For some reason today I started thinking about a series of books I read some of when I was younger. After a google hunt I found a list of titles (here). I have a secret American High School passion (well, a bit of one). Plus they were cheap (�1.50 each - and they did some of them as four books in one). I also probably liked them because absolutely everyone else was reading Sweet Valley High and that put me off. I must get that from my mum - although she loved the films she never read Lord of the Rings because everyone else was when she was younger.

And then, later it occured to me that a popular topic of conversation is children's TV programmes you remember. But never books - perhaps because there are too many. And early on, it's pretty much going to consist of Enid Blyton, and later on be scarred from being told you have to read pre-20th century books for GCSE English. And in my case being forced to read 'improving books' that I didn't understand a word of. Hence my retreat to Sweet Valley High and Cheerleaders.

Beyond the ones I mentioned, though, I can't remember many others (although it's amazing how much you remember once you get started). There was the Four Marys but that was in a comic, I think, which must have been my (very) brief comic reading period. I spent all the time wishing they'd get rid of the pictures so there'd be more room for words.

I remember stories about boarding school. And they'd get measles and have to be quarantined at home and not allowed back to school at the start of term. I think that was Enid Blyton as well

I remember sitting at the doctors reading a book full of so many long words I didn't understand a word of. I'd love to see it now, see if it made any more sense, but I don't remember any more of it than that.

I remember Thomas the Tank Engine was all in little books and lived on my top shelf. I remember Judy Blume, although that's as much as I remember. Except that I was 13 when I read that one (incidentally, I've just discovered that Ctrl-U gives you view source - I was going for underlining but forgot I was in html). Oh, and there was one where two girls wanted their breasts to be bigger, which I didn't understand even when I didn't have any.

I remember the Demon Headmaster, although not what it was about him.

I remember a series about a girl called Gemma who had to live with her cousins. They converted the attic for her, so she could sleep there. I never understood this until I visited the house of a rich friend of mine and they had stairs up to their attic, which you could stand up in. Something I've never seen before or since.

I remember a series about Sadlers Wells and some of the - probably girls - who went there. One of them decided she was more into Spanish dancing. I'd like to point out at this point that I've never in my life done ballet.

It does all sound a bit girly but until I was 18 boys were an alien species, and who would want to read about them?

One Response to “Childhood Reads”

Angelic Paranoia - Book reviews Says:
Sunday 9th October 2005 at 8:09 pm

[...] I spoke about childhood reads a while back. Since then I’ve found a few and read them, so I thought I’d write what I thought about them. [...]