Books that were important to you growing up.

[Palimpsest]

Anybody at all familiar with 'The Chalet School' series?

By Elinor Brent-Dyers. Absolutely! That is a blast from the past. I probably read at least 20 of them. Also the Abbey series (Oxenham), where the girls were all obsessed by morris dancing. I was a lot less fond of the Mallory Towers and St Clare's series by Enid Blyton. Of course, when I went to a real boarding school myself it was nothing like the novels. :lol: I also liked Lorna Hill's Sadler's Wells and Dancing Peel Series, but I'm sure they are out of print and would seem very dated today. In my horsey phase, I read all the sisters Pullein-Thompson books too.

On books that I loved as a child and teenager, many of them have been mentioned already. I was a complete bookworm as a child. Here are a few of the less known ones.

I absolutely LOVED Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse. I re-read it recently, and still found many aspects of it lovely, but would suggest talking about gender stereotyping if your daughters read it now.

I tended to like the less well known books of famous authors. Of the oldies but goodies: I liked Alcott's An Old Fashioned Girl and the "Rose" books better than Little Women. I read all of LM Montgomery's books, not just the Anne Books. I loved Jean Webster's Daddy Long Legs and Dear Enemy -- but the latter might need some discussion of why eugenics is a bad idea for today's younger readers. It was hot scientific thought when Webster was writing. She had a school series, the "Patty" books too. Also, the"Katy" books by Coolidge. You can get most, if not all of these, free on Kindle or Project Gutenberg.

I liked Noel Streatfeild, beyond Ballet Shoes, but found her books rather formulaic after a while. Her semi-autographical The Vicarage Children is quite interesting though.

For history lovers, Alison Uttley's a Traveler In Time, and for mild romance the Tightrope Walker, by Dorothy Gilman. Also, John Wyndham's the Chrysalids (teens escape from Fundie postapocalyptic community), and Gerald Durrell's autobiographical My Family and Other Animals still hold up well today.

Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle was my version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

[OkToBeTakei]

By Elinor Brent-Dyers. Absolutely! That is a blast from the past. I probably read at least 20 of them. Also the Abbey series (Oxenham), where the girls were all obsessed by morris dancing. I was a lot less fond of the Mallory Towers and St Clare's series by Enid Blyton. Of course, when I went to a real boarding school myself it was nothing like the novels. :lol: I also liked Lorna Hill's Sadler's Wells and Dancing Peel Series, but I'm sure they are out of print and would seem very dated today. In my horsey phase, I read all the sisters Pullein-Thompson books too.

On books that I loved as a child and teenager, many of them have been mentioned already. I was a complete bookworm as a child. Here are a few of the less known ones.

I absolutely LOVED Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse. I re-read it recently, and still found many aspects of it lovely, but would suggest talking about gender stereotyping if your daughters read it now.

I tended to like the less well known books of famous authors. Of the oldies but goodies: I liked Alcott's An Old Fashioned Girl and the "Rose" books better than Little Women. I read all of LM Montgomery's books, not just the Anne Books. I loved Jean Webster's Daddy Long Legs and Dear Enemy -- but the latter might need some discussion of why eugenics is a bad idea for today's younger readers. It was hot scientific thought when Webster was writing. She had a school series, the "Patty" books too. Also, the"Katy" books by Coolidge. You can get most, if not all of these, free on Kindle or Project Gutenberg.

I liked Noel Streatfeild, beyond Ballet Shoes, but found her books rather formulaic after a while. Her semi-autographical The Vicarage Children is quite interesting though.

For history lovers, Alison Uttley's a Traveler In Time, and for mild romance the Tightrope Walker, by Dorothy Gilman. Also, John Wyndham's the Chrysalids (teens escape from Fundie postapocalyptic community), and Gerald Durrell's autobiographical My Family and Other Animals still hold up well today.

Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle was my version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

:lol: Indeed it is Elinor Brent-Dyer. How funny. i actually have them all. Took a while as out of print. I sourced many at library sales and and second hand book shops. Too funny. Basically a 1930's Mallory Towers. I just adored them growing up. OMG Oxenham :lol:

[LilMissMetaphor]

Many of those already mentioned.

Also,

Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare.

Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene.

Caddie Woodlawn.

Piers Anthony's Xanth (before he got so formulaic and when I was too young to grasp the slightly perverted sexism that imbues all his stuff.)

[crazyforkate]

Everything by Gordon Korman. Especially his early stuff (The MacDonald Hall Series, Losing Joe's Place, No Coins Please, Who is Bugs Potter?, etc), since I've only read a few of his later "put innocent kids in terrible danger" series (Island, Everest, Dive, Titanic). He's definitely a laugh-a-minute guy.

[Mela99]

Indian Captive by... Lois somebody. I loved the Too Many MUrphys about Colette Murphy. Hm. Best childhood books... All the Lurlene McDaniel books.

[JesusFightClub]

Anybody at all familiar with 'The Chalet School' series?

YES

My mum is obsessed with them, and I read them all growing up :whistle:

I suspect this has something to do with the fact I grew up to be a revolutionary communist... :embarrassed:

[OkToBeTakei]

YES

My mum is obsessed with them, and I read them all growing up :whistle:

I suspect this has something to do with the fact I grew up to be a revolutionary communist... :embarrassed:

:lol:

That would be something we can definitely discuss over lunch sometime hopefully.

Those books are beyond strange when I look back as an adult. Girl crushes? Anti-nazism along with jolly hockey sticks. Rather weird. Although as a child I just liked them.

OMG JFC the main charcter went on to have a Quiverfull :lol:

[Palimpsest]

:lol:

That would be something we can definitely discuss over lunch sometime hopefully.

Those books are beyond strange when I look back as an adult. Girl crushes? Anti-nazism along with jolly hockey sticks. Rather weird. Although as a child I just liked them.

OMG JFC the main charcter went on to have a Quiverfull :lol:

I thought Joey only had triplets not a full quiverful. :)

But, but, but . . . ! Sorry, I'm about to step on a soapbox. :lol:

Those boarding school books are a part of an important genre, pioneered by Angela Brazil, Bruce, Webster, Coolidge, etc. They have to be read in their historical context. Yes, they are classist and dated. Yes, they are preachy, and yap on about on growing up to be true ladies and preparing for marriage. A few rebels still sneak in and become professionals and academics. Powerful in their own rights, without dwindling into wives and mothers only.

I genuinely find them interesting and have reread a few (not Chalet School but others) recently. All free on Kindle. What is important about them is that they emphasize the importance of education for girls. Girls boarding schools are respectable places of learning, not places to park unwanted children like Lowood Institution. Miss Buss and Miss Beale had left great legacies.

The girls' books parallel the many books for boys about boarding school life, and are actually very forward thinking, in fact quite radical, for their times. The not so subtle lesbian undertones have been acknowledged many times. All those girl crushes on seniors. In some of the "Patty" books, the girls ask each other for dates to the school dances, buy each other corsages, dance together, and "escort" each other home. Practice for dating men or . . . Angela Brazil was particularly fond of the name Lesbia and uses it for several of her characters.

Was it deliberate? Who knows. I don't think same sex orientation is a new phenomenon. Perhaps the books normalized those feelings for some readers.

I prefer the older books from the 1880s - 1930s. They are particularly interesting when they discuss the actual curriculum the girls are studying, as many of them do.

I suppose I liked the Chalet School books because they had international students and a range of backgrounds, some naughty girls, and were definitely anti-Nazi. Didn't the school have to move from the Tyrol to the Channel Islands, and then have to be evacuated to Wales? Or something. Memory fails me and I don't think I read much past the 1940s. That was where the collection in the school library ended.

Enid Blyton bastardized the genre in the 1940s and 1950s. She was quite an awful writer in general, and is responsible for most of the jolly hockey sticks reputation. St Trinian's is a far more accurate depiction of boarding schools from my own experience. :twisted: FYI, I went to a coeducational Friends School. A third of us were there because our parents were missionaries or overseas for other reasons.

For non-fiction reading about late 19th and early 20th Century education for girls I recommend Molly Hughes. There is also a good biography of Miss Buss and Miss Beale around.

::Steps off soap box:: :lol:

[keen23]

Oh, there was also this book about a girl who found out she was a witch. She had a silver salt shaker that was shaped like a bird that turned into a real bird. I used to read it ALL THE TIME. And now, I can't remember the name of it. It was pretty old, because my Dad also remembers reading this book when he was a kid, and he's 61.

[formergothardite]

Many of those already mentioned.

Also,

Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare.

Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene.

Caddie Woodlawn.

Piers Anthony's Xanth (before he got so formulaic and when I was too young to grasp the slightly perverted sexism that imbues all his stuff.)

I LOVED Caddie Woodlawn!

[Val78]

A lot of the ones mentioned already,

Hugely memorable that universally most women have read (& learned something from), forever by Judy Blume. *blush*

[MamaJunebug]

I grew up in the '50s so the Bobbseys, Nancy Drew, the Hollisters were about it.

I liked "The Five LIttle Peppers and How They Grew" It was mawkish and corny (published 1939) but I loved that the family were so close and openly caring.

My children said the only book from their childhoods that they wanted me to keep is "Hey Willie, See The Pyramids," by Maira Kalman. I don't even remember where I first found it, but I'm glad to have it in my teentsy library even today. There's just something about it that's addictive and light-heartedly charming, yet out there.

