Confession time! Tell us your literary sins to win an entire set of 20 Puffin Classics

[EmilyMumsnet]

Literary shame is a powerful thing - if you've ever nodded sagely while your friends discussed Bleak House or chuckled knowingly about the The Wizard of Oz - the film is the same thing isn’t it? – you'll know what we're talking about. But now we're giving you the chance to 'fess up! Tell us which Puffin Classic you have never actually read, and you'll be in the running to win the entire set.

The Puffin Classics are back, and with a bold new look – twenty brand new covers for the classic tales, from Huck to Dorothy to Alice to Peter. One lucky poster will receive all twenty, while 5 randomly-selected runners-up will win a copy of their never-read tale.

Here's the full set list:
The Call of the Wild, Tom Sawyer, The Wizard of Oz, King Arthur, The Jungle Book, Black Beauty, Huckleberry Finn, Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, The Odyssey, A Little Princess, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, The Wind in the Willows, Treasure Island, Heidi, Peter Pan, Little Women, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

This competition is now closed. And the winners are:

Belo - full set of Puffin Classics
happysouls - The Call Of The Wild
Punkatheart -Heidi
Miisty - Tom Sawyer
Pigeonpea - Huckleberry Finn
kohl - Wind In The Willows

Thanks for all your contributions, we'll be in touch with the winners shortly

I haven't read most of them but feel I probably should!

i swear i'll read it in tomorow

I'm ashamed to say I didn't no some were books before films!!ouch.wizard of oz being one.

I've only read Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden.

I'm guessing the Chronicles of Nania were another publishing house? Not read any of the list above, as i found them incredibly boring and think being forced to read Anne of Greene Gables at age 10 put me off reading for a very, very long time! I'd love to have the time to re-read them to see if they really are that bad! Also guessing Bronte sisters are another publishing house, as Wuthering Heights got me back into reading!
Just out of interest what or who deems a book to be a classic? Do they have to be old and with endless boring descriptive narritive ?!
I'm just a pleb aren't I

I've read at least 12 (that I remember) and seen the films of another 3. I didn't enjoy Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn - might have had something to do with my mum liking them and going on about it so much! My favourites were Black Beauty, Treasure Island, Heidi and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and I think I wore the pages out with my eyes!

I'm shamed top say... the only one I have read is Tom Sawyer. All the others I've read abridged versions or seen the film.

I was a voracious reader as a child and then read alot to my three daughters. The books Ive missed are Call of the Wild and the Odyssey - Ill have to read them to the grandsons!
When we were children we had fewer distractions and nobody complained if you spent hours with a book - why is reading OK when watching TV/playing games on a screen is not?

Never read Journey to the Centre of the Earth - I guess I always thought it was a 'boys book'. I loved reading as a child, still do, and particularly love the old Puffin Classics. I love the original books with their old covers. Unfortunately when we moved 20 odd years ago, I gave to charity all my childhood books. I regret it now that my grandchildren would enjoy them.

My all time favourite book is heidi closely followed by Little Women but I don't think I have read Tom Sawyer or Call of the Wild.

I loved Little Women when I was a child, I must have read it at least a dozen times. I have never read Peter Pan, I've seen it in Panto but I don't think that's quite the same
I would love to be able to curl up on the sofa and read each of these books on a rainy day.

I think these books can help children understand some of the big and difficult things in life. When I was a lonely and sad child The Secret Garden was my refuge, I read it all the time and it helped me understand that you can find love in all kinds of places.

My daughter is nine and she went to Book Day as Heidi this year which is her favourite book. I've read many of these with my daughter but I haven't had the confidence to read any with my son, who is 7. I have never read any of the books on the list that are more aimed at boys so I don't really know how to get him interested. Can anyone recommend one that their son has enjoyed? He is a good reader but reads books that he finds easy and that he can finish in an hour like Tom Gates, Captain Underpants. Wimpy Kid etc. I don't much like those books because they are repetitive, the boys are often really mean in them and they seem to make his behaviour worse! I would like to read Treasure Island and sometimes I would like Captain Hook to come and baby sit for an evening!

Never read little women although my mum badgered me for years about it and bought me a beautiful special edition.

She now tells me there's a new adaptation due on tv...

I have read them all except 'The Call of the Wild'. Might get it out from the library.

I haven't read Black Beauty - but I can sing the theme tune!
Journey to The Centre of the Earth is another I never read - in fact I haven't read any Jules Verne and really should do. DH swears by these classics.

Think these are the only ones I haven't read....The Call of the Wild, The Odyssey, Journey to the Centre of the Earth,
As it counts if you've seen the Disney movie doesn't it ???

I think I've read all bar The Odyssey, and im always slightly suspicious of people who claim they have ;) especially in the original!

I've never read Huckleberry Finn. Not quite sure how I've read most of the others (or had them read to me, I remember my dad reading me Treasure Island when I was 10 or so)

I thought most of the classics were difficult to read. I loathed some of the curriculum set books and so did the children of my class. The Wind in the Willows was terribly tedious for them.As a child I just read Enid Blyton and avoided Tom Saywer, Huckleberry Finn etc. Now that I write for children myself I want the child to turn the pages and enjoy the content of the story, not be put off reading for life. www.heatherbmoon.com

The Call of the Wild - never read
Tom Sawyer - never read
The Wizard of Oz - never read and would have been too scared as a child!
King Arthur - never read. Loved the animated film but is Merlin in the book?
The Jungle Book - never read
Black Beauty - read twice to DD but not as a child
Huckleberry Finn - never read
Anne of Green Gables - never read and don't fancy it either.
The Secret Garden - read repeatedly to DD as a Mum but never as a child
The Odyssey - never read
A Little Princess - never read
Journey to the Centre of the Earth - never read but recently downloaded to kindle in hope of reading to DS
The Wind in the Willows - never read
Treasure Island - never read
Heidi - read both as child and Mum
Peter Pan - never read
Little Women - read half a page as an adult
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland - read as a Mum

How embarrassing for somebody who loves reading and enjoys classic literature??- I have only read Heidi and Little Women out of those, both of which I must say I loved. I would love to add the others to my reading list so fingers crossed??

Incredibly shamefully, I've never read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Which would be fine, except I named DD after the main character.

I am one of those people who has their nose permanently stuck in a book, or failing that, my tablet, which serves as my Kindle. Often abroad when younger, I read everything in English that came my way (including the Penthouses at the bottom of my father's wardrobe) and 'ran out things to to read in the library' at boarding school; 3 years and I had literally read the lot. They tested me to make sure! But despite all this, I never read 'The Wizard of Oz'. Didn't like the sound of it when people raved, never saw the film and to this day could not tell you anything about the book. All the other Puffin books were on my bookcase and I only re-read 'Anne of Green Gables' a couple of weeks ago!

The only one I've read is Little Women!

I've read every single one of these except The Odyssey by Geraldine McCaughrean which I thought at first glance was a fantasy epic! Then felt rather embarrassed when I checked it out because I lived for three years not so long ago on an Ionian Island within minutes of Ithaca and lived on the piece of island on Kefalonia some scholars believe was the real original home of Ulysses/Odysseus. They were doing exploratory work from helicopters and using high-tech equipment while we were there. So whoops - bit of a red face moment for me. Why isn't Homer acknowledged on the cover of the book? If I'd seen that at least I'd have known what it was about. I even owned a mat with a similar picture to the cover art so it is quite embarrassing not to have recognised the origins of that book straight away.