Children's Books We Still Love

Wasn't that the one where they had to find a spot in the middle of a lake by matching up nearby landscape features? I always loved that.

I was such a bookworm as a child - I went through piles of books a week. It's incredibly difficult to condense that into a shortlist, but I'd have to say:

Little House on the Prairie, and the sequels
Noel Streatfeild's Ballet Shoes books
The Wind In The Willows
The Secret Garden
The Little Princess
Little Women
The Railway Children
Enid Blyton - all of them, but I was obsessed with the St Clare's books!

When I was younger, I loved the Little Grey Rabbit books, by Alison Uttley. I honestly don't know if they're even in print any more. Talking to people, I recently realised just what a fantastic primary school experience I had, with a large, well stocked library (for a very small school), and teachers who read aloud to the class almost every single afternoon. I distinctly remember being 7 years old, and having the entire book of The Hobbit read to us, in daily installments, over a long period of time (although it was perhaps just a few weeks, maybe a month). Do teachers even do that any more - and would they tackle a fairly advanced reader book, for a crowd of 7 year olds, that would take weeks to complete?

I also remember one teacher reading us The Demon Headmaster - he took inordinate pleasure reading us the descriptions of the things that happened to the children, and so the book scared me sh*tless for weeks afterwards! I have a bunch of nephews and nieces, in the age range of when I started to become book obsessed, and their Xmas and birthday presents are now heavily book-related. I'm determined that they'll get the opportunity to have same experience I did, so I'm making sure they get all the ones I loved, as well as the usual Roald Dahl, Harry Potter stuff that every kid loves!

I loved the Secret Seven as a child and wasn't a fan of the Famous Five. Re-reading them now it's the other way around. The Secret Seven really are the most frightful bunch. Snobby, rude and pompous!

Let me in that shed and to the endless ginger beer and cook's finest rock buns and fruit cake, God damm it! 😂

Someone mentioned Malcolm Saville? I found it interesting (in the Lone Pine series) how he had a group of linked characters, family and friends, who did not necessarily appear in all the books but were still main characters in the series as a whole.

Also, how he handled relationships as the kids grew to be young adults. Rather more tastefully, I seem to remember, than JK Rowling's obsession with "snogging" in the later Harry Potter novels.

Doesn't seem to have done him much good in terms of enduring popularity though.

I absolutely loved reading The Caravan Family by Enid Blyton and ever since had wanted to live or holiday in a gypsy style caravan, although now I'm older have decided holiday would be better as no way could all my junk fit in a caravan!
I also loved the My Naughty Little Sister books, we even had them on record read by Felicity Kendal. I've scoured the internet looking for recordings of that but can't find anywhere.