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

[Boeufsurletoit]

I used to love anything by Paula Danziger, especially The Cat Ate my Gymsuit and There's a Bat in Bunk Five.

[museumum]

For Christmas Susan Cooper The Dark is Rising.
Also the narnia books, and I read shit loads of Nancy drew

[VixenLupin]

The Dark is Rising is my most favourite children's book, so,much so i named my youngest after characters from the books. Luckily my kids like it too.

They also really enjoyed The Green Knowe series of books. I only bought them as I loves the TV series when I was younger, I haven't actually read them myself. I must rectify that.

Moondial was another great book that was made into a TV series.

Robert Westsall was one of favourites too.

Roald Dahl - my lot have read all my old books, he's still very popular.

I was never into Enid Blyton but my eldest loved all the Famous Five and Secret Seven books.

[PikachuSayBoo]

Toms midnight garden
Huck Finn /tom sawyer
Chalet school books
Wizard of earthsea
Loads of horse books by various Pullen-Thompson sisters.
Ramona quimby

[PikachuSayBoo]

And the Alan garner book, weirdstone of Brisingemen was ace.

[BratFarrarsPony]

There are lots of books I recall but cannot remember the names.

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.....

Anyone?

[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.

[BratFarrarsPony]

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

[TwinkleTwinkleLittleBat]

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

[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.

[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.

[SpeckledyBanana]

Adrian Mole.

[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!

[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...

[GreenShadow]

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

[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.

[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!

[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

[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!!

[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.

[halcyondays]

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