Books you loved as a child and hope your children will love too.

[TheCortanaThatStoleChristmas]

Inspired by another thread.

I remember buying Dogger don't laugh at the title it's a lovely book! and All In One Piece before DS was born as I wanted to pass on the joy these books brought me.

He has recently read The Hobbit; Swallows and Amazons; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; Treasure Island and Charlotte's Web. Books that made my childhood.

I hope he will soon find and enjoy the LOTR books, Hitchhikers Guide, Little Women, and Goodnight Mr Tom.

I feel real excitement at the thought of my DS reading lovely books and enjoying them the way I did. Got me wondering what I might have missed though, are there other books that are wonderful for children and deserve to go on a "Books Every Child Should Read" list?

What were your favorite childhood books, and will you buy/pass them on for your children?

I bought When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six for DD when she was a baby and she adores them.

I also used to love the Bobby Brewster books and the Magic Faraway Tree.

I also remember borrowing one from the library called Moira's Angel.

Brilliant thread, and I smiled a lot.

Real Grimm and Andersen fairytales, in all their uncorrected grimness.

Antonia Forest's Marlow books. Forest is the Jane Austen of children's lit. My children loved them too.l

Secret Seven.
Famous Five and the other series about Fatty and the four children - all good !
David Walliams books seem to be good !
Foxy, My Friend Foxy and Foxy and the Badgers - you'll need to get them second hand.
The Black Stallion by Walter Farley
Roald Dahl
Jiggy McCue books
For Christmas and for younger readers - SHirley Hues - Lucy and Toms Christmas, Percy the Parkkeeper - A Snowy Day, Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs

We were given a copy of The Giant Jam Sandwich last year for DS1 - I didn't realise it was an old story. (In our copy, the townsfolk queue up at the end to get a chunk of the remaining loaf.)

Loved Jill pony books, the Jackie pony books, and The Phantom Horse books. Was pony mad.) Also Joan Aiken short stories and Roald Dahl. And Joyce Stranger books - are they still around? They were always about animals but sort of adventure/mystery - I loved them.

Read Faraway Tree recently to DD and DS1. They loved them. Shhh, I thought they were repetitive and sloppily written [killjoy]. I loved the Mallory Towers books as a kid though.

For a while after reading Mog, DD kept asking me if burglars were going to come and steel our spoons

I kept my copy of The Owl Service by Alan Garner from when I was a child in the hope that any future child of mine would love it too. Gave it to DS - and he hated it!

His grandpa kept all the old hardback Just William books to pass on to DS as well, and he didn't like them either!

As an adult I fell in love with the Titus Groan (Gormenghast) trilogy by Mervyn Peake and luckily DS likes them too - only on audiobook though. Neither of us has managed Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit

Mandy Loved the owl service.
Have you read The Mabinogion? It's the begining of the tale!

Aww feeling all nostalgic now. This thread has reminded me of so many books I love [misty eyed emoticon].

The Weirdstone of Brisigamen series
The Moondial
The Owl Service (inspired me to read the Mabinogion)
The Snow Spider (I tried to persuade dh that Arianwen was a good name for dd. he wasn't having it....)
Ballet shoes
Wolves of Willoughby Chase

Does anyone remember a book where a little girl is left at a boarding school and then her father dies. The mean teacher makes her live in the attic and the man next door sees and sends his serpent over with all sorts of lovely thing? I can't re ember what it was called but loved that one.

Not a children's book but read it as a child - twopence to Cross the Mersey series.

Toms midnight garden
Howls moving castle

And so many more!

Mandy and Dawn cross posted!

My copy of the owl service was my mum's, she kept it for me and I'm keeping it for dd (and retreading occasionally!)

*servant not serpent! That would be a completely different story!

I loved Rumer Godden's 'Kizzy', especially when it was made into TV series and also 'a pair of Jesus bits' which was also tv series. The one with girl sent from India to boarding school was also a tv series but can't remember what it was called! Maybe something about a princess?

5speckledreindeer, that sounds like A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (who also wrote The Secret Garden and Little Lord Fauntleroy). A lovely book.

Yes that's the one, A Little Princess

Also Mary Norton, The Borrowers

'Eloise' by Kay Thompson (for girls about 6/7) about a crazy girl who lives in an hotel in the US and spends her day causing chaos & imagining adventures - my Great Aunt sent it from the States in 70's and it is currently on a continuous loop with Clarice Bean and Dr Seuss with DD1.

'The Little Bookroom' by Eleanor Farjeon (we have my mum's copy) - lots of lovely short stories, the one with the fairy & the lady who can't decide what colour bedroom she wants is imprinted on my mind.

We have the 'Giant Jam Sandwich' - didn't have it as a child but been passed down by a godmother.

'The Eagle of the Ninth' - fantastic adventure. 'Ballet Shoes'.

Enid Blyton & Frances Hodgeson Burnett & CS Lewis.

Loads of great ideas on here. Books I have read to dd1 (7) which she's loved:

Read when she was 5:
First 3 Harry Potters - edited bits
The Hobbit - edited the end as quite a few dwarves die...
Narnia - but not the Last Battle

More recently we've been in a classic book mode:
Black Beauty
The Secret Garden
The Railway Children
The Water Babies

I will pinch some titles from this thread for dd1 and add to her wishlist!

Grimble. My favourite ever book.

The wishing chair/magaic faraway tree - Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton's St Clare's and Malory Towers series
Francis Hodgson Burnett - The secret garden
Little lord fauntleroy
A little princess
Monica Dicklens - Follyfoot and Kizzy
The chalet school books - Elinor M Brent-Dyer
Judy Blume - Are you there God> It's me, margaret

My favourite hasn't been mentioned yet (I don't think) A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin - Wizard school and dragons way before and better than Harry Potter! (although I love those too)
My DS has also been enjoying Shel Silverstein's poetry. I loved his poems as a child and Runny Babbit is the funniest book ever! He switches the letters around at the beginning of the words and makes funny poems even funnier. It's really helped DS with his reading as they really made him think!

OH and I forgot! Oscar Wilde's short stories -
The Selfish Giant
The Happy Prince
(With Charles Robinsons illustrations - soooo beautiful - I have the prints on my walls)
and The Velveteen Rabbit By Margery Williams
BLUB - When I read those I am asked 'Mummy why are you reading in a funny voice?' as I fight back the tears!

Thank you Dawndonna love the Owl Service etc didn't know about The Mabinogion will add to Christmas wishlist check it out...x

'Over Sea, Under Stone' was the first in a series of 5 books by Susan Cooper called 'The Dark is Rising' (and IMO the weakest), which I loved. In order they are:-

Over Sea, Under Stone
The Dark is Rising
Greenwitch
The Grey King
Silver on the Tree

Fabulous, fabulous books. They made a film of the second book called something like 'The Seeker' and it was SO disappointing - having a transplanted American boy playing Will. I hated it as much as the film of 'The Little White Horse' which was (I think) 'The Secret of Moonacre' and wrecked the book entirely! It was the most hideous and least like the original book of any film I've seen. Room 101 should contain script writers who take a fantastic children's book and produce a truly diabolical film of it!

The Chronicles of Narnia
A Wrinkle in Time
The Diamond in the Window
The Agaton Sax books
The Doctor Who novels
Trillions