What are the boy equivalents of Little House on the Prairie/Anne of Green Gables/Malory Towers/Judy Blume>

[BellaBearisWideAwake]

You know, the books where you end up reminiscing about one night with friends and everyone has read them.

(I appreciate I am generalising heavily about boy and girl books, apologies. Just had a bit of a sad moment when I realised that having no girls I am less likely to pass these stories on to my children)

i am totally going to read little house on the prairie with my boys. and anne of green gables,.
not sure they'll be interested in malory towers i suppose

I suppose the Jennings and Just William books? The Biggles books too although they're probably even more dated than the others...

Swallows & Amazons, Just William, Jennings, Biggles are examples of books I plan to introduce to both my DS and my DD. And then, when they're older, maybe the Lone Pine series, although I think it's out of print now. Oh, and what about The Silver Sword (Ian Serrailer - sp)?

And YY to Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables for any child who will sit still long enough to listen to them/read them themselves. Also the Ramona books and the Chalet School series.

I am planning to read these to my boys, I'm also not going to be having any girls and this is one of the things that occurred to me.

Swallows and Amazons is brilliant and very unisex, I loved them as a child and still do.

Narnia?

wasnt there a Judy Blume book about a boy whose parents were divorcing? must go and google that. i only came onto this thread as i wanted to reminisce about JB - i read all of her books - happy days

i have a DS and may invest in some Just William. We have bought him the Narnia collection, Roald Dahl collection and obviously the Lord of the Rings series

Swallows and amazons, v good

Yes, I won't keep the books from my boys and I'd love it if they love them

Roald Dahl I adore so that's another good one

DH can deal with Narnia and LOTR, yuck

I love Roald Dahl too. We have just read Fantastic Mr Fox to DS1 and he loved it :)

If your ds likes detective stories, he might enjoy Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kaestner. Originally written in German and published in 1929, it is about a boy whose money is stolen on a train en route to Berlin and who enlists the help of a group of Berlin children in a hunt to find the thief. The story has been filmed a few times. My dd really likes his children's books eg also "The Double Lottie" and I don't know the English title but maybe "the Flying Classroom"

My sons aren't old enough yet, it was just the Maory Towers thread got me thinking that I know nothing about boys. No brothers.

I LOVE Erich Kastner. My sister read her copy of Lottie and Lisa so much we had to buy a new copy when it fell apart. I liked the Emil stories as well. And the Littlest Man, was that him as well?

Only books I heard blokes talk about in this way are the hobbit and lord of the rings.

what about things like tin tin? never read it myself mind

my friend got the entire collection of Roald Dahl books from the book people (i think) for about £20! DS1 is getting them for christmas and I can't wait

The Willard Price Adventure series - two teenage boys rushing off round the world catching giant squid/gorillas/manta rays/tigers etc for their zoo owing father. Superb. I loved them and so did DH.

What about huckleberry finn? My ds reads michael morpurgo too and Roald Dahl is easy all round :)

Will look at Willard Price, never heard of him, thanks

really great suggestions, off now but thanks to everyone

Ha! Just asked DH if he knew Willard Price and he is waxing lyrical about them. Brilliant!

Following on from Willard Price, what about Gerald Durrell? Not just My Family and Other Animals. Three Singles to Adventure, The Drunken Forest, Beasts in My Belfry etc all fired me up as a child (and I still love them) - and they're as unisex as they come IMO.

word of warning re: willard price

my brother and i LOVED them as kids. but when I re-read some of them as an adult, well.... they're not very um, politically correct, if you care about that kind of thing.
v. sexist!

oh yes gerald durrell definitely!

The Flashman series. Good for 11/12 yo + if of a vaguely historical bent.

Treasure Island? Second Roald Dahl, particularly Danny Champion of the World and James and the Giant Peach.

For my brother it was a series by Martin Waddell about a boy called Napper who played football for his school team.

Napper Goes for Goal
Napper and the Big Match
Napper Wins Again
Napper Snags A WAG

You get the general idea.

I'm sure they're well out of print, but they were the one series that really got my brother reading, although he liked Biggles & The Willard Price books too.

I've just had another thought how about a childrens treasury? Classics like Rikki Tikki Tavvi, Lorna Doone, Bedgelert. All lovely stories :)

thisisyesterday - they are also incredibly relaxed about shooting animals. In one book they go Whaling...

Stig of the Dump
The Phantom Tollbooth
Emil and the Detectives
all the Willard Price ones
Lord of the Rings
Paddington
Roald Dahl
Just William

Those are all classics that appeal to boys - but they were also favourites of mine, and I'm female.