BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » Our childhood books

Davina · June 30, 2012 6:16 pm

Reading another post the other day and watching Benedict reading The Little Red Hen and with all the references we've had to fairy tales, I thought it might be fun if we were to talk about the books we read as childen (or had read to us).

As a child I really enjoyed reading the Richard Scarry books, Tantalus mentioned them in a post today. I also loved ' Tiptoes the Mischievous Kitten' which was a Ladybird Book. The first 'proper' book I read was 'Treasure Island'. Another book was called 'Scuffy the Tug-boat'. I loved rhyme books such as Ten Little Kittens and Ten Little Puppies. Fairy Tales were another favourite read with Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella amongst my favourites. I adored Rosemary Sutcliffe's historical novels such as 'Eagle of the Ninth' and a whole set of books about twins in various countries around the world (can't remember the author though). Professor Brainstawm books and Dr. Doolittle stories were hilarious. My final favourite was 'Swallows and Amazons' by Arthur Ransom; sailing boats in the Lake District with Pirates etc.

As you can tell by this long, and incomplete list, I read a lot as a child!

What were your favourite childhood books and stories?

sherlockskitty · July 1, 2012 4:17 am

there was a childhood book I loved called RAGS about a sheepdog that had long hair. I also had the stuffed dog that book was based on. Poky Little Puppy was cute, and that is still around today!! I loved anything by walt disney-- also the fairytales...and yes, Grimm's fairytales too. Heidi was another favorite. and who can forget the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys/Bobbsey Twins/Five Little Peppers and How they Grew series? I too read some of the classics, Swiss Family Robinson, Kidnapped, Treasure Island, Island of the Blue Dolphin, Black Beauty and Walter Farleys Black/Red Stallion series. Oh, I read alot during my school days. Books were my way of 'traveling the world'

Wholocked · July 1, 2012 6:18 am

Enid Blyton - particularly the Faraway Tree series
Roald Dahl books. Loved Matilda I dunno how many times I read that one.
Secret Garden
C.S Lewis Chronicles of Narnia
I think at one point - teenage years maybe - I was reading The Babysitters Club and nonsense like that *blush*
I remember loving How To Kill A Mockingbird when we read it in school.
Also Rebecca by Daphne Demauri-something

OMG I can't even think of them all. I read a LOT and mostly fantasy/fiction novels.

I did read The Hobbit when I was about 12 but LOTR was a bit too hard for me at the time. Came back to it as an adult.

Edit: typo

Last edited by Wholocked (July 1, 2012 6:19 am)

Davina · July 1, 2012 8:21 am

Oh Kitty! I cannot believe I forgot about Heidi! I even wanted to be her when I was about 5! Swiss Family Robinson too along with Robinson Crusoe. Black Beauty made me cry.

Wholocked- I loved reading The Faraway Tree stories and many Roald Dahl books to my kids when they were younger. The BFG, James and The Giant Peach, The Twits, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and, of course, Matilda. They are great stories with great characters aren't they.

Irene Adler · July 1, 2012 9:18 am

Some of my favourites when I was a child were all of "the five" books by Enyd Blyton, "The neverending story" and "Momo" by Michael Ende, the "Puck" books by Lisbeth Werner and "the Hollsiters" books (I can't remember the author now, sorry). Of course as a very little child I read fairy tales, specially Hans Christian Andersen and Grimm brothers' fairytales. And of course, I loved Heidi too

As a teenager I left the "adventure" books aside and I read almost every novel by Agatha Christie, some of the Sherlock Holmes stories (I read all of them in my twenties), and I started reading classics like "Crime and Punishment", ""The Lord of the Rings" and "The hobbit", "Frankenstein", "Dracula", all the short stories by Poe and Shakespeare. So I changed I bit, I think I can say

sherlockskitty · July 1, 2012 9:49 pm

Hmmmm--- yes, you do change a bit, when you read books. Sometimes I wanted to just crawl into a book and stay there. another childhood favorite of mine were the Happy Hollister books. there was another series called the Boxcar Children--Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny. Absolutely loved mysteries back then. I remember the Hans Christian Anderson books!! yes I read some of the roald Dahl books. Anyone remember Aesop's Fables? Oh boy. How did the camel get its hump? yes that was in there.

My dad got these two joke books for my mom when us kids were growing up. The Elephant Joke Book and the other one that went with it. (What time is it when an elephant sits on a fence? It's time to get a new fence!) Mom still has those.

Last edited by sherlockskitty (July 1, 2012 9:54 pm)

KeepersPrice · July 1, 2012 11:12 pm

Sherlockskitty - I'm just amazed that you read "The Happy Hollisters". I had every one of those books and I didn't thank anyone on this forum would know about them. They were written by someone named Jerry West and I wonder if they are still in print. One of my favorites was "The Happy Hollisters at Sea Gull Beach". It was a big day for me when a new book in the series came out.

