DD2 (9) wants to know what your best ever children's book is

[castille]

She recently read Heidi and loved it, and wants to read some more "brilliant stories".

Any suggestions?

The Pinballs - by Betsy Byars,

infact all betsy byars books. I loved them at thiat age.

oh yes, The Tree that sat down and The Stream that stood still. I loved those but haven't heard of them in years.

My favourites as a 9 year old child were Ballet Shoes, Swallows and Amazons, The talking parcel.

I still love Heidi.

My DC love all Michael Morpurgo books. 'Alone on a Wide, Wide Sea' was my favourite.

LadyG, thanks for that reference. I'm going to buy that biography you recommended. There was one book listed I never even knew existed. I was such a LIW fan at 10, we asked people going to US bring books back that weren't published by Puffin.

???????!!!!!!!????!!!Cap Garland killed???!!!! I don't believe it!

Yes, me too, Mimizan. My American aunt sent them all to me - it was before the TV series came out (over here anyway) which shows you how old I am.

The Little White Horse
The Way to Sattin Shore
A Little Princess
Rumer Godden's Story The Diddakoi. Probably impossible to get hold of now.

LadyG, the Little House TV series was such a disappointment to me. The first few episodes were quite good and true to the books, but it then all went a bit weird and ridiculous and I became disillusioned with it. Or maybe it was adolescence and pop music became my new obsession.

I think they actually tried to stick to the story at first, but about halfway through series one it just went off in a different direction. I used to drive my brothers and sisters up the wall by sitting there going 'but that's not right, that didn't happen in the book' through every episode.

The Phantom Tollbooth, Norman Juster. Fantastic book. DD 'did' it at school last year (y4).

The Diddakoi from amazon marketplace - a brilliant story, although I still get a bit teary thinking about the old horse...

If she is at all tomboyish, then try the Just William books;

If she likes fantasy, then the Terry Pratchett books for children are excellent stories - the Johnny series are fab, but the Discworld children's stories are also great.

The Worst Witch books by Jill Murphy too.

Yes, MDS, fantastic book. And the two sequels are even better IMO.

I have been wracking my brains to remember the name of the book and here it is - a third person in the world who has read The Tree that Sat Down. Wonderful book. I have never forgotten Meschach, Shadrach and Abednego because it took me so long to decide how to pronounce them!

There was another in the series which I've forgotten the name of too.

I clearly hadn't read far enough Fennel - I was so excited to get the name of the first one my heart jumped!

I was just thinking of The Diddakoi

Lynne Reid Banks The Indian in the Cupboard (there is a series of books some aimed at older children too) is good, well my dd is really loving it, she is slightly younger but loves reading.

Huckleberry Finn

I will watch this thread, it will be good for inspiration.

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh.

Boy by Roald Dahl, his autobiography about when he was at boarding school is brilliant.

Must add support for the Family from One End Street series, the Worst Witch, and all Roald Dahl books - all wonderful at that age.

I was also DELIGHTED to see that someone else recommended When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit - one I read over and over again.

Can I also add:
The Otterbury Incident - C Day Lewis (very old-fashioned, my dad's favourite as a boy, but I loved it too!)
Ronia The Robber's Daughter by Astrid Lindgren, who wrote the Pippi Longstocking books
The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tyler - Gene Kemp
The Ramona Quimby books - Beverly Cleary
The Nicholas series - Rene Goscinny
Henny Takes a Hand - Barbara Paterson

Lots of strong, interesting and funny female characters amongst that lot!

The Narnia books
the hobbit
Green Smoke is AMAZING I loved it to BITS

The famous Five books are all a bit "cheese and Chutney and Sally the Maid" but very fun.

Lynne Reid Banks wrote a book about a fairy which I loved so much, and just can't find

here it is!

did I put the Princess and the Goblins and the Princess and Curdie down before? if not, they're good too. Dunno if they're still in print anywhere.

I loved the Tree that Sat down et al too.
Ditto the Princess & the Goblins / Curdie - I never owned a copy but recently found one in a 2nd hand shop. In fact I always trawl the childrens shelves & have picked up copies of lots of my old favourites over the last year or so (to add to the two large boxes full rescued from my parents loft )

I am thinking I need to find the Tree That sat Down now! I have never heard of it before, so must seek it out...

I've been picking up a lot of these old classics in the charity shops too, over the last couple of years. It's very satisfying.

I can't remember much about the Tree that Sat down and Stream that stood still, but I do remember them being good. I can't remember the storyline properly though.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were the toads weren't they, belonging to the witch?

(I knew how to pronounce them, I went to sunday school a lot, we learned that sort of thing)

Another vote here for Tom's Midnight Garden, absolutely love that book, also The Secret Garden, Moonfleet and the Green Knowle series. All great page-turning stories.