Judge Me by My Favourite Children's Books

[imp]

Judge Me by My Favourite Children's Books

Been trying to get the impettes into Jennings and William, but though they try to be vaguely amused for my benefit (given that I keep laughing as I read them), they're not what I'd call converts. The standard of writing in both is outstanding, in a very pooterish, English way. Still, at least I'm getting a kick out of them.

[Reed John]

Judge Me by My Favourite Children's Books

I was very keen on the Danny Dunn series for one school year, either third or fourth grade. I read all 15 of them that year.

Danny and his friends Irene and Joe would get up to all sorts of adventures, scrapes and shenanigans with the professor/inventor who boarded in Danny and his mother's house.

It would be interesting to read them again. They were written from the mid fifties through the mid 1970s, so the science and technology presented as futuristic would now seem either very primative or prescient or both.

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

[Tony C]

Judge Me by My Favourite Children's Books

I swear to God that Anthony Buckeridge was my favourite author until I was well into my twenties.

I'd have given anything in my early teens to go to public school, and realised my dreams of derring-do adventures after lights out (steady!), playing cricket on lush green fields and plenty of Latin vocab.

Wizard!

[boris]

Judge Me by My Favourite Children's Books

My favourite kids' book was Sword in the Stone, which has remained my favourite telling of the Arthur tale. I also like A Kid for Two Farthings, although I'd be hard pressed now to give a synopsis, but I read it loads of times as a fledgling teenager.

Also all the Michael Hardcastle footy books, which allowed me to fantasise that I was actually any good at the game, transposing myself into the lead characters' roles.

Unfortunately, my kids don't seem to be particularly into reading, and I'm struggling to get them to put aside their Nintendos and Play Stations and pick up a book, even though I buy ones that I think will appeal to them.

[My Name Is Ian]

Judge Me by My Favourite Children's Books

Wow. I'd forgotten all about Tootles The Taxi. The memories come flooding back.

Mine were Charlie & The Chocolate Factory and Danny The Champion Of The World. I never got on with James & The Giant Peach. The Twits was pretty good, though.

Should I ever be given a pile of dead racehorses as part of someone's will, I'll start a company called "Hugtight Sticky Glue".

[ad hoc]

Judge Me by My Favourite Children's Books

As a child I enjoyed the William books, the Professor Branestawm books, the Arabel's Raven books, Winnie the Pooh, Roald Dahl's stuff, and Thomas the Tank Engine.

As a father I cannot say enough good things about the worksof Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. I can recite "Room on the Broom" by heart, and the Gruffalo is pretty good too (they may have jumped the shark slightly with the Gruffalo's Child though).

[boris]

Judge Me by My Favourite Children's Books

ad hoc wrote:

As a father I cannot say enough good things about the worksof Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. I can recite "Room on the Broom" by heart, and the Gruffalo is pretty good too (they may have jumped the shark slightly with the Gruffalo's Child though).

Totally and utterly agree with all that. And don't forget "The Smartest Giant in Town" and "The Snail and the Whale", both of which add greatly to their canon. I must admit that I had high expectations of "The Gruffalo's Child", but it failed to live up to the high standards they'd set in their other books.

Others that my kids absolutely love include We're Going on a Bear Hunt, Peep-o, and Where's My Teddy. All top-notch stuff.

[hobbes]

Judge Me by My Favourite Children's Books

My all time favourite by a country mile is This Time of Darkness by H.M. Hoover.
It was dark and compelling whn I was a kid. I re-read it recently and it's as good as I remember. Really distopian but rewarding none the less. It's like 1984 with a happy ending.

[EIM]

Judge Me by My Favourite Children's Books

I'm with Gramsci all the way on this thread. Check out the book bit on my profile. And although I loved Asterix, Tintin is my homeboy. Red Rackham's Treasure was, I think, the first I read, and I was hooked after that. I still am. I want to buy them all again for if and when I have kids.

Also a big shout out to Roald Dahl. Danny Champion of the World and Matilda especially. I love the strong anti-authoritarian undercurrents in them. Pure underdog fairy-tales. And better than anything that's fallen out of the pen of J.K. Rowling.

I remember getting The Witches and sitting on a beanbag to read it all in one sitting. Magical.

[SpanglyPrincess]

Judge Me by My Favourite Children's Books

Good shout on The Hounds of the Morrígan, Toro.

as well as CS Lewis, Arthur Ransome, E.E. Nesbit and Roald Dahl I was a big fan of Philippa Pearce, especially Tom's Midnight Garden, and Frances Hodgson Burnett (A Little Princess is great). A more modern classic series is The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. For younger children, A.A. Milne is incomparable, and Peter Pan is great.

I confess a terrible weakness in this regard though. I collect antiquarian illustrated children's books from c.1900-c.1939. A rash and costly hobby for someone as perennially skint as I am.

My favourite illustrators: Rackham, Dulac, and more recently Jan Piekowski.

[matt j]

Judge Me by My Favourite Children's Books

Lloyd Alexander's The Prydain Chronicles

Asterix

Sport, by Louise Fitzhugh (a 'spin-off' from Harriet the Spy)

CS Lewis left me cold, Roald Dahl reminded me too much of claymation, and I never read a TinTin story.