Nem is back! Nem is back!
What age will you be teaching? (congrats on having your own class!)

YAY! the dark is rising has been a favourite for many many years and have got a number of others to read it. Very good collection of novels! I also am sad about the film, it should have been an English production! And for that matter made in order! not the third book first.
How good is Garth Nix! I have read Sabriel about 20 times- average of 4-5 times a year and the others also!
Roald Dahl is an old fav too, I like the creepyness of his people. Have you read the Haunting of Alaizabel cray? interesting book and also the Looking glass Wars. I haven't checked out the graphic novel version yet of the looking glass wars though.

Kitten! I like you idea of an appeal for a new ending! Who should we petition?
I personally have never considered it to be part of the series.
^_^

Hey Moo! <cyber hugs!> yes I am back from the wilderness that BT had thrown me into (a month without internet access!?!?) It feels sooo good to be back on line but I have an awful lot of threads and posts to read through!

I am teaching the ickle teenie weenies! I have a P1/2 composite so the ages will be 5, 6 and 7! So I am really quite freaked out! I am going in to decorate on Monday and Tueasday!

I also really liked the Looking Glass Wars!

The Cookster Wrote:
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>
> Made the fatal error of letting my nephew look at
> it who proceeded to completely destroy it and as
> far as I know it's long since out of print
> ......... just another lost part of my childhood

I kept a good selection of my old children's books to pass on to the next generation. But when it came to it I couldn't actually bear to pass on my old Enid Blyton books to my niece - i was too worried about what she would do to them. I ended up buying her new copies and keeping mine for myself! (obviously harder to do for books that are out of print!)

What is wrong with Bessie?

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

So many good books for "kids"...I loved and still love most of the books by Joan Aiken (The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, The Stolen Lake etc) and Dianna Wynne Jones (Charmed Life, Dogsbody etc).

The Dark is Rising series, Roald Dahl (The Twits!!), Lloyd Alexander's Black Cauldron etc, Narnia series ditto, although haven't re-read any of these recently..."The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" was the first "chapter book" I remember reading.

For younger readers, I still enjoy Graeme Oakley's "Churchmice" series, featuring the long-suffering cat Sampson and the endlessly enthusiastic mice Arthur and Humphrey. The "Brambly Hedge" series are also beautifully illustrated little adventures for children (and adults) who like reading about small furry animals. And how could you not enjoy reading about small furry animals, let's face it!!

Recently I read my young cousin's entire series of Lemony Snickett books (A Series of Unfortunate Events and so forth) and now would like to marry Lemony Snickett, except I hear he is taken, and also fictional.

Arthur Ransome! Very good author of children's books. I like all of the Swallows and Amazons series.
I just re read Pigeon post

Hi Kerensa!

you seem to have snuck in with the usual crowd sending you a welcome.

Have some pie. I expect the drinks will be along soon. And the Battenburg.

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My computer beat me at chess, but I won at kickboxing

I think that's my cue!
Welcome, Kerensa!
Would you like some tea, coffee, or <roots around cupboard> Tang?

wow now heres a nostalgia thread, Was always a big Blyton fan but I have to say I can't get hold of them any more. I still flick through Biggles occasionally, also I obtained Mrs Frisby and the rats of NIMH a couple of weeks back, I forget the author but the whole series was brilliant! I think it was Robert O'Brien, maybe the same author as Z for zachariah or perhaps I'm completely misremembering. The animals of farthing wood? and all the sequels, hardy boys, the three investigators, in fact every time i go home i re-read as many of my childhood books as possible before my parents ditch them all.

Rats of NIMH was amazing. Only setwork book I ever enjoyed.

Swallows and Amazons sounds very familiar.... Those were the kids with boats?

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

How could no-one have mentioned the Nihm books before??? Good call Lymond

Lymond I totally forgot The Three Investigators! Jupiter Bob & Pete had the coolest hide-out ever!

Oh, I'm glad to see someone else mentioned Grahame Oakley's Church cat series! I loved that as a kid, and still get a kick out of them. I think, sadly, that they're out of print. At least here in the U.S.

I just recently read the Dark Materials series for the first time (I would have loved them even more as a child) while I was waiting for the last Harry Potter book. I still enjoy rereading the Narnia books and the Black Cauldron series. I think for me, reading children's fantasy is like comfort food -- the books remind me of my childhood, even the ones I didn't read when I was an actual child (am 31 now) so that's why I enjoy rereading them.

This thread has brought back so many memories! Bobbsey Twins, Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Alice in Wonderland, Narnia, Anne of Green Gables, Choose your own adventure, Little House books (I've tried some of the new ones about her grandmother and other relatives, but didn't find them very interesting). I remember asking to be read Freckles and Girl of the Limberlost each summer, but can't recall the stories at all.

My grandmother gave me The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye, all about Princess Amy, who wasn't blond and beautiful, but brunette with a tendency to freckle and who preferred climbing trees to dancing lessons -- wonderful story!

The one book which I took out of the library more than any other, though, was something about a house in the woods which a girl discovers just by chance, only to discover that it's where Cinderella's ugly stepsisters have wound up living and that fairy tales are real. It also involves Jack (of Beanstalk fame) and possibly Rapunzel as well. I've looked all through the children's section several times trying to find it, but the library hasn't any record of it anymore. Just thinking of it makes me smile, and I suppose I'll never be disappointed by re-reading it since I can't remember the title or the author! :(

House

Your description of The Ordinary Princess has just reminded me of the Dealing with Dragons series, and the princess in those... Cimorene or something like that? Must look them up again.

The Dealing with Dragons series...you know I don't know how that first book got into my hands,but at the time it was out of print or something, but just recently out of coincidence I walked into Barnes and noble and there it was sitting on a display case about books that you might like if you were done with harry potter.

All this time I thought it was out of print....got to go read it again and buy it's sequels..

it's a real funny you should mention it, thing really. I thought it was just some dollar store sifi that I would never see the sequel to. I guess I was wrong.

Anybody read Nicholas Fisk as a child? Grinny and trillions were my favourites, How about Anthony Horowitz? (pre stormbreaker). Willard Price Adventure series?

Anybody read I think it was called the silver crown, I cant remember, it was read to us by a primary teacher oh so long (10 years) ago, that was definitely the scariest book I’d ever come across up to then, all I can remember is the man with the green(?) gloves. It was another O’Brien book. Also for the rats of Nihm books there was a third written by his daughter, Rasco and the rats of nihm.

I LOVED the Dealing With Dragons series! The third and fourth weren't quite as good, but the first two were excellent!

Remember Grinny.... Odd writer.

Hmmm.... I read Galicoe's Man Who Was Magic when I was reasonably young. Was a good book.

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland