Its my nieces birthday soon, she loves books and Im considering getting her a book I recall from when I was little, Carbonel.(Just thought I may get Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh too)
What books do you still remember and love from your youth and have you bought them for younger family members?
Now we are six, a Winnie the Pooh book I loved as a child and read to my own children, and grandhildren. Recently, whilst rooting about on amazon, I found one called âNow we are sixtyâ which amused me greatly. Rachel
Iâm currently going through the hassle that is getting proms tickets so I might as well hark back to my childhood whilst I wait for the royal albert halls website to work. Iâm a big fan of Roald Dahl, any of his books, and when my pseudo nephews are old enough Iâll be getting them some of the books. I also fondly remember a book called âthe hermit and the bearâ, also illistrated by Quentin Blake but I canât currently remember the author. I had a look for that one a couple of years back for a friendâs kids but it is out of print.
Right then, back to the RAH website - Iâve been refreshing the page for the last 20 mins to get into the waiting room to be able to queue for tix for my other half - the prom I want to see doesnât go on sale until july!
happy reading
I have 2 books by Jean Plaidy, The young Elizabeth 1, and The young Mary Queen of Scots, both were devoured by my daughter bringing history to life for a young girl. Sadly now out of print, but treasured on our bookshelf, by both of us.
@PoisonedAppleJewellery this is a lovely post and has brought back fond memories of learning to read with my mam using Ladybird Puddle Lane books. Iâve googled it and it was based on a TV show but I donât remember it. I just remember sitting in bed reading with my mam and her getting me to read. I love buying books for gifts.
My childhood favourite was Matilda though and I still have the book that was given to me by my grandparents when I was little, it is dog eared now but I love it. My own pseudo niece amd nephew are a bit young still for Roald Dahl but it is on the list for when they get older.
I absolutely loved a book called âThe Necklace of raindropsâ by Joan Aiken.
It had a black cover and an illustration by Jan Pienkowski on it- he creates stunning silhouette illustrations, heâs become one of my all time favorite illustrators.
Unfortunately, I never owned it, I just kept it from the school library for my time in that class. Iâd love a copy.
Well it took almost 2 hours to get the proms tickets but Iâve done it!
The hermit and the bear was written by John Yeoman and amazon have it available second hand if I canât find my childhood copy at my parents to give to my eldest psuedo nephew. One I remember reading at my grandparents when I was very little was âmy cat likes to hide in boxesâ again no idea who wrote it but I remember bits of the rhyme in it.
âthe cat from spain flys an aeroplane, the cat from france likes to sing and dance but my cat likes to hide in boxesââŚ
Sasha
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We had The Necklace of Raindrops and my daughter loved it. Wasnât that the one with short stories in it? There was a fab story about bad apples and the little girl who had no clothes so that when her aunt had to wash her only dress, it was done whilst the little girl was still in it and then both were hung up to dry on the washing line.
My son loved Captain Underpants and the Flat Stanley books and I seem to remember something about Cows in Space. My daughter also read all the Roald Dahl books, including his autobiography. I have 3 huge boxes in the loft of all their favourite books so that I can read them to my grandchildren in the future.
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i used to love that book too! i kept borrowing it from the school library all the time (early 1980âs i think)
i loved the âa. mazing monstersâ books by jim slater that were illustrated by his son. they were really odd but i still love them now.
I was a Famous Five kid. My daughter loved âMog on Fox Nightâ and âAngel Maeâ, and then when she was a little older she loved the âSophieâ series by Dick King-Smith.
I have an old battered copy of Carbonel too, I still read it! Tomâs Midnight Garden is another old favourite from around the same time and Stig of the Dump.
My 7 year old really enjoys all the Roald Dahl books and practically anything by Enid Blyton. I bought a copy of The Hobbit for one of my nieces last Christmas - no idea if sheâs enjoyed it or not mind!
Weâve lots of books in our house old classic favourites as well as more modern stories. Iâve not heard of Carbonel but weâve bought our 10yo niece quite a few Famous Five books and some Secret Seven as well, for her last birthday we bought her The Phantom Tollbooth as well as Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (our daughter read my Hubbyâs old copy so much it fell apart so we had to find another copy for our son to enjoy) Sheâs also enjoyed Alice through the Looking Glass and The Secret Garden.
I remember Stig of the Dump both as a book and a TV series when I was younger.
My younger sister used to watch the TV programmes and when our daughter was little we used to buy the books at car boot sales (sadly theyâre no longer in print) we kept the books for our son then passed them onto our younger nieces who also love them.
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My dad used to read a book called âBad Jelly the Witchâ by Spike Milligan. We used to love it cos it said âbumâ due to the Cat being called Fluffy Bum 
My sister bought my dad a copy for his birthday recently (heâs 81 now and still a big kid at heart).
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Thereâs so many firm favourites but âSwallows and Amazonsâ by Arthur Ransome has always delighted.
It made childhood holidays in the Lake District even more exciting 
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I still have many of my childhood books - and often re-read them
Noel Streatfeild is a firm favourite (Ballet Shoes, White Boots, Dancing Shoes etc).
I loved Roald Dahl, and read quite a lot of Enid Blyton.
School stories, horse stories, anything like that was devoured
Michael Bond - the series of Olga Da Polga books (guinea pig) - still have my original copies of those.
Beatrix Potter, The Water Babies, The Borrowers, Anne of Green GablesâŚthe list goes on! I did enjoy reading as a child - can you tell? Oh, and things like A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, Pollyanna, Little Women, Mother Careyâs ChickensâŚ
In fact, now I have my Kindle, I have read even more of the classic childrenâs books as loads of the older ones are free!!! So Iâve looked at other books by some of the authors like Frances Hodgson Burnett, and found lots of the other stories they wrote which arenât so well known, and in fact, Iâve liked some of the lesser known stories even more than the popular ones. Iâm busy reading some of the short story collections by Louisa May Alcott and L M Montgomery at the moment
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I loved Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh! How old is your niece? Weâve just started reading the Faraway Tree books to our boys and they are loving them. Anne of Green Gables was a favourite when I was younger, and the Narnia books. I also loved the Alan Garner books - I just reread the Weirdstone of Brisingamen and enjoyed it just as much as 25+ years ago!