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

**Posted by besleybean** November 13, 2012 8:42 pm

I was reading before I went to school and I used to read Topsy and Tim books.

**Posted by horserider99** November 13, 2012 8:50 pm

I remember making my older sister read Dr. Seuss to me again and again(particularly the most tongue-tying ones ... )

**Posted by besleybean** November 13, 2012 9:00 pm

I used to save up my pocket money to buy Enid Blyton's ' Adventure' and ' Mystery' 'of' series.

**Posted by tobeornot221b** November 13, 2012 9:02 pm

besleybean wrote:
I used to save up my pocket money to buy Enid Blyton's ' Adventure' and ' Mystery' 'of' series.

Oh yes, me too! I knew them all by heart then.

**Posted by Mattlocked** November 13, 2012 9:02 pm

My sister and me had Enid Blyton's "Hanni und Nanni" - in English I think called St. Clare’s

**Posted by Harriet** November 13, 2012 9:05 pm

A book that really impressed me at the age of 11 was Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh.
It felt like "Welcome to your book!"
I liked many other books as well, but this was different. So real.
What a pity Louise Fitzhugh died rather early.

Story: Harriet wants to become a writer and lives in Manhattan. She OBSERVES and spies out her neighbourhood daily.
She gets in trouble once the children in her class find out what she writes about them in her diary.

Last edited by Harriet (November 13, 2012 9:13 pm)

**Posted by besleybean** November 13, 2012 9:07 pm

Other early books I remember are AA Milne's Winnie the Pooh series.

**Posted by SusiGo** January 17, 2013 12:20 pm

I loved Erich Kästner, Astrid Lindgren and Enid Blyton, too. One of my favourites was a retelling of the King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table saga. I tried to find the book later but couldn't and finally persuaded the library to sell it to me.

**Posted by Q.** April 27, 2013 1:52 am

To name a few, I always liked the books by Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, as well as the fairytales of H.C Andersen and the brothers Grimm. My mother always read classical children's books for me as a kid. She considered most of the more modern ones to be simply nonsensical. I remember that she used to ask me a lot of questions when reading (Why do you think he did that? Do you think this person expected him to do that? How do you think this person will react to what he did? etc.) and I think that's why, even though I learned to read myself very early, preferred having other people read to me as a kid. I really enjoyed discussing the things I was hearing. I've never really thought of it before, but I think that doing that sort of thing can be quite beneficial when it comes to growth.

My father didn't really read that much for me. He made up the stories himself. They were actually really great and well thought through, and not at all cheesy as you would expect. I'm still kind of fascinated by the extent of his imagination when it comes to storytelling.

**Posted by Mary Me** April 27, 2013 10:23 am

When I was a child I loved all the "Grimm" fairy tales. Unfortunately I did not grow up with "The Hobbit" unlike other children.

**Posted by besleybean** April 27, 2013 10:26 am

No I think every member of my family gave it a go and couldn't get away with it.

**Posted by Russell** May 3, 2013 4:55 am

Mary Me wrote:
When I was a child I loved all the "Grimm" fairy tales. Unfortunately I did not grow up with "The Hobbit" unlike other children.

Aw, don't feel bad. Getting into the fandom and hearing about all these people who grew up having read the Sherlock stories, or the Hobbit, despite having been a big reader, I wonder how the heck I missed out on that! Was never introduced to them… think partly my parents didn't keep up on 'classic fantasy', or never pointed it out/thought it was for older readers. Introduced me to plenty other famous children's authors, though, and the usual fairy tales (although didn't read all of Grimm until older).

I admit I got hooked on most of the typical easy fun/engaging kid's series like Encyclopedia Brown, Babysitter's Club, Nancy Drew, various horse-themed ones, and then of course loved some of the 'classic' titles like The Cricket In Times Square, Julie of the Wolves, King of the Wind, The Giver, even discovered a few Pippi Longstocking books.

Plus, you could give me anything by Avi, Jane Yolen, E.B. White, Bruce Coville, Roald Dahl, or Katherine Paterson and I'd read it, so figured would save space with titles from all of them. ;) (all of them really are great authors!). I even remember one very oddly different one that stuck out/stuck with me, with it's strange story and idea about human connection - The Only Alien On the Planet. Bet even an adult would still find it interesting...

**Posted by Davina** May 4, 2013 11:21 am

I had forgotten but I used to love reading stories by Ursula le Guin. If you like mildly unsettling fantasy type stories I can thoroughly recommend these, even for adult readers.

**Posted by Sampy Arctica** May 10, 2013 5:43 pm

The Harry Potter series were my favourites, I was about 8 when the first once came out, I think.
Before they came out, my regular reads were the Babysitters Club, the Goosebumps books and Selby, the Wonder Dog.

**Posted by Punch me in the face** May 16, 2013 9:55 pm

My favourite authors as a child were:

* Dick King Smith: he's the one who wrote "The Sheep-pig", which was, long later, made into the movie "Babe"; but also books like Magnus Powermouse, Martin's mice, Sophie's snail...etc etc. I just loved his stories, especially all those which took place in a farm. So many wonderful reading memories...

* Marcel Aymé: I especially loved his "Contes du Chat Perché" (I think it had been translated as "The magic pictures" and "The wonderful farm"), also little stories taking place in a farm, when I think about it. Funny I hadn't noticed such an obvious common point before, lol.

* Pef: a really funny French children books author. He plays with words wonderfully.

And my favourite book (which still is a favourite of mine more than 20 years later) is "The Little Prince" by Antoine de St Exupéry. It is so poetical, so true, so sad... I love it to bits...

**Posted by Davina** May 17, 2013 2:25 pm

The Little Prince is, I think, a masterpiece of its genre.

**Posted by reality check** June 22, 2013 10:44 pm

^ The book 'Night Flight' I liked best from de Saint-Exupéry. :o)

It doesn't surprise me, that the variety of the childhood books depends on the home country of the reader. :o) Cultural influence?

Mine have been the typical 'german' classics as well :o)

Astrid Lindgren - Die Brüder Löwenherz (The Brothers Lionheart), Ronja Räubertochter (Ronia, The Robber's Daughter)
Michael Ende - Die unendliche Geschichte (The Neverending Story)
Ottfried Preussler - Das kleine Gespenst (The Little Ghost), Krabat (the same in english)
Fairytales by Hans-Christian Andersen + Wilhelm Hauff