What’s one story from your childhood that still gives you that warm, magical feeling? - Win cinema vouchers

[EllieSmumsnet]

Some stories stay with us forever. They’re the ones that sparked our imaginations, introduced us to unforgettable characters, and made us believe that extraordinary things could happen in ordinary places. Long after childhood, those tales still carry a sense of comfort and wonder.

Now, as The Magic Faraway Tree makes its journey from beloved book to the big screen, arriving in UK & Ireland cinemas on 27 March 2026, it’s the perfect moment to celebrate the stories that shaped us.

What’s one story from your childhood that still fills you with that warm, magical feeling and why? Was it a book you read again and again? A character you wished you could meet? A world you imagined so vividly it felt real?

Share your memory with us by 22/04/2026 for your chance to win a £200 VEX voucher and cinema vouchers to see The Magic Faraway Tree with your family (T&Cs apply).

I love the "Curdie" novels and particularly the Princess and Curdie because it is a darker and more complex tale. It was written as a children's fantasy in the 1880s. In the tradition of the Victorian moral tale it pushes the boundary with a critique of corruption, class hierarchy, and the moral decay of institutions. Unlike the tidy moral systems of many Victorian tales, MacDonald embraces mystery and paradox.

Got to be some of the original Ladybird books for me! The Princess and the Pea for the supporting illustrations- I loved the dresses and the drenched princess picture and then the animal related ones . I think it was the illustrations that seemed to capture the storylines so well. Mick the Disobedient Puppy and Ned the Lonely Donkey were favourites along with one about a rabbit with a mean owner that escaped! Always loved animal stories ! (But maybe not the James Herbert Rat books that featured later in my teen years!) Not giving my age away at all!

'Ballet Shoes' was a book I read over and and over when I was about 9/10. None of the TV adaptations ever did justice to how I imagined it in my head.

When I was a bit younger, a book that I found absolutely mesmerising (for the illustrations really) was Joan Aiken's 'A Necklace of Raindrops' a collection of short stories illustrated by Jan Pienkowski. She wrote loads of books, but the illustrated short story books were my favourites (though I loved Arabel's Raven).

I loved anything by Enid blyton, especially tales of toyland, the magic faraway tree series, Amelia Jane & naughtiest girl in school.
roald Dahl was the twits, I thought it was hilarious & was always one of my favourites along with Matilda, BFG, the witches & George’s marvellous medicine.
I also absolutely my naughty little sister, Milly molly Mandy & pippi longstocking & kitty books by Bel Mooney. So many happy memories in this thread!

My brother was born just before I turned 3. So this memory would have been from when I was about 3½ or 4, in about 1982.

My brother and I were staying at Grandparents for the night. Now we were definitely working class but my Grandparents were just a little more proper. Not snotty, not overly wealthy, just more...proper. Anyway, my brother must have woke me up crying, so I was wide awake and my Grandparents let me go back downstairs after we'd already gone to bed. Being allowed up with them without my brother was the mark of being a big girl, and I was very in awe at the privilege.

My Grandad covered a slice of white bread in Dairylea, cut the crusts off, rolled it up, and cut it into whorl slices, like a mini roulade. He told me they were snails like posh people ate. Now I was old enough to know they weren't snails, so I laughed at him being silly. But I remember sitting on the rug in my dressing gown feeling SO grown up and privileged, eating my dairylea whirls off a saucer, and thinking " I bet this is what rich people eat all the time. I bet the Queen does this, stays up late and eats cheese snails. When I'm grown up I'm going to do this every night". 🤣🤣🤣

In reality I was a 3 year old in a bobbly mothercare dressing gown awake at 10pm eating dairylea with the crusts cut off but thinking I was high society. Yet that feeling of utter privilege at being allowed to eat grown up things with the grown ups after children were in bed was probably the most important and special I've felt in my whole life. Nothing has ever beaten that feeling.

Ahhh I've interpreted the thread title wrong haven't I? What story....as in story book. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I just gave everyone a story from my past. 🙈 Ignore me everyone!! But I'm not deleting it, I'm leaving it there, because it's a story that made me feel absolutely deliciously magical, and still does.

