What did kids read in the 70s and 80s?

[KnitMeAUnicorn]

Just that, really! It feels like all I can see in the shops these days is the constant Tom Gates/Harry Potter/David Walliams/Wimpy Kid stuff. DC have read loads of that and I want something a bit more 'classic for their Xmas. (12yo DS & 10yo DD). Any thoughts/ memories of what you liked reading back then? Ta

[TroysMammy]

A Dolls House book I remember there were burglars in the real house and the dolls house people used cherry bombs to scare them away. I never knew what cherry bombs are but I have my own grown up dolls house now and the little people don't cause me any trouble and the keep their home really clean and tidy.

[Only1scoop]

Sweet Dreams yes!! I used to have a sheet of titles and tick then off when read

[Itshouldntmatter]

Enid Blyton school books
Drina ballet books (I LOVED those)
Anything by Mara Kay
Noel Streatfield
Then when I was into my early teens
SVH
The Sweet Dreams romance books (I remember PS I love you )
Brothers in the land by Robert Swindell - the 80's child Cold War books about nuclear war TERRIFIED me!)
Catherine Cookson (loved her trash)
Catcher in the rye (great teenager book)
Diary of Anne Frank and a book about her I picked up in a charity shop

[schmalex]

In the 80s I read lots of not particularly good stuff like Enid Blyton, etc.
It sounds like you've looked in WHSmith or somewhere that only sells the real bestsellers. There are so many great books for kids being published now - if you can get to an independent bookshop or a Waterstones you would find loads of choice, e.g. books by Katherine Rundell, Abi Elphinstone, Peter Bunzl

[BonusNewt]

If the dolls house book had one of the dolls catching fire in a rather traumatic way, it was the Rumer Godden one!

[daisypond]

This has brought back some memories. I was a child in the '70s and '80s.
Apart from most of the books mentioned,

The Silver Brumby series (Australian, about horses) by Elyne Mitchell

John Wyndham sci-fi - Midwich Cuckoos, The Kraken Wakes, The Chrysalids, Day of the Triffids, etc. His short story collection Seeds of Time would be a good introduction.

I tried to get my DC into the Narnia books, which I loved as a child, but they weren't interested.

The Little House on the Prairie series I think is often underrated. They're very well written. I still read these now as a bit of a comfort read...

You can still get Kizzy on YouTube. I watched it quite recently.

[halcyondays]

Dolls in a dolls house could be the Dolls House by Rumer Godden or Five Dolls in a House by Helen Clare.

[morningtoncrescent62]

There were two children, an English boy and his younger French girl cousin who ended up in a dark satanic mill making carpets...anyone? There was a memorable scene, where the carpet is spread flat, and a giant press comes down on it. If there is any rubbish on the carpet a child has to run and get it off before the press comes down.....

Midnight Is A Place, as you've already seen - and there was one of those wonderful TV serialisations of it for the children's tea-time drama slot in about 1977. I used to love the theme music, so haunting! If I'm remembering rightly, the girl who played Anne-Marie was much older than 8 and had an execrable French accent.

bigTillyMint I'd forgotten Milly Molly Mandy. Yes, 60s for me as well! Does anyone remember, also about the same time, a book about dolls in a dolls' house? I can't remember much else about it.

[KOKOagainandagain]

There Is a Happy Land.

I recently ordered a used copy on amazon as it is out of print and received a copy stamped by the secondary school that I attended 40 years ago!!

[KOKOagainandagain]

There Is a Happy Land.

I recently ordered a used copy on amazon as it is out of print and received a copy stamped by the secondary school that I attended 40 years ago!!

[bigTillyMint]

Oh yes, My Naughty Little Sister and Milly Molly Mandy! And Teddy Robinson, Gobbolino the Witch's Cat, The Little Wooden Horse and Mrs Pepperpot.

But that was in the 60's

Plus Swallows and Amazons in the 70's

[namechangingagainagain]

I loved geoffrey trease.... they had a massive set in the library and I worked my way through them.

This thread has inspired my to have a look on ebay although not sure they will compare to the hunger games or any of the other great authors for young people nowadays!

[insan1tyscartching]

Nancy Drew series and the Hardy Boys series by Edward Stratemeyer
A Dog So Small by Phillipa Pearce
Lots written by Allan Sillitoe.
A Town called Alice by Nevile Shute
I984, Animal Farm, A Brave New World and more of their ilk.

[GreenShadow]

I used to love the Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown.

[Daisies123]

I remember so many of these!

I loved:
Moondial (we lived near Belton House so I was a bit Moondial obsessed!)
Enid Blyton
Malcolm Savill
Arthur Ransome
Redwall series
Chalet School
Pullein-Thompson pony books

Visited Seven Stories a few years ago and thought it was wonderful.

Also think it's sad children don't read as much now. I work in a university and find many students (18+) struggling with reading large amounts of text. Trying to make sure DD sees both of us reading books rather than staring at screens...

[KnitMeAUnicorn]

It's funny how some of us loved the same stuff –I adored Midnight is a Place and The Dark is Rising as a child, got them both for DS last Christmas and he hasn't got past the first couple of pages. !

I have been to Seven Stories, Peppardew - loved it!

Thanks for further suggestions!

[SpeckledyBanana]

Adrian Mole.

[Papergirl1968]

The Kevin and Sadie books by Joan Lingard. And her Maggie series.
Sue Barton nurse books by Helen Dore Boylston.
New Patches For Old - Christobel Mattingley
Highly recommend Bernard Ashley's Break in the Sun which I recently reread.
Sweet Dreams USA teen romances, most of which were rubbish. PS I Love You by Barbara Conklin easily stands out as the best.

[TooPlain]

Lots of the ones here but I absolutely adored the Bunty and Judy annuals and had loads of old ones bought second hand. I read them over and over.

[TwinkleTwinkleLittleBat]

The Phantom Tolbooth, Stig of the Dump, James Herriot.

[BratFarrarsPony]

Midnight is a Place! that was it, thank you Eeny!

[EenyMeenyMo]

agree with most of those (esp Susan Cooper and Diane Wynne Jones) plus
Joan Aiken -Midnight is a place
Catherine Storr- Marianne Dreams
Laura ingalls (little house on the prairie etc)
(the very weird)Adventures of Alison Allbright
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
Mischling second degree
Bridge To Terabithia
Noah's Castle
Empty world
Adrian Mole
I don't think children have changed that much- there is just more choice and more easily accessible books. I remember children reading lots of doctor who books and also lots of dungeons and dragons style books by Ian Livingstone i think. Paddington was always hard work.