I was horse crazy beyond measure too and was absolutely head over heels for "The Black Stallion" series. Even to think about those books now and how much they meant to me makes my heart beat faster. I liked "The Red Stallion" too - especially the one that was a little science fictiony with Jay and Flick. But my heart belonged to The Black and Alec Ramsey. (Oh, I was so disappointed when the movie came out. That boy did not look like my vision of Alec at all! ) Anyway, I remember being so nervous reading the book that had the match race between Flame and The Black I could barely turn the pages. It had to be The Black!

Oh god, I could go on and on but I better shut up before I bore all the other people.

Smoggy_London_Air · July 2, 2012 3:00 am

As a kid, my absolute favourite was A Series of Unfortunate Events. Daniel Handler (whoops, I mean Lemony Snicket) basically spawned a genre of wonderfully quirky kid-adventure books, and I read a lot of the copycats too, like Eddie Dickens and Drift House.

Harry Potter, too, of course. I read a lot of Meg Cabot books (which in retrospect were hardly appropriate for my age group when I was reading them)

When I was very young I read Junie B Jones. I don't even know if they ever exported those to the UK. They were a little young for me even when I was just starting to read them, because as a kid I had almost no friends and spent most of my time reading, so I'd moved onto HP PS/SS by the time I was in first grade.

I share Roald Dahl with a lot of people in this thread. He was one of my absolute favorites. Confession: I occasionally read Matilda or The Witches, still. I'm such a child, ha ha.

I liked Artemis Fowl and other Eoin Colfers as well, though unfortunately by the time the sixth and seventh had come out I had definitely outgrown the series. They took far too long to come out.

I would check in my bookshelf for more but I actually just donated a big pile of books yesterday so I can't. I only gave away the ones I never liked, anyway, so no great loss there.

hepzibah · July 2, 2012 12:27 pm

My favourite books when I was a kid were -
Anne of Green Gables series by L M Montgomery
Little Women series by Louisa May Alcott
What Katy Did series by Susan Coolidge
Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner
just about anything by Enid Blyton

Davina · July 2, 2012 12:35 pm

Oh Lordy! I've done it again...Little Women, What Katy Did and What Katy did Next! I really, really wanted to go to boarding school because of reading those- never went though.

veecee · July 7, 2012 2:09 am

Oh, the Black Stallion. I had forgotten about that till you all brought it up. Thank you!
Skitty, I still want to crawl into a book and stay there!

Last edited by veecee (July 7, 2012 2:11 am)

sherlockskitty · July 8, 2012 4:26 am

Anne of Green Gables I only read the first one, now I've got a mind to go and read the rest of them. Yeah I read some of the lemony snicket books, but it wasn't until after the movie came out that I was interested. were there more than one Little Women books? Oh, I wish I were a kid again, to do the things I did again...lalalala

Wholocked · July 8, 2012 6:04 am

sherlockskitty wrote:
were there more than one Little Women books?

Nope, just the one

JaneCo · July 8, 2012 10:03 am

'Little Women', 'Good Wives', 'Jo's Boys' I can't remember whether there were any others.

Edit Just checked, there was also 'Little Men'

Last edited by JaneCo (July 8, 2012 10:06 am)

kazza474 · July 8, 2012 10:09 am

Oh dear, you expect me to remember THAT long ago?
There was a quirky little book I had though; I read it a million times ( ok, maybe a few hundred thousand then).
It was called "Sapphires are Blue".
I'm really not sure why it intrigued me so much, it just did.

(Totally worthless post I guess, no-one else would have heard of it hehehe)

Violet Hunter · July 15, 2012 11:06 am

My childhood books, that is quite a task, I did read so much sometimes I did only stop because I had to go down and eat what my mother cooked. I did love all sorts of books with adventures but most of the time they would be written for people elder than I was at the time.

I did read "The Hobbit" I got it from my child-docter when I had a pneumonia, after that I read "Lord of the rings"

I loved "Balduin Pfiff" from Wolfgang Eck and "Kommissar Klicker" I can not remember who wrote it

I do love until now everything from James Krüss especially "Mein Urgroßvater und ich"

I did read everything of Michael Ende

And I got into Isaac Asimov because of the big SiFi collection of my fathers, I really loved the robot-stories

The Lensmen-cyclus from E E Smith was also one of my favorite books but sadly enough my father did not have all of the books

When I got into key teens I read Umberto Eco "Das Foucaultsche Pendel" and "Im Namen der Rose"

Also all of the Dorothy L Sayers Stories with Lord Peter Whimsey

all of them besides of Sherlock ;)

Davina · July 17, 2012 6:17 pm

The Name of the Rose is a fantastic book isn't it. I absolutely loved reading it. In fact I think I may now go back and read it again.

Wolfhound · November 13, 2012 6:28 pm

My beloved childhood books were:
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
Detective Kalle by Astrid Lindgren (a trilogy)
Lottie and Lisa by Erich Kastner
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Six Bullerby Children by Astrid Lindgren

and other books in my language, these are not internationally known I am afraid.

besleybean · November 13, 2012 6:34 pm

I particularly remember my Dad reading Alice in Wonderland to me.

Mattlocked · November 13, 2012 8:38 pm

All Astrid Lindgren, some "typical girls books", The Neverending Story (book, NOT the movie!).
And when I was very little this one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Very_Hungry_Caterpillar