What were your favourite books or comics when you were a child?

My favourite books as a child were Heidi,Little Women, Anne of Green Cables, The lion the witch and the wardrobe and The Mallory towers books.

Favourite comics were Bunty,Diana,Princess Tina and when I was a younger Twinkle was my Saturday treat when staying with my grandparents.

My favourite book was Under the lilacs by Louisa May Alcott. We had a huge lilac bush in our garden and I spent many hours reading all the classic books there in fine weather.

Girls Crystal for me, always ready for it to pop through the letter box so I could follow the serial.
Favourite books - Enid Blyton adventure series with Snubby, Loony etc. The usual classics
Heidi, Little Women, What Katy Did, Biggles, Jennings & Derbyshire.

I loved the Milly Molly Mandy books, always wanted to live in that "nice white cottage with the thatched roof "!

My favourite books as a child were anything about horses - Black Beauty, the 'Jill' series (Jill's Gymkhana etc), Christine Pullein-Thompson's books - but to be honest, as an only child, I read anything and everything I could get my hands on. I read Tolkein's books at a very early age and loved them. We had an encyclopaedia set and I'd even sit and work my way through that on a rainy day.
As for comics, I remember getting Bunty and I think also Judy. We had a little newsagent at the bottom of my street and I loved going there to get my comics every week.

The Water Babies, Black Beauty. Then many many more.

Famous Five. I wanted to be George and have a dog called Timmy.

Black Beauty

The Borrowers

I devoured the Narnia books by C S Lewis, The Shoe books by Noel Streatfield, along with anything about horses or boarding schools, Malory Towers, Jill’s Gymkhana etc.

We had a big library opposite where we lived and it was definitely my happy place, I was allowed to go there in my own from 7yrs old and got to know the librarians.

I remember looking forward to picking up Judy, June & Schoolfriend and later Jackie from the newsagents.

Black Beauty
The Secret Garden

Bunty. I loved the cut out doll and clothes on the back.
I was fascinated by The Four Marys - Mary Simpson, Mary Cotter, Mary Field and Mary Radleigh. I can see them now.
School Friend
The Beano, Dandy and Topper

TheSecret Garden
Wierdstone of Brisingamen - and other books by Alan Garner
The Little Grey men books
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books
The Sword in the Stone
Mary Poppins
National Velvet

I was the original bookworm. Essentially I would read anything I could lay my hands on. But at 5 my favourite book was definitely Milly-Molly-Mandy, At 10 I read Swallows and Amazons, and after that, all the Arthur Ransome books were my absolute favourites.

However nothing was as important to me as the 1 volume childrens encylopedia, full of articles on a wide range of subjects that my grandmother gave me when I was 8. I still have it.

Then as now my passion was for information and I much preferred a book on a subject to a novel.

On the comic front, yes, I loved reading Girl and other girls magazines, but when I spent a prolonged period of time in hospital when I was 6 I opted for the Children's Newspaper, rather than any comic, as a weekly treat. From the age of about 8 to about 16. I would latch onto any copy of the Readers Digest that came my way.

Charlotte's Web is my favourite children's book. I also loved Secret Seven. As for comics I worked up from Twinkle to Jackie to Just 17.

every saturday morning I'd visit the local library , Enid Blyton's Secret Seven and Famous Five series were my favourites.

Oh yes, M0nica - my dad used to get the Readers Digest and I would devour it as soon as it arrived! I had forgotten about that.

Also My Friend Flicka and two other books in the trilogy. I read all of Alan Garner who is still alive. I wrote to him and to my surprise had a letter back in beautiful black writing but sadly I no longer have it.

Like ViceVersa I loved horsey/pony books. an early favourite was "A Pony for Jean" by Joanna Cannan who was the mother of Josephine, Christine and Diana Pullein-Thompson all of whom were accomplished horse-women and wrote brilliant books.

My mother had a down on Enid Blyton but I did read and love some of the Noddy books, mainly because of the colourful and lively illustrations by Beek.

I loved Little Women ,What Katy Did and Anne of Green Gables as well as all the traditional fairy tales.

When I was eight or nine I had a magazine called Princess and then when I was thirteen/fourteen I used to read Petticoat magazine.

The far away tree. Bounty, & my brothers ‘Roy of the rovers’. My favourite would have to be the ‘The Broons’ & ‘Our Willy’ from the ‘Scottish Sunday Post’. I got annuals for Christmas.

The Girl comic and book, usually for Christmas.
Books:
The SilverSword
What Katy did.
Little Women
Call of the Wild, and when I got a little older Jane Eyre

I loved the Enid Blyton St Claire’s series as a child.

Comics were Mandy, Bunty and Judy and then Jackie when I was older.

Swift was the first comic I read, followed by Girl and my brother’s Eagle. I loved the historical biographies that were serialised on the back pages. Gladys Aylward and Horatio Nelson were my favourites.
My favourite books were most of the children’s classics, the Jill books, Wish for a Pony by Monica Edward’s and the Famous Five books by Enid Blyton.
I still have my battered copy of We Couldn’t Leave Dinah by Mary Treadgold about children in Guernsey during the war, hiding their pony in a cave and uncovering a spy plot….So exciting for a nine year old.

Comics: Dandy on Mondays, Beano on Wednesdays. As I moved into the teenage years I read Valentine, Mirabelle and Jackie.

Books: All the classics, anything by Enid Blyton. My all time favourite though throughout my childhood years was The Bobbsey Twins by Laura Lee Hope. Happy days

I loved Enid Blyton’s Mallory Towers, St Clare’s, Five findouters Secret Seven and Famous Five. I also loved the Katy books. I was a big reader from early years and still am. My kindle is my best friend😂

I loved comic day remember Bunty, Jackie, Diana and my younger sister had Twinkle. I also enjoyed the Beano and reading The Gambols in the Daily Express.

I now see my 11 year old Dgd2 with a head in a book all the time. I’ve always been one for losing myself in fiction I am frequently to be found in la la land reading it got me through covid and other difficult times. I have lots of eye issues and I dread ever not being able to read. I can live without a TV.

As a young child loved Little Grey Rabbit and as soon as I could read just devoured the children’s section of our local library. Much loved were The Dimsey books about boarding school and the all Malcolm Saville’s Lone Pine Five series, all Noel Streatfield’s novels but particularly ‘The Bell Family’. Lorna Hill’s books about ballet ( heaven knows why as I had never seen a ballet or learned a single step!). I roared with laughter at the antics of Jennings and Darbishire and I remember one Christmas hiding behind the curtains to read undisturbed Oliver Twist ‘that my sister gave me.
A lot of my choices were sparked by hearing adaptations on Children’s Hour. I recently reread ‘TheBox of Delights’ which they broadcasted in the 1950s and I still found it thrilling.

Comics were a stolen pleasure, for some reason my mother thought they were harmful to my development! I was allowed ‘The Girl’s Crystal’’

I wish I could still lose myself in stories the way I did then.