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Books that you read/had read to you as child that you really loved?

(170 Posts)
Trisha57 Sun 22-Mar-20 20:00:21

When I was 7, in Junior School, our teacher read a book called "The Twelve and the Genii" which was our first book with proper chapters in it. It was a wonderful story about a family that moves into the Bronte's former home and their discovery of tin soldiers under the floorboards that had belonged to Branwell Bronte and his sisters. The soldiers come to life and go on adventures in the house. What book inspired others as children?

jacalpad Wed 25-Mar-20 11:34:55

Anything Enid Blyton, especially The Magic Faraway Tree!

labazsisslowlygoingmad Wed 25-Mar-20 11:31:06

any Enid Blyton
Ballet shoes by Noel Streatfield
paddington bear books
so many i have always been a readaholic

jaylucy Wed 25-Mar-20 11:28:11

Secret Garden - our Primary School teachers always used to end the school day with the last half hour reading aloud to the class. This is the first one that I remember. My teacher at the time picked it because she also came from Yorkshire!
Any Enid Blyton, Black Beauty, M Alcott books, The house at Green Knowe .
None of them , when made into films or tv series matched the picturs I had in my head when I read them though!

Craftycat Wed 25-Mar-20 11:26:05

Oh Winnie The Pooh every time- I could recite all 4 books- stories & poetry!
I also loved the Narnia books. I did try Enid Blyton but found her a bit 'wet'. I loved Ballet Shoes too.
I was an avid reader from a very early age & always had my nose stuck in a book according to my parents- but they were the same. I could read before I started school.
I remember that at the age of 7 Dad had to prise his O Henry omnibus from me in case it wasn't all suitable.
To be fair I am still book mad but now it is all on a Kindle so it can go everywhere with me & I can read it at night without keeping DH awake.
Life without a book- unthinkable.

mimismo Wed 25-Mar-20 11:25:23

The Chalet School series, tho' I made my mum promise never to send me away, and the Narnis books which I still have on my book shelves.

SueWll Wed 25-Mar-20 11:23:13

This is such a useful reminder. My DD has asked people to give her son a copy of their favourite book and to write a few words about it. It's his first birthday and he doesn't need toys. A friend of mine is going to give him a Haynes manual. ?

Northernandproud Wed 25-Mar-20 11:18:25

The Water babies, The Secret Garden, The little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder were always my favourite and my nanna bought me them all in a little cardboard sleeve that i loved, when i left home to get married my mum gave them and all my books to a charity shop, and even after all these years ive never found a set to replace them
And thinking of books i loved ive just remembered my sisters obsession with Milly Molly Mandy when she was young and Anne of Greengables when she was slightly older
Happy memories

SillyNanny321 Wed 25-Mar-20 11:17:56

My brother hated reading but was still given 'Boys' books to read. I pinched them & could never get enough og Biggles & any other 'Boys' books. Tomboy me ?

Rosina Wed 25-Mar-20 11:17:08

Enid Blyton - The Magic Faraway Tree was so captivating that my Mother had to shout to get my attention - I was there! Mallory Towers series, Heidi, Black Beauty (cried buckets) Little Women and Good Wives, Milly Molly Mandy - what lovely memories.
Recently I re read the 'What Katy Did' books, and was amazed to find that many expressions that I use now were in those pages. Also, the 'Sue Barton' nursing series - I absolutely loved those stories.

eazybee Wed 25-Mar-20 09:56:28

The Enchanted Wood stories, Little Grey Rabbit, Heidi, What Katy Did, all LM Alcott, which I find almost unreadable now, and The Little White Horse, Elizabeth Goudge, which I still have. Oh and Malcolm Saville, the Lone Pine Club. My Primary school teacher read Moonfleet aloud to us,which made a huge impression, and forty years later I read a much abridged version to my class, with the same effect.

Harris27 Wed 25-Mar-20 09:38:34

I loved what Katie did and what Katie did next. I was awarded these for my English efforts. I remember getting a book token and going to a certain book shop in Newcastle. The thrill of handing those vouchers over never let me and my love of books continued.

oldgimmer1 Wed 25-Mar-20 09:25:18

grannybags I bought "Boy Next Door" for DD but she wasn't interested....I think I may have to put it on my "lockdown list". grin.

