Date: 2006-10-20 01:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladyofastolat.livejournal.com
I was enormously obsessed with Swallows and Amazons aged 8 - 10. A heartening number of today's children still love them - not huge numbers, but enough. Just William is mostly read by the adults. Biggles has been reissued, but few children read him - it's mostly adults who borrow the books. The Willard Price series still gets read by children, but there is some pressure to remove them from the library shelves, for containing out-dated attitudes to other countries. I'm keeping them for as long as I can, though, because there is a dearth of good books for boys. Children's publishing has gone very pink.

Date: 2006-10-20 02:11 pm (UTC)
tree_and_leaf: Watercolour of barn owl perched on post. (Default)
From: [personal profile] tree_and_leaf
Arthur Ransome is wonderful, and a better writer than many of those writing for adults.

Glad to see someone else enjoyed the Lone Pine books, too - always much keener on those than on Blyton. And I enjoyed Willard Price tremendously when I was in a zoology obsessed phase (c. 8-11).

Date: 2006-10-20 02:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mrkinch.livejournal.com
I love Ransome, as I went on about not so long ago. He is remarkably able to give his young characters kids' feelings (as I remember them at this great distance) utterly without sentimentality.

Date: 2006-10-20 02:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] the-marquis.livejournal.com
That is to say I have read some of each, but mostly from libraries although my sister did have a lot of the Saville's and as stated above they were actually better than the Famous Five.

Date: 2006-10-20 03:25 pm (UTC)
ext_20923: (puss)
From: [identity profile] pellegrina.livejournal.com
I've never read any of them *hangs head in shame* - I'd never even heard of any of them before moving to this country.

I did try reading Swallows and Amazons last year, because I am certain I would have adored the books had I discovered them as a child, but something about the portrayal of Mother in the first chapter set my teeth on edge, and I set it aside. (In my defence, I was so tired and shellshocked I was hardly able to get into anything I tried to read the first few months I was in this job. Maybe I'll try again.)

Date: 2006-10-20 07:15 pm (UTC)
ext_189645: (Default)
From: [identity profile] bunn.livejournal.com
Biggles - yes, because although twodimensional, the stories and characters have a cartoonish, period charm. Haven't read any for years, but my memory is that the early ones set in WW1 are the best ones: the later ones when he becomes a detective and isn't in daily danger of death are a bit of a let-down.

Swallows and Amazons - of course. Essential reading if you are 7 years old or so and your family are boaty types: not only are they good stories, but so far as I remember, all the technical stuff about knots and giving way and stuff was right as well, very handy!

I read a few Malcolm Saville and Richmal Compton books, but only once and I remember them smelling dusty and being a bit crap. Willard Price I either never read or can't remember.

Date: 2006-10-21 01:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wellinghall.livejournal.com
Well that proved a popular poll!

Profile

wellinghall: (Default)
wellinghall

December 2023

S M T W T F S
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 11th, 2025 08:12 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios