Ok bookworms help me out here.

[dingdongmeggymooonhigh]

Having seen a few threads recently about much loved and cherished memories of wonderful books read as a child has made me a little envious.

I was never read to as a child or encouraged to read ever which I can't do anything about now other than having a go at reading some of those books now!I'm thinking of making up for lost time.I don't know where to start though.

I have really made every effort to get ds interested in books which is working, he is hooked!

Could you recommend something to get me started, just one thing, Harry Potter doesn't really appeal I was thinking of something more old school that I could get my teeth into?

Orangina, they're by Lorna Hill and are all 'ballet' books.
I loved the Lone Pine series by Malcolm Saddler (?)
And the Wizard of Oz series. And just about everything else on this thread.
Did anybody else wish they had gone to the Chalet School instead of their bog-standard comp?

I dreamed of being a chalet girl ohh what fun they had!!!

I love this thread, am learning so much and getting lots of ideas for dd

May I recommend a brilliant and very funny french classic 'Le Petit Nicholas' by Goscinny (who wrote Asterix), you can find it in English here
Read it to dd during the summer, she loved it

fennel, a) and b). Didnt know about the Swallows and Amazons society! Did you know there is a Biggles society too, but I am not sure if they are the ones who are responsible for repressing the last Biggles book. That's the one where Biggles retires and the policeman who gets his job is Asian, and Capt W E Johns wrote it in response to changing times and criticism that he had been racist in his earlier books. He died before it was finished, and it has never been published. (Said to be "not typical of his work") (or that is what I heard)

frenchgirl, can you give some French recommendations for my dd1 (aged 9) and ds1 (aged nearly 8)??

I saw Petit Nicholas in German (der klein Nick) at a book fair in Mch yesterday.

orangina, i have to say that i re-read nearly all the 'at the Wells' books by Lorna Hill and was truly horrified. If there is one series that deserves to be decently buried IMO it is that one.

but there you go i've still got them!

I love Le Petit Nicolas FrenchGirl and NN.
And, Wavingordrowning, I also love Elizabeth Goudge, sadly a lot of it out of print.
As a teenager, I also loved Elfrida Vipont, Jean Plaidy, and some of the less heaving-bosomed Anya Seton historical romances. My author isn't Enid Blyton but the incredibly torrid and unhinged Mazo de la Roche. The woman was bonkers. Wonderful...

NightyNight, do get Le Petit Nicholas for them and the old Asterix albums (I don't like the recent ones). Then there are lots of good if a bit old fashioned books by La Comtesse de Segur (les malheurs de Sophie, les petites filles modeles, un bon petit diable, etc). Alphonse Daudet and Marcel Pagnol both good for both boys and girls. La Guerre des Boutons by Louis Pergaud is very funny. Jules Verne is a godd reliable classic (for boys more than girls maybe). Poil de Carotte by Jules Renard another classic. Zazie dans le Metro by Raymond Queneau is very funny. I am no good for comtemporary authors as dd only 6 so haven't really looked into modern authors yet! I also read a few english classics (translated!) when I was little...

acnebride, i haven't read them for about 20 years (unlike the enid blytons which get regularly re-read when i'm feeling ill or small!).... why should they be burnt ? I have such fond memories of them! I particularly remember some scenes set in yorkshire in the snow, a struggle to get to the train station to get to her auditions etc etc etc.... oh joy !

Did anyone read "the naughtiest girl in the school" series by Enid Blyton..? Very forward thinking, run along some kind of socialist ideal where everyone had to hand in their pocket money at the beginning of term, it was put into a communal kitty, and if anyone wanted to have more than the prescribed weekly allowance (extra stamps to write to sick granny etc), they had to put their argument for it to the school committee, and they would be judged accordingly. I always felt it was v unfair that you also had to put in birthday presents into the kitty too (what, my brand new 10 shilling note?!), and anyone who tried to keep anything to themselves was punished accordingly. (Off to the Gulag with you). Was it just me, or did anyone else just not get it?! Still, I read them all...

orangina, I hated that series too! EB had some wierd ideas. There was also a one off book that was very against working mothers, I cant remember what it was called. The boy whose mother worked when financially she didnt need to, ended up getting involved in crime! He was a latchkey kid, of course. There was nothing about setting a good example by working.

frenchgirl, thank you v much for those recommendations. I will look out for them. Must say, I had forgotten LPN till I saw it here in Germany.

marina - I also did the all the historical novelists as a teenager - sigh, at the memories!

Ooh the historical novelists. Everything I know about French history I learned from the Angelique books . History not my strong point. Reading, however, was.

Nome: Lone Pine = Malcolm Saville. Good call! They are out of print but are currently being reprinted by a little publishing company in Bath.
Violet Needham. Any other fans out there?

I think I may have to get all my old books out over Christmas and lie in bed re-reading them. Forget cooking Christmas dinner, when else am I going to have abysitters staying with us...

How about the Misty books by Marguerite Henry?
All the Paddington books by Michael Bond.
Historical books by Molly Hunter - real tear jerker about Glencoe, and Cynthia Harnett. (The Wool-pack, Writing on the Hearth)
Monica Hughes 'Isis' books. There are so many good books.

Anything by Mary Norton - the Borrowers, Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

This is a bril thread, I may have to make a bulk order on Amazon!! Can't believe no-one mentioned the Katy books, What Katy Did, What Katy Did Next...can't remember the author though.

Ive just ordered two Worst Witch books for dd. Also a couple of Willard Prices, they are on Amazon and really cheap!

Susan Coolidge wrote the Katy books.

Elisabeth Beresford wombles etc anyone?

Gosh, thanks for all of these posts I think I will be buying a huge bookshelf very soon. How exciting.