girls books 1950s

I loved 'Jump for Joy' by Pat Smythe, Chalet School, Abbey School, Noel Streatfield and also 'The Swish of the Curtain' (and its sequels). I also had an old book as a child called 'Dogs You'd Like to Meet' that was an all-time favourite.

They were probably dreadful!

Pat Smythe! She was an Olympic showjumper. I loved her books.

Has anyone seen the price of the schoolgirls picture library books, they are £4 or £5, each and they originally cost one shilling each.

Oh I Loved The Swish of the Curtain, had forgotten, What memories!!

I used to like the Angela Brazil books, and horsey ones by Pat someone! Sadly the reality of Boarding School was horrendously unlike any book ��

Elegran thank y ou, those are the comic books I used to read. I will now see if I can buy them to reminisce.

I was obsessed with "school" at that age too. I loved books by Nancy Breary which had some humour in them as well as adventure eg Give form a bad name, No Peace for the Prefects. You can still get them on Amazon.
I've always loved the William books, can't remember when I first found them.
But later I read some of Dickens books, I've still got The Pickwick Papers that I got as a school prize when I was about ?16.

Thanks for reminding me, number. I too loved Georgette Heyer's Regency romances. They were often serialised in my mum's Woman's Journal and I couldn't wait for her to finish reading it.

The David Severn series about Shropshire caught the imagination and was anyone else inspired by The Swish of the Curtain?

When younger, I only really bothered with one comic, Schoolfriend, but I loved Enid Blyton`s Famous Five and Secret Seven books. Then when I was about 14, I discovered Georgette Heyer, and devoured every one of her books, followed by a good few by Dapne du Maurier

I don't remember any of those titles Indinana but I do remember devouring as many of those little books as I could. They were really cheap and I loved them, ethelbags1. I remember particularly that the heroines were very competent, brave, self-sufficient and perfectly capable of dealing with any hazardous situation.

The 50s covers me from 10 to 19. When 'Girl' came out, I got the first issue and I was also allowed to have School Friend. As far as girls' books were concerned, I avidly devoured the Chalet School books; the Abbey series and the Katy series, but I also loved Biggles books; John Buchan's adventure stories; Dorothy L Sayers, Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh's mysteries. Then in 1954 I 'discovered' Jane Austen. My parents gave me free access to their bookshelves from the age of about 11.

School Friend annual; but to be honest, apart from that one, I didn't go in a lot for books for girls. I much preferred the sort of adventure books aimed at boys. My mother despaired!

I googled "Yasmin and the golden Pyramid" and got some hits.

Images of the covers - www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22Yasmin+and+the+golden+pyramid%22&biw=1600&bih=740&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CDkQsARqFQoTCLjRwLja5ccCFQeM2wod0FAOxA

And also on another site - "Another selection of the pocket-sized adventure comics featuring plucky daughters of the Empire at home and in foreign lands! Ranging from issues #51 to #78, this mid/high grade selection includes tales of "Yasmin and the Golden Pyramid", "False Friends From The East", "Mystery of Mandyke Manor", and "Companion to Cleopatra" (the latter featuring rather lovely artwork reminiscent of Russ Manning, though it's clearly not him.) Almost twenty issues of this scarce and popular series new in stock." - ccgi.thirtiethcentury.free-online.co.uk/diary/archives/00001529.htm You can order it but they don't say how much.

Are these what you're talking about etheltbags

Can't help I'm afraid. My parents tried to raise little geni. We were only allowed "Look and Learn". We had to read the classics, and the books we received from Sunday School, with Enid Blyton as light relief.