Favorite children's novels/series

[doglim]

Not a novel, but I loved Tintin. I now model myself on Captain Haddock.

 

[CrumpleHornedSnorkak]

As I kid, my favourites were:

Matilda - Roald Dahl
The Witches - Roald Dahl
Charlotte's Web - E. B White
Don't Be Silly, Mr Twiddle - Enid Blyton
The Worst Witch - Jill Murphy


And I obviously love the Harry Potter books. They weren't published until I was about 12, but I didn't read them until I was 17. I'm gutted!

If I'm honest, I really enjoy YA fantasy fiction, in a lot of cases, more than Adult. My partner always says that Potter is for kids, but the truth is it is a fantastic story, and so often YA book are just great stories. Who really cares what age group it's marketed for?

 

[Pandoricus]

It wasn't until I was in my twenties and working in libraries that I began to read Susan Cooper and Ursula Le Guin. I also reread Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and enjoyed them more on the second reading.

Years later came Phillip Pullman - another brilliant writer.

 

[The Bluestocking]

From my growing-up years:

The "Anne of Green Gables" series
Enid Blyton's school series (Malory Towers, St Clare's)
Black Beauty
Wind In The Willows
The Wizard of Oz
The Hobbit

YA stuff I read that came out after I grew up:

The Harry Potter series
The Percy Jackson series
The "Hunger Games" trilogy
The "Divergent" trilogy

 

[RightersBlock]

When I was Young (I mostly read informational books like on animals):

Bunnicula and it's sequel
A Wrinkle in Time
Goosebumps
Every Living Thing (Such a sad book :[)
The Hostage (a book about an Orca whale)

When I was an Older Teen and Young Adult:

Harry Potter

 

[kierandell1409]

Harry Potter was the cornerstone of my childhood. There's not a thing about it that I hate...except Umbridge.

Others that I've enjoyed include Percy Jackson (both series), Artemis Fowl, Maximum Ride (why are so many named after the main character?), Inheritance Cycle, Twilight and The Hunger Games. I'm reading a lot of these sorts of books right now because I'm planning a novel where I parody a lot of them.

 

[Helix]

Animorphs was what really got me reading as a kid, I loved them. From there I was reading Jack London's books, then got sucked into Harry Potter. No regrets, It was awesome.

 

[RebeccaTheWrecker]

For fantasy, it was Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, the Chrestomanci series by Dianna Wynne Jones (I 100% recommend these to everyone), Pure Dead series by Debi Gliori, Inkheart, etc. Also, Charlie and the Glass Elevator (infinitely better than the Chocolate Factory). Non-fantasy books would be Trixie Beldon (still reread it every year) and Archie Comics (which I kind of collect now).

 

[Anne Spackman]

Rosemary Sutcliff Books such as The Eagle of the Ninth Chronicles and also her King Arthur series. Shadow of the Hawk by James Reeves.
Black Beauty and many many other horse books, mostly by Marguerite Henry.
The Secret of Nimh was a classic favorite.
D'Aulaires Greek Myths with its excellent illustrations.
And of course The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

 

[Nechtan]

The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper. I've read Under Sea, Under Stone but never finished the series. Something I would like to do.
The Haunted Mountain - Mollie Hunter. A Highlands farmer angers the sidhe who are out for revenge. Wonderful
The Children of Green Knowe - L.M. Boston
The Midnight Folk/The Box of Delights - John Masefield
Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll
Narnia - C.S. Lewis
Moon in the Cloud/Shadow on the Sun/Bright and Morning Star - Rosemary Harris. Apparently known as the Ancient Egypt sequence. An alternative take on Noah's flood taking place in Canaan and Egypt. The main character, Reuben, can understand the speech of animals. Handy when you're trying to round them up to get on the Ark.
The Uncle series - J.P. Matin. A millionaire elephant who owns a massive castle. Kinda surreal, if memory serves.
James and the Giant Peach and others - Roald Dahl. Yes, Charlie and the Glass Elevator was much better than the Chocolate Factory
Elidor - Alan Garner. Another one I should have read more of.
The Moomins - Tove Jansson
The Odyssey - Homer. It was a children's version. Some things were left out.
Asterix - Goscinny and Uderzo
Tintin - Herge
Warlock of Firetop Mountain and other fighting fantasy gamebooks - Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone
The Hobbit - Tolkien. And then the mothership landed. The Lord of the Rings.

 

[Anne Spackman]

Rosemary Sutcliff Books such as The Eagle of the Ninth Chronicles and also her King Arthur series. Shadow of the Hawk by James Reeves.
Black Beauty and many many other horse books, mostly by Marguerite Henry.
The Secret of Nimh was a classic favorite.
D'Aulaires Greek Myths with its excellent illustrations.
And of course The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

I should have said Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien. The Secret of NIMH was the name of a film based upon the book.

 

[theliterarybug]

The Apothecary and The Apprentices by Malie Meloy
The Battle For Wondla by Tony Diterlizzi
The Golden Specific by S E Grove
The Reader by Traci Chee
The Luck Uglies by Paul Durham
Thrones and Bones by Lou Anders
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
Pax by Sara Pennypacker
The Ear,The Eye and The Arm by Nancy Farmer
Wildwood by Colin Meloy
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

 

[Hoverdasher]

It is not sci-fi, but it is fantasy. My favorite book was started, not finished, as a read aloud, when I was really little. I remember loving it so much, that when mum was ill, I ended up reading the entire thing to her--and we would re-read favorite chapters again and again.

Strange admissions from an odd girl: I still enjoy reading from this Kenneth Grahame classic!!

H.

 

[Reivax26]

Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan are really good. I found his Egyptian series to be a bit average compared to the Greek books but he redeemed himself with the Norse books. I have enjoyed all 3 that have been published.

 

[monsterchic]

The Unicorn Chronicles by Bruce Coville both got me into horses AND into fantasy. My babysitter read it to me before I could read myself and I adored it. I still pull it out every so often.

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. My third grade teacher read it to the class and I fell in love.

Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black

 

[Universal_Blonde]

Everworld by K.A. Applegate
Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene
Nightmare Hall by Diane Hoh
Goosebumps by R.L. Stine

These books were my LIFE growing up, even back when I thought I hated books.

 

[Guttersnipe]

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Redwall by Brian Jacques
The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket

 

[Universal_Blonde]

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Redwall by Brian Jacques
The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket

My husband has been going ON about the Redwall series all week. I decided to google it based on your writing it here (since he didn't know the author) and just learned it's going to be a show on Netflix. Now he's all excited.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

My favourite children's book is The Railway Children, by E. Nesbit.

 

[nixie]

Heidi, The Borrowers, The Famous Five, Chronicles of Narina, will be a lot more but these ones come instantly to mind.