The best books and the best schools - what inspired you?

Don't let anyone say that The Times and Times Online aren't good to you. We currently have two educational offerings which may be of huge help to parents - and schools.

First up is the Books for Schools programme. which offers books in return for tokens from the paper.  As many of you will know, schools are often desperate for more books. Well, this is the way to get them. The range of books in the programme is vast (you can see it on the site), and it's incredibly worthwhile.

Also ready to help parents is Parent Power - an easily searchable database of the top 2,000 schools in Britain. It's a very helpful tool as we parents continue to try and find the best for our children....

But back to the books. As many of you will know from your own experiences, books can be incredibly inspiring. In yesterday's Times, some of the paper's writers told of the children's books which inspired them, and the right book can be something you will never forget. I admit that Enid Blyton's Famous Five made a huge impression on me (I still remember saving up my pocket money to buy yet another of the paperbacks - they were 40p each, which must show my age), as did her Children of Cherry Tree Farm (I think I learnt all I know about the country from that - which is rather worrying), not to mention the Island and Castle of Adventure series. Her books may be dated now, but Enid Blyton did know how to tell a good story, and she showed me how you can get lost in the written word.

At a slightly older age I also adored Alison Uttley's A Traveller in Time, about a girl who gets sent back in time to the 16th century and is caught up in the Babington Plot. I think my continuing love for the Tudors probably began then, so it had definite educational benefits!

So what children's book inspired you? Was it a picture book (Ben Macintyre wrote of how he loved Where the Wild Things Are) or something you discovered when you were older (Caitlin Moran picked one of the Narnia books)? My daughter is currently an avid fan of a new boarding school series called School Friends and seems to read or re-read one of them each night. Let me know what you loved, or what your children currently can't get enough of....

Read School Gate on:

The 25 best boarding school books

The best books for boys - whether they like reading or not!

Is Horrid Henry too horrid for kids?

The 20 best picture books

The 10 best educational TV programmes

The best TV shows set in schools

The most inspiring teachers in the movies

And read Alpha Mummy's book discussions, Enid Blyton raises another generation and the 90 most awesome old-school children's books

Comments

[Michaelpaddy]

Comics were the staple diet. Dandy, Beano, Beezer, Eagle,Tiger. American comics. War comics. Horror comics.

William books ( I have this very week borrowed one from the library ...)
Treasure Island
Thirty Nine Steps
Sherlock Holmes
The Pickwick Club ( no, I didnt choose it ... a school book ... but it is a great read)
Hornblower series
James Bond series
Billy Liar

[Irene Newbury]

Enid Blyton was my favourite when I was young. At boarding school I used to read The Scarlet Pimpernel by torch light under the covers at night. It all added to the excitement.I can hardly believe a reader saying that there were no midnight feasts at her boarding school....we had the lot: midnight feasts,short sheeting ,pillow fights, and secret stashes of food hidden all over the place

[Martha]

I loved many of the books mentioned here. Others I have read as an adult.

My favourite Chrismas gift was my annual - Teddy Bear Toybox, Twinkle, and later Diana.

Ruth M. Arthur is not mentioned here. She wrote some great books for older girls.

See http://www.ggbp.co.uk/ for info about new copies of some of the girls' books mentioned here.

I also loved a set of Arthur Mee's children's encyclopedias at my grandpaents' house.

[sophie]

I loved the pony books from my mum's childhood. Ruby Ferguson's 'Jill' series especially, but also the stories written by the Pullein-Thompson sisters. All the Enid Blyton books too, from The Faraway Tree to Mallory Towers and St Clair's - i too was desperate to go to boarding school!

[Nicky]

What Katy Did, What Katy Did at School, What Katy Did Next.

These, along with the Little Women series, and the Mallory Towers, St Clares and Chalet School books were my absolute favourites. I still re-read them today.

I always wanted to go to boarding school - wonder why?!!

