Your fav author from childhood

oopsminty I had the English version of Der Strawwelpeter - Straw Peter. It was all abit nasty but I loved it. I can still see the cover picture in my minds eye. Oh that hair and those hideous nails.

I also loved the Worzel Gummidge books by Barbara Euphan Todd. I think I must’ve had a thing about straw-like hair!

I wasn’t a huge Enid Blyton fan but I read and enjoyed most of the Secret Seven books.

One author that I loved, and I don’t think anyone has mentioned, was Eleanor Farjeon. Her short stories were very gentle and the books, illustrated by Edward Adizzone, were lovely. I still read them today. Elsie Piddick Skips in her sleep and The Connemara Donkey are two of her short stories that I have read many times. And still make me feel quite weepy.

HiPpyChick57 yes i remember the books by joyce stranger, they were lovely and so well written and i also remember the sue barton nurse books Lancslass1

Of the authors already mentioned: - Milly Molly Mandy, BB (Down the bright stream), Pamela Brown, Malcolm Saville, Enid Blyton adventure and mysteries - hated school stories and didn't much care for pony books.

Am I the first to mention Cynthia Harnett (esp The Great House), and Joan Selby Lowndes, Royal Chase and Tudor Rose?

Enid Blyton for me too. I also liked Milly Molly Mandy and the Mrs Pepperpot stories.

I loved the chalet school books by Elinor M Brent-Dyer and of course all Enid Blyton’s books.

W.E.Johns , loved Biggles. also Billy Bunter by Charles Hamilton.

I recognise to have read pretty well all of the books mentioned and didn't realise I must have been a real bookworm. One hasn't been mentioned and that's Mill on the Floss by George Eliot ( pseudonym )
I still have a little weekly paperback booklet from 1948 of Milly Molly Mandy stories----a little discoloured but still readable.

I loved reading and used to lose myself in some of the stories.

Jean Plaidy, Enid Blyton, Mallory Towers, Swallows and Amazon and so many that I cannot think of the names. I have always loved books. Used to run around the corner to the library before I could even read properly then sit on the step at home looking at the pictures.
Happy days

Anthony Buckeridge 'Jennings' books! Wonderful. I loved Georgette Heyer when a little older and read them with my Mum. I always dreamed of living in Bath and taking my Mum thete on holiday. Mum passed away 7 years ago and by a sheer fluke I came to live in a small town a few miles from Bath. I think of the lovely stories every time I go into Bath to shop.

Gosh yes I remember Molly Molly Mandy

Enid Blyton loves the Twins at St Claire series! What Katy did series, and The Ames family (an American family)

Enid Blyton, The Chalet School, Milly-Molly-Mandy, the Borrowers and all the classic Little Women, Heidi, What Katy Did, plus all the sequels. Noel Streatfeild and Malcolm Saville Lone Pine books were wonderful. I loved Mabel Esther Allan, especially Seven in Switzerland - which contrasted rainy dismal Manchester with sunny bright Switzerland! Loved the Narnia books, and a book my son and I still love - Timpetill, by Manfred Michael. Annaram1 I also have the Tree that Sat Down, plus The Stream that Stood Still, The Mountain of Magic and The Wickedest Witch in the World. I did enjoy the Judy Bolton Mysteries by Margaret Sutton. I still have my collections and add to them via ebay! Oh I forgot my Angela Brazil books!

I loved the Whiteoaks too, when I was in my teens, and actually still occasionally read the books.

Arthur Ransome was wonderful too.

Anne of Green Gables - a marvellous book.

Little Women, cried myself sick over Good Wives, Little Men and Jo's Boys. Was very suprised as an adult to learn the Louisa M. Alcott wrote books for adults that were considered borderline porno in her day.

I believe E. Nesbit wrote for adults too. I adore The Railway Children, The Treasure Seekers and Five Children and It.

I keep checking.
Am I the only one who loved Heidi by Joanna Spiri?

No you are not the only one lancslass1 I posted Heidi on 17/2/2020

Like many others I waited with such excitement for a new Jennings book. I. loved the Lone Pine Five series by Malcolm Saville, The Bell Family, all Pamela Brown’s books, Ballet Shoes, the Borrowers and the school books about Dimsie, I had a whole row of the books about this naughty girl. I must confess I still like reading children's literature: Alice in Wonderland, Wind in the Willows and my favourite of all John Masfield’s The Box of Delights.

I adored Pookie and yes the illustrations were gorgeous, I still have one slightly battered Pookie book, but can’t find them in print now for some reason ☹️ Loved Alison Uttley too

"The Far Distant Oxus" by Hull and Whitlock. I yearned to camp outside on haystacks and explore the countryside on horseback having adventures.(I also fell in love with Maurice I think his name was.)

Enid Blyton Adventure series. Sea, mountain etc.
A series about famous lives of composers.

I suppose you read whatever is in your childhood home. We had a bound copy of HG Well's 'The Outline of History'. Well before I could read, I went through it cover to cover, seeing how the world evolved from the time of trilobites, through Ancient Egypt, loved the print of Nefertiti. It stopped before the rise of Hitler, so it was weird to see the sun sign, that became the Nazi emblem, in it's original context. Somebody mentioned the Enid Blyton adventure family. Was it the Valley of Adventure, Sea, Circus and River stories you were thinking of? Loved those ones.

Secret Seven, Famous Five, Katy books and plenty more.

However, I was devastated when I read Child of China when I was about 9. Can’t remember the author. I think it was about the mass famine which killed millions. I particularly remember a part where the starving children found a rotting water melon, ate it and became ill and one died. Does anyone remember this book?

What a lot of memories this thread has stirred.

Lancslass1 I loved the Abbey Girls books by Elsie J Oxenham, with the May Queens. I can still recall some of the names, can you? Joy and Jen, Maidie, but what was the name of the other main character, Joy’s cousin, didn’t they inherit the Abbey together or is my memory totally failing?

I think they were starting to be outdated even when I read them in the 1950s.

I'm another one for Enid Blyton but my ultimate favourite was Noel Streatfeild. Isn't this a lovely thread?

Ladybird books, especially the history ones, with the text on one page, and a beautiful illustration opposite. Loved the costumes. Anne Boleyn holding baby Princess Elizabeth.

Ah Maremia, the Ladybird books were wonderful. They can be bought on E-Bay quite cheaply. The older ones were famous for their illustrations which were beautiful. Many are now very outdated but the stories and historical ones are still okay to read. I've passed my little collection onto the grandchildren.