What were your fave children’s books?
June 11, 2010
This is a meme from Nell Dixon and as she says: “I love any opportunity to talk about books especially books which captured me when I was young so how could I resist?”
Name at least one book that you read as a child (ie 11 or under) that still exists in your memory as a perfect story. You can say why if you wish, or simply give a list — your choice. It can be a story that you are now uncomfortable about having loved or were uncomfortable at some point and have now come back to or alternatively just one that you have always loved:
1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. A gripping, emotional story – had no idea it was allegorical, and I don’t care, I just enjoyed it.
2. Enid Blyton – especially the Five Find Outers and the Galliano’s Circus series. Very un-Pc but what the heck? As a very young child, I also adored the Brer Rabbit books.
3. Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery – an auntie gave me a set of ‘classics’ for children when I was at primary school, mostly wholly inappropriate and I read Poe’s Tales over and over. Yes, they gave me nightmares and were very disturbing. I’m even more disturbed since I studied Poe at uni and found out what a very weird bloke he was.
4. Alistair McLean – from about 11, I developed an obssession with the thrillers of Alistair Mclean. I’m sure his craggy, taciturn heroes have had an effect on me… I read the lot and my English teacher was horrified when I told him how much I loved them. He made go and read Graham Greene’s ‘The Comedians’ which was deeply depressing.
5. The Hairy Maclary picture books by Lynley Dodd. I LOVE them, and confession here – they were some of my faves to read to my daughter, who’s now 22. I howl at the sweetly malevolent Scarface Claw, a huge cat who terrorises a pack of hilarious dog characters, all written in very funny verse. I’ve kept them all, in case I ever have grandkids. 🙂
I tag Debs Carr, Judy Jarvie, Elizabeth Hanbury, Grumpy Old Woman and Georgia Hill to do this too. I’d love to see what books you loved.
Posted by Phillipa @ 7:25 am | Leave a Comment
Charlotte Says:
And then came the sound that echoed around… SCARFACE CLAW!
Phillipa Says:
yeeeeeowlllllll!
Nell Dixon Says:
Brill!
Lizzy Says:
My absolute favourites were Alan Garner’s ‘Weirdstone of Brisingamen’, ‘Moon of Gomrath’, ‘Elidor’, ‘The Owl Service’ and ‘Red Shift’. My brother and sister were also reading them and we talked about them all the time. I revisit these books every so often and still love them. Amazingly, they’ve been a huge influence on the way I see the world.
Phillipa Says:
Lizzy. I read the Weirdstone too. All I can remember is that the children had to crawl through an earth tunneland I had nightmares about being trapped. I don’t know if this scene is in the book, or I imagined it but that’s what I recall.. My daughter loves Elidor and Owl Service.
Liz Hanbury Says:
Ooh, this is fun. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was a favourite of mine too. I read the whole series many times.
James and the Giant Peach – Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker were terrifying but fascinating!
The Famous Five series. I was so jealous of my friend who had a pristine set on her bookcase.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – Ian Fleming’s best book lol!
The Owl and the Pussycat – ‘a runcible spoon’, wish I could have thought of that.
Mrs. Pepperpot stories. The original and best, way before ‘Honey, I shrunk the kids’ *g*
Jane Lovering Says:
I loved the Weirdstone so much that I bought it again recently – only to find the some parts of the story I remembered weren’t in it! Now I have to find the book I was obviously thinking of. And for others – The Amazing Mr Whisper, a magical tutor, like a male Mary Poppins with the gift of talking to animals.
Debs Says:
Thanks for stirring up some fun memories with these books and for the nomination. I’ll post my favorites in a couple of days.
Chris Harding (aka ChrisCross, the Grumpy Old Woman Says:
Thank you Phillipa. I enjoyed this so much. It brought back wonderful memories and I was going to do a list, but it was too long, so it ended up as a very lengthy blog.(http://chriscross53.blogspot.com/2010/06/what-were-your-favourite-childrens.html)
Phillipa Says:
Oh gosh, thanks for all the suggestions, reawakening great memories.
Jane – I wonder if I misread Weirdstone too..
Debs – Look forward to your list, but I know you’re really busy right now with new job, family and books..
Chris – we read your great piece last night. Thanks so much – and for the beautiful photographs. Have you ever thought of becoming a writer? 😉