Books from your childhood

fussyonion

I was cleaning out my bedroom earlier and came across a well-read copy of "Candy on the DART", a children's book set in Dublin, about a ten-year-old girl who runs away and is accompanied by another girl called Sharon.

This was my favourite book as a kid and I kept it because I still read it now and again.
I was also a huge fan of the Goosebumps and Babysitter's Club collection.

It got me thinking...what books do you remember from childhood?

What was your favourite? Do you still have it?

Back9bandit

the carpet king of texas

RobbingBandit

Anything by Roald Dalh, reading back over the books now as an adult seeing the innuendos and knowing now he also wrote for playboy they are even funnier.

branie

Ditto on Roald Dahl; he was an excellent writer for kids.

markfinn

Dragonfall 5, a kids sci-fi series about a "tramp steamer" style family run spacecraft staggering from port to port, always one stretch of Duct Tape repairs away from complete failure.

Firefly owes those guys a lot.

Cannot find any versions or copies anywhere anymore.

BrensBenz

http://archive.org/details/Captain_Marryat_Masterman_Ready

"Masterman Ready", written by Captain Marryat in 1841.
Despite its age, it's language was accessible for an 11 year-old and was my first, real page-turner. Great stuff! My copy even had pictures!

darkdubh

The Coral Island.It was pretty graphic for a childrens book what with cannibalism and descriptions of fellas getting their heads bashed in with clubs and the like.

Ruu

Roald Dahl, Famous Five books and I liked Jack London White Fang books. Also got a collection of Puddle Lane books on the shelf, picked them up on eBay a few years ago.

armchair fusilier

Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators.

bazzosh

Swallows and Amazons!

Great books

Lisha

Any thing by Rolald Dahl am collecting them now for my kids
Enid Blyton, ESP famous 5, Malory towers,
Anne of Green Gables books, I cried when her red setter dog died .

fussyonion

Lisha wrote: »

Any thing by Rolald Dahl am collecting them now for my kids
Enid Blyton, ESP famous 5, Malory towers,
Anne of Green Gables books, I cried when her red setter dog died .

That reminds me, I loved The Twins at St.Clare's (even though I was born in the 80's and a child in the 90's-my mother told me she read it when she was young and passed it on to me).

I also loved Enid Blyton's hardback story compilations..does anyone remember them?

Here's an example of one http://img.dooyoo.co.uk/GB_EN/orig/0/8/0/2/1/802152.jpg

I had a lot of those hard backed ones and loved them.

Lawrence1895

I loved Noddy, the Famous Five and the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn

Lisha

fussyonion wrote: »

That reminds me, I loved The Twins at St.Clare's (even though I was born in the 80's and a child in the 90's-my mother told me she read it when she was young and passed it on to me).

I also loved Enid Blyton's hardback story compilations..does anyone remember them?

Here's an example of one http://img.dooyoo.co.uk/GB_EN/orig/0/8/0/2/1/802152.jpg

I had a lot of those hard backed ones and loved them.

Yes I remember the twins vaguely though
I had so many Enid Blyton books I def had some compilations too

I also remember the books where you made up your own story ie you picked where the story was to go.

Narnia books were amazing (still are)

Nancy Drew

ElleEm

I loved the Amelia Jane books by Enid Blighton. Oh, and all White Fang books by Tom Coughlan were great too. I actually found the first book I ever loved recently in a box, it was called The Friends by Rosa Guy.
When I was in my early teens I loved the Flowers in the Attic books by Virginia Andrews.

r3nu4l

I first started reading 'proper, no-picture' books when I discovered Enid Blyton. I started with the secret seven and read as many of them as I could get my hands on.

Then I moved onto the Famous Five and once again, devoured them.

As I got a little bit older I started reading Alfred Hitchcock's Three Investigators and I still have a soft spot in my heart for those books. Amazing!

Then at about 10 I started reading The Hardy Boys by 'Franklin W. Dixon' - which I later learned was a pen-name for a bunch of writers contracted to pump out books using the same characters.

Of Irish interest was a book called 'Black Harvest' by Ann Pilling, which I borrowed from the library. It was like a kids horror book/ghost story and I was fascinated by it. It's now in the 'Collins Modern Classics' list and it was covered in the Guardian in 2000

It was this book that got me into reading Stephen King a few years later

Despite all of the above, my favourite book remains Enid Blyton's 'Stories for bedtime':


I still have this in my parent's house in Ireland and any time we stay there I read my daughter stories from it (She's almost three). I vividly remember my Mum reading me stories from it when I was that age It's a hardback book that still has one of my first attempts at writing my name on the inside hardback cover.

fussyonion

r3nu4l wrote: »

I first started reading 'proper, no-picture' books when I discovered Enid Blyton. I started with the secret seven and read as many of them as I could get my hands on.

Then I moved onto the Famous Five and once again, devoured them.

As I got a little bit older I started reading Alfred Hitchcock's Three Investigators and I still have a soft spot in my heart for those books. Amazing!

Then at about 10 I started reading The Hardy Boys by 'Franklin W. Dixon' - which I later learned was a pen-name for a bunch of writers contracted to pump out books using the same characters.

Of Irish interest was a book called 'Black Harvest' by Ann Pilling, which I borrowed from the library. It was like a kids horror book/ghost story and I was fascinated by it. It's now in the 'Collins Modern Classics' list and it was covered in the Guardian in 2000

It was this book that got me into reading Stephen King a few years later

Despite all of the above, my favourite book remains Enid Blyton's 'Stories for bedtime':


I still have this in my parent's house in Ireland and any time we stay there I read my daughter stories from it (She's almost three). I vividly remember my Mum reading me stories from it when I was that age It's a hardback book that still has one of my first attempts at writing my name on the inside hardback cover.

Aw that's lovely.

Enid Blyton seems to be a favourite for most of us here.
I love how books were special when we were kids and now it's all computer games. It's sad.

I used to really look forward to getting books for Christmas; devouring the dinner just to rush upstairs and get stuck into a pile of books my parents got me!

I still love reading to this day and I'm so glad I started young because it's a love affair I don't think will ever end.

Gamayun

Some of the earliest books I remember reading a a child were Sonic the Hedgehog books that my Dad picked up in a charity shop knowing that I like computer games (though I was a Nintendo man). I just looked them up on Wikipedia there and the plots still resonate 20+ years on. The plot of Book 2 below seems fairly complex for a childrens book but I remember 'getting' it at the time and it's great that they weren't just dumbed down straightforward adventure books

Book 2 - Sonic the Hedgehog in the Fourth Dimension 1993 (by Wallis) - Sonic and Tails try to prevent Robotnik from altering history, encountering the Organisers - human scientists who maintain the laws of Time and Space - and helping them against the mythos creatures, paramilitary mythological creatures who are trying to exist in reality. Sonic briefly altered history so Robotnik was never formed, but had to change it back to stop the mythos creatures altering the Big Bang.

Ha! I just checked and this book is £148 from 3 sellers on Amazon.co.uk, the others are 1p each, crazy stuff.

spokesman

Had to be The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries for me

harry Bailey esq

spokesman wrote: »

Had to be The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries for me

loved the famous five.lots of ye are giving the hardy boys a mention too,i thought i was the only one:)

spokesman

harry Bailey esq wrote: »

loved the famous five.lots of ye are giving the hardy boys a mention too,i thought i was the only one:)

I used to get mine from the locak library. They were great to read

FishHook

One book that sick out from my childhood is Robbers In The House. I dunno who wrote it, but it was about a bunch of kids and was set in Dublin. I read it in the early 80s, when I assume it first cameout.

