View Full Version : Favourite Books As A Child
One of the lads at work today was talking about the new Harry Potter book which he has just bought for his daughter. It got me thinking about the books I loved as a child. Here are my all-time favourite five.
Carbonel by Barbara Sleigh
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss
The Secret Island by Enid Blyton
And two that no-one else I have ever met has read
The Log Of The Ark by Kenneth Walker and Geoffrey Boumphrey.
The Children's Crusade by Henry Treece
So what were your favourite books as a child.................and has anyone else ever read or heard of the last two?????
dizzyblonde
03-08-07, 05:14 PM
I have the originals of the very hungry caterpillar, angry ladybird and quiet cricket. Guess what my son reads them at school now. The old classics never die
My mother was renowned for getting very odd books for us kids..one of which was called 'they came from arrrgghh!'
and Thomas the tank engine, got some old originals of those somewhere, even though my son has all 47 of the new versions( or is that 52)
CoolGirl
03-08-07, 05:42 PM
Fantastic Mr Fox
kwak zzr
03-08-07, 05:44 PM
anything by enid blyton.
Red ones
03-08-07, 05:54 PM
Flat Stanley
Miss Alpinestarhero
03-08-07, 06:42 PM
I loved the secret number 7 books by enid blyton, aswell as the beatrix potter ones (particularly peter rabbit). Oh, and not forgetting the goosebump books! :D
I was actually having a clear out in my cupboard the other day and found loads of my old childrens books!! Some of the strange ones I found were "malawa the seal pup" "the jolly witch" "the funny bones" and something about a dragon which grew really big and was stuck in a house :rolleyes: ..cant remember the name of it.
Maria
Alpinestarhero
03-08-07, 06:46 PM
I liked Maria's story that she wrote, where every event ended in "and we had a lovely cup of tea"
Private joke :D
I cant remember any books I read as a child. I remember reading alot of bike magazines and books about planes and space though...
Matt
All the Arthur Ramsome series, starting with Swallows and Amazons. My favourite of the lot - We Didn't Mean to go to Sea.
Inspired my sailing - I bought the whole lot again recently and re-read them, was amazed by how accurate he was, you could learn to sail by them.
Fab Books
Lou x
Wideboy
03-08-07, 08:29 PM
fungus the bogey man:smt044
Biker Biggles
03-08-07, 08:39 PM
Enid Blyton then the Hornblower stuff when I was a bit older.
That's why I'm so intolerant of the PC risk averse namby pamby nanny state we have become.:mad: :D
dizzyblonde
03-08-07, 09:32 PM
flat stanley and fungus the bogeyman are in my cupboard. And my little lad found burglar bill the other day
That's why I'm so intolerant of the PC risk averse namby pamby nanny state we have become.:mad: :D
I grew up on the Janet and John books and look what they did to me:D
Jelster
03-08-07, 09:40 PM
Jules Verne, 20k leagues under the sea.
About the only book I ever enjoyed reading as a kid... Brilliant it was to.
Oh, and anything from Arthur C Clarke
tigersaw
03-08-07, 09:42 PM
Stig of the dump, and a series called 'the three investigators'
I grew up on the Janet and John books and look what they did to me:D
Hummm, I remember those books.
timwilky
04-08-07, 07:23 AM
**** & Dora, Janet & John, and the br'er rabbit stuff is about the earliest I remember.
I think the first book I ever bought myself was probably Alistair MaClean's Guns of Naverone or HMS Ullysse. For some reason in the late 60's I liked that sort of book. Boys and adventure etc.
edit.
Bloody heck the P.C. controls wont even let me write the title of a 60 childrens book. Well people I was referring to an popular nickname for people called Richard and Dora then
glsuk1970
04-08-07, 09:19 AM
The Beano annual was about the only "book" I would read as a youngster, despite my mum's best efforts.
Funny how your perspective changes once you've had children of your own, though. During the week, I try not to let a day go by without getting my two little 'uns to read aloud for at least 10 minutes each and most of the time they insist on carrying on by themselves. Certainly not a chip off the old block!
Mr Galliano's Circus was an really old book of my Dad's that I read constantly, along with my pop-up book of Hans Christian Andersan's Fairy Tales.
Still got them too.
