Book Club

[Pepper Pig]

Disney on a drip has been all about empowered females for at least the last 10 years at Uschi. All the male characters are complete drips.

Re the twins. I taught quite a lot of identical twins (not in pairs, they were usually discouraged from playing the same instrument). I think the left hand/right hand difference is quite normal but I know that more and more evidence is now available and researched more thoroughly. When my lot were growing up in the eighties/nineties Harrow had the largest percentage of twins in the country. At one point we had non-identical twins next door, next door but one, and directly opposite and they were all in DS1's year group which contained at least one other pair. (And it was only a 2 form entry school). I also know two sets of twins who came through our Music Service where one of each pair is straight and one is gay.

Enid Blyton is acceptable again now by the way. And if you want a good non-challenging binge watch then Mallory Towers on CBBC is absolutely fabulously well done.

I was thinking about what I read growing up. It was mostly library books. I hated most of the childrens books I inherited (I'm looking at you Treasue Island, Moby Dick, What bloody Katy Did, and Jennings and Venables). The library provided such riches as Swallows and Amazons (which I have collected from ebay since - my kids and grandkids not interested). Loved EB and my first favourite book was The Land of the Faraway Tree. But what I really liked was a huge pile of old annuals that I was given - School Friend, Girls Crystal, Bunty etc. I would read those all day given the chance.

Serious readers from KS2 upwards (i.e 8) are directed towards Michael Murpago, Philip Pullman, Anne Fine etc. This is quite a good site:
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and- ... gIRSPD_BwE

[Uschi]

It is still too many bloody Princesses at Disney's. Their father and his mates call the girls "Prinzessin", for Heaven's sake! (this is not against you, PP, it is the way this family works - they are supposed to be "proper girls" and their mother is forever railing against diversity and things).

So I wanted something that magical and female and not about princesses. I also think they have seen every Disney film ever made.

I used to read every "Schreckenstein" book under the sun (boys' books) and also loved Walter Farley's "Black Stallion" books. Not sure how they've aged, though.

[slimpersoninside]

I used to love The Famous Five books as a kid (maybe because it had a very un-girly girl in it, I was an un-girly girl) our daughter also liked them. They might be both dated and a bit "English" to be suitable.

[Uschi]

Enid Blyton is still very much read, so that would not be a problem. I grew up on them, and yes, I sympathised with George.

Cornelia Funke's "Inkheart" is something for later.

[Pampy]

Books I remember from being young are The Famous Five, Secret Seven, Mallory Towers, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the many Wizard of Oz books...I think I loved anything that could be read!

[herbidacious]

I love the Philip Reeve Mortal Engines series and also Garth Nix Abhorsen etc. but they might be more 11+ Ditto Philip Pullman stuff.

I enjoyed the Wind on Fire trilogy too. But also more 11+?

A lot of Roald Dahl must be for the slightly younger age group?

I have all my old Puffin books and a few others... I suspect that what I read at 9 was a lot less gritty than what's around now, Betsy Byars excepted.

[Earthmaiden]

GD thinks that my and DD's old Puffin books look terribly dated. She has been reading her own copy of Charlotte's Web and thought DD's copy looked very uninviting. I'm not sure why as she reads other books with similar sized print.

The ladies social group I belong to had an evening on Enid Blyton recently where we looked to see what might be deemed offensive nowadays. There was more than we'd thought!

[RockyBVI]

Books I remember from being young are The Famous Five, Secret Seven, Mallory Towers, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the many Wizard of Oz books...I think I loved anything that could be read!

I'd add the St Claire's series and The Magic Faraway Tree to the Blyton classics!

[scullion]

i'm not sure that the fact that a book (subject) seems dated is any real hurdle for a good read.
i loved 'the abbey girls' books even though they were written decades (mostly between ww1 & 2) before i read them, when i was about ten or so..
the normality of making toast in front of an electric fire was something that had never occurred to me and the image has stayed ever since - that and a leaf green silk dress.
like the 'mapp and lucia' books, the people are still recognisable in life today!

[Ameew]

Books I remember from being young are The Famous Five, Secret Seven, Mallory Towers, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the many Wizard of Oz books...I think I loved anything that could be read!

I'd add the St Claire's series and The Magic Faraway Tree to the Blyton classics!

It’s lovely and nostalgic reading through all of these . I remember nagging for ages to have ginger beer , then being bitterly dissatisfied when I’d tried it

[Busybee]

I’m sure I was reading the Narnia series by 9, I absolutely loved those books.

I read all my Mums famous five, secret seven, far-away tree, Mallory towers etc books even though enid Blyton was starting to be frown upon.

BB

[RockyBVI]

Books I remember from being young are The Famous Five, Secret Seven, Mallory Towers, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the many Wizard of Oz books...I think I loved anything that could be read!

I'd add the St Claire's series and The Magic Faraway Tree to the Blyton classics!

It’s lovely and nostalgic reading through all of these . I remember nagging for ages to have ginger beer , then being bitterly dissatisfied when I’d tried it

And it had to be ‘lashings of ginger beer’

[herbidacious]

I loved Narnia. I read the first at 6. I didn't like the Famous Five or Secret Seven though, nor Swallows and Amazons. I think my penchant for the fantastical was there from the start.

Children's books tended to be a lot shorter in those days...?

Compare the last two doorstoppers of the Harry Potter series to The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, or Elidor, or Marianne Dreams...

[Uschi]

I don’t think there was ginger beer in the German books. It was always „Limonade“.

[Stokey Sue]

It wasn't in the Enid Blyton text - the phrase "lashings of ginger beer" was created by Peter Richardson for the TV parody, Five Go Mad in Dorset by the group who later became The Comic Strip, I found it very funny first time round, not sure if I would now, think it's on YouTube

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Go_Mad_in_Dorset

It aired in 1982 so it has kind of gone into the national psyche I think

[Rainbow]

My mother didn't approve of Enid Blyton, but my friends next door had all the Famous Five & Secret Seven books, so I borrowed them and enjoyed reading them!
I also liked 'What bloody Katy Did' and Treasure Island - I think I read most things!!

Does anyone else remember 'Children of the New Forest' by Frederick Marryat, (published in 1847)? I used to like that one but my brother disapproved of the politics in it!!! It was just a story, to me! He was 4 years older and very critical of everything!!
I Also liked 'The Swish of the Curtain' published in 1941.

[Stokey Sue]

I remember Children of the New Forest, I lived quite near the New Forest, so that added a bit.
I preferred the Cavaliers, more colourful, better for dressing up.

[Earthmaiden]

My mother loved Children of the New Forest and insisted on reading it to me at bedtime when I was about 8 or even 9. Firstly, I hated being read to once I could read and secondly, that period bored me to tears (then) and I hated it. I keep meaning to re-read it. Most childhood books I disliked I have enjoyed reading more recently. The Borrowers was another she thought I should read (the pitfalls of having librarians as parents), I'm not sure I'd ever enjoy that.

[Pepper Pig]

I can remember it being serialised on TV but never read it. Another one I was force fed and hated was Heidi.

[Earthmaiden]

I loved Heidi!