90 most awesome old-school children's books
Stories you read when your mother put you to bed
When Caitlin Moran wrote recently about the books that defined her childhood – notably Enid Blyton’s Naughtiest Girl books - her post evoked reams of response.
“These books actually work as wonderful parenting manuals,” Caitlin said, “showing children working out their problems for themselves, and seeing the consequences of not only their actions, but their personalities. They tackle some pretty big issues, as well: ugliness, anger, loneliness, laziness, obesity, parental disaffection.”
“I just might never bother with a book written after 1962. I just might live in my mother’s suitcases.”
Loads of Alpha Mummy'ers agreed, citing books loved from childhood into adulthood. Yes, we like our children to discover them. But we still enjoy them as grownups. As one mother wrote, “I could go on [listing these] forever! In my 50s I'm collecting and rereading them all over again!”
These days we’re more likely to recognise the gender stereotyping or the homosexual overtones (or did we just imagine that?). Yet their grown-up appeal can be unexpected.
“I wrote about Enid Blyton's life and work for my university thesis, so I ended up reading my books and listening to my story tapes more in adulthood than I ever had as a kid. Suddenly all my friends started donating their long-abandoned examples. I've now digitised the tapes and put them on my iPod. [It's a] really is a great way to relax after a long day.”
Here's a by-no-means-exhaustive list of your heirloom reads - for children of various ages - in no particular order. Where possible I've put in posters' comments - lightly edited so they work with the list format.
There's also mention of a story in entry 90 about a burglar who gets trapped in a cupboard that we're still trying to get a title for. Anybody heard of it?
Post any obvious ones that got passed over. In the meantime I'm putting these on my daughter's Christmas list.
1. Enid Blyton books
“I have recently reread the Faraway Tree trilogy and, yes, I am 65. It still is magical. I have introduced my grandson and goddaughter to the same, and at 7 and 8 they are enjoying reading and escaping with Enid Blyton. The world today is so abrasive and somewhat frightening to our young. How wonderful to read and escape it for a short while every day or evening. The world of literature has been opened for many by these lovely childhood books.”
“I was always thrilled by Enid Blyton. The stories were funny and it was lovely to learn about British ways and words like tyre, boot, and torch.”
“I liked Julian from The Naughtiest Girl series but always thought the quarrel in the stables - "if you were a boy I'd show you what I really think of you" - had sexual undertones.”
2. The Patchwork Cat
“A most beautiful book by Nicola Bayley and William Mayne. My daughter would sob "Read it again! Read it again!".”
“How brilliant was that book? I have wanted a tabby my whole life because of it. 'I have done some snatchwork on your patchwork ...' genius. I learned to read late, and I think my mum must have read me that book about a million times ... and I'm keeping it for my children when they come along, too.”
3. Susan Pulls the Strings
“I loved the Susan series. Susan Pulls the Strings, Susan interferes etc. It was good to have a Scottish heroine and she was so funny. The later ones now fetch a lot of money on Amazon.”
4. Swallows and Amazons
“I love Arthur Ransome's Swallows & Amazons series. I adored the book covers too - definitely appealing.”
5. The House of Arden
“I loved time travelling books – this was a favourite.”
6. The Tiger Who Came to Tea
“It's all mummy at home and daddy popping in for dinner later on! Lol - I loved those when I was little; maybe it's why I feel a deep subconscious need to ply my other half with dinner on the table at seven and beer on tap.”
7. A Traveller in Time
“Alison Utley's A Traveller in Time is set in the doomed Babbington house, and the heroine goes back to the Elizabethan days. There was a great 'first boy' in it, Antony Babington's teenage brother, who kisses the heroine - but then she has to go back to the future, her own time. Sigh.”
8. The Wool-pack
"Cynthia Harnett's history stories (e.g. The Load of Unicorn and The Woolpack) were good."
"I loved Cynthia Harnett’s book. Children's books just used to be *better*, basically, didn't they? How sexist are the Lucy and Tom books, though?"
9. Hugh Lofting's Dr Doolittle series
“I was absolutely furious at the farcical films with the same name.”
10. Laura Ingalls Wilder books
“I named my daughter Laura after her.”
