Children's Books You've Enjoyed - Either as a Child or Adult - Possibly Nostalgic Thread!

[PleaseYourselfandEatTheCrusts]

My 9 year old ds is taking part in a reading challenge.

I want to encourage ds as much as possible. In all honesty it's making me think of all the books I read at that age.

What children's books do you really like? We'd really like your suggestions.

So many! I'll start with My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. An amazing adventure :)

It would take me hours to list all the children's books I love! I'll go for anything by Antonia Forest as a top pick.

The Swallows and Amazons series.

Booked my 9 year old liked: trixie pickle art avenger books, Mr lemoncello series, jenny Pearson books, the last firefox, fizzlebert stump books, October october

The London Eye mystery

Tom's Midnight Garden. An eternal classic.

Thanks

What kind of thing does your DS enjoy at the moment, OP?

At 9 I loved Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (all her books in fact).
Ds (8) has just discovered Goosebumps and Scream Street. He's also enjoyed the Children of Green Knowe and the first few Narnia books.

Goodnight Mr Tom 😭

Tom's Midnight Garden is one of my favourites too. Anything by Noel Streatfeild. Eric Kastner's Emil and the Detectives, the Little House on the Prairie series, Swallows and Amazons and sequels, The Secret Garden, The Little Princess. The Narnia series, of course. Some US gems: The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright, and its sequels. From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler, A Wrinkle in Time. I've shelves full, that have all been reread by my adult DC from about that age onwards. I still go back to them when I'm in the mood for a cozy read.

musixa, he's enjoyed some Harry Potter, The Wombles, Mr Gum, Roald Dahl, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Thanks for the ideas, everyone.

How to train your dragon
Percy Jackson
Wells and Wong murder mysteries
Wings of fire series
Not highbrow but fun reading

@Impostersyndrome
Can I ask about the Ballet shoes books? I’ve heard they’re lovely but haven’t read them myself but was thinking of them for my niece who’s 7 (and a very strong reader). However, she’s adopted so I’m just wondering if they’re appropriate as one of the parent’s disappears (IIRC?).

He might enjoy the Wizard of Oz series by L Frank Baum - I read those around the same time as the Narnia books and loved them!

In the original Ballet Shoes novel, all three sisters are adopted - one is rescued from a lifeboat (often in TV adaptations implied to be from the Titanic) another is the daughter of a dying Russian soldier and the third is the daughter of a young ballet dancer who has 'no time' to look after her. 'Great Uncle Matthew' who adopts them disappears for many years, but eventually return. The sisters are proud of their adoptive status and it is generally presented in a very positive light, if that helps.

Exactly as musixa said. The girls very consciously make their own family as a group (see also The Painted Garden, where they reappear as adults). A lesser-known gem is Apple Bough, really insightful on sibling relationships (www.fantasticfiction.com/s/noel-streatfeild/apple-bough.htm).

The animorph series

I remember absolutely loving ' Harriet the Spy' by Louise Fitzhugh when I was about 11.

Jacqueline Wilson is amazing; she manages to write age appropriate books about tough subjects without seeming patronising.

Clockwork by Philip Pullman, but it quite scary.

@musixa @Impostersyndrome Thanks so much, this is really helpful.

Has she read The Children of Green Knowle or Tom's midnight garden? Loved those books. Also anything by Lucy M Montgomery or Francis Hodgeson Burnett.

I absolutely loved Enid Blyton books.

Oh sorry, ds.

John connelly
.. Samual Johnson series... Aimed at pre teens but so funny I bought myself the set and then lent them to my Mum!