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What were your favourite books or comics when you were a child?

(121 Posts)
Elowen33 Sun 27-Jul-25 11:02:08

I loved the Enid Blyton St Claire’s series as a child.

Comics were Mandy, Bunty and Judy and then Jackie when I was older.

JamesandJon33 Sun 27-Jul-25 11:01:30

The Girl comic and book, usually for Christmas.
Books:
The SilverSword
What Katy did.
Little Women
Call of the Wild, and when I got a little older Jane Eyre

Mt61 Sun 27-Jul-25 10:57:23

The far away tree. Bounty, & my brothers ‘Roy of the rovers’. My favourite would have to be the ‘The Broons’ & ‘Our Willy’ from the ‘Scottish Sunday Post’. I got annuals for Christmas.

blue14 Sun 27-Jul-25 10:47:56

I loved Little Women ,What Katy Did and Anne of Green Gables as well as all the traditional fairy tales.

When I was eight or nine I had a magazine called Princess and then when I was thirteen/fourteen I used to read Petticoat magazine.

Magenta8 Sun 27-Jul-25 10:41:24

Like ViceVersa I loved horsey/pony books. an early favourite was "A Pony for Jean" by Joanna Cannan who was the mother of Josephine, Christine and Diana Pullein-Thompson all of whom were accomplished horse-women and wrote brilliant books.

My mother had a down on Enid Blyton but I did read and love some of the Noddy books, mainly because of the colourful and lively illustrations by Beek.

25Avalon Sun 27-Jul-25 10:35:58

Also My Friend Flicka and two other books in the trilogy. I read all of Alan Garner who is still alive. I wrote to him and to my surprise had a letter back in beautiful black writing but sadly I no longer have it.

ViceVersa Sun 27-Jul-25 10:32:55

Oh yes, M0nica - my dad used to get the Readers Digest and I would devour it as soon as it arrived! I had forgotten about that.

pably15 Sun 27-Jul-25 10:25:38

every saturday morning I'd visit the local library , Enid Blyton's Secret Seven and Famous Five series were my favourites.

Bukkie Sun 27-Jul-25 10:10:06

Charlotte's Web is my favourite children's book. I also loved Secret Seven. As for comics I worked up from Twinkle to Jackie to Just 17.

M0nica Sun 27-Jul-25 10:05:15

I was the original bookworm. Essentially I would read anything I could lay my hands on. But at 5 my favourite book was definitely Milly-Molly-Mandy, At 10 I read Swallows and Amazons, and after that, all the Arthur Ransome books were my absolute favourites.

However nothing was as important to me as the 1 volume childrens encylopedia, full of articles on a wide range of subjects that my grandmother gave me when I was 8. I still have it.

Then as now my passion was for information and I much preferred a book on a subject to a novel.

On the comic front, yes, I loved reading Girl and other girls magazines, but when I spent a prolonged period of time in hospital when I was 6 I opted for the Children's Newspaper, rather than any comic, as a weekly treat. From the age of about 8 to about 16. I would latch onto any copy of the Readers Digest that came my way.

NotSpaghetti Sun 27-Jul-25 09:53:52

TheSecret Garden
Wierdstone of Brisingamen - and other books by Alan Garner
The Little Grey men books
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books
The Sword in the Stone
Mary Poppins
National Velvet

Kate1949 Sun 27-Jul-25 09:42:24

Black Beauty
The Secret Garden

Bunty. I loved the cut out doll and clothes on the back.
I was fascinated by The Four Marys - Mary Simpson, Mary Cotter, Mary Field and Mary Radleigh. I can see them now.
School Friend
The Beano, Dandy and Topper

GrannyGravy13 Sun 27-Jul-25 09:39:21

I devoured the Narnia books by C S Lewis, The Shoe books by Noel Streatfield, along with anything about horses or boarding schools, Malory Towers, Jill’s Gymkhana etc.

We had a big library opposite where we lived and it was definitely my happy place, I was allowed to go there in my own from 7yrs old and got to know the librarians.

I remember looking forward to picking up Judy, June & Schoolfriend and later Jackie from the newsagents.

Grannybags Sun 27-Jul-25 09:35:04

Famous Five. I wanted to be George and have a dog called Timmy.

Black Beauty

The Borrowers

dogsmother Sun 27-Jul-25 09:33:21

The Water Babies, Black Beauty. Then many many more.

ViceVersa Sun 27-Jul-25 09:32:07

My favourite books as a child were anything about horses - Black Beauty, the 'Jill' series (Jill's Gymkhana etc), Christine Pullein-Thompson's books - but to be honest, as an only child, I read anything and everything I could get my hands on. I read Tolkein's books at a very early age and loved them. We had an encyclopaedia set and I'd even sit and work my way through that on a rainy day.
As for comics, I remember getting Bunty and I think also Judy. We had a little newsagent at the bottom of my street and I loved going there to get my comics every week.

Clawdy Sun 27-Jul-25 09:29:59

I loved the Milly Molly Mandy books, always wanted to live in that "nice white cottage with the thatched roof "!

sodapop Sun 27-Jul-25 09:29:56

Girls Crystal for me, always ready for it to pop through the letter box so I could follow the serial.
Favourite books - Enid Blyton adventure series with Snubby, Loony etc. The usual classics
Heidi, Little Women, What Katy Did, Biggles, Jennings & Derbyshire.

AGAA4 Sun 27-Jul-25 09:22:30

My favourite book was Under the lilacs by Louisa May Alcott. We had a huge lilac bush in our garden and I spent many hours reading all the classic books there in fine weather.

Grandmadinosaur Sun 27-Jul-25 09:22:15

My favourite books as a child were Heidi,Little Women, Anne of Green Cables, The lion the witch and the wardrobe and The Mallory towers books.

Favourite comics were Bunty,Diana,Princess Tina and when I was a younger Twinkle was my Saturday treat when staying with my grandparents.

Magenta8 Sun 27-Jul-25 09:16:35

I want this to be a lighthearted thread away from the more serious doom and gloom threads.

I had very conventional tastes. I liked "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass". Later I read"The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" and I loved it. I also read "The Hobbit" and didn't like it.

I read "Grimm's Fairy Tales", Hans Christian Andersen and Aesop's fables. All pretty much what children in the 1950s and early 60s usually read.

I liked "Beano" and "Dandy" but I was not supposed to read either. "Girl", "Eagle" and "Swift" were more acceptable or "Look and Learn".