[crazyforkate]

Oh, yes - the works of Diana Wynne Jones. Excellent for kids, and enjoyable for adults too if you want to read together!

[OkToBeTakei]

I thought Joey only had triplets not a full quiverful. :)

But, but, but . . . ! Sorry, I'm about to step on a soapbox. :lol:

Those boarding school books are a part of an important genre, pioneered by Angela Brazil, Bruce, Webster, Coolidge, etc. They have to be read in their historical context. Yes, they are classist and dated. Yes, they are preachy, and yap on about on growing up to be true ladies and preparing for marriage. A few rebels still sneak in and become professionals and academics. Powerful in their own rights, without dwindling into wives and mothers only.

I genuinely find them interesting and have reread a few (not Chalet School but others) recently. All free on Kindle. What is important about them is that they emphasize the importance of education for girls. Girls boarding schools are respectable places of learning, not places to park unwanted children like Lowood Institution. Miss Buss and Miss Beale had left great legacies.

The girls' books parallel the many books for boys about boarding school life, and are actually very forward thinking, in fact quite radical, for their times. The not so subtle lesbian undertones have been acknowledged many times. All those girl crushes on seniors. In some of the "Patty" books, the girls ask each other for dates to the school dances, buy each other corsages, dance together, and "escort" each other home. Practice for dating men or . . . Angela Brazil was particularly fond of the name Lesbia and uses it for several of her characters.

Was it deliberate? Who knows. I don't think same sex orientation is a new phenomenon. Perhaps the books normalized those feelings for some readers.

I prefer the older books from the 1880s - 1930s. They are particularly interesting when they discuss the actual curriculum the girls are studying, as many of them do.

I suppose I liked the Chalet School books because they had international students and a range of backgrounds, some naughty girls, and were definitely anti-Nazi. Didn't the school have to move from the Tyrol to the Channel Islands, and then have to be evacuated to Wales? Or something. Memory fails me and I don't think I read much past the 1940s. That was where the collection in the school library ended.

Enid Blyton bastardized the genre in the 1940s and 1950s. She was quite an awful writer in general, and is responsible for most of the jolly hockey sticks reputation. St Trinian's is a far more accurate depiction of boarding schools from my own experience. :twisted: FYI, I went to a coeducational Friends School. A third of us were there because our parents were missionaries or overseas for other reasons.

For non-fiction reading about late 19th and early 20th Century education for girls I recommend Molly Hughes. There is also a good biography of Miss Buss and Miss Beale around.

::Steps off soap box:: :lol:

OH man you need to read more. She had eleven before the series ended :lol:

My memory fails me to exactly why but there was I believe a mini scandal regarding the author actually running a boarding school that was based around the books and it was pretty shit :lol:

[Palimpsest]

OH man you need to read more. She had eleven before the series ended :lol:

My memory fails me to exactly why but there was I believe a mini scandal regarding the author actually running a boarding school that was based around the books and it was pretty shit :lol:

Eleven! Holy cow! Poor Joey. Didn't one of the girls become a nun?

I Googled. EB-D ran the Margaret Roper School in Hereford from 1938 - 1948. It survived "partly due to WWII" -- perhaps she took in evacuees? Then she started writing full time.

There are also Chalet School fan sites and at least one forum. The Friends of the Chalet School chaletschool.org.uk looks particularly devoted. :lol:

[RachelB]

The Partner's sister is visiting and just loaned me a bunch of books from Richard Peck's Blossom Culp series: The Ghost Belonged to Me, Ghosts I Have Been, The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp, and-- best of all-- Blossom Culp and the Sleep of Death. Prior to this weekend I think I probably read these most recently in 1987 when I was taking a science fiction / fantasy literature class.

Blossom is pretty much my favorite female protagonist in a children's or young adult book/series. She's self-reliant and canny, wonderfully weird, and keenly insightful about the class dynamics of her small town. She's what Hermione would be in the Harry Potter books, if only the Harry Potter books had more sympathy for Hermione's perspective.

And Blossom has a clear sense of ethics and fairness, albeit one that doesn't perfectly match that of the people around her. She really wants to do right by the haunted spirits she sees.

I've been surprised in particular by how much Sleep of Death had stuck with me. It's probably close to the film The Princess Bride for number of lines and images that stuck in my memory.

[Gertie]

I just remembered one of my favourite childhood books--"The Blue Castle" by Lucy Maud Montgomery. It's about a woman in her 20's (considered an old maid by then--I think it's based in the early 1900's) who lives a rather depressing life of being bossed around by her mom and aunt. Her doctor tells her she's got a heart condition and has only a year to live, and suddenly she does start to LIVE... speaks her mind and does whatever she wants.

