The children’s book you remember best

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Just wondering...am I the only poster who’s first remembered book was not in English? Surely not - I always thought we were more diverse than that on GN!?‍♀️

I was a bookworm as a child. Still am. But I’m thrilled to get a copy of Heidi by Joanna Spyri, with the same pictures I poured over and loved. Heidi and shared the same love of wind in the trees. Only, I was in a small holding in SouthbAfrica.

A Christmas present in 1959 - this is an exact copy I found in a 2nd hand book shop some years ago.
I loved that book!

My earliest memory of bring read to by my Mum was listening to Teddy Bear Coalman by Phoebe Worthington. I loved it , anyone else remember this book? I recently found a copy online , lovely to see it again . Loved Enid Blyton and the Secret Garden . I grew up in Yorkshire. Too many books to mention . my Mum read a great deal to us and encouraged my love of books.

Shelflife - you have just reminded me of a very precious memory, though slightly strange maybe, of sitting on my darling mum's lap and her reading out loud from her "Women's" magazine an article about the actress Margaret Lockwood. Especially the mention of her daughter Julia Lockwood.
Thank you!

pantglas2 my first nursery / finger rhyme I recall was not English. My Palestinian grandma ( & dad!) , with whom we shared a home, sang and played with me a lot. I understood Arabic and could speak some until I went to.primary school but when I realised I was the only child( or thought I was) who lived in a bilingual household I refused to answer in Arabic. Biggest regret. My cousins whose mum spoke Arabic are bilingual.

What a lovely question! Too hard to decide on just one though. I loved The Secret Garden and also The Children Who Lived in a Barn - loved their independence. So many more, thanks for the memories.

I thought I couldn’t be the only one PECS! It’s always a difficult one fitting in at primary school isn’t it when a different language is used to the one at home.

I’m lucky to have kept my Welsh and still read the odd book in my mother tongue, the last one being Elfyn Llwyd’s biography (ex Plaid Cymru MP etc) who attended my school.

Hello. My favourite book was Alice In Wonderland. It had the most lovely drawings in it and, as I was a keen colourist, my Mum allowed me to colour in the drawings. I really had a good time with that. ?

GrannyGravy13

CS Lewis The Chronicles of Narnia, I know it’s silly but I do get cross when people say The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is the first book when it’s actually The Magicians Nephew.

I also loved The Shoe series by Noel Streatfield

Some years ago, shortly after the first grandchild arrived, I bought a boxed set of these. I’d never actually read any of them as a child and was soon thoroughly engrossed in The Magician’s Nephew.
I’m hoping that Gdcs, the elder now coming up to 7, will soon be able to enjoy them.

When dds were young we had a brilliant cartoon version of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, but were living abroad at the time, where virtually all the videos (then) that you could get were pirate copies, so the quality wasn’t brilliant, and it eventually gave up the ghost.

I later tried to find a proper replacement but could only find one with American voices, and the White Queen’s voice was nothing like so scarily good!

Milly Mollie Mandy
The Growing Summer
What Katie Did (although I thought Cousin Helen was insufferably smug)
The Chalet School (ditto Jo and Mary Lou)
Mary Plain
And so many more
But my absolute favourite was Ballet Shoes. I even named our much loved cat after the monstrous Posy.

By the time I was 10 I was allowed to use the adult library. I remember reading the whole of the Jalna series by Mazo de la Roche during the six week holiday.

The Secret Garden, I've always loved that book!

The Water Babies for me

The Water Babies made me cry inconsolably - my father wondered what on earth was the matter.

An hour or so ago I was going through so many children’s books we’ve kept for ever, and found a vey old, forgotten copy of Heidi, with coloured pictures on every page - I’ve just enjoyed re reading it. Another for the nearly-7 Gdd!

My Godmother bought me Little Women for my birthday one year. I loved that book. I read it over and over again.

I didn’t own many childrens books as a child but one that I read time and time again was Little Women . I loved it but when I watched the recent film I was disappointed as it didn’t seem to have any connection to the book x

Can any nans help me find the title of a 50's religious book (Roman Catholic) about a little orphan boy - possibly Italian or Spanish - who was very ill but was comforted, just before he died, by a talking statue of Jesus? I loved it but God knows what it did to my 8 year old psyche

The Magic Key, part of the Jolly books series was my absolute favourite, so much so that I bought it on Amazon recently and paid £40 for it. I'm not usually that extravagant, but I just had to have it.

I also loved the Cherry Ames nurse books which were American like Sue Barton.

Young Nurse Carter by Shirley Darbyshire gave a British view of nursing.

My fav Cherry Ames was Boarding School Nurse which was all about finding a secret parfumier’s stash. I was thrilled to find it second hand online and enjoyed it just as much reading it now.

MaxiBialystock

Milly Mollie Mandy
The Growing Summer
What Katie Did (although I thought Cousin Helen was insufferably smug)
The Chalet School (ditto Jo and Mary Lou)
Mary Plain
And so many more
But my absolute favourite was Ballet Shoes. I even named our much loved cat after the monstrous Posy.

By the time I was 10 I was allowed to use the adult library. I remember reading the whole of the Jalna series by Mazo de la Roche during the six week holiday.

Oh Maxi you have just reminded me that the summer I left school (16) and we had just moved house I spent hours reading the Jalna series of books. I think my mum got them from a book club. I loved them. Was there a Rennie? That's all I can remember. Thanks for bringing that memory back for me!

Nannee49 could it be The Miracle of Marcelino, that was about a little orphaned Spanish boy who lived in a monastery.

Anything to do with ponies . Bills pony was a favourite. Or boarding schools , especially Malory towers .

Jills pony!