What books were your favourites when you were a child?

[Mad Cook]

I loved the Chalet School series (English boarding school tales set in Austria in 1925 through to Switzerland in 1970). I was enthralled by the idea of boarding school. (I later taught in a mixed boarding school but I'm not sure whether "The Chalet School" helped my career or not ).

My other favourites were the Romney Marsh series by Monica Edwards. The stories were very well written and while the adventures were out of my league they weren't so far-fetched that the reader would think them silly. Oddly enough, when I was going to hand them on to my god-daughter, I read them again to see if they had stood the test of time (they were written between the late 1940s and the 1960s) they had done so. It's the test of a well-written children's book that it stands up to being read by an adult.

I also had a passion for the "Biggles" books by Capt W E Johns when I was eight or nine. Made me want to learn to fly. Quite by chance, when I did a stint working for British Gas (I got around a bit!) I won a prize in a competition which had various flying-related prizes. Some of the other women were quite shocked when I chose the flying lesson and I actually did it, while they were whingeing that the prizes were only for men. The prize coincided with the chance to buy Tetley. A hard decision had to be made and so the flying lesson was a one-off and I bought my lovely horse - couldn't afford flying lessons AND a horse.

 

[Aunt Bea]

When I was little I enjoyed Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman and Uncle Wiggily Longears books by Howard R. Garis.

When I was old enough to read on my own I liked the Little House books by Laura Ingles Wilder and also Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

We also had some old Big Little Books that had belonged to my uncles with stories about Tarzan, Flash Gordon, Tom Swift, etc...

 

[JustJoel]

The Encyclopedia Brown series. 101 Dalmatians before the Disney cartoon was released. The Jungle Book, although I did see the movie first. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming. The book and the movie are so different. The movie disappointed me after having read the book. Probably my all-time favorite: A Wrinkle in Time. I still read it on occasion!

 

[Caslon]

A kindergarten book about an alien in the apple orchard. Anyone? "Johnny and the Apple Orchid" Circa 1962? It was a story about ET, way before the movie. Johnny encountered something.

I liked it. It was more than a story about an apple orchard.

 

[JustJoel]

I forgot to mention Dr. Seuss. He practically taught me to read!

 

[Kayelle]

I must have Peter Rabbit on my mind because of some recent posts. The Beatrix Potter books were not as popular here as they were in England, but still I remember being enthralled by the stories from her, and most especially by the art work. They have certainly stood the test of time.

When I was older, I also loved the quintessential American Little House books by Laura Ingles Wilder.

 

[Addie]

My Friend Flicka and Thunderhead by Mary O'Hara. I have read both those books over and over right into adulthood. And I even watch the movie of Flicka with Roddy McDowell.

 

[Mad Cook]

When I was little I enjoyed Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman and Uncle Wiggily Longears books by Howard R. Garis.

When I was old enough to read on my own I liked the Little House books by Laura Ingles Wilder and also Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

We also had some old Big Little Books that had belonged to my uncles with stories about Tarzan, Flash Gordon, Tom Swift, etc...

I only came across one of the "Little House on The Prairie" books - the first, I think. The only thing I remember was the snow that was so deep it banked up and blocked the door and the windows of the house. I didn't know that it was part of a series until the television series came on UK TV. relatively recently.

The Bannerman book has been out-of-print for many years in GB as the text and the illustrations were considered offensive.

 

[Mad Cook]

My Friend Flicka and Thunderhead by Mary O'Hara. I have read both those books over and over right into adulthood. And I even watch the movie of Flicka with Roddy McDowell.

I was horse-mad from about 4 years old and was in my element when the TV series of "My Friend Flicka" came on. We didn't have a TV until I was about 10 or 11, but I used to call at my Grandmother's on the way home from school to watch it.

 

[Mad Cook]

I've just remembered - When I was a little girl two elderly ladies, Miss Walker and her sister Miss Mary, lived next door to my Grandmother. Miss Walker had been a teacher both in England and China and the sisters had a bookcase full of "Classic" books. They used to call me in and when I was very young to show me their Chinese "treasures" - china etc. They would read to me and later let me read their books myself. In particular I remember reading "Lorna Doone" when I was 8 or 9. It was so exciting and I'm still fond of it. That, and the fact that my parents read voraciously, led to my life-long love of a good book.

 

[Addie]

I was horse-mad from about 4 years old and was in my element when the TV series of "My Friend Flicka" came on. We didn't have a TV until I was about 10 or 11, but I used to call at my Grandmother's on the way home from school to watch it.

I still find myself crying when Flicka was lying in the river after being hurt, and the boy got real sick because he wouldn't leave her there for the wild animals to finish the horse off.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Dr. Seuss, Ian Fleming, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Agatha Christie, Louis L'Amour...I was a voracious reader by the time I was eight, I read everything. Trying to remember all I read makes my brain itch.