[Eleanor]

My children are absolutley obsessed with 'The Prophecy of kinnaird' by Cassandra Bellingham. We originally took it out on loan from our local library but they love it so much we had to buy them a copy each. Its lovely to find a well written book that we all like so much and I have enjoyed reading it to them as much as they have enjoyed listening. She reminds me very much of Enid Blyton. There is the same mix of adventure, mischeif and innocence,

[Phil Wallington]

What about "Treasure Island", "Peter Pan", "The Wind in the Willows", "The Thirty-Nine Steps", "The Jungle Book", "Kim", etc.etc.?

I am probably caught in an Edwardian time-warp but whatever happened to these ripping yarns?

[Cathy]

Emma:

How lovely to find this thread! I'm working backwards slowly.

I came rather late in life to some of the books you mention but still found magic in such stuff as 'Playing Beattie Bow' - isn't it marvellous? And of course the 'Little House' books. I agree that the books are infinitely better than the TV show.

I was lucky enough to be able to study children's lit for several years and now have a collection to be cherished.

[Cathy]

Ooooh! A Traveller in Time. What a marvellous, dreamlike, almost mystical book. It makes me shiver. Similarly Tom's Midnight Garden.

I have a list of timeslip books somewhere, if anyone would be interested.

[Alita Kelley]

Blank mind. Classics omitted GO!
Cue for treason (G.Trease);Williams; Romanys;Bunkles;Mary Plains; Frank Richards'comics from of Dad's attic. Around 12 discovered Edgar Wallace's "The dark eyes of London" and left kid's books behind. Wondered why kids in books were always posh. Anyone care to share thoughts about these?

[Emma]

Just reading the titles listed here makes me want to climb up into the attic and root them all out. I was an avid reader and used to stock up at church jumble sales where old children's books could be bought for next to nothing. I never found the modern editions of the books which I had to buy to fill the gaps in the various series had as much magic, and looking online at some of the flashy cover graphics of the titles listed here depresses me. Full marks to 'Girls Gone By' who publish some of these favourites using original graphics. Other childhood favourites were the Antonia Forest Marlow family books, the Bobbsey Twins, everything by Noel Streatfield (now confusingly retitled) and the fantastic pioneer stories by Laura Ingalls Wilder, a million times better than the TV series. Also Cold River, Playing Beattie Bow, Cue For Treason, One More River, A sound of Chariots, Pippi Longstocking, Little O, and many many more. I have to admit spending more time in work than is strictly necessary in the school library 'keeping up' with children't literature!!

[Sho]

Langtonhighway! I could kiss you!

Krabat (Preussler) has just been made into a film and I've been trying to think what the book is called in English.

The Satanic Mill - gave me goosebumps when I read it.

[Yi-Peng Li]

Although I grew up with the old-school Ladybird books (Well-Loved Tales series, etc)., I tended to like some of the Dr. Seuss books quite a lot. However, I would say that the Roald Dahl stories and the Beatrix Potter books were the children's books I enjoyed reading, and still do today. Many people have sung the praises of the Dahl books, and I enjoy them all because they appeal to our deepest longings. I also find the Beatrix Potter stories appealing because one would surely like to be in that long-vanished and genteel world of her anthropomorphic animals. But I also enjoy the Narnia stories of C.S. Lewis and the Middle-earth stories of Tolkien.

[Fernando]

Oh, also Sandokan, by Emilio Salgari.

[Fernando]

Jules Verne's books, and books of Mythology and history. The Three Musketeers, and some versions of the Iliad and Odyssey (I read them when I was 9, I don't remember if they were youth editions or regular ones, but I loved both books).

[philip freeman]

growing up in the 50s and 60s it seemed like natural progression from the beano and dandy to the rover or tiger and then dear Enid Blyton whose secret 7 were my favourite because they didn't seem so stuffy! I cannot believe how her books are now censored, I bought my grandaughter a new copy of "the magic tree' and it was full of alterations (boy is not called Dick anymore! I ask you) My own favourite childrens book is Treasure Island but who could resist William?

