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.

Books that I have read to my children and enjoyed as much as them:

Nevermoor series by Jessica Townsend
Wizards of Once series by Cressida Cowell
Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo
Books by Katherine Rundell (especially The Good Thieves and The Explorer)
Podkin One-Ear series by Kieran Larwood

I am a children's librarian, so I have a great time reading all the books..

The Narnia books. Read them as an adult. OK, they're dated in some ways, and the Christian message is overbearing, but they are SO beautifully written.

The Hobbit. I listened to it on audiobook. Wonderful.

The Wind in the Willows. Really beautiful and poetic.

I think you are me. I loved all of these, also all Enid Blyton.
Also: Diana Wynne Jones, Joan Aiken, the What Katy Did books, CS Lewis, Noel Streatfeild, E Nesbit (especially The Enchanted Castle), Louisa Alcott, Nicholas Fisk (Sci fi). I liked Eva Ibbotson as well. Also When Marnie Was There, Marianne Dreams, The Family at One End Street.
DH also read The Family at One End Street and we both have strong memories of the scene where scholarship girl Kate disobediently wears her expensive new school hat to the beach and it blows away into the sea, and of the scene where Lily Rose shrinks a silk petticoat by ironing it too hot.

Oh and Charlotte Sometimes, I forgot that one!

Marsyas absolutely agree on the One End Street books. Do you recall the birthday party chapter? And Charlotte Sometimes is wonderful.

I love the One End Street books, especially the birthday party where he stows away in the car.

Yes, I’m pretty sure my mum did a treasure hunt for one of my birthday parties like he one in the book (although we didn’t have a similarly massive house) but sometimes I’m not sure which are my memories and which I am remembering from books!
I also remember the fish and chip cafe that let them bring their own bread and butter every time we go to the seaside, and the thinking behind all the children’s names! (Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose).
There was a very similar book called Magnolia Buildings, although it was set slightly later, with a large family, which also had the scholarship girl (Doreen I think), she felt ill on the day of her 11 plus and was given a “pink tonic” which helped her sail through, and her older sister was called Ally, short for Glory Alleluia, short for Gloria.

Thank you, everybody

I loved the stowaway story in the One End Street books too. The thing that really, really impressed me was that the birthday boy had a cake with coffee icing, which struck 10-year-old me as the absolute height of sophistication!

I've just disc

I'm so enjoying this thread! I've just discovered this podcast, interviewing authors about their favourite children's books, Twice Upon a Time, with Janet Ellis: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/twice-upon-a-time-with-janet-ellis/id1593424391.

Thanks for that, Impostersyndrome. I'm enjoying this thread very much too!

I was an avid reader as a child and read sooooo many books. But I'm not sure to what extent they'd appeal to children today (40+ years later) and especially to boys.

My favourite series were the Chalet School books, the Anne of Green Gables books (read some of them as a child and sought out the rest as an adult), the Little House on the Prairie books, the Noel Streatfeild books (not a series exactly but similar themes) and the Little Women books. But I can't see a 9 year old boy being interested in any of these.

Some stand alone books that I loved were:-

'When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit' by Judith Kerr. I'm sure this needs no introduction.

'I am David' by Anne Holm. A young boy escapes from a concentration camp and travels across Europe in search of his mother.

'The Silver Sword' by Ian Serraillier. This book is about a family living in Poland during WWII. The children have to fend for themselves when their parents are captured by the Nazis.

The latter three books are all set during wartime so the themes/content may be too mature or scary for a 9 year old boy.
'
What else?

I loved the Dutch-American author Meindert DeJong. Two of his books were favourites - 'The Wheel on the School' and 'Far out the Long Canal'. 'The Wheel on the School' is about a group of Dutch children who embark on a plan to build a nest to attract storks to their village. It's a simple, charming story. 'Far out the Long Canal' is about a Dutch boy learning to ice skate. Due to illness, he wasn't able to learn to skate at the same time as his peers, so he's really keen to master ice skating and participate like the other kids. I also read 'The House of Sixty Fathers' but didn't enjoy it so much.

I also loved a book about two brothers growing up in Jamaica but I can't remember the title and a quick google hasn't thrown up this particular book.

I think I've ruled out more books than I've recommended, but some of the contributors to the thread might enjoy a trip down memory lane.

I loved the Green Knowe books and still reread them!
Also the Flicka and Thunderhead books - have read them again in the last 5 years and they remain captivating even though they’re from a very different time.

No idea what it was called but I used to read this book over and over again about this kids who lived on a Swiss mountain. A bully hurt this kid's leg and the sister couldn't forgive him but the kid and the grandma did. Eventually he turned into a nice kid coz obviously he just needed some kindness!

At the opposite end of the spectrum I also lived junk by Melvin burgess.

No idea what it was called but I used to read this book over and over again about this kids who lived on a Swiss mountain. A bully hurt this kid's leg and the sister couldn't forgive him but the kid and the grandma did. Eventually he turned into a nice kid coz obviously he just needed some kindness!

Was it Heidi?

My favourite series were the Chalet School books

Just as an aside, the first 18 Chalet School books (down to Gay from China) are now available on Search: fadedpage.com These are EBD writing at her best, and before Joey became unbearable. For anyone who hasn't read them, or who has a dd the right age, I recommend starting at the beginning and reading the books in order, to get the full impact of Exile.

(I learned all about the Anschluss from reading Exile.)

I've been trying to remember the books I truly loved as a child. My grandfather had a copy of Enid Blyton's short stories, and used to read them to me when I stayed. God, I loved them so much. He also read me some of the Sherlock Holmes books. I had an abridged audiobook (on cassette) of Conan Doyle's The Lost World as well, and played that over and over.

Roald Dahl was a major part of my childhood. In fact, when I think back to my childhood, I associate it more with him that with anybody else. I loved his autobiography, Boy, (written for kids). My favourite fiction story of his was The BFG. Oh, and I had an audiobook recording of Fantastic Mr Fox, which was wonderful.

There are quite a few books I wish I'd read when I was young. At that age your imagination is much more vivid and intense. It would have been great to have discovered Tolkien as a child. Sadly, I didn't read him until I was a jaded and cynical adult!

Thanks for all this replies. I'm really glad I started this thread 😌

There's no episode like that in 'Heidi'.

La Petite Prince

Just googled - it was called treasures of the snow!

When I was around 9 I loved the first two Molly Moon books (though they got very far fetched after that!) and read the first one to a class of 8/9 year olds who all really enjoyed it! They also liked The Boy who grew Dragons books and most of the David Walliams books.

I myself also loved:
-Harry Potter books
-The Worst Witch
-The Diamond Brothers books by Anthony Horowitz (and some others by him such as 'Groosham Grange' and 'The Switch')
-Stardust books by Linda Chapman (first one called Believe in Magic)
-Time travel books by Ann Carroll called 'Rosie's Quest', 'Rosie's Gift' etc
-Roddy Doyle children's books; 'The Giggler Treatment' etc
-The Five Find-Outers and Dog series
-The Royal Ballet School books, first one was Ellie's Chance to dance I think

My brother also liked The Spook's Apprentice series, the Jiggy McCue series, and the Skulduggery Pleasant series; never read them myself but he read the whole lot so they must have been ok !

I did like books such as Goodnight Mr Tom and classics like The Railway Children but I think I was older than 9 when I read them.

Just remembered I also read a lot of Mr Majeika!