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Post by Claire on Jan 3, 2012 22:10:21 GMT 1
Hi all, I think we have about exhausted our pony book top 10s but I still have the top 10 bug. So hows about our top 10 non pony children's books? I know we have discussed our fav children's books before but have never done a poll. I have to nominate The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Carbonel & The Hobbit for starters. Any more nominations please add here.
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Post by darkhorse on Jan 3, 2012 22:15:34 GMT 1
The Secret Garden, Swallows and Amazoms and Charlotte's Web.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2012 8:13:06 GMT 1
The Railway Children The Secret Garden The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe Water Babies
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Post by susanb on Jan 4, 2012 15:19:17 GMT 1
Tough one! These are a mix of favorites from my childhood and books I've read and loved more recently......grin...can't guarantee I won't change my list either, so many great books out there!
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo Kim by Rudyard Kipling Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson The Snowstorm by Beryl Netherclift The Ghost in the Swing by Janet Patton Smith The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene (Mildred Wirt) The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
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odonna
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Post by odonna on Jan 4, 2012 16:17:04 GMT 1
Five Children and It The Phoenix and the Carpet The Secret Garden The Narnia books Matilda by Roald Dahl Gobbolino by Ursula Moray Williams
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Post by Claire on Jan 4, 2012 17:44:24 GMT 1
I haven't read quite a few of your list susan. Trying not to look too closely in case I am tempted!
Forgot about Gobbolino odonna, I loved that as a child and also the Little Wooden Horse and The Three Toymakers also by her.
Remembered another good one: Carries War by Nina Bawden.
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Post by susanb on Jan 4, 2012 18:26:19 GMT 1
Be tempted, be tempted! Really the only rare/expensive title there is Ghost in the Swing...the others are mostly currently in print in the UK, the only exception being The Snowstorm, which was a British book to begin with, so it should be inexpensive used.
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Post by Claire on Jan 4, 2012 22:56:00 GMT 1
Aghhh Susan you are not helping! As Oscar Wilde said, I can resist anything but temptation ;D My new years resolution is to stop spending money on books and spend it on the house instead as its dropping to bits! I've definitely got the crappiest house on the block
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Post by susanb on Jan 5, 2012 1:13:46 GMT 1
Eeek! What a scarey resolution!
Still....not spending money on books doesn't have to equate with not reading.....do you have a public library in your town? The odds are they've got some of the titles I listed, and could inter library loan the others.
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Post by susanb on Jan 5, 2012 1:19:04 GMT 1
btw, one of my favorite book-ish quotes is "Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?" - Henry Ward Beecher.
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vera
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Posts: 247
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Post by vera on Jan 5, 2012 4:36:07 GMT 1
Is there any particular age group? And there are some that are very "country conscious". I am thinking of Der Struwel Peter" from Germany (one of my favourites) Also "The Magic Pudding" from Australia. Others are The Narnia books, the Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula le Guin, Beatrix Potter's books, "An Old Fashioned Girl" from Louisa May Alcott, Andre Norton's early sci fi for children. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carrol, At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald. One of my favourite Tolkiens is "Farmer Giles of Ham". It doesn't seem so well known but I love it. Also Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales . These are all books that I have re-read many times. I am not sure if Lassie Come Home counts as a children's book; I remember my mother trying to take it from me as an 8 year old because I was crying heart rendingly. I cried louder when she tried to take it off me so she let me could finish it....I think the biggest difficulty would be to choose only ten as I am typing more come to mind!
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Post by foxglove on Jan 5, 2012 10:30:25 GMT 1
I wonder if "children's books" covers too wide an age range. After all, The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a classic that most kids encounter very early on, and in my teens I read anything and everything.
The fist list is those I read as a child rather than discovered later, and that I personally loved (rather than the classics that you "should" read ie Wind In The Willows, Little Women, The Secret Garden etc which I thought were ok but didn't re-read avidly).
I know she's not very fashionable now, but Enid Blyton was a major part of my childhood. Extremely difficult to choose one out of the hundreds she wrote, but I'd go with The Circus Of Adventure. It features a prince in disguise, midnight kidnappings, hiding in a circus, escaping from a castle via a tightrope and angry bears. If you don't find this thrilling as a child you don't deserve the gift of literacy.
The Little White Horse The Animals of Farthing Wood Please Mrs Butler (this is a poetry compilation) Matilda 101 Dalmations Mattimeo of the Redwall series The Wolves of Willoughby Chase The Dark Is Rising Ballet Shoes The Borrowers Swallows & Amazons Any Tintin (personal favourites are In America, Destination Moon and On The Moon) Little House on the Prairie The Hobbit Are You There God, It's Me Margaret Anne of Green Gables The Iron Man Moondial
Those I discovered as an adult and am totally gutted I didn't read as a child:
Earthsea Quartet The Eagle of the Ninth The Owl Service Howl's Moving Castle His Dark Materials I Capture The Castle Holes
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Post by Claire on Jan 5, 2012 20:28:44 GMT 1
Eeek! What a scarey resolution! Still....not spending money on books doesn't have to equate with not reading.....do you have a public library in your town? The odds are they've got some of the titles I listed, and could inter library loan the others. I know! But really the house is falling down, whilst I am being smothered under piles of books. Actually the 1st 'housy' thing I bought this year is a bookcase for aforementioned books I have got an enormous pile of books to read so I'm not worried about running out and I do use the libraries a lot - but unfortunately North Yorkshire Libraries are not great on classic/older literature. Fantastic list foxglove! Re, the age range I jjust assumed it would be the same as the pony books we read, not really including picture books/early readers but ranging from childrens to young adult. From your list I love 101 Dalmations, Ballet shoes (and other Noel streafeilds) but could never really get into the Redwall series or Animals of Farthing Wood or any of Laura Ingalls Wilders. I find Alan Garners stuff a bit weird, and Phillip Pullman over-rated. I absolutely love I Captured the Castle but is it a children's book? I thought it was an adult novel! Of Enid Blyton I loved the Malory Towers and yes I also loved the 'Adventure' series, I think my fav was Valley of Adventure it was so utterly proposterous! I even liked the circus ones altho I loathe circuses in RL.