[jcg]

I wish I could find a Pookie book...

[Cherie Martin]

So so so many! An avid reader since I can remember - Enid Blyton was an absolute favourite, but especially Noddy, Famous Five, Secret Seven, 'Adventure' series and Five Find-outers and several short story collections about pixies and brownies who lived at the end of the garden. I so wanted to be in a club and have a badge, and solve mysteries...hence the Hardy Boys, the Three Investigators and Trixie Belden soon followed. And who could forget the classics: Anne of Green Gables, the Narnia series, The Secret Garden and The Little Princess, Little Women, Nurse Matilda..one of my greatest joys as an English teacher was when I worked at a prep school and had the chance to introduce a new generation of young readers to these classics, who ended up adoring them as much as I do, while still enjoying the more modern fodder of Jacqueline Wilson and Harry Potter. It is sad that Enid Blyton is seen as 'inappropriate' nowadays when even just from reading these posts it is apparent what an influence she had on so many of my generation and before.

[Rosie]

The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. Pure magic.

[Kit]

...and Tom's Midnight Garden of course. I've been trying to go back in time ever since I read it (and saw the amazing 1980s BBC series)

[Kit]

More than any other books, the Chalet School series, Anne of Green Gables and Little Women have shaped who I am and what I strive to be

[Sarah Ebner]

Hello Saman,

If you look at my post on the best boarding school books, http://timesonline.typepad.com/schoolgate/2008/08/the-best-boardi.html
you will see that the Chalet School is at number one! I think you might enjoy this list too!

[saman]

didn't anyone else love the "chalet school books"? i was in awe of the way everyone in them spoke french and german as well as english. i was already studying french in school and when i got the chance i studied german in college.
also: the "lone pine" series and other books by malcolm saville; e.nesbit; l.m. montgomery; lorna hill's ballet series; eleanor farjeon; there were the books by the american writer eleanor estes: ginger pye, pinky pye, the moffat family series, i found them at the local library, never saw them again. and of course, billy bunter, by frank richards!

[Sho]

Oh I just saw that someone else loved Green Smoke - but it's by Rosemary Manning (there are 4 in the series, I'm still trying to get the 4th Dragon in the Harbour)

And The Children of Willow Farm & Mr Galliano's Circus (both Blytons) were favourites of mine.

Alongside all sorts of others from The Secret Garden to A Dog So Small through The Hobbit and Mallory Towers back to Lord of the Rings and any number of other brilliant novels.

But the Green Smoke trilogy and the Narnia books were, and remain, my absolute favourites.

[langtonhighway]

What about "The stream that stood still" and "The tree that sat down" - but can't remember who wrote them. Magical. I also remember my infant school teacher reading us "Gobbolino the witch's cat" which my daughter now has on her shelf. Happy days.

[Sean Marshall]

The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings becuse unlike what critics say these books get you to dream. Inspire you to question and imagine Germaine Greer and others missed the pont calling them racist and childish, these books have a depth to them that they will never undrestand their loss oh to dream and imagine a world which could be real long ago and where their is a world of mystery and adeventure.

[Shirle from Baku]

Hans Christian Andersen

Jules Gabriel Verne “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”, “The Mysterious Island”

Astrid Lindgren “Karlsson-on-the-Roof”

Mark Twain “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”

[andy]

W.E Johns, Biggles. Something like 90 books to read. Lead me into aviation and a career that has never seen me unemployed in 35 years.

Alan Garner, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen. I have never been without a copy and I can reread it with pleasure anytime.

[Whimsey]

BTW, Johanna Spyri wrote another children's book than Heidi - I can't remember what it was called, something like A Carol for Christmas, about a poor family, with a widowed mother, who lived high on the alps, and she teaches the children to sing a carol at Christmas. They go round the village in the valley, singing, and people give them Christmas treats to eat for their Christmas lunch, etc.