“When grown up, I read a sequel called The First Four Years in which Laura described her own experiences of motherhood, which she found extremely difficult. Mrs Ingalls made it all sound easy, but Laura burnt the house down by mistake, through exhaustion as a new mother.”
Go to second page for the entire list
11. Elizabeth Enright’s Saturdays series, Gone Away Lake series, Thimble Summer and Melendys
“Absolutely fantastic, so well-written and great stories and characters.”
12. Lois Lowry books
“My daughter says I should have mentioned the excellent Lois Lowry, particularly for her lovely Anastasia Krupnik stories - and of course she is right.”
13. The Wolves Chronicles
“My daughter received a parcel from Amazon today and I have just had to remove the Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken from her room, as otherwise she was clearly going to have a very late night indeed.”
“Definitely Joan Aiken's Wolves Chronicles (the Dido Twite books) though I was an adult when much of the series was published.”
14. The Swish of the Curtain
“I LOVE The Swish of the Curtain! Amazing! I lent it to my 16-year-old sister-in-law and she is a fan now.”
15. Ballet Shoes
“My all-time favourite childhood book was definitely Ballet Shoes. I read it mostly by torch, under the bedclothes, and still know most of it by heart.”
16. The What Katy Did series
17. Anne of Green Gables
18. Little Grey Rabbit
19. The Narnia Chronicles
“The Narnia books made me want to learn how to use a sword”
20. The Family from One End Street
“This went down particularly well with my kids (now all in their twenties).”
21. Dogger
“My daughter wept happily over anything with a lost-and-found theme like Dogger.”
22. Brother Dusty-Feet
“I'm glad someone else remembers Brother Dusty-Feet.”
23. The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch
24. The Hobbit
“This was an excellent bedtime story for all three children.”
25. Treasure Island
26. The Molesworth sequels
“Mind you, I have found nobody with whom to share my enjoyment of Molesworth. The humour is lost on my husband and daughter. (Sigh - fond memories of 'the Latin pla').”
27. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
“Some of my childhood favourites were my Mum's old ones. The ones that stand out I have been known to reread when visiting my parents (even now, in my 30s).”
28. The Chronicles of Chrestomanci
“Has anyone mentioned Diana Wynne Jones yet? Not her dark fantasy novels for older children, but the fab Chrestomanci ones. I do wish they'd start making films/TV series on them, but I reserve casting rights over Chrestomanci. It would be dire if he were played by someone horrible.”
29. Pippi Longstocking
30. Hating Alison Ashley
31. Marguerite Henry's Misty of Chincoteague series
32. The Punchbowl series
“Monica Edwards is responsible for me going to agricultural college despite early years as a townie!”
33. Mary O'Hara's Thunderhead series
34. Joyce West's Driver's Road series
35. Rosina Copper
"A wonderful story about an ex-polo pony"
36. The Mirrors of Castle Doone
“No one has mentioned the author Elisabeth Kyle, who wrote this book (among others). Her books were mysteries set in Scotland, and that was the first foreign country I ever wanted to visit.”
37. L.M. Montgomery's books
“Especially Jane of Lantern Hill and Blue Castle.”
38. Ruby Ferguson's Jill books
39. Susanna Gretz's Teddybears series
“Witty”
40. The Garden Gang books
41. Blackberry Farm books
42. Rebecca's World by Terry Nation
“It’s about a girl who looks through the wrong end of a telescope and ends up on another planet which she has to save from ghosts and a greedy businessman who has cut down all the trees which protect from the ghosts, aided by her new friends - a superhero in wrinkly tights and Grimsby who has painful feet. Still one of my favourite books.”
43. Fattypuffs & Thinifers
“Thanks for whoever remembered Fattypuffs & Thinifers! Excellent...but probably very un-PC in these days of childhood obesity and healthy eating. I always preferred the comfy loveliness of the Fatties to the fierce Spartan-like existence of the Thinnies.”
“My children stopped talking to me after I got terribly excited IN PUBLIC on finding that Fattypuffs and Thinifers by Andre Maurios has been reprinted.”
44. Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales
“While I wouldn’t go back and reread it now, I think it was also seminal in terms of cultural references.”
