Nostalgia Thread: Best Children's Author?

[Smeggers]

Oh yes, I'd forgotten about them! And Roald Dhal, whose "Danny the Champion of the World" is possibly my favourite book ever. I read it over and over again when I was young.

me too.

Dr Seuss deserves special mention.

 

[wafflycat]

Not sure what age we're talking about here, but has anyone nominated the Rev. W. Awdry yet? I still (whisper it) find myself flicking through the Thomas the Tank Engine books even today. Can't wait to read them to my young nephew.
QUOTE]

I LOVED Thomas the tank engine. I had the old books and just adored them!!

Heh... Still got all the Thomas the Tank Engine stuff from when Wafflycat Mnr was a wee one. Even got the Hornby train set with Thomas and Duck

 

[mr_hippo]

Helen Bannerman's Little Black Sambo
Rudyard Kipling
Capt WE Johns and Rev W V Awdry have already been mentioned
Dennis Wheatley
Agatha Christie
Any travel book
Too many others

 

[Paulus]

Not sure what age we're talking about here, but has anyone nominated the Rev. W. Awdry yet? I still (whisper it) find myself flicking through the Thomas the Tank Engine books even today. Can't wait to read them to my young nephew.
QUOTE]

I LOVED Thomas the tank engine. I had the old books and just adored them!!

I was going to nominate the Rev with this post. I have still got the books by the Rev W. Audry, and as a small boy in the early 60's I used to read them over and over again. They are great stories of mischief making, daring, and fun. My favourite one was always Thomas and the Tar wagons. As a teenager, one of my favourite books was Down with Skool by Geoffrey Wilians and Ronald Searl, it used to crease me up.

 

[TheDoctor]

You can now get all the 'Molesworth' books in one volume. It's very good!

 

[Paulus]

Are they available from bookshops, or just on line Doc?

 

[Melvil]

Kenneth Grahame
Alan Garner

Honourable inclusions for Douglas Adams, Tom Sharp and Sue Townsend.

Ah yes, forgot all about Ms Townsend - The Adrian Mole books were a touch of class, even if it was a bit before my time. Rather rubbish TV series though, as I recall?

 

[Andy in Sig]

I really enjoyed the Allan Quatermain stories by H Rider Haggard, the most famous of which are She and King Solomon's Mines.

 

[Paulus]

You can now get all the 'Molesworth' books in one volume. It's very good!

Iv'e just been to the library and got Molesworth out. Cheers for the info Doc. I will now go back 36 years and have a good laugh.

 

[TheDoctor]

Are they available from bookshops, or just on line Doc?

I got mine from Amazon. The Complete Molesworth, IIRC. Do a search on Molesworth and it's the first hit, at £7.14. Bargain!

 

[Plax]

I was a book worm as a child. The librarian knew me very well. Our library was only small and I read anything and everything - biographies, the Royal Family (I was a sad child I was obsessed with the Royal Family, stamp collecting and old coins at one point!), history, archaeology etc.
With regard to children's books I loved the likes of CS Lewis, Enid Blyton, Wilbur Smith (lord knows why) Roal Dahl and Tolkien. I then moved on to devouring the Classics with the Bronte's being my favourite. I went through a phase of reading all the science fiction & fantasy books too along with the likes of Terry Pratchett, Tom Holt, Robert Rankin and Graham Greene.

Once I got to around 15/16 my reading started to dwindle off and I'm ashamed to say I rarely read much now. What little reading I do is total rubbish - romance novels like Daniel Steele (honest to God I really do read this rubbish, I find plot holes and inconsistencies galore and yet I *still* read and enjoy them). Currently starting to re-read all my Terry Pratchett books, but have to be careful where I read them as I have a habit of giggling to myself and thus generating funny looks from people.

 

[TheDoctor]

A few years ago I went through a phase of reading Tom Sharpe (Wilt and so on). I was reading on a train, got to a rather funny bit (bloke putting on a booby-trapped condom full of oven cleaner or some such) and realised the whole carriage was looking at me.
I moved to another carriage...

 

[Origamist]

Richmal Crompton for me

Me too - I have over 30 of her "Just William" books.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I was a book worm as a child. The librarian knew me very well.

Me too. They were quite touchy about children borrowing 'adult' books at my local library, but I had a special dispensation... my boarding school did get worried when I was ordering Huysmans and De Sade through the school bookshop when I was 14 though!

 

[wafflycat]

Me too. They were quite touchy about children borrowing 'adult' books at my local library, but I had a special dispensation... my boarding school did get worried when I was ordering Huysmans and De Sade through the school bookshop when I was 14 though!

Oh yes, I adored the library. Wasn't in boarding school, but my local public library and when at grammar school, the school library. There were certain books I'd borrow again and again... I adored books and reading. At the public library, the librarian would let me borrow books 'older than my age' as I loved reading so much.

I was utterly *mortified* when at school the deputy head, who had never taught me so didn't know me, came up to me one day and accused me of despoiling a library book by writing it. It was something I just wouldn't do as I adored books. The evil woman *insisted* it was my writing and it looked nothing like mine. I loathed that woman from that day forward as I had a deep sense of injustice due to what she'd accused me of and she simply didn't believe me with her "Well Helen, I've been told that is just like your writing." Stupid cow. I hated her from that day forward. I told her I'd write something so she could compare my writing - she said it wasn't necessary. Can you tell I was a tad upset!