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I often think about the books I enjoyed while growing up. Much like I do now, at twenty-seven-years old, as a little one, I loved snuggling up in my bed and reading by lamplight. Books have always been a massive comfort to me, someplace to go, someplace to escape to, as I know is the same with all readers. I have been away from book-blogging for some years, and it’s only recently that I’d found myself returning to them, and it has felt like coming home. In pre-Covid19 life, I’m sad to say that I never had the time to read. I worked a lot, and anytime when I wasn’t working, I’d be re-charging. The place which books once held within my life slipped away and I began to fill that place with other things. It’s only now, after we’ve fallen into this ‘lockdown life’ that I’ve found myself coming back to books, and I’ve realised how much I’ve missed them, and how, strangely, it feels a little bit like they’ve been waiting for me, knowing I’d be back once my life calmed down. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I’m a very sentimental person, so don’t laugh at me!
Anyway, that brings me to what this post is originally about, and that’s about the books from my childhood. The books I always look back on and remember with a smile on my face. The books I read at home, the books I borrowed from the school library, the books I bought from the book-fair, the books bought for me by family as birthday and Christmas presents. Just… all of the books. So, let me take on you a little journey throughout my younger years and let me know if you see any that you remember reading too! Do feel free to join in and pop your own childhood book memories in the comment box below. I’d love to see what you read when you were little, too.
First of all, let’s go way, wayyyy back. Back to when I was, oh, I don’t know, perhaps seven or eight? Maybe even a little bit younger? I used to have a little pile of Ladybird books that sat beside my bed, and two of these books still remain in my mind, as if I’d read them only yesterday, and those books are Chicken Licken and The Little Red Hen.
Gosh, these books take me way back. I’m picturing my old bedroom, the Mickey Mouse bed set I loved, my cat Clarabell who I still love and miss, to this day. I remember reading these books about a million times over. It was the animals who I adored so much, I think, and the adventures they went on with their friends, the foes they would meet along the way, the challenges, although small, that they would inevitably face. The illustrations, too, were wonderful, and these images are those that still remain in my memory today. These are the books I hope to one day read to my own child/children, the books I hope will stay with them too.
Does anybody remember the old Where’s Spot? books? Wow, these books kept me entertained for ages. And Spot was just lovely, wasn’t he? In fact, our doggo now looks a lot like Spot. I used to love the lifting of the flaps to try and find where Spot was hidden away. It was so fun, and was always certain to keep me busy.
Moving on a little bit, into primary school, and when level reading was introduced to me, the Biff, Chip and Kipper books were a long-remembered favourite of mine. I used to be so envious of the adventures this group of kids were always whisked away on! The ones that stand out in my mind most, though, are the Magic Key books, these were so full of mischeif and fun, and always left me smiling.
I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t been a huge Roald Dahl fan either, because these books were so utterly wonderful. I think everybody has at least one Roald Dahl favourite of their own. From Matilda to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, there were so many places to go and characters to meet in Dahl’s stories, and each one of them truly magical. I remember The Twits being one which I read more than once, and it still makes me laugh now. The illustrations were joyful and really made the books come to life for me. Matilda, though, is one which I think many readers remember and love. A bookworm, just like us, Matilda’s story was unforgettable, and I have to say, the movie version is one of my all-time favourites, one which I always return to and never tire of.
Ah, the Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine. One of my ULTIMATE favourites. Like, ever. God, I read so many of these in school. I pretty much cleared the library of them. Read every single one on the shelves. Then got sad when I realised there were no more to read (nice one, Rebecca). I never got bored of these books. Not once. I loved them all so much. I loved how creepy and chilling they were, how strange and different, and think that’s why, once I’d read my very first Goosebumps book, I just couldn’t stop. I wanted to find out who the rest of the monsters were, what they looked like and what they did. I’d still, without a doubt, read a Goosebumps book, and in fact, it wasn’t too long ago I found the old 90s series on Netflix and did a whole-day binge of the episodes because they were just so flipping brilliant. Forever and always will remain one of my favourite childhood series. Nothing will ever beat a good old Goosebumps book for me. Nothing.
In keeping with the creepy stories (which I’ve always been a fan of, maybe even more so than the usual stories), another collection I used to clear the school library of were the Point Horror books. Written by an assortment of authors, one of whom is R.L. Stine, these were very similar to the Goosebumps series, although for an older generation I’d say. Still chilling, completely creepy and addictive, I read tons of these. Tons. And again, these remain a firm favourite of mine to this day, and I even have a couple of paperbacks upstairs on my bookshelf that I can’t wait to read, and perhaps include in a Halloween book feature at some point.
Jacqueline Wilson was an author I turned to again and again in my early-to-mid-teenage years. These books were so special to me, and I enjoyed each and every one of them that I read. From The Story of Tracy Beaker to The Illustrated Mum, from Bad Girls to The Lottie Project, I spent hours lost in these stories and read many of them two, even three times over. A particular series that stands out to me now is the Girls in Love series, which was definitely aimed towards teen girls just figuring out who they are. They were a fab collection, three books in total if I remember rightly, and they opened up a world of boys and emotions and the typical teenage dramas that we’ve all experienced at some point. The characters were relatable and I remember reading them and being left with the overriding thought of, ‘Oh, so I’m not the only one.’ They were fantastic.
I’ve saved the best till last. Now, I don’t know if any of you ever discovered Ian Livingstone? He wrote books. Adventure books, they were. And boy oh boy, did I love these books. In fact, I loved them so much that I’d read them to everybody who would listen, mostly my brothers and sisters, sorry guys, because most of the time, they just wasn’t interested. But, dear readers, these really weren’t your normal stories, they were adventure stories, and they were unlike anything I’d ever read before. Because, as you began reading, you would be the one to make the decisions that fell upon. You were the main character, and if you fancied swiping off an Ogre’s head with a sword you’d stumbled upon in the cellar, then you’d turn to whatever page the book told you to, to find out your fate. GOD I LOVED THESE BOOKS SO MUCH! SO MUCH I TELL YOU! Everything from haunted houses to snowy caves full of monsters and ghouls, these books were utterly, utterly wonderful. In fact, I’m going to go and have a quick snoop on Amazon to see if there any old copies on there. And if you’ve never read one, then I’d urge you to do so, because they are JOYFUL, even if you are fighting off axe-wielding monsters and stuff. 😉
So there we have it, folks. Jut a few of the books I remember fondly from growing up. If anything, writing this post and has made me want to go back and read them all, all over again. But it’ll never be as good as the first time, will it?
So, go ahead and tell me what some of your favourite books were from when you were growing up. I’d love to hear all about them and, if anything, I hope this post has made you remember the books that were beside as you grew up, the books that made you smile and filled your head with all sorts of tales and characters that you still think of today.
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