Stig of the Dump was cool, as was The Bogwoppit - but Blyton was just too twee for me even back then.
As for Potter, don't get me started on the travesty of writing those books have become. :roll:
Read the Artemis Fowl books by Eion Colfer, better by far.
I used to get 'oor wullie' or 'the broons' alternate years from the scotish side of the family and I remember 'rag' tag and bobtail' but not sure who wrote it ( e blyton ?) Best thing about the broons and oor wullie books was none of me mates borrowed them cos they couldnt understand. Also seem to remember a german book called 'strumpempeter' or something similar with a kid who had big hair and long fingers.
RhythmJunkie
04-08-07, 06:33 PM
Resevoir dogs!
Nah...only joking.
My favourite was Corel Island......R.M.Ballantyne!
where the wild thing are. :D
Got a copy of it for my 21st birthday :cool:
The Cruel Sea - brilliant. Mrs liked Anne of Green Gables.
Essex of Essex
04-08-07, 10:17 PM
Biggles was a great favourite.
I enjoyed 'The Wooden Horse'. No, not the one involving a load warriors inside a gift from the Gods, but a world war 2 factual story about an escape from a POW camp (Stalag luft 2?) using a wooden vaulting horse. The imagery it threw up for me was just amazing - demonstrating the sheer determination of men wanting to escape from captivity and so return home. Read it about three times - was illustrated too!!
northwind
05-08-07, 01:00 AM
Enid Blyton... Also Willard Price's endless Adventure series, amazing what you'll read when you're brain's only half grown.
Also, a lot of Commando comics. Those were ace. Plus, you could obsessively collect them if you were of the obsessive collector mindset, which I blatantly am.
All the Arthur Ramsome series, starting with Swallows and Amazons. My favourite of the lot - We Didn't Mean to go to Sea.
Inspired my sailing - I bought the whole lot again recently and re-read them, was amazed by how accurate he was, you could learn to sail by them.
I read every one of them when I was around 9 or 10 and loved them to bits, but living in probably the most land-locked part of England I never got to try sailing.
Maybe I should try now.
The Cruel Sea - brilliant.
I never read this, but I did read Monsarrat's "The Kappillan of Malta" - a story about a priest caring for people living in Valletta's catacombes, while the bombing was taking place during WW2
Fizzy Fish
05-08-07, 09:54 AM
Biggles was a great favourite.
Biggles rocks :thumbsup:
And The Giant Jam Sandwich is also a great summertime read if you don't like wasps!
grh1904
05-08-07, 02:33 PM
I read some Biggles, and some of the Famous 5 by Enid Blyton, but My FAV was one called ABEL's ISLAND.
Can't remember who wrote it, but I've still got it so will dig it out and have a look.
Pedrosa
05-08-07, 02:36 PM
My favourite was from a series by Ladybird.The particular one in question was the Human Biology book which had a very detailed line drawing of a naked lady in it! (Hey I was young!) A pal of mine hoarded 3 of the same book in his desk!!!:p :p
shadowangel
05-08-07, 07:49 PM
It definately has to be the Enid Blyton series, I loved those books.
I'm kinda partial to the Harry Potter books now, I read one by accident and got hooked (quite embarrassing cos I used to laugh at adults reading them on the tubes in London....
:smt051
MiniMatt
05-08-07, 09:41 PM
"The Hungry Caterpillar" and "Where's Spot". The bestest books for under fives on the planet :D
THEY HAD POP-UPS PEOPLE!!!!
Hmm, slightly more grown up I vaguely remember the adventures of Roger Red Hat, Billy Blue Hat and Jennifer Yellow Hat. Can't remember for the life of me what books they were in though.
northwind
05-08-07, 09:55 PM
The Very Hungry Caterpillar was great.
I seem to remember another one, which was a really p***ed off butterfly trying to fight everyone... At one point, he tried to fight a whale. That's all I've got just now, any ideas? If I had to guess a name, it'd be The Very P***ed Off Butterfly, but that may be wrong
The Machine Gunners - Robert Westhall.
Remember having it read to us at primary school in the late 70's and thier was much sniggering because the word "bo11ox" came up..lol!
Apart from that it was also a very good book and IIRC was also adapted for childrens TV without the swearing.
Jester666
06-08-07, 01:55 PM
The Hardy Boys series.