I also remember a Blyton where the kids were living in a cave behind a waterfall. It was one of the "adventure" ones I think..hmm.

Alexa Wed 25-Mar-20 09:04:31

Abnuyc123, do you mean "Out of the Silent Planet" and that trilogy? I first read those as an adult and still like them,

Abnuyc123 Wed 25-Mar-20 08:59:49

Yes to Enid Blyton, I especially loved The Magic Faraway Tree, then Smuggler Ben then all the others in the collections.

I loved the CS Lewis books and also the Arthur Ransome books.

Then anything horse related, Pat Smythe was a favourite.

I sometimes wish I was a kid again, kid’s books are so much better than adult fiction.

Trisha57 Wed 25-Mar-20 08:53:32

Oh, this has brought back so many happy memories of past favourite books. The Twins at St Clare's, Police Dog by Kathering Fidler, the Water Babies, Milly Molly Mandy.........and many more. Enid Blyton by the ton- my DH read some of these to our own daughters when they were little, but had to censor some of the text that mentioned "beating" the donkey etc.!!!! I think I'll try to get some of these books for my own DGC.

Laughterlines Wed 25-Mar-20 08:47:18

Just William. I was a war baby we didn’t have many toys or books. There was always a queue at the library for William books. You can get tapes of William stories and they still make me laugh out loud. My DGC love them too esp in the car on boring journeys (me too).

Urmstongran Wed 25-Mar-20 08:38:12

The junior school teacher sat on a desk in front of us. We were allowed to put our heads on our arms on the tables and you could hear a pin drop whilst she read ‘The Borrowers’. Magical.

My best reads around that age (?8y) were definitely the ‘Milly Molly Mandy’ books. I loved the little map of cottages and lanes showing ‘friend Susan’s house’ at the beginning!
? ?

TerriBull Wed 25-Mar-20 08:02:08

Started off on Little Grey Rabbit, The Faraway Tree and Noddy books. Later on, so many, but I love remembering in particular Christmas and the books I got then such as Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Heidi, Wind in The Willows, The Water Babies which I absolutely adored. My mum passed me a very old What Katy Did from when she was a girl, I reread that loads of times. When I was a bit older, early teens she gave me her Gone with the Wind which I also devoured. I used the library a lot as a child and read all the Enid Blytons. I remember ordering books whilst on the long summer holidays from school and being thrilled when the white post card arrived to say the book was ready to collect. I worked my way through the entire Famous Five, Secret Seven, The Adventure Series and Mallory Towers which gave me boarding school envy because they always appeared to be having midnight feasts

Nata Wed 25-Mar-20 07:03:06

I loved Warrior Cats by Erin Hunter. My DGD is a biggest fan of them ever, so we watched the screen adaptations, read the special editions and even did a school presentation with music and fan-made pictures about these cats. I liked the story because is reminded me of the The Three Musketeers somehow smile

humptydumpty Tue 24-Mar-20 22:14:53

There was a series of Enid Blyton books I loved, one of which was the castle of adventure - great!

Wheniwasyourage Tue 24-Mar-20 22:04:58

Does anyone remember a small book for younger children called "Doctor Owl's Party"? I can't remember much about it, except that I used to like it, and I have no idea who it was by.

Juliet27 Tue 24-Mar-20 21:51:47

I've got a very old copy of My Friend Flicka somewhere although I'd never read it - perhaps I should now.

I enjoyed the Out With Romany books.

Bathsheba Tue 24-Mar-20 21:47:47

Didn't we have a thread very recently about our childhood books? Or am I imagining it?

Chewbacca Tue 24-Mar-20 21:44:47

Thanks CanadianGran, I'd forgotten all about Ann of Green Gables; i vividly remember her dying her hair and it turned out green! My word! That's a blast from the past!

Calendargirl Tue 24-Mar-20 21:38:18

The Children of Primrose Lane by Noel Streitfeild, (spelt wrong probably) about some children who found a German spy living in an empty house in WW2.
The description of the man scared me and my sister!