Favourite book from your childhood? (proper childhood, not teenage years!)

Gormenghast.

Steerpikes still a Machiavellian hero to me.

From primary school, read by the head master, “the house of 60 fathers”

The 3 detectives series by Alfred Hitchcock. Loved them.

Tintin, Three Investigators, Hardy Boys (though not so keen on them), anything Asimov or Arthur C Clarke.

One book I borrowed over and over from the library was Flight Underground by James Hamilton-Paterson. Eventually the librarian just ripped the ticket out of the dpd don’t and gave me the book – I still have it.

I found my copy of this last year, almost cried tbh, talk about a link to the past

Also the Very Hungry Caterpillar, and some other thing which I don’t remember quite as well but could be summed up as A Total Radge Butterfly Fights Everything In The World (But Pure Shites It Off A Whale, Fair Dos Though, I Wouldn’t Fight A ****in Whale Neither)

Though, it might not have been a butterfly. Definitely a whale though.

A Total Radge Butterfly Fights Everything In The World (But Pure Shites It Off A Whale, Fair Dos Though, I Wouldn’t Fight A ****in Whale Neither)

T’was a ladybird. The Bad Tempered Ladybird . . .

I forgot Noggin the Nog.

Still have em.

mamadirt – Member

T’was a ladybird. The Bad Tempered Ladybird

That makes more sense. Cheers!

The Machine Gunners

The Amazing Mr Blunden

My scrapbook which I have rediscovered and contains a lot of pictures of carpets and rugs . Redicutt carpets were big in our town.

I know which mine were, cos I’ve kept them! Must have intended to read them to my own child.
So far have tried
Professor Branstawm: “Boring”
Stig of the Dump: “Boring”
Kids these days eh?!

Still got The Little Captain, The Machine Gunners, Born Free, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (he’s read that).

All bought from some book club we had at primary school.

All the Jennings books by Anthony Buckeridge.
All the Biggles and Famous Five stuff too.

I Am David by Anne Holme.
Anything by Ian Serraillier, but ‘There’s No Escape’ was my favourite.

When I was really little there was series about a little train called Chuffa – they were brilliant and the memory of reading them with my mum still sets me off.

There was a little book about a Mini Pickup called ‘Reddy At The Racetrack’ and another about a donkey called Antonio which have a similar effect.

I don’t think anyone’s mentioned Winnie the Pooh. That was my favourite, and I was dead chuffed when my son loved having me read Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner to him.

I remember the Hal and Roger Adventure books, I read them all, and the Hardy Boys mysteries.

Matilda
All the Rev Awdry Thomas the Tank Engine books.

Seraffin

Any of the Tintin books, but particularly ‘The Secret of the Unicorn’

‘Spitfire Parade’ (Biggles)

Enjoyed Arthur Ransome but ‘Pigeon Post’ was favourite.

Most of the Dr Seuss books plus ‘Put Me in the Zoo’ by Lopshire was a fave when little.

All frightfully middle class no doubt.

As usual – can’t really remember until reminded by someone else’s post.

Anything by Enid Blyton or a bit later on the Fighting Fantasy things – if you could have shown 11 yr old me something like The Eldar Scrolls as I sat with my pencil and dice trying to resist keeping a finger on the previous page god knows what I’d have said!

I remember reading Elidor and another Alan Garner book, I think I was a bit young for them at the time, they proper spooked me out.

The Magic Faraway Tree – Enid Blyton.

Most especially The Eagle of the Ninth.

I’m just reading the Rosemary Sutcliffe books for the first time!

Good, aren’t they?

Good, aren’t they?

They are ace – and probably responsible for me (eventually) becoming an archaeologist. 😀

Plus honorary mentions for Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising and Alan Garner’s The Owl Service. Superb books.

My favourite book pre teens was a very old “Encyclopedia of Aviation” given to me by the next door neighbour. All World War 1 and cable controls. Fascinating stuff.

All the Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl ones. Tintin, Asterix for stuff with pictures. Read a lot of sci-fi when I was a kid. Mostly Arthur C Clarke and Asimov. I found them quite confusing though.

And those ones where they have you turn to a page based on your choice. I loved those! What are they called? Choose your own adventure or something?

IvanDobski – Member

if you could have shown 11 yr old me something like The Eldar Scrolls as I sat with my pencil and dice trying to resist keeping a finger on the previous page god knows what I’d have said!

We invented the quicksave!

Another vote for the Magic Faraway Tree here. Read it till I wore out the words.

The Borribles: Across The Dark Metropolis by Michael De Larrabeiti

It was the last of a trilogy, I read them over and over but this was my favorite. Amazing books. I’ve never met anyone else who’s read it so I’d be interested if anyone here has.

The Magic Porridge Pot is a great call! I’d forgotten that.

I remember one now about a chair, that grew little wings…what the heck was it called?

Can anyone remember a book, where luddites had taken over England, and I think the hero’s (a boy, a girl and an adult?) were trying to escape to France?

Forgot ‘The Guardians’ by John Christopher.

A great little adventure story – 1984 for kids.

The Machine Gunners
The Pigman
The Silver Sword

Can anyone remember a book, where luddites had taken over England, and I think the hero’s (a boy, a girl and an adult?) were trying to escape to France?

Do you mean The Weathermonger (1968), Heartsease (1969) and The Devil’s Children (1970)by Peter Dickinson? I had those – really enjoyed them. Televised as The Changes.

I used to get given Encyclopedia for kids, and books on prehistoric stuff and wildlife, still got some around, and it treasured a little book called, I think, The Adventures of Toby Twirl, which had brilliant illustrations. Still upstairs somewhere, a bit battered now, though. Then I found Secret Seven, Famous Five and Swallows and Amazons.
Still have the books, and I was delighted to discover all of Arthur Ransom’s books in iBooks, so I’m gradually getting the whole set of S&A books on my pad.
Discovered SF at senior school, EE ‘Doc’ Smith, Arthur C Clark, and that was it, pretty much all I read after that.
Still do.
Just done a quick Google, and there were a lot more Toby Twirl books around than I’d ever realised when I was little, feel sadly deprived, now 🙁
http://www.tobytwirl.co.uk/TT%20Books.htm
This is the one I still have:

1950 edition, so four years before I was born, it must have been given to me by a relation at sometime, amazed it’s survived over sixty years!

Ah, I’d forgotten “Bottersnikes and Gumbles” and “Flat Stanley”. I also loved “Gobelino the Witch’s Cat”, “Fattypuffs and Thinnifers” and the Uncle books, tho in hindsight Uncle was a fascist snob.

Mr Greedy

In the night kitchen (Maurice Sendak)

The Pobble who had no toes. We named our cat after aunt Jobiska…

+1 for’The Weirdstone of Brisingaman’ I’ve still got my original copy. I loved the Secret Seven series and used to love going into town on a Saturday to visit the library for some Just William books.
Happy Days indeed. 🙂

Pretty much all of the above! I read a lot… Still read Brendan Chase every couple of years – some almost poetic passages. Came to Swallows and Amazon’s quite late and read all of them through a few feverish bed-ridden months. Just William books were standard bedtime reading. Dianna Wynne Jones wrote a series of fantasy- comedy type things which I re-read several times.

Absolute favourite though, was The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar – still very readable now I’m 40 🙂

One of the few books I brought out to Australia with me was this one.

Read it when I was about 9 or 10 I think. I just had another look through it as I remembered some great drawings and prints in it.

Before that I had gone through Roald Dahl with probably the witches being my favourite, just for that slightly darker edge. CS Lewis Narnia series and I seem to remember something on Beowulf but I can’t really remember what.