Here and There: favourite childhood books

Books from my childhood, all well loved and well read. Four of them were passed down from my Mum, but the rest are mine. I loved them all.

Enid Blyton's Anytime Tales and Pixie Tales. Pixie Tales was the book I bought with my 50p book token, a prize from the libraries' Good Readers Club. I was invited to a special presentation where I had to go up on stage and collect it, I was the youngest child in my school ever to win a prize in this yearly competition, I would have been five or six. As I recall, it involved reading a lot of books, writing the occasional essay about them and being quizzed by the librarian about each book I read. I still have my orange 'Good Readers Club' badge. Enid Blyton's Fairy Tales type book are quite sinister, I remember being rather scared by them. I also loved her Famous Five books. I read many of them, but don't seem to have any now, though they could be in the loft. Probably I just read them so much they fell to pieces! I loved reading about the adventures of the Famous Five - Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Timmy the dog as they solved all sorts of crimes and mysteries. When the Young Philosopher was young, I bought him the entire set, and I think he read one before deciding he didn't like 'old fashioned books' and I gave them all away.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, of course. We read this at school when I was about eight, and I was just young enough to try my own wardrobe hopefully a couple of times... years later I acquired the whole set. I am not so keen on the films, but then I never am. They never live up to the book.

Four books of my mother's - Katherine at Feather Ghyll, the Little Countess, The Ruses of Ruby-Anne, The Daring of Daryl. All delightfully old fashioned when I read them in the seventies, and even more so now.

Downy Duckling, a rhyme and picture book from when I was very small. It was from my Uncle's work Christmas party, when all the workers' children were given a gift. I think he may have put me down as his daughter so that I wasn't left out. In fact, I know he did, as I was coached that I had to go up when they called out my first name with my Uncle's last one!

Tom's Midnight Garden. I adored this book, and still love the idea of a garden which only appears when the clock strikes thirteen. Wonderful!

The Secret Garden, I loved the tale of Alice and how she, Dickon and Colin slowly become friends and bring the garden back to life.

Little Women. Of course I wanted to be Jo.

Mary Jones and her Bible. An unusual choice this one, and I have not known anyone else who has read it except the girl who gave the book to me. It is the true story of a little girl in Wales who so wanted to be able to read the Bible she saved for six years and then in 1800,  at the age of 15 walked 25 miles to buy one. I wasn't brought up in the church, nor am I a believer now, but I was and remain very inspired by her dedication.

I also remember loving my Hamlyn Children's Illustrated Bible, which I know I still have somewhere, battered and with the front cover missing. It was a fifth birthday present from my aunt and uncle. The pictures were fantastic, I particularly loved the Plagues of Egypt.

And last but most definitely not least, my favourite book, What Katy Did. I identified with Katy, she was impulsive, impatient, always doing the wrong thing - but then an accident transforms her personality to something far more gentle and kind. I read What Katy Did endlessly - I remember once setting myself the target of reading it front to back thirteen consecutive times, and I did, and then many more times during my childhood. I recently downloaded it for Kindle - I didn't realise until looking for my old books today that it was on the bookshelf, rather than somewhere in the loft packed away.

I have always loved books. I love fiction as a means of finding out about other people and places, and as a means of escape. I love learning, so I have many non-fiction books too, on many different subjects. I have a 'to be read' bookcase, rather than a pile, and still I buy more. My book wishlist is as long as my arm. I've never been any different.