45. Black Beauty
46. One Is One
“By Barbara Leonie Picard. I reread that last one a few years back and still cried.”
47. Little Wooden Horse
“Lovely - glad to see a very good obituary for her in the Times a year or so back.”
48. Gymnast Gilly series
49. Sweet Valley High books
“This is definitely not good literature, but I confess to having really enjoyed the 'Sweet Valley' books!”
50. Asterix
“I loved Asterix thanks to my father reading them to me with all the different voices.”
51. The Life of a Country Child
52. Dancing Peel series
53. Dune series
“Another series of books that my dad gave me and I have read and reread are the Dune books. Frank Herbert's son and another author revisited his notes and have created two trilogy prequels that I have been enjoying.”
54. Rumer Godden stories
“Does anybody remember the magical Rumer Godden stories such as Miss Happiness and Miss Flower (about a little girl far away from her home in India, who makes a house for two Japanese dolls sent by her god-mother)? She also wrote The Doll's House for children.”
55. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
“There are lots of 'small child' books that I still love reading to my kids.”
56. The Teddybears books
57. The Land of Green Ginger
“Has no one mentioned Noel Langley's The Land of Green Ginger yet? Still makes me giggle today that one.”
58. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
59. Eric Linklater's 'The Wind on the Moon'
60. Charlotte’s Web
“I was mesmerised by this book.”
61. The Bridge to Terabithia
62. Mantlemass series
“I remember reading the Mantlemass books by Barbara Willard as a teenager. They were about the generations of a family living through medieval times right up to the Civil War in a village in Sussex.”
63. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
“The first book that I ever bought for myself with my own money (and I believe that I still have hidden in my basement) was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”
64. By the Banks of Plum Creek
“As a small child, it all sounded wonderfully exciting. As a mother myself, reading the same stories to my two daughters, all I could think was "How did that woman cope! No running water, no plumbing, no electricity, no endless cups of tea..."”
65. The Bobbsey Twins
66. Fanny and the Monsters
67. Hardy Boys series
“My dad never thought he would be passing these down to his daughter (I never cared for Nancy Drew, though!)."
68. Louisa May Alcott books
“I live near Vevey and still think of Laurie proposing to Amy every time I drive through.”
69. Where The Wild Things Are
“Who could forget it?”
70. The Greatest Gresham
“I came across it in my old primary school library.”
71. The Owl Service
“I remember being scared to bits by Alan Garner.”
72. The Magic Wishing Chair
73. The Robber Hotzenplotz
“The pictures made a big impact on me, especially an ornate picture of coffeepot which may have started a lifelong addiction.”
74. Mrs. Pepperpot books
“We used to read/be read these, which I think were written by a Norwegian author. Really good.”
75. Worst Witch books
76. Marigold in Godmother's House
“One book not mentioned (and I've enjoyed remembering all the others listed) is this one by Joyce Lankaster Brisley. (It's back in print and can be found on Amazon.) A jug rises up in the air to become a trickling fountain and a bowl sinks into the ground to become a moss-covered pool for Marigold's bath, how delicious.”
77. Jean Little’s books
This Canadian writer wrote Mine for Keeps, Spring Begins in March, and Home from Far.
78. The Moomin books
79. Gobbolino the Witch's Cat
80. The Little Grey Men
81. Down By The Bright Stream
82. The Five Find-Outers
“This is superb. I still get great pleasure out of the similarity between my daughter's name (she's Hets for short) and that of Bets! (And, while we're at it, the long version of her name features strongly in Five Go To Mystery Moor...)”
83. Anything by the Pullein-Thompsons
84. Sylvie and Bruno books
85. Rilla of Ingleside books
86. Lois Duncan books
“I loved and was slightly scared by Lois Duncan.”
87. Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl
88. Girl of the Limberlost
89. The Classic Tales of Brer Rabbit
90. The Wind In The Willows
“I appreciate this book far more as an adult than I did as a child, for it can be read at any level. But the copy I had from primary school also had one of the most spellbinding stories with it, but I cannot remember the author nor the title. It concerned someone intent on burgling a house, who, on hearing what he thought were family returning, got himself inside a cupboard, and when the coast was clear, tried to extricate himself and found the doors securely locked......