Hungry Caterpillar.
Cat in the Hat.
Asterix.
Dragonlance series.
Alistair Maclean.
AND Tiger comic.
Pedrosa
06-08-07, 02:11 PM
For a boy living in a caravan during his formative years,The rarified surroundings in which the Enid Blyton books were set had no meaning or attraction to me. Total garbage, especialyy those 5 toffs she kept prattling on about.;)
northwind
06-08-07, 02:35 PM
The Machine Gunners - Robert Westhall.
Remember having it read to us at primary school in the late 70's and thier was much sniggering because the word "bo11ox" came up..lol!
Apart from that it was also a very good book and IIRC was also adapted for childrens TV without the swearing.
That was ace, wasn't it... I still remember bits of it "Someone's been nicking the sandbags round the lamposts" "What, the ones the cats pee on?".
"The Mouse and the Motorcycle" by Beverly Cleary (although the sequel "Runaway Ralph" was disappointing.)
Also "Speed Six" by Bruce Carter
I read "The Dambusters" when I was about 13 and it remains one of my favorite books to this day. The book follows the squadron throughout the war, not just the first mission
The Anarchists Cookbook. Ah, happy days.
mr rush
from the mr men collection
Mallory Towers series by Enid Blyton
I also liked some of the other Potter books
Beatrix
Mr Galliano's Circus was an really old book of my Dad's that I read constantly, along with my pop-up book of Hans Christian Andersan's Fairy Tales.
Still got them too.
Still got them! Look what a 2nd hand copy of Mr Galliano's Circus is worth now!
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/enid-blyton/mr-gallianos-circus.htm
Mr Galliano's Circus was an really old book of my Dad's that I read constantly, along with my pop-up book of Hans Christian Andersan's Fairy Tales.
Still got them too.
Still got them! Look what a 2nd hand copy of Mr Galliano's Circus is worth now!
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/enid-blyton/mr-gallianos-circus.htm
The true value of the book is in the heart of the reader...
... which is why I'm being buried with my first and second editions of Lord of the Rings if neither of my nephews learn that lesson.:cool:
Was a sucker for Blyton & Hardy Boys...
The Midnight Folk,
The Machine Gunners,
The Hobbit,
Flambards,
Eagle of the Ninth
And read The Children's Crusade -so that's two of us
The true value of the book is in the heart of the reader...
... which is why I'm being buried with my first and second editions of Lord of the Rings if neither of my nephews learn that lesson.:cool:
I loved The Hobbit, but the LOTR was just utter twaddle to me. I fell asleep every time I took my son to see the films - not even Liv Tyler could keep me awake.
JessicaRabbit
07-08-07, 02:00 PM
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and all of the other C.S.Lewis books.
Mallory Towers books.
The Folk of the Faraway Tree series.
The Wishing Chair series.
Stig of the Dump.
The Brothers Grimm.
Ceri JC
07-08-07, 02:15 PM
Where the Wild Things Are (more popular in America than here for some reason),
The Brer Rabbit Books,
The Just William books (I still collect/read these)
Where the Wild Things Are (more popular in America than here for some reason),
that's a lovely book, brings a tear to my eye when i read it now.
Err...
Warhammer 40K
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Cyberpunk
Birds of the British Isles
Anything by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingston.
lol... me a nerd?
JessicaRabbit
07-08-07, 02:47 PM
Err..
Warhammer 40K
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Birds of the British Isles
lol... me a nerd?
:plod: call the nerd police!!! Arrest that Grinch!
The Log Of The Ark by Kenneth Walker and Geoffrey Boumphrey.
One of my all time favorite books as a Kid! (My mum was inspired)
Also A large ammount of John Wyndham (Day of the Triffids etc) The Hobbit, Hardy Boys, The Machine Gunners, Where the Wild things were....
Oh and Thomas the Tank engine cartoons, utter class. No arguments!
Happy days 8)
:plod: call the nerd police!!! Arrest that Grinch!
Oh god not them... I'm not a nerd any more, honest.
And read The Children's Crusade -so that's two of us
Woohoo......................I'm not alone!:D
One of my all time favorite books as a Kid! (My mum was inspired)
Was it not just the most fabulous book? That Scub..............grrrrr!
vBulletin® , Copyright ©2000-2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.