One thing I especially remember is that the main character considers a night where she doesn't wake up and get to listen to the night sounds as "wasted." I still always remember that if I wake up at night and can't get back to sleep. I think of this book from my childhood and try to enjoy the feeling of getting to lie there doing nothing, just listening.

[Mama Mia]

Oh my gosh, so many fond memories brought back by everyone's replies.

I'll second Harry Potter, All-of-a-Kind Family (I only read the first one, though), Little House On The Prairie, Swallows and Amazons, The Giver, Dear America, Roald Dahl, Little Women, Boxcar Children, and especially everything by Noel Streatfield.

One that hasn't been mentioned is Cheaper By The Dozen, an oldie but goodie that was definitely the very beginning of the train of events that led to me finding this board-- the huge family enthralled me as a kid, and from then on I loved any stories with big and weird families. So while it wasn't a super-pivotal book to me when I read it, it was evidently rather important to my later life.

Finally, I'll add Betsy-Tacy, a semi-autobiographical series of 10ish books by Maud Hart Lovelace, following "Betsy's" life from age five until her mid-twenties. Man, I loved those books so much. I'd get a new one every year for Christmas until that one sad year when I finished the series. Even now, going back and comparing Betsy's experiences (born in the early 1890's) to my own experiences growing up is just incredible.

Love, love, love the Betsy Tacy books! Was just talking about them the other day. I wanted to be Tacy....did you identify with one of them ?

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Joy in the Morning are also good for older kids.

[AtroposHeart]

Oh, mine were the boxcar children books. Those are what really got me into reading. There was also a children's series of editions of classic books and I remember reading their version of Jane Eyre and Anne of Green Gables, over and over again.

I remember being so happy to get the full versions as a teen.

[formergothardite]

The Partner's sister is visiting and just loaned me a bunch of books from Richard Peck's Blossom Culp series: The Ghost Belonged to Me, Ghosts I Have Been, The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp, and-- best of all-- Blossom Culp and the Sleep of Death. Prior to this weekend I think I probably read these most recently in 1987 when I was taking a science fiction / fantasy literature class.

Blossom is pretty much my favorite female protagonist in a children's or young adult book/series. She's self-reliant and canny, wonderfully weird, and keenly insightful about the class dynamics of her small town. She's what Hermione would be in the Harry Potter books, if only the Harry Potter books had more sympathy for Hermione's perspective.

And Blossom has a clear sense of ethics and fairness, albeit one that doesn't perfectly match that of the people around her. She really wants to do right by the haunted spirits she sees.

I've been surprised in particular by how much Sleep of Death had stuck with me. It's probably close to the film The Princess Bride for number of lines and images that stuck in my memory.

I had forgotten about Blossom Culp! I need to go read them again.

[Peas n carrots]

The Anne of Green Gables series and anything paranormal for me I loved in particular Wait 'Til Helen Comes. I also loved My Antonia by Willa Cather as my maternal great grandparents were Bohemian pioneers in Nebraska like the title character. My favorite required reading in high school was A Farewell To Arms by Hemingway, which is still one if my favorite books as an adult.

[sparkles]

Every year for my birthday my parents would re-up my membership in a kids' book of the month club. After all these years (and it's been a lotta years) the book I remember most is The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken. Not only was it a great adventure story but the protagonist was a kick-ass girl named Bonnie Green who was intelligent, fearless, kind and a bit of a smart mouth. I don't know what happened to my original copy but I bought it again as an adult and liked it just as much as I did when I was a kid. It was a favorite of my daughter's too.

They made it into a TV movie at some point and managed to FUBAR the whole story. I couldn't bear to watch.

[alwayscaffeinated]

I read every Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume book I could get my hands on.

Little House series

Anne of Green Gables series

Where The Red Fern Grows

Shel Silverstein poetry books

Nancy Drew

Babysitter's Club

Sweet Valley Twins/High

[salex]

I am late to this party, and many of my favorites were already listed, though I'll list them again. I don't have kids, and don't remember how R rated some of these are.

To kill a mockingbird

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (probably for the older girls)

Any number of Oz Books

Little Women

The Little House Books

Old Yeller

The Secret Garden

The Little Princess

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

True Grit

Jack London Short Stories

The Good Earth

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Jane Eyre

A Wrinkle in Time

Lord of the Rings/Hobbit

Alice inWonderland / Through the Looking Glass

The "space cowboy" sort of books like "Farmer in the Sky"

Romeo and Juliet

The Fire Hunter

Fitzgerald Short Stories Bernice Bobs her Hair sort of things.

[becky4201]

All The Black Stallion books.