Favorite Books from Childhood

[dandysmom]

Some of us mentioned childhood favorites in Angie's great "Must Read" thread...thought it might be nice to have a separate one for that.... no limits: I can't just restrict myself to three.

the whole Anne of Green Gables series
the whole Little House in the Big Woods series
Kipling: Kim, The Jungle Book, Puck of Pook's Hill
The Railway Children
Water Babies
The Phoenix and the Carpet
The Secret Garden

Will probably think of more after I log out...

[PoshPuss]

Can anyone remember the Jill books, Jill and the Perfect Pony etc. Oh, how I wanted to be Jill ... sigh.
Others were the Goodnight stories, lots of fairytale stuff, then I loved the Penguin (I think) book of Myths and Legends, explaining the Greek/Roman stories to children.

Books were a luxury that I adored, I got most of my reading material from the local library, so learned to read quickly and renew ASAP. My grandson is so lucky now, books are accessible and encouraged.

[yola]

Well as I read more books when growing up than now, I probably have a looong list

• Jane Eyre (I had a 'children's classic' version which was fully authentic but just modified ever so slight so a child could grasp it).
• Secret Garden
• Tom's Midnight Garden
• A Little Princess - big fave
• Famous Five series
• The Naughtiest Girl in the School
• Flambards Trilogy
• And there is one final book which my friend Sandie and I read, and read and re-read and cried over. I can't for the life of me remember title or author. I'll email her and see if she remembers.

Edit to say, that last one is called My Darling Villian by Lynne Reid Banks. A lovely teenage, bitterwseet love story that had me in tears lots!

[angieh]

I was a fan of Rosemary Sutcliffe and especially liked
The Queen Elizabeth Story
Brother Dustyfeet
The Eagle of the Ninth

also
Children of the New Forest by Captain Marryat.

When I was 9, our teacher used to always finish the school day with 15 mins or so of reading to us and I especially remember "Where the Rainbow Ends" - I know that it is a children's play, but I've never been able to find a narrative version.

When I was very little I had four little books called The Little Brown Bear books by Chris Temple. I still have them - they are in a fairly bad condition but the stories and illustrations are still enchanting and I can still remember the names of all the little brown bears! (very sad).

And a series of books about Pookie a little white rabbit with wings by Ivy L. Wallace (still have those).

Also loved Beatrice Potter and Rupert Bear annuals, and of course, The Incredible Journey.

Can you see a trend here?

[Mags]

Originally Posted by angieh

When I was 9, our teacher used to always finish the school day with 15 mins or so of reading to us and I especially remember "Where the Rainbow Ends" - I know that it is a children's play, but I've never been able to find a narrative version.

Angie, you should be able to pick up a copy of "Where the Rainbow Ends" at a reasonable price on Amazon....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Rainbo.../dp/0007189958

[alexgirl73]

Well, I was a huge fan of the Anne of GreenGables series too. I also loved the following;

Famous Five series
Secret Seven series
Mallory Towers - All by Enid Blyton

A Little Princess
The Secret Garden
The Water Babies (oh how I loved that book)

[random]

Anything by Dick King Smith, and my fave was Daggie Dog-foot.

Oh and Hairy Mclairy of course!

[angieh]

Originally Posted by Mags

Angie, you should be able to pick up a copy of "Where the Rainbow Ends" at a reasonable price on Amazon....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Rainbo.../dp/0007189958

Goodness me Mags! Thanks so much. I'm not SURE whether I'd actually want to read it again - you know how disappointing things can be from how you remember them when you were 9! Can't thank you enough though for having taken the trouble.

[angieh]

Actually Mags, it can't be that one by Celia Aherne - much too modern, as I was 9 in 1961! Much more likely to be this one -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/WHERE-RAINBO...5417673&sr=1-4
which was first published in the '30s.

[Mags]

Originally Posted by angieh

Actually Mags, it can't be that one by Celia Aherne - much too modern, as I was 9 in 1961! Much more likely to be this one -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/WHERE-RAINBO...5417673&sr=1-4
which was first published in the '30s.

Never mind, it was worth a try At least you will know that if you are after a certain book, you may well find it on Amazon