Then, the following summer, the mother gets ill, and can't do the farm work, and they run out of food, so the oldest child says let's go down to the village and sing our carol again and maybe people will give us somethign to eat like they did at Christmas. And they do go down to the village and sing.

There are a group of American hiker students in the inn garden, and they laugh to hear the lyrics about freezing snow and icy winds, etc, and then the little girl cries because they are laughing, and so they stop and ask the children why they are singing about Christmas in summer, and they say their mother is ill and they have no food, so the students march up the mountain with them, and bring food, and then they see the mother can knit the most beautiful patterned wool jumpers, and one of them arranges for her to supply luxury New York shops with them, and they all have enough money and live happily ever after.

Oh dear, I'm crying just as I type the story!

[Whimsey]

I loved Heidi! Sleeping in a hayloft. What bliss!

[AK]

Loads of favourite books as a child (Enid Blyton still going strong into late 90's) but the ones that inspired me most were Tiger in the Well, 1984 and Junk.
As a child a book that tells you that adults make mistakes (1984, Tiger) was amazing and Junk made me not want to touch drugs without being a preachy book.
Junk cant really be read by children but give it to your teens after reading it yourself. Melvin Burgess is an amazing writer who doesn't shy away from difficult issues, nor does he patronise his readers.

[Alison, Treuddyn]

Has to be The Phantom Tollbooth - great for getting people into numbers and words. For a real heartache how about The House of Sixty Fathers - all about a little japanese boy who loses his parents in the war. Great feelgood reads are the Anne of Green Gables books. For Adventure it had to be the Adventure series and for a good bed-time read - Heidi.

[trianon]

favourite childrens books:

little women - louisa m alcott
black beauty - anna sewell
heidi - johanna spyri (?)
the lion the witch and the wardrobe - c s lewis (I read this again and again)
wind in the willows
tom sawyer
what katy did
the snow queen - bros grimm(?)

[trianon]

favourite childrens books:

little women - louisa m alcott
black beauty - anna sewell
heidi - johanna spyri (?)
the lion the witch and the wardrobe - c s lewis (I read this again and again)
wind in the willows
tom sawyer
what katy did
the snow queen - bros grimm(?)

[John]

All of Rosemary Sutcliff's historical adventures. They are fantastic and still read well thirty years after I first got them out the library.
Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising sequence is also fantastic! The best children's books rival anything produced for adults, in my view.

PS: Thanks for the reminder of the Puffin Club. Can the over 40s still join?

[red's girl]

For Candida,

There's a book called How's Business, about a little boy in London during WW2. It's fantastic, I first read it aged about 10 and read it over and over again. I have not idea whether it's still in print but it would be worth looking. The other more famous one of course is Goodnight Mr Tom.

[janet]

all started with winnie the pooh,then rupert bear, the secret seven and the faraway tree inspired me to have many adventures . by the age of seven it was famous five and other enid blyton adventures(like the river of adventure) and ruby fergusons 'jill' books. god bless enid

[katharine]

I loved the 'Adventure' series by Enid Blyton, and teh Flambards Series.

Also really enjoyed the 3 books in 'Across the Barricades' by Joan Lingard - based in Northern Ireland.

I remember Daddy Long Legs too - but can't remember who it was by?

Also the not very well know Eight Cousins and the sequel Rose in Bloom by louisa m Alcott - first book i really remember sobbing my eyes out to!!

[Phil Canning]

"Grimble" by Clement Freud (1968, now sadly out of print)
"What would you do if: you did not have a fixed birthday? your parents usually communicated with you by notes? you came home from school on Monday to find that your parents had gone, without warning, to Peru?"

A brilliant book that introduced me to cooking. One of JK Rowling's favourite three books. I believe the sequel, "Grimble at Christmas", may be being re-released for this Christmas.