It was impossible to return to riverbanks and musings on life after that! Coupled with a frightening but absolutely necessary "Journey Into Space" on the radio, this childhood mind was deliciously scared to death.”
Many ,many memories in the lists. I think the Ransome books are in paperback, as I have been collecting them for my I-year-old granddaughter--you cant be too careful! My personal favourites during the War included the Just So stories, Puck of Pooks Hill, Rewards and Fairies, Kim and Captains Courageous, all by Kipling. (I remember the editions I borrowed from the library had the swastika badge he used until the rise of Hitler, which puzzled me slightly at the time.) All Kiplings writing for children gives that impression of opening-up perspectives on the adult world which is especially intriguing.
Posted by: John Wusteman | 9 May 2009 18:06:04
I have to mention 5 dolls in a house, and others, by Helen Clare. An absolute delight and still as funny today. Also, William, by Richmal Crompton. Funnier now as so many throw away comments are aimed at adults. And E Nesbit, Enid Blyton, Tolkein, anything by Alan Garner, George Macdonald Fraser, the Scarlet Pimpernell, Mary Poppins, the Three Musketeers, Pamela Brown's Swish of the Curtain series, Jane Eyre, and Lang's colour fairy books. And why has no one mentioned the Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper?
Posted by: Carole | 3 Jan 2009 18:34:12
Where are "The Railway Children"? Also, by the same author as "Girl of the Limberlost", "Freckles". For older children I'd add "Island of Blue Dolphins", based on a true story of an abandoned Chumash Indian girl surviving against all odds with her little brother on an island off the 19th century California coast. For older boys "The Three Musketeers", and James Fennimore Cooper's adventuresome, danger filled Leatherstocking stories like "Last of the Mohicans". List is good, but heavily skewed girl-wards.
Posted by: KL | 31 Dec 2008 21:15:31
I start my "Ten Books No Child Should Miss" list with several books that I don't think have been mentioned.
(1) For very young children, Virginia Burton's "The Little House", winner of the 1943 Caldecott Medal. Unforgettable.
(2) Kate Douglas Wiggins' "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm". If you think a 1903 book can't speak to the modern mind, think again. I know children as young as 6 and adults as old as 75 who've read this book for the first time and loved it.
[ Author Jack London wrote Kate Douglas Wiggin a letter about her classic Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm from the headquarters of the First Japanese Army in Manchuria in 1904: "May I thank you for Rebecca?... I would have quested the wide world over to make her mine, only I was born too long ago and she was born but yesterday.... Why could she not have been my daughter? Why couldn't it have been I who bought the three hundred cakes of soap? Why, O, why?" Mark Twain called Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm "beautiful and warm and satisfying."]
(3) Rachel Fields' "Hitty: Her First Hundred Years, 1930 Newbury Prize, illus. by Caldecott Medal winner Dorothy Lathrop.
The utterly bewitching story of a tiny jointed wooden doll carved for little Phoebe Preble, a Maine sea captain's little daughter by a peddler marooned in the Preble home by a blizzard. Hitty herself tells the story of her worldwide adventures over the next century.
[The actual doll that inspired the story was given by Rachel Field to the Stockbridge, Mass. library and can be seen there today.]
(4) Carol Ryrie Brink's "Caddie Woodlawn", 1936 Newbury Prize winner. Like the Little House series, a wonderful slice of American history and a story my grandsons loved almost as much as the granddaughters did.
(5) The "Anne of Green Gables" books, of course. Next best to the first of the series, I loved "Anne of Windy Poplars". If you just get two, let it be these.
(6) If I had to pick just one book as the most beloved of my childhood, it would have to be F.H. Burnett's "The Secret Garden". I quite literally cried, at ~9 years old, when I realized I had only a few more pages to read and the book would be finished.
(7) Second on that "most beloved" list would be Betty Smith's 1943 "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn". We're talking older children here, I guess, but I was not quite 10 years old when I read it for the first time.
(8) "The Velveteen Rabbit", without doubt. I can't read it now without tearing up.
(9) All the Milne books, Ernest Shepard illus. only.
(10) "Wind in the Willows", Ernest Shepard illustrations only.
