books.....Tintin, Famous Five, Secret Seven, Three Investigators ?

mikedublin

Anybody got any favourite books they remember from when they were young ? Mine were Tintin (there was a whole series of about 20 books with cartoons), The Secret Seven who used to meet in someones garden shed, the Famous Five - who always seemed to get stranded on an island , and the Three Investigators who solved some treasure hunts and complicated mysterys from a caravan in a junkyard.

candy-gal1

oh i remember the St Clares books with the 2 girls with black short hair in the boarding school with midnight feasts of ginger ale, etc! used to buy those books with my dad in a little shop on the seafront round from my house! :rolleyes:

oh and the Nancy Drew books, bought my first 1 on my communion

and, who could forget the Babysitters Club!! loved hem so much!
and the sweet valley high books??

and Goosebumps and Point Horror??!! anyone remember these?? memories of collecting these:o

and at 12-13 i started on the Dawsons Creek books but i always prefered the shows of it!

Bearhunter

I remember all those, Mikedublin and others like the Five Find-Outers and the Hardy Boys. I always thought the Three Investigators were a bit weird, especially Jupiter, living in a buried caravan in a junkyard, but having the use of a limo whenever he wanted it...

ghost_ie

The main ones I remember were the Enid Blyton's - Famous Five, Secret Seven, St. Clare's and Mallory Towers. Also the Chalet School books. My favourite series (we're talking about the 60's here) was the "Jill" series of books about a girl and her horse-mad friends.

hamlet1

what about the mallory towers series?and the secret island,mountain,etc withjack,lucy,philip,dinah and kiki the parrot,i just loved them!

anplaya

mr gallianos circus,the faraway tree etc.

mental07

Ah, memories!

St. Clares: Isabel and...what was the 2nd twin's name? Snobby little cows if I remember correctly

Mallory Towers: Darrell and her friend sensible Sally....and the rich girl that used to fake illness...Gwendoline!

lil'bug

i loved the point horror books like the "life guard" and a series of books about foxes, run swift run free was one of them

Ann22

mental07 wrote: »

Ah, memories!

St. Clares: Isabel and...what was the 2nd twin's name? Snobby little cows if I remember correctly

Mallory Towers: Darrell and her friend sensible Sally....and the rich girl that used to fake illness...Gwendoline!

The twins of St Clare's were Pat and Isobel O'Sullivan:). Their uniform was grey and navy I think....they had a cousin Alison who was a right little sap, she'd take an attachment to one of the other girls in her year and follow them around. One year it was beautiful Angela and another year it was Zerelda(I think)the brassy blonde American. Sour milk Prudence was expelled, remember her?
Darrell Rivers and sensible Sally, I remember them too with the brown and orange uniforms. I loved the midnight feasts(sardines, cream buns and ginger beer) and tricks on Mam'selle chapters(there were two mam'selles in Mallory towers).
I loved the Five Find Outers and the Famous Five too. The Secret Seven were my first. Peter, Janet, Pam, Barbara, George, Colin and Jack-whose 'horrid' sister Susie bady wanted to join, not to forget Scamper:o. Their meetings with the secret password sounded deadly too.
Does anyone remember the Wishing Chair stories? Peter and Molly with Chinky the pixie, the witch Kirri Kirri and the Land of Dreams. She's some imagination had our Mrs Blyton. Meant to've been a bit of a cow though.

smilerf

i remember a series of books about foxes i used read
run swift run free, run to earth and run with the wind i think they were called

TheScribbler

I had all the Secret Seven & Famous Five books. The character of George was modelled on Enid Blyton herself, seemingly.

smilerf

i used love enid blytons books particuraly mr meddle muddles or mr muddle meddles. cant remember

Ann22

Ah Mr Meddle, I loved him...and Naughty Amelia Jane, wasn't she a doll? I used to love all the short stories like 'Five O'Clock'tales etc, they were great. Loads still available, I love to find old ones at markets and car boot sales that I had as a child, the pictures give me great memories.

byte

smilerf wrote: »

i used love enid blytons books particuraly mr meddle muddles or mr muddle meddles. cant remember

Was it not Mr. Twiddle, or was that a different charachter? He was a clumsy sort.

I was a big Enid Blyton fan back in the day. I remember there was I think Adventurous Four or something also.

TheScribbler

Who can forget Noddy, Big Ears & Co. Sadly it became politically incorrect for a time but for a small child Enid Blyton knew how to hit the right buttons. She was brilliant.

ghost_ie

TheScribbler wrote: »

Who can forget Noddy, Big Ears & Co. Sadly it became politically incorrect for a time but for a small child Enid Blyton knew how to hit the right buttons. She was brilliant.

Noddy and the Bumpy Dog is the first book I can remember reading by myself.

mental07

smilerf wrote: »

i remember a series of books about foxes i used read
run swift run free, run to earth and run with the wind i think they were called

Tom McCaughren was the author wasn't he?

The only fox name I can remember is Scab...lovely name (!)

lil'bug

mental07 wrote: »

Tom McCaughren was the author wasn't he?

The only fox name I can remember is Scab...lovely name (!)

old Sage was another one man i loved those books

smilerf

mental07 wrote: »

Tom McCaughren was the author wasn't he?

The only fox name I can remember is Scab...lovely name (!)

i think he was ye
i remember a fox called old sage

smilerf

jayus i really need glasses!!