[Becky]

Rosemary Sutcliff especially her King Arthur series. Green Smoke about a dragon who lives in a Cornish cave, oh and The Silver Sword an absolute must to introduce WWII to kids

[Em]

Patricia Lynch: Book Shop On The Quay, The Turf Cutter's Donkey.

Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Jo's Boys, Tom Sawyer, The Silver Chalice.

And,wanting to be like my Dad, I remember asking at the library for The Baggy Trousered Philanthropist!

My son, who's now 34, loved The Prairie Boy's Winter and later anything by Judy Blume.

Wonderful memories of being read to, reading alone, reading to my son and now my grandchilden.

[Ged]

My dad casually handed me a copy of Rascal by Sterling North when I was eight.
I was completely entranced and devoured it. It started me on a book reading odyssey which has never really stopped.
I hope it's still being read by children today!

[Pamela]

Anything and everything by Enid Blyton and Diana Wynne Jones. I also loved The Wind in the Willows, Watership Down, Alice in Wonderland and the Moomin series. Wonderful books, all of them.

[Candida Williamson]

Suggestions, please. I am bringing my grandaughters to London in the spring -- their first trip to the U.K. Their ages are 10 and 11. I want to inspire them -- especially about the experiences of British children in WWII, and life in London from a "tweenies" point of view. Any reading suggestions?

[reader]

How about Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue?? Toby Tyler? Mary Jane?

[reader]

How about Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue?? Toby Tyler? Mary Jane?

[Jo]

Enid Blyton all the way. I love her and still adore her and read her books. My toddler loves her books as well. She gave my childhood so much magic, mystery and adventure.

[j.p. ward]

PS: I forgot to mention my mother's cookery book. I'm pretty sure most boys would have said it was their favourite reading too at some early stage in their lifes.
J. P. Ward

[Cyril]

I was born in the U.S. in 1934 on a small farm in the middle of the state of Georgia.

The books that I enjoyed most prior to my 11th birthday were: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Connecticut Yankee in King Aurthur's Court, and the 4-volume Bulfinch's Mythology.

[Mama]

Valerians is the correct spelling!

[Mama]

I just re-read the Wolves of Willoughby Chase!! Loved it! My children loved Linnets and Valarians by Elizabeth Goudge.

[celticghirl]

Enid Blyton, The Hobbit and
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster - Brilliant

[belinda]

Enid Blyton (especially the Adventure series), C.S Lewis, E Nesbit (the Psammead, wonderful creation), Alan Garner (pre-Harry Potter parallel universe), Tolkien, The Silver Sword - reading that now to my daughter, she's spellbound - all the Little House series.....happy memories

[Frankie]

Enid Blyton and Malcolm Saville got me through my childhood. I would have loved JK Rowling as a child too.

[Lillabet]

Where do I start? There are so many; a small selection below:
Meg & Mog
Jill Murphy - The Worst Witch series
Roald Dahl - All of them!
Astrid Lindgren - the Pippi Longstocking series
C.S. Lewis - Narnia Series
A.A. Milne - The Winnie the Pooh books
Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows
Enid Blyton - Famous Five Series (I SO wanted to be George!)
Arthur Ransome - Swallows & Amazons Series
H. Ryder Haggard - Allan Quartermain/She/King Solomon's Mines
Eleanor Brent-Dyer - The Chalet School Series
J.R.R Tolkien - The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings books
Terry Pratchett - Discworld
David Gemmell - Drenai Series
Wilbur Smith - most of them (at a later age)!
Like I said, that is a small selection. I still have most, if not all, my childhood books and I have an ever expanding library of varied books - much to my husband's despair (he's not a big reader)).