The Princess Bride

r3nu4l wrote: »

Despite all of the above, my favourite book remains Enid Blyton's 'Stories for bedtime':

I have Tales At Bedtime from the early 60s-I wonder is it a different edition of the same book?
I have it still, minus the story of Tom the Scout-cub,which was the story I remembered most.
But I bought an intact copy on amazon and have read the stories to my children-always a classic.






Dad used to read us Brer Rabbit stories, when we were very young,and I can remember our local librarian saying,that our family was one of only two families who frequented the place as often as we did!

r3nu4l

msthe80s wrote: »

I have Tales At Bedtime from the early 60s-I wonder is it a different edition of the same book?
I have it still, minus the story of Tom the Scout-cub,which was the story I remembered most.
But I bought an intact copy on amazon and have read the stories to my children-always a classic.



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Have a look at this for more info [I'm a bit of a Blyton nut, despite not really thinking much of her as a person]. They are different books but I don't know for sure if there was any crossover in stories used as Blyton published a number of different books with bed/night time stories/tales and there were multiple reprints (with different covers and minor edits) of all of these.

chakotha

Enid Blyton loads of: including Secret Seven, Famous Five, Five Find-outers, Mr Meddle.
Finn Family Moomintroll
CS Lewis Narnia
Williard Price 'Adventure' series: Amazon Advemture, Lion Adventure, Elephant Adventure etc.

Wise Old Elf

As per many others, Roald Dahl all the way, but also loved Tom McCaughren's books written from a fox's point of view. There was a series of them, starting with "Run with the Wind". Very enjoyable and engaging read for kids.

Funkfield

I think my brother started me on these. I was only a goson when this came out.

Lisha

I remember Tom Macfaughern fox books too , fabulous
Which reminded me of the borrower books.
I loved them

Ruu

Hard to forget 'choose your own adventure' books as well.

Funkfield

Ruubot2 wrote: »

Hard to forget 'choose your own adventure' books as well.

Yeah, this was the first one I read.....

Aglomerado

Funkfield wrote: »

Yeah, this was the first one I read.....

We had that exact one at home. Loved them. I had one about Frankenstein's Monster as well, which was like a game with hitpoints for your character etc. You could read it as either Dr Frankenstein or the monster, so two books in one.
Edit: It was the Curse of Frankenstein by JH Brennan.
http://www.mrsgiggles.com/gamebooks/brennan_curse.html

FishHook

Funkfield wrote: »

I think my brother started me on these. I was only a goson when this came out.

The first Fighting Fantasy novel that I read, back in 1984, IIRC...and probably my favourite!! A great series of novels!!

Funkfield

I still have a few Choose Your Own Adventure books and a load of FF books. They are still great.

Regarding the FF books, found this lady's website recently. Worth a look...

http://sevenfourteenseven.wordpress.com/

Toto Wolfcastle

I loved The Wishing Chair books by Enid Blyton.

Tetra

All my favourites have been mentioned here I also loved the 'Sweet Valley' series

fussyonion

Tetra wrote: »

All my favourites have been mentioned here I also loved the 'Sweet Valley' series

Me too. I used to think Jessica and Elizabeth were SO cool having their own Jeep and driving to school, all dolled up in makeup and wearing fancy clothes.

Duvetdays

To kill a mocking bird best book ever IMO
Also the outsiders and James and the giant peach.

Toto Wolfcastle

fussyonion wrote: »

Me too. I used to think Jessica and Elizabeth were SO cool having their own Jeep and driving to school, all dolled up in makeup and wearing fancy clothes.

They were exactly what I thought I would be at that age.

Layinghen

Has to be Enid Blyton. Started off with Bedtime Stories and the like. Loved the famous five and of course Malory Towers and the Twins At St Claire's. I find it fascinating now over 40 years later to see my nieces reading Malory Towers and loving the books as much as I did.

Tombo2001

Danny the Champion of the World

Tombo2001

One thing that strikes me, and its backed up by this thread......i dont see any Irish books or writers here....

I suspect thats because there were very few good ones....

