Are there any books you read as a child that you still want to read?
By John Welford
@indexer (4852)
Leicester, England
October 28, 2018 9:24am CST
As a youngster I used to get hooked on a particular author or book series that grabbed my attention. I would work my way through everything I could find in the children's library - before moving on to my next craze!
I now find that if I come across one of those titles in a second-hand bookshop I am sorely tempted to renew my acquaintance with a past favourite, and I am rarely disappointed!
One series that comes to mind is "Jennings and Darbishire" by Anthony Buckeridge. These were stories set in a boys' "prep" boarding school in Sussex, where the well-meaning Jennings, with his constant companion Darbishire, finds that his efforts to make his part of the world a better place often come unstuck.
In some ways it was an odd fascination for me, given that I did not go to that sort of school! But I so enjoyed those stories that I am more than happy to read them again if and when the opportunity arises.
Another author who stands the test of time for me is Arthur Ransome, the creator of "Swallows and Amazons".
What about you?
11 people like this
14 responses
@snowy22315 (171104)
• United States
28 Oct 18
I would read the Boxcar children and the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder again.
4 people like this
@indexer (4852)
• Leicester, England
28 Oct 18
"Little House" is a new name to me. Presumably an American series that did not cross the Atlantic?
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
28 Oct 18
Little House was never exclusively for kids because adults always liked them.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (216305)
• Chile
28 Oct 18
Several. I still enjoy rereading "the little house" books with an adult reading. Louise M. Alcott and L.M. Montgomery also have an adult reading. Then I read many books that were not for children when I was a child. I have read them again too.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (216305)
• Chile
28 Oct 18
@much2say My sister gave them to me as a present many years ago.
1 person likes this
! Are the ones you are reading those books gifted to you 
?
@indexer (4852)
• Leicester, England
28 Oct 18
@xFiacre I discovered something interesting about Biggles this week. Apparently the "real" Biggles was stationed in Iceland during World War Two as an Air Commodore. Serving under him was John Lamburn, who was the brother of Richmal Crompton and the original of her famous character William!
1 person likes this
@indexer (4852)
• Leicester, England
28 Oct 18
That is certainly a consideration. On the other hand great literature repays being read from a different perspective.
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
28 Oct 18
I never thought about it. I was reading adult books early on. The "kids" books I used to read were stuff like the Hardy Boys.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
29 Oct 18
I remember the Trebizon books by Anne Digby. I read them when I was about 12 years old and I loved them. I never got the chance to read them all, because the last books hadn't been translated to Danish. I also read Roald Dahl's short stories as a child. Some of his stories really scared me at that time. I have re-read some of them as an adult.
@much2say (53942)
• Los Angeles, California
28 Oct 18
I have collected children's books throughout the years for that very reason - I still love my books from childhood and then some - but so many! I love Roald Dahl's books (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach - and many more). I love Shel Silverstein's books (The Missing Piece, Where the Sidewalk Ends - all of them . . .). A.A. Milne's Winnie the Poo . . . E.B. White's Charlotte's Web. What I really love are the books with illustrations - like Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar, or all the Dr. Seuss books including Green Eggs and Ham . . . I could go on and on and on!!
@almostoveryou (4252)
• Philippines
29 Oct 18
I still would go back to Nancy Drew and the Little House books.