[Edith Cotin]

The Doll's House by Rumer Goden and books by E.E.Nesbit among many many others

[SecretSpi]

From early childhood, I remember:
Caroline and her friends (an English translation of the French series)
Mary Plain
Pookie
Book of a thousand poems

Then I moved onto:
Elidor (Alan Garner)
Enid Blyton (I was always more keen on the "Adventure" series than the others)
Over Sea, Under Stone (Susan Cooper)
A Dog so small (Phillipa Pearce)
The Green Knowe series (Lucy Boston)
A wrinkle in time (Madeleine L'Engle)
Tintin
Swallows and Amazons
The Melendy family series by Elizabeth Enright

I was a member of the Puffin Club, which I see has been revived and the great thing about the books above is that I've been able to get most of them on amazon for my own son.

Big mixture - My mum read us myths and legends from all over the world and that really shaped me I think. I adore history now and studied archaeology so I think that did have an effect on me. I lso love a lystery which stems from the reading of Famous fives and Nancy Drews. My other great passion is fantasy I was a massive Dana Whynne Jones fan, Terry Pratchett and enjoyed the Harry Potter books very much (I'm 23 and read the first at 11)

[Judet]

And how could I ever forget Eleanor Farjeon's The Silver Curlew? E. Nesbit; Hans Andersen's fairy tales haunted me with their sadness; he made me feel sad for every discarded Christmas tree or broken toy... Fairy tales of every kind, the various colours of Fairy Books (now available for free download at Gutenberg!); Mary Poppins; and I will never forget my introduction to written humour with P.G.Wodehouse's The Clicking of Cuthbert. And I once got into trouble for laughing too hard on a bus in school uniform while readin Thurber's immortal story 'The Dog That Bit People'.

[Judet]

Rupert Bear! The beauty of those magical little square pictures opening onto glorious vistas still enchants me. Enid Blyton,of course. Dandy, Beano, Beezer, Topper, School Friend, Girls'Crystal; L.M. Montgomery; A.A. Milne, C.S. Lewis' Narnia books, Jane Shaw's wonderful Susan books,especially
'Susan Pulls The Strings' (such sly humour now I remember it; Betty MacDonald's Egg & I, Plague & I; and of course the great one, Tolkien. Plus A Christmas Carol, Tom Sawyer and Eric Linklater's The WInd on the Moon. And of course the Moomins...

[anon]

Considering how many people have praised 'The Enchanted Wood' and 'Magic Faraway Tree' I am wondering has a film been made?
I suggest Lily cole as 'Silky the Fairy',' Jamie Oliver' as 'Saucepan man' and Matt Lucas as 'Moonface' with
' Aggie' from TV cleaning programme as Dame Washalot!

[anon]

Enid Blyton's 'Enchanted Wood' introduced me to alternative lifestyles and cultures..the top of the Magic Tree had different lands at intervals eg the 'Land of Take What You Want'..taught about the folly of greed and stealing. 'Land of Topsy Turvy' reminds us that there are strange ways of living which are not illegal...
Wonderful book! Buy it for your kids today.

[Martin Carey]

I remember reading the Biggles series by (I think) Capt WE Johns. Probably awfully politically incorrect these days, but I couldn't get enough 45 years ago! They transported me to all sorts of interesting places, and triggered a love of travel and exploring that continues to this day.

[Sarah]

As well as many already mentioned I loved Edward Eager, Joan Aiken's wonderful short stories, Diana Wynne Jones, Norman Juster's 'The Phantom Tolbooth', John Christopher's Tripods series and John Wyndham. I never completely stopped reading children's books and have recently enjoyed Lois Lowry's The Giver, Tom Becker's Darkside and Stephanie Meyer's YA vampire novels.

[ruby]

when i was a child, i like reading Anderson Fairy tale, and i can remember some stories till now. ITt is a good book for children. but now, i spent little time to read those,while spend a lot of in appretiating literary works.

[colin young]

I was a huge Asterix fan. When I was younger I just enjoyed the pictures, but as I got older the wordplay, cultural refences and in jokes took it to a new level.

[Daniela]

Without a doubt, Arthur Ransome's "Swallows & Amazons". It seems to capture the spirit of adventure, the grandness that nature has to offer, and the vast possibility of sailing on the open seas.

