anne of Green Gables. And Tom’s Midnight Garden- loved that :-)

Zippetydoodahzippetyay I loved The Silver Brumby series too but no one else has ever heard of them. They are out of print now but I managed to get them second hand for my DD who didn't like them! Was gutted, but reread them myself instead. Nice to know someone else out there was a fan too.

All the Harry Potters all the time!

Children of Green Knowe and The Dark is Rising series

I loved my copies of Heidi and The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe. I remember reading The Flambards series and all of Enid Blyton’s books and enjoying them too.

I loved A Little Princess, Charlotte Sometimes, and the Mallory Towers books in particular.

I still love L. M. Montgomery's Anne and Emily books.

Anything Famous Five or Secret seven.
Failing that, The children of the faraway tree.

@Swelteringmeltering Young Elizabeth was by Jean Plaidy but specifically written for children. It is now out of print which is a pity but is easily obtained secondhand - looked like this in paperback www.goodreads.com/book/show/4459126-the-young-elizabeth
It mentioned the relationship with Thomas Seymour but mainly in a mucking around and then got asked about treasonous intentions sort of way - nothing inappropriate and I read it at 6/7 ish - it is a brilliant book and inspired me to become a historian (and to study Latin and Greek) and also several others of my uni friends. I'm pretty sure Helen Castor referred to it on one of her TV programmes as well.

I donated copies of this, The young Mary Queen of Scots and the Mara Kay novels I mentioned up thread to DCs primary school library when they left as I found those four books so brilliant as a child.

Thanks @Londonmummy66, it's the first book I chose and bought for myself at charity book stall, had great picture, if its the one I'm thinking about.
But what I mean is, if its the same author, this wasn't a sort of lady bird short intro. It was a solid chapter book... With lots of fabulous detail...

It also inspired me to study history at uni. When I was younger the extra detail I could get into my work!

I hope it's the same one. Mine had a beautiful portrait of the young Liz on it. I'll try and track it down on amazon.
Fingers crossed I've looked for it for years!

I loved the Narnia series, the Chalet School series and A Little Princess.

(mine was hard copy)

Babysitters Club as I wanted to be a babysitter someday (and I do work with children now!)

Dear America, Royal Diaries, and the American Girl books because I liked reading about history

Judy Blume because they were such relatable characters

Chronicles of Narnia, my mother read them to me before bedtime and I used to read ahead with a torch under the covers because I had to know what happened! I'll go against the trend and say my favourites were Magician's Nephew and The Horse and His Boy

Little Women, I just loved it.

I loved to read and this thread has reminded me of lots of lovely ones.

(I'll add I still love to read!! But I would read a book a day in some periods of my childhood!)

The Secret Garden

Many of those already mentioned but my absolute favourite was

I am David by Anne Holm

It's a story about a young boy who escapes from a concentration camp in Eastern Europe and makes it home to Denmark. I was absolutely obsessed with this book and read it countless times.
I can't see mentioned elsewhere on this thread but may have missed it. Wonder if anyone else loved it too or whether I was just a weird child!