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Post by garej on Jan 6, 2012 22:15:16 GMT 1
Most of the ones I love have been already mentioned (Enid Blyton, The Secret Garden, The Railway Children, Matilda), but I do love Tom's Midnight Garden by Phillipa Pearce and Danny Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
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Post by foxglove on Jan 12, 2012 12:11:27 GMT 1
Out of interest, I re-read The Box Of Delights at the weekend after picking it up in a second hand bookshop. I can't remember exactly why I didn't much like it as a child- it was much better than I recall, with some really exciting and imaginative sections and very Christmassy. Cop out ending though. I would definitely now include it on a list of classics.
Must also mention a modern book, Wolf Brother, which I thought was gripping and inventive.
Claire- take your point that I Capture The Castle is more of a teen than children's book. Everyone I've recommended it to as an adult has enjoyed it.
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Post by Claire on Jan 12, 2012 13:05:22 GMT 1
but I do love Tom's Midnight Garden by Phillipa Pearce and Danny Champion of the World by Roald Dahl Forgot about those two garej, good choices. I felt the same about Box of Delights foxglove so I may try it again.
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Post by haffyfan on Jan 12, 2012 21:47:07 GMT 1
*What Katy did *Mrs Frizbee and the rats of Nimh (sp) *Rita the weekend rat - Sonia Levitin *The Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe *Charlotte's Web *Enid blyton - hard to pick out favourites but probably St clares followed by Famous five (if had to pick titles would go for Fifth formers and Five On A treasure island) also really liked those dreadful children and The Faraway tree when younger. *The Cuckoo Sister - Vivien Alcock (i remember it was serialised by either bbc or citv too) * The Ice mountain - Nicholas Walker (surprised they never brought this back with the popularity of dancing on ice actually!) *Judy blume - again not sure which - maybe Deenie or Are you there god, it's me margaret. * Roald Dahl - The Witches if i ahd to choose but also loved George's Marvelous Medicine and Charlie and the Chocolate factory and also matilda * The secret diary of Adrian mole * The School At the Chalet (never got into rest - actually i lie it was the only one I had!) * Bogwoppit *Pippi long stocking *Stranger With My face Lois Duncan (which did creep me out but it certainly has never left me so surely a sign of a good book)
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Post by darkhorse on Jan 15, 2012 17:28:17 GMT 1
I also liked The Diary of Adrian Mole and Those Dreadful Children. Also Elidor by Alan Garner, Emma's Island by Honor Arundel, and Harry Potter.
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Post by Claire on Jan 17, 2012 13:20:14 GMT 1
Hi folks have added poll. As usual have had to miss out a few people's favs as had to trim it to 35 possibles, have included everything more than one person mentioned and a few from everyone's lists so hopefully its a good representation. Apologies if yours is not there tho.
It was mega hard only choosing 10 to vote for!
EDIT - apologies susan & foxglove for missing off The Dark is Rising I did have it on my shortlist but somehow it didnt get copied to the poll. It is irritating that you can't edit polls on here or even delete them and start again - you can only delete the whole thread which is a bit drastic!
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Post by susanb on Jan 17, 2012 19:15:51 GMT 1
LOL....well, this is clearly the "British favorite non-pony children's book" list.....a grand total of one of my ten (Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchet, a British author) made the poll at all! Think I'll sit this one out Actually, come to think of it, three of my other titles were British, but they didn't make the poll either...Kim by Rudyard Kipling, Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Snowstorm by Beryl Netherclift. I can understand about the last, which is less well known, but nobody read Kim or Kidnapped as a child? Good grief!!!
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Post by Claire on Jan 17, 2012 21:16:13 GMT 1
Sorry about the British bias susan, I supposed its inevitable as there are a lot more of us! Also not many from your list cos they were ones not many of the rest of us had read, I did put Kim on the poll as well and I did mean to put the Dark is Rising but made a muck up and accidentally missed it out! I read Kim as a child but not Kidnapped, in fact i still haven't!!!
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Post by susanb on Jan 17, 2012 21:34:40 GMT 1
loved Kidnapped! Went through almost all of Stevenson as a child (somewhere right before Rafael Sabatini....my swashbuckling phase )
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Post by kunuma on Jan 17, 2012 22:32:12 GMT 1
I'd have to say my fave didn't make it either - the Little White Horse, but then I am biased as I believe in unicorns, and of course it is set in Devon.
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Post by foxglove on Jan 18, 2012 14:32:43 GMT 1
I've never read Kidnapped or Treasure Island. I first read Kim at university as part of a course on Modernist Literature, and completely missed all the warmth and humour of the book as I was reading with a clinical mind.
Bookshops stock adult novels from all over the world translated from various languages, but I think they are fairly conservative with their children's selections. I guess parents buy what they remember or looks familiar. Dr Seuss isn't widely known over here; I'm not sure about elsewhere outside the States.
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Post by Claire on Jan 18, 2012 22:30:23 GMT 1
I'd have to say my fave didn't make it either - the Little White Horse, but then I am biased as I believe in unicorns, and of course it is set in Devon. I missed this one out as its in the pony book polls, bit of a grey area whether its a pony book or not but I count it as one anyway!
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