For some great boys' books, look at the list of Newbury Prize winners starting about 1940. The 30s seemed to favor stories about girls, but in the 40s there came classics like Johhny Tremain, Adam of the Road, The Matchlock Gun, Call It Courage.
Posted by: Phronsie | 12 Dec 2008 17:21:16
This has brought great pleasure to me as I remember some classics and many many favourites. I am several months behind but for Esther - Oct 18th. The little girl was not Susie but Madam Mary Mary. Another brilliant book by Joan Robinson. Mary Mary had five brothers and sisters whose names all began with M (Miriam, Mervyn, Meg - now I am stuck) and a toy mouse called Poppet.
Posted by: Sally | 8 Dec 2008 05:07:02
Kidnapped; Treasure Island; Gulliver's Travels; Robinson Crusoe (the original long, long version; The Swiss Family Robinson; Biggles; Tom Brown's Schooldays; and on and on. I still have a number of them in my attic. But in the seventy years after that I never read so much fiction ever again.
J. P. Ward.
Posted by: j.p. ward | 20 Nov 2008 21:18:27
The armitage family stories by Joan Aiken
The happy prince by oscar wilde
Goodnight Mr. Tom
little women
the root cellar
and many many many of those already mentioned
Posted by: Salima | 20 Nov 2008 15:19:11
My all time favourite was Hans Christian Anderson's Fairy Tales. The book my mother gave me one Christmas still has pride of place on my book shelves.
Posted by: Georgina | 20 Nov 2008 13:25:40
I love this! I saddens me that so few of my generation read properly (I am 20). But where is Charlotte Sometimes? I might have picked it up (like Charlotte's Web) because of the name, but is has come with me everywhere to date, and always will.
Posted by: Charlotte | 20 Oct 2008 16:57:30
What about Milly Molly Mandy ? And the Teddy Robinson books and also a book about a girl called Susie - maybe Susie at Home? Who wore her clothes over her pyjamas to paint the gate to suprise her mum, and tried to make perfume out of rose petals? Plus a book about a girl who met Queen Elizabeth 1 -maybe called Perdita?
Posted by: Esther | 18 Oct 2008 18:33:01
The Borrowers
Charlotte's Web
James and the Giant Peach - in fact anything Roald Dahl
Frances Hodgson Burnett books
The Princess and Curdie books by George MacDonald, one of the Inklings along with Lewis and Tolkien
Five Children and It
Tom's Midnight Garden
Winnie the Pooh
Alice in Wonderland
Linnets and Valerians - Elizabeth Goudge
To Sir with Love
Just Willam
Posted by: Nicky | 19 Sep 2008 10:54:39
Everything by Antonia Forest. Also did other people read Masha by Mara Kaye and the sequel The Youngest Lady in Waiting? About a young Russian girl, set in the nineteenth century. Brilliant - can't believe they are out of print.
Posted by: Keren | 27 Aug 2008 07:45:42
Glad to see you mention the Moomins, but I'm surprised that it took Margaret Fryer to mention Five Children and It and E.F. Nesbit's other fine books.
And where is The Jungle Book? I read that every year from about nine to my late teens, and I know I've read it at least three or four times in the last thirty years.
And Kay Thompson's Eloise series - a perfect manual of juvenile mischief. I've given volumes to adults...which reminds me, my best friend's birthday is next week...
Justine Cullinan describes All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor as "the adventures of five daughters of Jewish immigrants, New York circa 1912. I wish someone had told me that when I was a child hungry for good stories. The stodgy cover art of the post-WWII edition my public library carried reminded me of well-intended, hyper-quotidian story books set in the American Midwest, where nothing in particular ever happened. But I would have snapped up a story about an immigrant family of my grandmother's generation, faster than the speed of light.
Posted by: Michaele Maurer | 26 Aug 2008 03:01:14
Anyone else remember Monica Edwards, wonderful stories about Tamzin,Rissa, Roger and Meryon down in Sussex - No Going Back etc.or the farming family with Lindsay, Dion and co. near Hindhead - Punchbowl Midnight etc? Also loved Malcolm Saville adventure stories set around three or four families. How about Moonfleet - J.M. Faulkner? Wish I had kept them all!