I think it meant book, but that's a wonderful memory! And i wouldn't worry, it says one book, and more than once person has listed multiple.

I remember hearing the story of the Good Samaritan in assembly and feeling my heart gush.

That’s what I thought too then wondered why everyone had listed books.

Beautiful

I used to love books about horses and gymkanas - I loves horses - always wanted one - Jill's gymkana was one - looking back very dated and something I knew little about - but always imagined taking my imaginary pony to a local gymkana and coming away with a big rosestte.

I recall a time when I was young enough to believe in Father Christmas. One Christmas morning I saw the real Father Christmas walking down our road. I was so excited. With hindsight, it was obviously a grandparent dressed up going to visit his grandchildren and surprise them, but I was enthralled.

I've still got my Jill books! I love them.

I loved a book called Tarka the Otter! And also a goosebumps called say cheese and die!

I loved Snow White and Rose Red. It was my favourite fairy tale and I still don't know why it's not very well known. It's a beautiful story of sisterhood and kindness.

I was brought up on Enid Blyton but the one that sticks with me to this day is The Rubadub Mystery.
Still remember my late Dmum reading it to us in the caravan while down in Cornwall. I re-read it myself many times but it is my Dmum reading it that sticks in my mind.🥲

I remember that. We also read it at school in the 70s. I recall the phrase 'ten a penny' used to dismiss him and him using it again at the end having got his revenge.

Glad it's not just me - I remember reading mine dreaming of jumping fences on my pony - aah what an innocent time that was 😆

I loved books as a child. I remember the pennies from heaven collection of stories . I think it was produced by the church?
I loved the lady bird picture books especially the princess and the pea ( I could relate 😂) the magic porridge pot and the elves and the shoe maker. I loved the magic far away tree, Heidi ,Black beauty, Little women, A cat in the window, I had a 365 bedtime stories book which was read and treasured and I still have it now . My favourite books to read to my DS were Guess how much I love you and we are going on a bear hunt . I remember reading him a story he had got from the school library and remember I couldn’t carry on reading it as I was crying. It was about a lion I think . Anybody know what it could be ?

The first time I ever flew on a plane aged 12. The first time I went to Greece, also aged 12.

I used to holiday with my grandma in Exmouth when I was small and we used to go to the gardens by the seafront when it was dark and there used to be a winding path that went up and down between bushes which were lit up in many colours and there were little lighted tableaux hidden away... I vividly remember a tiny fairy pool.
I loved it.

Bad Jelly the Witch by Spike Milligan.

it used to be played on the kids radio on Saturday mornings & we had the book too - handwritten font & spikes pictures. I had memories of my dad reading it to us.

this was a massive hit in nz. Most kiwis of a certain age will know at least parts of it by heart.

when I moved to uk I was astonished no one here ever heard of it. I used to play a game & ask anyone I met if they liked Bad Jelly. I never met a single Brit who knows this book.

“knickers knickers, I’ll eat you up at sunrise with peanut butter”

I used to holiday with my grandma in Exmouth when I was small and we used to go to the gardens by the seafront when it was dark and there used to be a winding path that went up and down between bushes which were lit up in many colours and there were little lighted tableaux hidden away... I vividly remember a tiny fairy pool.
I loved it.

I am surprised this book never got the attention I thought it deserves - as a child of 12 or 13 I loved Holes because it was interesting and a bit mysterious. The story kept me wanting to read more to find out what would happen next.
I liked Stanley because he was kind and didn’t give up, even when things were hard. It was also cool how the past and present stories connected together. As an 11-year-old, I found it fun to read, with some funny parts and some serious moments too. My adult self reads it from time to time and sees it from an entirely different perspective.

Two books which I read in year 7. I didn't really appreciate the emotions of them then, but I was very moved reading them as an adult:

Red Sky in the Morning, by Elizabeth Laird: about a teenager who adores her disabled baby brother, but is ashamed to tell anybody at school.

I am David, by Anne Holm: Twelve-year-old David has grown up in a concentration camp, but is suddenly assisted to escape, and he has to find his way in a world which he knows nothing about.

@Theimpossiblegirl I too loved Snow White and Rose Red, but I remember sighing (aged 7) at the ending, and how similar it was to so many other fairy tales.