I was definitely a voracious reader as a kid, my parents would vouch for that. (And my husband would confirm that it’s no different today). When I was a child, I remember reading at night in bed before I went to sleep, and I even had a notebook where I’d write down words I didn’t know, and my parents would explain the definitions to me when they came to turn out the light.
Thanks to the influence (and book collection) of my mother, I was a mad keen fan of Enid Blyton books – and I know she gets some bad press these days, but I’ve still got a shelf full of both my own Enid Blyton books and those I inherited from my mother, and I’ll be reading them to my children. Her Secret Seven and Famous Five series were high on my favourites list and I remember adoring The Magic Faraway Tree
As I got a little older, so Australia also got a little less British, and the influence of American authors like Judy Blume seemed to grow. By far my favourite and most often re-read Judy Blume book was Tiger Eyes
Finally, I have a really strong memory of a book I used to borrow from the local library over and over again. It was a novel by Mabel Esther Allan called The Night Wind
Over to you: what were your childhood favourites? Do you think you’d still like them today, or want your children to read them?
Tags: childhood favourites, Enid Blyton, Judy Blume, Mabel Esther Allan
CASTLE IN THE ATTIC and WALK TWO MOONS come to mind first. There were tons of others, though. I have difficulty with the concept of “favorite,” hahaha. (“Kristan, what’s your favorite color?” “I love all of them equally!”
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.-= Kristan´s last blog ..On laughing, and doing things backward =-.
C’mon, is brown really as lovable as blue?! But you’re right, my favourites do depend on the day you ask me, and it’s the same with books – although I was definitely more loyal as a kid, now my favourites change every minute.