A book loved in childhood: do you remember?

That's exactly the same as my hometown library GG, it was Georgian or maybe early Victorian building, demolished and a glass palace, on another site replaced it. It's part of my memories same for my parish church also demolished and re sited. Nostalgia for my hometown is bound up with both of those places they were the fabric of my childhood, but I don't live there anymore, and successive generations will have their memories somewhere else. Still makes me sad though when I go back to visit a friend who still lives there

Mine is one nobody else ever seems to have heard of - Chalky, by Howard Apps. Published 1950s, an adventure story of two very ordinary boys who go in search of a long lost diamond. Partly set in the Essex marshes. Funnily enough it doesn’t really read ‘dated’, is really funny in places - a cracking read that I still re-read now and then.

IMO it would have made a brilliant film.

Funnily enough I found a spare 2nd hand copy for my brother - it still had the original dust jacket, and inside that was a list of ‘girls’ stories from the same publisher. Among which was ‘A Madcap Brownie’, which I’d been given at some point - it absolutely wasn’t a patch on Chalky!

All the Enid Blyton books, including Mallory Towers and St Claire’s.

Ballet shoes, The Little Princess, the Secret Garden, 5 children & IT.

All the Arthur Ransome Swallows and Amazons books.

Black Beauty and Heidi.

I adored reading and still do.

My teacher reading to us at school, The magic Faraway tree. She was the reason I joined the local library at an early age

Dormitory Wisteria. A lovely tale about girls school- all terribly upper middle. I longed to be able to go to Boarding School so read and re-read this book.

My constant companion was ‘Tanglewood Tales” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, which introduced me to the Greek myths. I was entranced by them then and have been ever since. I also read the print off every Famous Five book I could get my hands on, like so many of us. Out of interest, I read one of the updated versions recently and absolutely hated it!

Another vote for Milly Molly Mandy followed closely by my naughty little sister

I loved Heidi and all the books about boarding schools.
Does anyone remember the series about the Cherry Family by Will Scott. I used to rush down to the library every week to search for a new one. I have managed to get some old copies of these as nobody else seems to have heard of them.

Babs03, I loved The Impossible Journey, too. It was lent to my mother by a friend and then I read it before we gave it back.
I was thinking about it the other day when I was told of a missing cat who'd found his way home seven years later. I'm off to Google and see if it's still available somewhere!

The Borrowers by Mary Norton. I am an only child and I so wanted to have Borrowers in our home!

Squiffy

The Borrowers by Mary Norton. I am an only child and I so wanted to have Borrowers in our home!

Oh yes, I forgot The Borrowers ❣️

I loved Peter Pan when I was young and read it over and over.
I was convinced that I could fly and leapt off the bed many times in an effort to do so. The part where Peter tries to go home but the window is shut made me cry buckets.
Then came Enid Blyton. I still have the bookcase I was given for my tenth birthday to house all her books which I was given for birthdays and Christmas. And I was a frequent library user. I think I read everything by Enid which was available at that time. The whole wonderful lot.
I fell in love with Little Women when I was a bit older and so much wished I was part of the March family.
I still read as much as ever. It's a perfect escape.

The Secret Garden.

Scribbles

Babs03, I loved The Impossible Journey, too. It was lent to my mother by a friend and then I read it before we gave it back.
I was thinking about it the other day when I was told of a missing cat who'd found his way home seven years later. I'm off to Google and see if it's still available somewhere!

Look up The Incredible Journey, I initially thought it was called the impossible journey as well. I intend to reread this.

Mallory Towers and St Claire's, I begged my parents to send me to boarding school. We were very poor!
Heidi, Black Beauty, all the Narnia books.
My absolute favourite was E. Nesbit The Phoenix and the Carpet. Loved all her books.
I nearly loved at our library, I can clearly remember the smell.

The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown. I had great hopes of treading the boards. I didn’t, but a daughter did.
All the Cherry Ames books by Helen Wells when I was in my wanting-to-be-a -nurse phase. Then I discovered I wasn’t good with vomit 🤦‍♀️
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield when in my ballet dancing mode 🐘
The Little Princess because I was named after her (my Mum’s fav book)
And lastly Heidi because I fell in love with Pieter 💙

RedRidingHood

Mallory Towers and St Claire's, I begged my parents to send me to boarding school. We were very poor!
Heidi, Black Beauty, all the Narnia books.
My absolute favourite was E. Nesbit The Phoenix and the Carpet. Loved all her books.
I nearly loved at our library, I can clearly remember the smell.

You had a lucky escape from boarding school RedRidingHood! I went and it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Sadly nothing like Mallory Towers 🤯

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner

The Box of Delights, read with my sister every Christmas, always with that tingling magical anticipation of the festivities to come.

I also loved books about the ballet and theatre, by Pamalas Brown and Hill , I have no idea why, never having been to see live performances.
I also loved all the Lone Pine Five books by Malcolm Saville . Every Christmas I got a Jennings book (by Malcolm Buckeridge?) which I found so funny I annoyed the rest of the family.

So many of the books already mentioned. I also remember the Silver Skates by Hans Brinkner and the Brer Rabbit books 🫣 which are of course now banned.

I loved our little local library. I think I read every Enid Blyton book available. Also the Jill pony books, Paddington, Borrowers, Just William and most of the children's dept.
I had huge trouble sleeping and would sit on the upstairs landing reading until my parents decided to go to bed. They were amazed when I told them many years later!

The Twelve and the Genii by Pauline Clarke. It was a book that was read to my class chapter by chapter at the end of the school day by my teacher. It is about a family who move to a house that was previously lived in by the Bronte family. The children discover the soldiers that had been hidden in the house by the Bronte children. The soldiers come to life and have all sorts of adventures.

It stuck firmly in my mind through the years, and I was able to source a copy online. I re-read it and it is now on my bookshelf for my younger grandchildren to read when the mood takes them.

Heidi was a favourite - and Black Beauty reduced me to such sobbing that my mother refused to let me read it again. Enid Blyton's Magic Faraway Tree, and the Mallory Towers series. Such pleasure and escapism.

I should add that they were toy soldiers, so not a book that TheWeirdoAgain60 would enjoy!!

Isn't this lovely. Thank you for sharing these.
Its particularly interestingt o read of some I've never heard of before.
Clealrly some authors gave us a great deal as children