Posted by: Jennifer Burton | 24 Aug 2008 15:34:40
Someone mentioned "Daddy Long Legs" by Jean Webster. That and its sequel, "Dear Enemy," are nearly 100 years old but have never been out of print.
Posted by: Cathaleen | 2 Aug 2008 19:03:01
Does nobody remember Rosemary Sutcliff - Simon is the all time favourite, and The Gauntlet by Ronald Welch. Also the Jennings books by Anthony Buckeridge - all passed on to my children
Posted by: Sarah Clelford | 30 Jul 2008 13:02:15
i also loved those Tom McCaughren's books about foxes, as mentioned by Annette. I would also add to the list the BFG by Roald Dahl, and Toms Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce.
Also did anyone read The 18th Emergency and the Midnight Fox by Betsy Byers (or Bryars??..cant remember)? I loved those, even today i still re-read the 18th emergency every so often.
Posted by: Ella | 28 Jul 2008 13:30:50
My favourite book was The Mouse and His Child - a perfect introduction to philosophical puzzles (and a lovely story) that will fascinate any child that likes The Phantom Tolbooth.
Also must mention Gobbelino the Witch's Cat, Pyewacket, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and Elidor.
Posted by: Bellabinkle | 28 Jul 2008 01:30:52
One more thing: thanks for the recommondation for Fattypuffs and Thinifers.
Looks good. Just ordered it from the UK. Can't find it here stateside.
To whom do I send the bill too? :)
Posted by: Joan In Michigan | 27 Jul 2008 15:41:08
I am always looking for classic or good to read childrens fiction for my own children. Lists like this are very refreshing as they usually send me on a booking hunting expedition ( library interloans/garage sales/ebay/etc) to locate writers that are obscure across the pond. I don't know which is better, the constant searching for a well recommended book, finding the book or reading the book and realizing what a great book it is. Win/Win/Win!
If I can return the favor for book lovers : Never Miss a Sunset by Jeanette Gilge is a part of a Pioneer series ( christian themed, apparently, but I didn't catch that at all as I devoured this book constantly at the age of 11-`13. I went to a private religious school and was put off by anything religious then and now. Anywhooo. If you like Little House on the Prairie, this is along those lines. Haven't read the other books in the series.It is out of print, but can be found at Christian book stores.)
Another Out of Print book that will probably never see the light of day again is Sinbad and Me by Kin Platt. A boy and his dog solve a mystery through architecture. The fact that a 11 or 12 year old boy is left home alone for the weekend means it will never be reissued. Copies routinely sell online for over $100usd.
21 Balloons by William Dubois ( I think) is a adventure story for the ages.
Apple Cake(s) by Nienke Van H(something). A wonderful book about giving away freely to someone in need and recieving back much more than you ever could imagine. Picture book.
I could go on. But if anyone wants to drop a list of their favorite kids ( picture-teen) books ( old and new.) email me at jfarndt@gmail (dot)com.
Posted by: Joan In Michigan | 27 Jul 2008 15:38:05
All books mentioned are great, but I remembered Mrs Frisby and the rats from NIMH, by Robert C. O'Brien the other day, I loved it and now so does my daughter.
Posted by: M | 27 Jul 2008 14:28:36
Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Posted by: Jasmine | 27 Jul 2008 05:10:53
What about Swallows and Amazons? -- the whole series. Arthur Ransome did a great job with these. I read them to my sons, and they loved them. Sad to say, they seem to have been forgotten; they are very hard to find today.
Posted by: John L. | 26 Jul 2008 16:16:47
The Green Knowe books, The phantom Tollbooth, A dog so Small, I am David...... Enid Blyton's Circus books, I could go on and on. Many of the books mentioned here I've read to my sons, the kind of stories that they would never read themselves but which I feel help to create a rich inner life in which to lose oneself from time to time.
Posted by: Mel | 26 Jul 2008 07:03:05
I am surprised that no one has mentioned the "My Father's Dragon" series. Those were a personal favorite. I am also surprised at the lack of E.L. Konisburg and Shel Silverstien (mostly poetry but Lafcadio was an amazing story that i still reread today). I also enjoyed Swiss Family Robinson in my youth and read it at least 20 times.
Posted by: Larissa | 25 Jul 2008 21:34:47