Firetrap

I read an awful lot of Enid Blyton books between the ages of 7 and 11. The first ones were bought for me when I was in hospital. My teacher bought me "The Naughtiest Girl in the School" (can't imagine why ) I used to love the bits in the boarding school books where they would play tricks on the teachers. Unfortunately as the characters got older, they had to ease back on that. In the St. Clare's books, there was also a Spanish girl called Carlotta and Mam'zelle's niece Claudine who was very vain and French. there was also a fat girl called Alma Pudden who wasn't invited to the midnight feast so she pilfered loads of the chocolates and ginger beer. Mallory Towers I don't remember so well but I think the school was down by the sea so they could swim when the weather got better.

Apart from the Famous Five and Secret Seven there were the Five Find-Outers, the Adventurous Four, the Secret Island/Spiggy Holes etc., and the bigger Adventure books. Mountain of Adventure/Valley etc.

I also remember the circus books. Especially Mr Galliano's circus where the little boy whose family joins the circus gets a dog that he trains to walk the tightrope.

The ironic thing is that Enid Blyton didn't even like children that much despite giving so many kids hours of pleasure reading her books.

mental07

How many books did Enid Blyton write?! The mind boggles.

Amelia Jane, that was another one.

ghost_ie

mental07 wrote: »

How many books did Enid Blyton write?! The mind boggles.

Amelia Jane, that was another one.

I think she did another series about a circus but I'm open to correction on that

GerardKeating

TheScribbler wrote: »

I had all the Secret Seven & Famous Five books. The character of George was modelled on Enid Blyton herself, seemingly.

Me too, also the Swallows and Amazon books.

mental07

ghost_ie wrote: »

I think she did another series about a circus but I'm open to correction on that

No, I think you're right - Mr. Galliano's Circus I think it was!

baalthor

I remember it was Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators - always thought it was a pity the great director never got any recognition for his crime fighting endeavours

The two Enid Blyton books I remember best were "Tales of Brave Adventure" and "Chimney Corner Stories"

Tales of Brave Adventure was very dark for Enid Blyton - lots of King Arthur's knights fighting each other to the death, Robin Hood getting posioned

Chimney Corner stories was more for younger kids - it had my favourite Enid Blyton character "Mrs Do The Same To You" - if I ever met her in real life ...

Anyway .. I also read Biggles and the Narnia books and as this thread has got me reminiscing about books, does anyone remember the "My Home in ...." books; e.g. "My Home in Sweden", "My Home in Japan".

Each one was written from the POV of a child growing up in the particular country and was supposed to give children an picture of life in that country

I remember being really mystified by "My Home in South Africa" - everyone in it was white ! - I was expecting to see black people in a book about Africa .. this would have been the late seventies/early eighties ...

Alicat

OMG I love this thread!

I used to re-read all those books a million times over!!

The Saint Claire girls, Pat & Isabel. Mallory Towers, Darryl was the hot-heated one who always let her temper get the better of her! And who was the mean girl in that?...Agh, Gwendoline! Spoilt brat! And they always all had midnight feasts with tongue sandwiches and condensed milk!

The Magic Faraway Tree

The Wishing Chair!

Used to love the Five Find Outers, The Three Investigators, Nancy Drew etc

Mr Galliano's circus!

I loved Little House on the Praire as well

I think the main fox in Run With The Wind was Black Tip?...and his mate Vicky? Loved them too! Wasn't there also one called Hop-A-Long cause he lost his foot in a trap?


And does anyone remember a series of books set in Dublin? One was based around a debs?...

smilerf

Alicat wrote: »

OMG I love this thread!

I used to re-read all those books a million times over!!

The Saint Claire girls, Pat & Isabel. Mallory Towers, Darryl was the hot-heated one who always let her temper get the better of her! And who was the mean girl in that?...Agh, Gwendoline! Spoilt brat! And they always all had midnight feasts with tongue sandwiches and condensed milk!

The Magic Faraway Tree

The Wishing Chair!

Used to love the Five Find Outers, The Three Investigators, Nancy Drew etc

Mr Galliano's circus!

I loved Little House on the Praire as well

I think the main fox in Run With The Wind was Black Tip?...and his mate Vicky? Loved them too! Wasn't there also one called Hop-A-Long cause he lost his foot in a trap?


And does anyone remember a series of books set in Dublin? One was based around a debs?...

hop along on ye wasnt there scab and scat too?
i had 3 of these books
run swift run free, run to earth and run with the wind
was there any more?

Firetrap

According to the Wikipedia, it's estimated she wrote about 800 books over 40 years :eek: I seem to recall a figure of something like 600 in my head from something I read years ago so the figure could well be true.

According to the Wikipedia, she wrote three circus books: Mr. Galliano's Circus (1938), Hurrah for the Circus (1939) and Circus Days Again (1942). I've some vague recollection of there being another circus book with a different ringmaster but I could be wrong....

hamlet1

any one remember The Family at Redroofs and Those Dreadful Children by Enid Blyton.
they were really good! The Chalet School series was brilliant as well and what about the Sue Barton Nurse series!

georgem25

I loved Enid Blyton, especially Secret Seven and Famous Five. I collected all of them over the years. I think they may still be in my parents house - must re-read them again!!

coolguy

I used to read secret 7, famous 5, 5 findouters and hardy boy's as a kid.

Princess Zelda

I remember when I was a young wan going to the library to get these out. Used to love them

FredBaby!

just had to throw out all my old books-enid blyton, babysitters club, sabrina the teenage witch...the end of an era.

ghost_ie

Princess Zelda wrote: »

I remember when I was a young wan going to the library to get these out. Used to love them

My brother used to love the William books and always got one with his birthday money.