Today I'm a recent graduate working at a Maritime Museum, and have the Swallows & Amazons insignia tattooed on my arm.
So I suppose it goes without saying that it inspired me as a child.

[Diouf]

Twenty-thousand Leagues under the Sea (J. Vernes), the first adult book I ever read (at seven).
The Queen of Spades (Puchkin), the first classic litterature book I ever read (at ten).
The Little Prince (St Exupery), that I've been read a number of times.
Never, ever, liked Moby Dick nor Treasure Island. Couldn't read further than first chapter.
Tintin and the Sun Temple, more than any other of the serie.
Tarass Boulba, at eight I think.
War and Peace, the first very big book I ever read (at eleven).
Chance and Necessity, the first philosophy book I ever read (at twelve).
The Night Before Christmas, the first real book I was ever offered (at two :-) The illustrations by Arthur Rackham filled me with awe. I still have this book on my shelf.

[KatinCA]

Prime favourite was The Wind in the Willows, followed by Famous Five and anything by Monica Edwards involving the feisty Tamsin and Rissa. Also loved Just William books, as did my daughter. Violet Elizabeth was her role model.

[Helen Dowd]

Enid Blyton's "Mallory Towers" and "St Clare's Books"were just fabulous. I loved the "Famous Five" and "Secret Seven" too...
also "Anne of Green Gables" - I was enthralled by the slate-over-the-head scene!!

[Lorraine]

Definitely The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton - also Josie Click and Bun by EB.

[Meg Hunter]

Elleston Trevor wrote for children a.k.a. Trevor Dudley Smith: Into the Happy Glade & By A Silver Stream told of animals fleeing human invasion of their territory. How I have wished them to be produced as movies!

[A.D.Allen]

I had a cadet edition of all the Hornblower stories that my father gave me when I was about nine. I read the originals later as a teen. I also loved The Swallows and Amazons. All the aquatic derring-do made me want to sail, an ambition I realised while serving in the navy (naturally). I also bought a Flying Fifteen sailing dingy and spent many happy hours on the water with her. I believe my interest in sailing stemmed directly from the Swallows and Amazons messing about in boats in the Lake District and Hornblower's adventures all over the world.

[Kate Corwyn]

All of the Swallows and Amazons books, Nancy was my hero for many years. And any natural history and travel books that i could lay my hands on.

[Whimsey]

A Little Princess. Magic! Sara, from pampered pet to brave barefoot soldier. Wonderful, wonderful story. The bit I loved best was when the Indian servant snuck over the rooftops to leave her a real feast while she slept.

[Alan David Pena]

I forgot to mention in my previous missive the wonderful Just William books. They invoked an era that even as a child, I recognised and dreamed of. Violet Elizabeth Bott would "thcweam and thcweam until she was thik" if we did not add this to our list.

(I was born in 1949)

Alan David Pena

Brussels, Belgium.

[Alan David Pena]

Beau Geste!

I found a paper back version of this book as a child of seven or eight years old. I was transfixed, mesmerised; I am sure there were words I didn't understand, but I was carried away with the story of the Foreign Legion, a fort in the desert. ( Don't let me spoil the story) And the language; I loved the way it was written. (and still do)

Alan David Pena.

Brussels, Belgium.

[Rebekah]

I read a lot of Enid Blyton too. My favourite by far were the Faraway Tree books. They were genius. I still love them now, even if they are cheesy!

[Mashal]

i LOVED EVERYTHING written by Enid Blyton. Starting from the Famous Five, the Wishing Chair (How i wished i was in the Land of Goodies), the Faraway Tree, Amelia Jane. Oh and I could read Mallory towers for AGES. I badgered my mother to send me to boarding school. Just like Hol I always wanted to plan a midnight feast! oh and i loved the Little Princess and Little Women too!

[llareggub]

Oh, how I loved Ballet Shoes! Also, all of Enid Blyton, C S Lewis, The Dark is Rising....my list is endless!

