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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

What did your childhood taste like?

What did your childhood taste like?  Mine tasted like Ding Dongs, the American snack cake filled with cream; a terrible tomato and okra stew my mother made from frozen almost every week; Kraft macaroni and cheese, with its powdered sachet of “cheese” sauce; mashed potatoes and tinned green beans, mixed up together.

In her new book Encyclopaedia of an Ordinary Life, Amy Krouse Rosenthal catalogues the tastes of her childhood (see below) as well as bucketfuls of other bits of his life – from “lows” (grandmother dying, speeding tickets) to “coffee, stopping for” to “jobs I could never do”.

I’ll be honest, I was prepared to hate this book, because at first glance it seemed to encapsulate everything terrible about writers who are so into their own thing that they think everyone else will be too, a bit like friends who invite you out for a drink and only talk about themselves, never asking you a single question.

But in fact I loved it. It acknowledges all those thoughts we all have, all day long. It’s a memoir but really it celebrates individuality and the quotidien. I read a list of what has formed Amy and think about what has formed me.

Plus she’s got a theme song on her website, in a They Might be Giants vein.

Extracted from Encyclopaedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal published by Atlantic Books, £10.99

Women and book covers: Are we stupid?

We've had some interesting discussions about books lately on Alpha Mummy (see below for a wrap-up). I was just reading everyone's contributions to the classic childhood books post - look for a roundup of Alpha Mummy reader favouites soon.

In the meantime, there's an interesting piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer about the covers of books marketing to women. "The beautiful book is an increasingly rare thing. Most times you see one, the author is male. What does this say? All women writers deserve generic treatment while all men are special in their own way?""

Catch up on Alpha Mummy "books coverage" below.

The stages of a woman's life, according to the NYTimes bestseller list

A new kids book about cosmetic surgery

Caitlin Moran on the classic books of childhood

If having children ruins your taste in books

Do children ruin mothers’ taste in books?

It’s the best of times, it’s the worst of times, when it comes to women’s reading habits, says a new survey. 

When women settle down and have children (promulgating the species – good) they abandon “serious” literature in favour of “light and easy” books and celebrity biographies (Victoria Beckham’s life story - very bad), according to research by Netmums.com and the Bookseller.

Forty per cent of 6,000 women questioned switched from weightier works to lighter fare after having children. More than half of mothers prefer “chick lit” or “anything that doesn’t take much effort”.
Netmums cofounder Siobhan Freegard, says this “mumming down” of literature has an impact on children and mothers.

Enid Blyton Raises Another Generation

There are many aspects of my childhood I would not wish to replicate for my children. Sleeping, for two years, on the foam rubber cushions from a Volkswagen caravanette. My father’s “modish” Bombay Mix Curry. Living in Wolverhampton.
The one aspect I cannot fault, however, is the literature. When my parents moved from Brighton to Wolverhampton, when I was two, more than half of their luggage was in the form of three huge suitcases, full of children’s books, which my mother had been collecting at jumble-sales for years. They kept the suitcases under their bed and, every few months or so, when we were deemed finally “old enough,” a new handful would be brought out. We started on Mable Lucy Attwell, Shirley Hughes, The Mr Men and Noddy, and slowly progressed through The Faraway Tree, Mallory Towers, Ballet Shoes, Narnia, Alice, Blyton’s “Adventure” series, Arthur Ransome, E Nesbitt and then, through Spike Milligan’s war memoirs and the Brontes, into the wide-open uplands of my parents’ own, adult bookcases.
I have to say, I think it was the perfect selection. The definitive selection. Indeed, I actually think that list is a fairly comprehensive list of what it would take you to be a “proper” child, that would then turn into a “proper” adult. I can’t really have a full conversation with someone who can’t discuss the two lesbian tutors in Ballet Shoes, remember what it was like to come across the knitting sheep in Through The Looking Glass, cry laughing thinking of Oswald’s monologues in The Bastables, or confess to having had a wank over Mr Rochester.
Since Dora’s seventh birthday, in February, I’ve been reading her the first three Naughtiest Girl books by Enid Blyton. God, they’re even better than I remember. So brilliantly written – both wholly on a level with, and ever so slightly pushing, the reader/listener.
They actually work as wonderful parenting manuals – 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. At the moment, Julian – the clever, actually quite sexy boy with the “goblin-grin” – has his mother’s life hanging in the balance. Only a life-long commitment to cease his deployment sneezing-powder in Miss Ranger’s class, and use his “fine brains” to further medical research, instead, will save her.
Both Dora and Eavie actually do seem to have become more thoughtful, calmer, more articulate people since we started reading them. Like our weekly appointment with How To Look Good Naked, The Naughtiest Girl works as a spring-board to discuss a gigantic number of issues, and really keep on top of what’s swirling around in their lovely little heads. Even if it is, as with Eavie yesterday, a query on how often baby cows grow up to be humans.
I just might never bother with a book written after 1962. I just might live in my mother’s suitcases.

