Other Authors I Enjoy

[Jools]

Thank you so much Spaceflower! Will definitely be buying them. But I'll be reading them before the children!!!

[lizarfau]

My favourite children's authors were/are:

Enid Blyton - especially Famous Five, Five Find Outers, Malory Towers, St Clare's and the Barney mysteries. Though I think Brer Rabbit was actually my first love as a child.

Elinor M. Brent-Dyer - author of the Chalet School series (and many other school stories). I particularly liked the early Tyrolean setting.

Malcolm Saville - the Lone Pine books. I learnt my way around Shropshire thanks to the Lone Piners.

Antonia Forest - the Marlows series - four of them are school stories, the rest holiday stories. She's my favourite children's author.

Tim Kennemore - her early 1980s issues-based books were fantastic. I especially loved The Fortunate Few , which focussed on women's (or little girls') gymnastics.

Mary Gervaise - Georgia books. Ostensibly pony books, they were actually school stories, but instead of playing lacrosse, the girls jumped off against the clock.

I like Ivy L. Wallace's series about the Warrender children as well - they're Famous Fiveish type novels. I also liked classics like What Katy Did and What Katy Did at School, Heidi, Little Women and Anne of Green Gables. For contemporary kidlit, I like Harry Potter and the CHERUB books.

[Moose]

I love the Anne of Green Gables books. None of the later ones quite compared to the charm of the first - and they could get a bit twee in places - but the first one was simply wonderful, charming and innocent and likeable.

[Spaceflower]

These I loved when I was a child:

Stephen Tringer: Smoky Joe (about a cat)
Louisa M Alcott: Little women
Betty Cavanna: "The boy next door" and many other books
Mary Stolz: "Ready or not" and other books
L M Montgomery: Anne-series and Emily-series
F H Burnett: Little princess
Emily Neville: Berries Goodman
Ethel Turner: Seven little Australians
Jean Webster: Rebecca
Helen D Boylston's two series about the nurse Sue Barton and the young actress Carol
Phyllis Mattheman's boarding school series about Danewood and Kirkdale Priory

These I have discovered as a grown-up:
C S Lewis: Narnia series
Lloyd Alexander: Prydain chronicles
Monica Hughes: The seven magpies
Lian Hearn: Tales of the Otori
Katherine Paterson: The great Gilly Hopkins, The master puppeteer and other historical children's novels

and of course the Harry Potter books. I hope J K Rowling does not kill off Harry Potter in her last book!

[Katie]

Along with any and every Enid Blyton book I could get my hands on, some of other my well worn favorite were :


Trixie Beldon series
Honestly Katie John
Baby Island
the Donna Parker set of books
little women / little men
Milly Molly Mandy
Little house in the big wood then little house on the prairie and all in the series
story of Helen Keller
the man who didn't wash his dishes
Charlotte's Web
poems for young Australians
seven little Australians
The Chalet School series

then on to
A town like Alice
white coolies
Go Ask Alice

wow am I having flash backs lol
time to hunt second hand book stores ))

[dolly]

Other authors:

Well, I was (and still are) very fond of Astrid Lindgren which is one of the most popular children´s authors in Germany (besides of Enid Blyton of course).
Johanna Spyri´s "Heidi"
Erich Kästner´s "Doppelte Lottchen"

I also enjoyed the series "Nesthäkchen" written by Else Ury. Else Ury was a very popular author at this time - somebody described her as "the Enid Blyton of the Twenties" in Germany - her writing style could be compared to Enid Blyton´s. Although she was very successful her ending was very sad - she died in Auschwitz because she was Jewish.

[Boodi]

Apart from Enid Blyton I especially enjoyed "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Graham, "Black Beauty" by Anna Sewell, "Heidi" by Johanna Spyri, "The Hundred and One Dalmatians" (Shame on me, I can't recall the name of the author....I think it was "Dodie" Something or other) and "Animal Farm" by George Orwell.

[Anita Bensoussane]

..."The Hundred and One Dalmatians" (Shame on me, I can't recall the name of the author....I think it was "Dodie" Something or other) and "Animal Farm" by George Orwell.

It was Dodie Smith. Have you also read the sequel, Starlight Barking? I enjoyed both those books as a child but haven't read them for years now. And yes, Animal Farm is wonderfully readable and can be appreciated on a number of levels.

Anita

[Boodi]

Thanks Anita! I suppose because "Smith" is such an ordinary name I forgot it! I was not aware that there was a sequel, Starlight Barking...so that is something to look forward to.

Thanks again and cheers,
BOODI

[Philip Mannering]

After Enid Blyton, I really love books of authors Agatha Christie, Richmal Crompton who wrote the excellent 'Just William' novels, Willard Price (who wrote the "Adventure" series - not to be confused with Enid's), and F.H. Burnett. I like to read C.S. Lewis from time to time too, and the same for Roald Dahl. Currently I am searching for E. Nesbit, Philip Pullman, Cornelia Funke and loads of others. I still have a huge lot of books to read!

[dolly]

Do you know "Understood Betsey" by Dorothy Canfield Fisher? A story about a very shy timid little girl gaining self-confidence by staying with her relatives in a rural environment.
I am sorry for my English, it is sometimes so difficult to find the "right words"!

[70s-child]

There is a long list of authors that I love to read (and I won't go into the whole lot), but Christie and Georgette Heyer rule for the most part. Heyer is another victim of snobbery like Enid Blyton. People either won't admit they read them or sneer at those who do. They don't know what they are missing, because both authors write very engaging stories with great characters. A school librarian almost put me off Heyer (without reading her) for good, by telling me they were rubbish, but fortunately some years later a very smart friend coaxed me into it and I am very glad for it.

Also, some people won't like this, but I also really like Harry Potter When I first read Sorcerer's stone/Philosopher's stone, I was delighted because personally I thought it was like reading a new Enid Blyton.

Most of the other books that I read as a child - William and Jennings among them, are not available to me anymore. I still read Roald Dahl though.

Also, does anyone like Asterix or Tintin comics? As far as comics go, I always thought these were the best.

[Boodi]

Also, some people won't like this, but I also really like Harry Potter When I first read Sorcerer's stone/Philosopher's stone, I was delighted because personally I thought it was like reading a new Enid Blyton.

Also, does anyone like Asterix or Tintin comics? As far as comics go, I always thought these were the best.

I too really enjoyed the early Harry Potter books and yes, they did remind me of Enid Blyton (maybe that was their main attraction for me). My favourite book was "The Prisoner of Askaban", but after that I felt they went downhill (or at least they did for me) and although I started I did not finish the final books in the series.

I love both Asterix and Tintin and have a small collection of them (my Tintin books are very worn and battered indeed). When I lived in Belgium many years ago I knew a lady whose father had been in the same class at school as Hergé (Georges Remi). By sad concidence, Hergé died the very same day as my own father (03/03/1983).

[dolly]

When I was nine years old I was very fond of Patricia M. St. John who must be a very popular English author, too.
I am still loving "Tanglewood´s secret" - it has such a "dreamy atmosphere" ...
Later I found out that a movie based on this book was made, too, but I didn´t enjoy it. Therefore I will NEVER watch the new "Hanni and Nanni"-movie (twins at st. clares), I am quite sure that I will be disappointed.

[ria ann]

I like reading to read books of J.K Rowling (Of Course,Harry Potter!) Carolyn Keene(nancy Drew) R.L Stine(Goosebumps).