As a teenager I became rather obsessed with nuclear war stories, so things like Z for Zachariah, Children of the Dust were really my thing.

[lucy]

I remember always judging the books by their covers!
Mr Poppers Penguins
The Trumpet of the Swans
Charlotte's Web
Loved Nancy Drew and Judy Blume
and those Alfred Hitchcock short stories...
Now I never finish a book!

[Judith]

I read the Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys at around ages 7-9, but fantasy was the thing that really hooked me on reading: the Dark is Rising and The Chronicles of Prydain were my absolute favourites.

I don't see why the previous poster said not to reread Joan Aiken's Wolves of Willoughby Chase books. I'm in the middle of rereading them (for my own enjoyment - my son is too young for them) and they are as marvellous as ever.

[langtonhighway]

PS Children of Cherry Tree Farm was also how I learned loads about the countryside, in particular how to tell the difference between a stoat and a weasel! I think her books were very educational.

[langtonhighway]

Jock of the Bushveldt! I read that when I was eleven - my English teacher's great-grandfather wrote it, which made it even more interesting. Bit brutal though. I loved anything Enid wrote, and still have most of them today, for my daughter to read. I also loved "Ludo and the Star Horse" by Mary Stuart, which is about a boy and his horse journeying through the star signs - amazingly that's how I learned the order of them!!! Also, the Satanic Mill, by Preussler I think was scary and ace. I feel sorry for the kids today who read slutty trash or horror stories. Harry Potter is ace though!

[Kristina]

Being something of a tomboy when I was a child, I LOVED "Jock of the Bushveldt" by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick (especially the fuly illustrated version) and the Adventure series by Willard Price.

[Rhianon]

Lots of those already mentioned, especially Blyton and Dahl (would pheasants really get too drunk if you fed them rum-soaked raisins... How can I still be wondering this?). But also:
The Borrowers (small-scale action going on around you all the time - I just knew it!)
The Owl Service (real, slightly dangerous magic too... those grown-ups don't know a thing)
'Choose your own adventure' books (a special place in my heart as my first, true addiction)
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (Harry Potter of our time) and
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (don't be tempted to re-read it, just leave it as a wonderful, wonderful memory!)

That's our generation... will be interesting to see what stands the test of time from the last 5 or ten years in children's books. I just wish the Northern Lights had been written when I was 8...!

[jonquil alexia]

all of the 'nancy drew' and 'trixie beldon'. the first 15 in the 'wizard of oz' series, and 'for love of a donkey' by betty morgan bowen.

[charlotte]

Enid Blyton filled many happy hours for me.

Little Women made me cry...

Anne of Green Gables and all The Anne books just enchanting....L.M.Montgomery

There was Daddy-Long-Legs a story of an orphan and the letters she writes to a mysterious benefactor...

[Arthur Van Der Lae]

I am also reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (to my son) and like Jessie's dad it brings back wonderful memories.

As somebody who doesn't really read enough I really enjoy the chance to read to my children

[Hol]

Almost anything Roald Dahl or Enid Blyton wrote - especially Dahl, who I think became a very formative influence on my sense of humour and imagination. I especially loved Matilda because she was a book worm like me. Also loved the Malory Towers and St Clares series, for a short time desperately wished I was at boarding school so I too could plan a midnight feast

[newjerseygirl]

I loved the Flambards books by KM Peyton and after reading them became determined to ride a horse sidesaddle as the heroine, Christina does, and also fly a plane like her cousin William (I did the side-saddle bit, and fell off - still haven't tried flying a plane, though).
And I remember being very affected by a book called Break In The Sun by Bernard Ashley about a girl who runs away from a violent stepfather, that was also made into a TV drama I think.

[Jessie's dad]

I loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when I was young, and reading it again to my six year old daughter brought back wonderful memories.

I am not sure it inspired me, but it is simply a classic.