The stages of life, according to the NY Times bestsellers

  Tula Karras, a friend of Alpha Mummy who lives in New York, noticed a pattern to the lineup of most popular books in the New York Times Paperback Advice Bestseller list. The specificity of this category is intriguing in its own right (where is the "Paperbacks You Love to Read but Don't Want People to See the Cover"?). But Tula noticed that not only are the advice bestsellers helpful, the order in which they appear can serve as a kind of blueprint of modern life.

To wit (her additions in bold):

1. A NEW EARTH, by Eckhart Tolle. A spiritual teacher prescribes letting go of the ego to help end conflict and suffering.
A college-grad, freshly transplanted from the insulated “anything’s possible” campus culture to the real world of New York City, you are still idealistic enough to think that you can enact selfless change and be happy without a 5-figure monthly income.

2. THE POWER OF NOW, by Eckhart Tolle. A guide to personal growth and spiritual enlightenment.
A working youth, now a few years out of college, you realize that you can’t necessarily change the world to match your idealistic vision, but you can change yourself.

3. SKINNY BITCH, by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. Vegan diet advice from the world of modeling. (Illustration from book pictured above)
The late 20s—your metabolism is slowing, you’re not making any money in your middling job, and you’re too jaded to want to change the world or to become spiritually enlightened. Better: Lose weight, court your inner bitch, and land a rich dude.

4. WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING, by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel. Advice for parents-to-be.
Early 30s, you’ve snagged your sugar daddy and his sperm has swum the swim to your egg. You’re gonna be a momma!

5. MARTHA STEWART’S COOKIES, by Martha Stewart Living Magazine. The magazine’s editors share 175 recipes and variations.
Holy ****, why did no one tell you how hard parenting is? You need the motherlode of carbs—cookies — to eat your way out of depression and bribe your toddlers.

6. GETTING THINGS DONE, by David Allen. A productivity consultant on how to keep stress at bay through personal organization and time management. You’ve come out of your cookie coma, the kids are in school, and you’re ready to get your ducks in a row, even if it’s all just an illusion.

7. THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES, by Gary Chapman. How to communicate love in a way a spouse will understand. Your baking skills? Check. Your filing system? Check. Your career? Check. Your kids? Check. Wait, what are you forgetting ... Oh yeah, you have a husband, but barely.

8. YOU CAN HEAL YOUR LIFE, by Louise L. Hay. A counselor’s prescriptions for regaining confidence through mind-body self-healing. Screw fulfillment through your family; you’re going to find it inside your third eye.

9. MAKING THE CUT, by Jillian Michaels. Fitness and diet advice from a trainer on “The Biggest Loser” on NBC. Meditation is great, except that all that sitting on your arse has made it grown exponentially. Plus, you’re turning 40 and are obsessed with looking 30 again. If those highly micromanaged, in-the-spotlight TV "losers" with 24-hour-access to personal trainers and nutritionists can do it, you can do it on your own. With a book.

10. SKINNY BITCH IN THE KITCH, by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. Vegan recipes from the authors of “Skinny Bitch. Haven't we been here before? No, wait, this time you don't want to be skinny. This time you want to be healthy and save the world, starting with your dinner plate. If you happen to eat as few calories as an in-treatment anorexic and drop a stone while you're at it, well, it's all for a good cause.

Defending Delia's "How To Cheat". Whilst still kind of slagging it off.