Wise Old Elf

Tombo2001 wrote: »

One thing that strikes me, and its backed up by this thread......i dont see any Irish books or writers here....

I suspect thats because there were very few good ones....

Tom McCaughren was a reporter with RTE and mentioned a few times but interesting point. Blyton and Dahl proving popular so far. From an irish pov nowadays, is Eoin Colfer the main Irish kids writer or have i missed someone?

Sulla Felix

Anything by Michael Scott

A book called the Chieftains Daughter. Really sad.

Tetra

Tombo2001 wrote: »

One thing that strikes me, and its backed up by this thread......i dont see any Irish books or writers here....

I suspect thats because there were very few good ones....

I recall there was also a series of books called "Bright Sparks", edited by Bernadette Leach. She wrote books like "I’m a Vegetarian", "Summer Without Mum" "Anna Who", etc etc. There were other writers in the series as well. I found an old copy of one of them in my dad's study recently. Brought back memories. Does anyone else remember these?

meoklmrk91

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Danny the Champion of the World

I still want to taste that pork and boiled egg pie that the Doctors wife made for Danny after his Dad got hurt, I will make it one of the days. Dahl was such a wonderfully descriptive writer, he really could make you feel like you were
there.

I also loved the Enid Blyton books from the ages for 6 to 10 I devoured everything I could get my hands on.

I also loved the Animal Ark and Puppy Patrol books by Jenny Dale.

The Harry Potter books are instant classics, I loved them and can't wait to give them to my nephews and nieces when I am older.

cute_cow

I used to love the Anastasia Krupnik series of books by Lois Lowry. I had the collection of 7 books. Still have a couple and read them every so often. Would love to have the full collection, even still.

http://www.goodreads.com/series/50679-anastasia-krupnik

Tetra

cute_cow wrote: »

I used to love the Anastasia Krupnik series of books by Lois Lowry. I had the collection of 7 books. Still have a couple and read them every so often. Would love to have the full collection, even still.

http://www.goodreads.com/series/50679-anastasia-krupnik

I loved that series too and there was a series called "Pen Pals" that I liked. This is such a great thread, brings back a lot of memories

http://thedairiburger.com/2007/11/14/pen-pals-boys-wanted/

Tombo2001

Disco Stuart wrote: »

Tom McCaughren was a reporter with RTE and mentioned a few times but interesting point. Blyton and Dahl proving popular so far. From an irish pov nowadays, is Eoin Colfer the main Irish kids writer or have i missed someone?

I think the problem with Irish authored books when I was growing up was that they tended to be about what the adult wanted you to be reading rather than what you wanted to be reading....

I didnt care too much for celtic lettering and the children of lir, just wasnt interested.

r3nu4l

Ruubot2 wrote: »

Hard to forget 'choose your own adventure' books as well.

How could I forget those I had quite a few of those too. I was lucky in that all my uncles and aunts knew I was a bookworm so I either got books or book tokens for birthdays and Christmas, I think all of my choose your own adventure books were bought with book tokens. The folks at Eason's probably thought I had my own book token printing press at home

Tombo2001 wrote: »

One thing that strikes me, and its backed up by this thread......i dont see any Irish books or writers here....

I suspect thats because there were very few good ones....

One I didn't mention in the thread was 'Black Harvest' by Ann Pilling. She is an English Author but the book was a children's 'horror' about children holidaying in Ireland who could see ghosts of famine victims (iirc). It was a fantastic read.

chakotha

Tombo2001 wrote: »

One thing that strikes me, and its backed up by this thread......i dont see any Irish books or writers here....

I suspect thats because there were very few good ones....

I did read Flight of the Doves and Island of the Great Yellow Ox by Walter Macken when I must have been 10-11.

muckisluck

I too loved Walter Macken. Marita Conlon-Mc Kenna is another really good Irish author whos work I loved. Currently Martin Waddell is a truly brilliant writer of childrens books and he's from Northern Ireland.