Bradbury, Asimov, Heinlein...

 

[Caslon]

Dr. Seuss, Ian Fleming, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Agatha Christie, Louis L'Amour...I was a voracious reader by the time I was eight, I read everything. Trying to remember all I read makes my brain itch.


Bradbury, Asimov, Heinlein...

"Johnny and the Apple Orchid"? A 3rd grade reading story. Johnny had other encounters too. "Johnny" encounters something in the apple orchard in 1963. Kudos to that children's literature author, way back then.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

"Johnny and the Apple Orchid"? A 3rd grade reading story. Johnny had other encounters too. "Johnny" encounters something in the apple orchard in 1963. Kudos to that children's literature author, way back then.

I don't remember that book, it may not have been presented in my school. By third grade I was writing book reports on Agatha Christie and Louis L'Amour books to prove I had read them. When I was in 5th grade someone finally decided to formally check my reading and comprehension levels, I was reading at college level. So it is possible the other kids were reading that book, but I was already beyond third grade level books.


That being said, Johnny and the Apple Orchard, sounds like a book I would have loved.

 

[GotGarlic]

"Johnny and the Apple Orchid"? A 3rd grade reading story. Johnny had other encounters too. "Johnny" encounters something in the apple orchard in 1963. Kudos to that children's literature author, way back then.

I can't find any reference to "Johnny and the Apple Orchard." Are you sure you're not thinking of "Johnny Appleseed"? That's a pretty famous children's book.

"John Chapman—better known as Johnny Appleseed—had wilderness adventures that became larger-than-life legends. Pioneering west from Massachusetts after the American Revolution, John cleared land and planted orchards for the settlers who followed, leaving apple trees and tall tales in his wake. In this glorious picture book retelling, Steven Kellogg brings one of America's favorite heroes—and the stories that surrounded him—to life."

https://www.harpercollins.com/9780688140250/johnny-appleseed/

 

[Cheryl J]

I loved the Little House series (I still watch it on TV sometimes ), loved the Boxcar Children series as a kid, and any books that had to do with horses. I read Little Women, Little Men, and many other children's classics.

 

[Cheryl J]

The Boxcar Children - I loved adventure and mystery books as a kid, and still do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boxcar_Children

 

[CakePoet]

Yes I tried to read Nancy Drew or Kitty as she is called in Sweden, got annoyed she never grew up and then The Famous Five and the same happned there.

I did love All the Narnia books, but I also loved Trälarna ( The Slaves).
Trälarna following slavery and poor people in Sweden from 1000-1900, there is no romanticizing in these books, people get hanged, used pawns in Games, raped and die due diseases, life is bad but there is always something positive. There is a red thread in all these books, they are in the same area , like when they in the first book builds a mill, by order of Big-Hans in book 3 they talk about the mill that giant built, because time has passed and no one remembers the people damming the river and building it.

And I also read a lot nature and science journals.

 

[Dawgluver]

I read everything I could get my hands on. All the standards. I loved all the Anne of Green Gables books thanks to my Canadian mom (and I managed to sneak in all her Cosmopolitan magazines, she allowed me!) and read and reread Gone With the Wind starting at an early age.

 

[Addie]

I don't remember that book, it may not have been presented in my school. By third grade I was writing book reports on Agatha Christie and Louis L'Amour books to prove I had read them. When I was in 5th grade someone finally decided to formally check my reading and comprehension levels, I was reading at college level. So it is possible the other kids were reading that book, but I was already beyond third grade level books.

That being said, Johnny and the Apple Orchard, sounds like a book I would have loved.

You too? Every year at the beginning of the school year, we were all given the standardized comprehension tests. Then again at the end of the year, to see just how progress we made. I was in the sixth grade and when we had finished the ones at the endof the year, about five days later I was called down to the Principal's office.

It seems that in geography, history, spelling and all the subjects, I had passed with flying colors. Except for one subject. MATH! I didn't get one answer right.

"What happened?" He asked me if I was tired and just didn't want to do anymore testing. Nope. I simply cannot do math. I am lucky that I can count past 10! Like you, I was at the level of a second year college student.

So in this house, I am the 'come to' for spelling and history and all other subjects that require the written word. Pirate is the one for Math. He can do algebra in his head without pencil and paper. And the rule is, "no making fun of either one of us for our weakness."

I love to read. Even the back of the cereal box as I am stuffing my mouth and have read that box more times than I can remember, (or count.) I would even make an effort to do the math problems that were written out. Mary has five apples, Johnny stole four. How many does Mary have left?

Fortunately all my kids love to read also. Every morning as she headed out the door for work, my daughter would never forget her book. She may forget her car keys, but NEVER her book.

I started my kids reading nursery rhymes with me. Of course they would memorize the story quickly. And on to the next one. If you could only give one gift to any child, then teach them to love reading.