The new chattering class phenomeon - well, I know two people who've done it. Surely that's enough? - is throwing "Delia Parties" when a new episode of Delia Smith's new TV show, "How To Cheat At Cooking", airs. Everyone drinks prosecco, eats roasted cashew nuts sprinkled with smoked paprika - and then spends half an hour going "URGH!" as Delia spunks tins of 75% mince into a casserole dish, or serves up oven chips covered in cottage cheese, hardboiled eggs and nuts.
The thrill of slagging off Delia - "She's just putting CREAM in a jar of SOUP! This isn't COOKING! it's just SERVING SUGGESTIONS! This is a return to the INSANE DAYS OF FANNY CRADDOCK!" - is quite heady. Like the first time you ever beat your mother in an argument.
However, whilst I'm enjoying slagging her off hugely - and, crucially, wouldn't touch a single thing she's cooked - I do wonder if we might be being a trifle (Birds strawberry "flavour", of course) unfair to her. Let’s face it – as a nation, we are eating far worse than Delia’s tinned-mince-and-frozen-mash Shepherd’s Pie. Infintisimally worse. Almost unfathomably worse. Britain currently exists on a diet of garlic bread, Space Raider crisps and banana Nesquik.
However, we seem to believe that so long as we eat Gregg’s cheese’n’onion slices, but watch Jamie throw together a mackerel and endive salad, we are, somehow, nutritionally elevated above rats. Delia's main crime is being the first - and, indeed, only - TV chef to ever acknowledge how awful our diet actually is. All she has done is be realistic about the pitiful hydrogenated spaff we live off, and suggest that, if we are going to have oven chips tonight, that we at least serve it with some (frozen) green beans on the side.
Not that any of this reasoned thought is going to stop me getting six Dirty Mummies round to scream "VILE!" all through next week's amazing episode: "Ready Made Sauces."

Video or book?

Should you let your children watch the television/film version of the text books they are reading at school? This was a letter a reader asked Chris Woodhead in Sunday Times News Review's Q&A last week. As you might expect, the former Chief Inspector of schools was pretty damning on the subject. I remember frantically watching Anthony and Cleopatra (Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, of course) the night before my English A Level.... I was a bit hazy on the plot, still am, probably. I harramphed and said of course kids should be made to read the book, not watch the video but my colleague disagreed. She'd been watching her 13-year-old daughter struggle with Pride and Prejudice. Having loved the book herself she was insistent that the daughter read it before watching Colin Firth flashing his breeches. But the daughter was getting no-where. Then in one of those motherly u-turns we all make she found herself watching the Pride and Prejudice mini-series (promising it would just be the first episode, honest). The girl loved it. And from that moment on has had her nose buried in the book. She can't get enough of it. It was if the video suddenly meant that she 'got it' , she saw past some rather arcane language (the beginning isn't the most engaging if you've no idea what to expect)  and loved the book which she otherwise might have given up on. So should we use Colin Firth, or Cranford, or Liz n Rich to get kids interested in literature? What do you think?

Dumbledore is gay

The latest revelation from JK Rowling herself: the headmaster of Hogwarts is gay

Emma from London says:

I personally would never come to think of Dumbledore as gay because it would lead to an open door for too many other possibilities which would lead to lossing sight of what the main story was all about

What do you think?

Read any good books lately?

Alpha Mummy's own Sarah Vine has just published her Great Big Glorious Book for Girls, co-authored with Rosemary Davidson. The book - the girls answer to the Dangerous Book for Boys - has come under some criticism for apparently not being feminist enough. You know, including bits about make-up and hair care alongside the bits about card tricks and practical jokes. The criticism sounds a bit anti-girl to me. What makes understanding the rules of cricket (from the DBFB) more serious or worthy than learning how to do basic sewing (from GBGBFG)? There are also bits about books, toboganning, first aid. And personally I'm just aching to play the practical joke with the ketchup sachet under the loo seat.

Click for more book faves...

Absolutely awful video

You may have seen The Manny, a novel about an affluent family who hires a male manny to look after the son (and the mother). To promote the book the author and her cousin decided to do a "funny" "edgy" video akin to Justin Timberlake's Dick in a Box, a parody that itself has been parodied (warming: this is a video for mature Alpha Mummies only). In this instance, the pair enlisted a dwarf, a former MTV VJ and some real Upper East Side socialites, which right there you know is going to be *hilarious*.

But where it fails isn't the recitation of the spoils of privileged New York City living - the nanny from Manila, the driver from Jamaica (and please don't post about how terrible it is that rich white folk hire poor ethnic household help) - but how cringe-worthy the viewing is. It's like watching your geeky uncle turn up at your 17th birthday party and try to dance with all the popular girls. A New Yorker article describes it well: as Karl Rove’s hip-hop performance at the Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association dinner demonstrated, laughing at yourself can be a tricky business.

Don't take my word for it. See for yourself.