Your Old Favourites?

[scanty]

just curious as to what your favourite books were as a child. Some of mine:

The Greengables Books
Little House On The Prairie Series
little Women Series
What Katy Did Next Series
Mallory Towers Books
St Clares
All the Blyton Adventure Books
The Chalet School Series (did anyone else
read these?)
Ballet Shoes
Pollyanna
Paul Zindel's novels (anyone read these?)
Nancy Drew
Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry

My dd is currently reading her way through all my Monica Edwards as comfort bed time reading in her busy teenage life.

I've never been able to get her interested in the Chalet School, which is still mey comfort bed time reading in my busy adult life!

Monica Edwards - was that horsey books?
First person I think who has read the Chalet Books, I loved them and they were quite educational.

Yes - horsy middle class children having spiffing adventures!

Ironically, dd is a horsy middle class child - so she loves them!

Too many to mention, really, and changing of course with age. Lots of 'classics' (Noel Streatfield, CS lewis etc). A few less known ones that I particularly liked:

The Time Garden (Edward Eager)
Martin Pippin in the Daisy Field (Eleanor Farjeon)
Polly and Oliver by David Scott Daniell

Also Just william & Jennings, I did read the Chalet School books, but preferred the chaos of Jennings

And at one point loads of horsey books - the Jill books, all the Pullein-Thompson sisters.

Noel Streatfields Gemma books

The District Nurse series - cant remember who wrote it

Enid Blytons naughty elizabeth at school
And her Malory Towers Series

Just William by Richmal Crompton (there are 38 books in total!)

Plus most of the others already reccomended!

Ds likes The indian in the cupboard by L R Banks
He also reads over and over Roald Dahl and Dick King Smith books - he is 8

Toms midnight garden - phillipa pearce

A teenage favourite was No more Saturday nights by Norma Klein

Oh, was the district nurse Sue Barton? (the nurse, not the writer?) I loved those!

Most of those already mentioned, and one of my all-time favourites was "Midnight is a Place" It was serialised in the 70s.

Loved the horsey/ballet/ice-skating/boarding schooly ones.

Oh! (again) I read Norma Klein books one called "It's OK if you don't love me" all soft focus covers and dodgy sentiments (how can it be OK if he doesn't love you! It's not OK at all!)

One teenagey one I still have was called PS I Love You- the boy died and it was sooooooo tragic and romantic, we all read it school and sobbed.

Yes Sue Barton - I forgot all about those until a MN thread a few months ago

I also still love - Goodnight mister Tom and Back Home by Michelle Magorian

Oh yes, Sue Barton of course. And KM Peyton - particularly all the Pennington books.

I too read the Jill books and the Pullein Thompson avidly as a child, and various of the other pony book writers.

I also liked the Blyton school stories, especially Mallory Towers. The thought of going to boarding school in Cornwall was my idea of heaven aged about 10 .

But my favourites were the Uncle books by JP Martin; about an extrememly rich elephant who lived in a house the size of a small town, and who was constantly being hassled by Beaver Hateman and his gang. Very weird, with something of Roald Dahl about them.

Didn't they involve treacle mines, jeffvadar? They're on my list to hunt out when dd's a bit older

Wind in the Willows. Just lovely to think of all those creatures tucked up in cosy cottages! There are also a lot of follow up (or rip off) books by modern authors. I also loved The Borrowers books by Mary Norton. There are a lot of these. And the Moomin stories by Tove Jansson. Old fashioned and comforting. I have never been a fan of Enid Blyton and never read them too my sons. Too much sexism for me. Poor George. I wouldn't want my sons to think it's acceptable to look down on girls the way they do. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. I much prefer the older children's authors. Modern authors just seem to write to make money.

scanty-I loved books by Paul Zindel too-
My Darling My Hamburger, The Pigman etc-think they were a bit like a early teens Catcher in the Rye.

Black Beauty. Poor old Ginger. I can't wait till DD is old enough to be read it.

That's interesting about PS< I Love You. Didn't an extremely well connected Irish chicklitter write a bestseller called PS, I Love You? The man died,it was sooo tragic and romantic...?

Famous Five (never really got into any other EB series)
Blackberry Farm Books when younger - anyone remember these?
And from about 8 - Fighting Fantasy Books / Dungeons and Dragons stuff

ArcticRoll -

I loved them and at the time hadn't read anything quite like them. They used to make me go into real fits of laughter and very touching too. Never see them in any book stores, it's a shame many of these great older books seem to disappear.

LauraIWilder

had forgot about Steatfields 'Gemma' books, thanks!

I'd love to introduce many of these to my kids but I've 2 boys and don't think many of them will go down well! I did love childrens Sci-Fi as well.

wukter yes, Celia somebody. I read it, it was dire.
The teen one was brilliant though- all that angst and trauma and then he went and died on her.

Swallows and Amazons - no one would dare look down on Captain Nancy!

I've been gradually reading these to DD (and other old favourites, some already listed , and E.Nesbitt) - only got Great Northern left.

Hmm seems a bit dodgy to me, Bucharest.

There was a book I loved as a child, read it once and could never find it again.
It was something about the Poper's seat having moved to Avignon. Maybe there were knights?

The Pope's seat.

Great Northern is good, but my fave is We Didn't Mean to go to Sea. Will have to try S&A on DD2 as DD1 has proved resistant to their charms.
I loved
The Andrew Lang Colour Fairy Tales
What Katy Did and sequels
Anne of Green Gables
All Louisa May Alcott's books but particularly Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom
Chalet School
Angela Brazil's school stories
The Sadler's Wells books by Lorna Hill
and I had some American books from the 1920's and 30's that my mother had had as a child - mainly Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins but also the Two Little Women and Treasure House series and the Patty Series - bet nobody else has read them!

Oh and Little House on the Prairie of course.
And Harriet the Spy.

Oh yes, Chalet School here, too. And everything by Joan Aiken - fab young heroines. And A Little Princess and The Secret Garden. Oh, and Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse... I could go on...

The Greengables books
Emily series by LM Montgomery
Pat series by LM Montgomery
The Little House books (currently reading them to DD)
Chalet school
Malory Towers
Famous Five
Adventure series by Enid Blyton
St Clares
Trebizon
Nancy Drew
The Secret Garden
The Dark is Rising series
Taran Wanderer series
Narnia series
Alan Garner books
What Katy did, and the sequels
Little Women and the sequels
Black Beauty
Pollyanna

Basically I read anything I could get my hands on!