Top Ten Tuesday #8

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. It was created because of a particular fondness towards lists. Each week, a new top ten question will be posted on the hosting blog for other blogs to join in with on their own blogs. All you need to do to join in is link back to the host somewhere on your post, and add your link to the linky list via the host.

I had to change this week's post a little because we obviously don't have Thanksgiving here in the UK, so this week's post is:

Top Ten Childhood favourites

1.

I loved Roald Dahl when I was younger, and although I believe James and the Giant Peach was the first I ever read (or had read to me as I was quite young), Matilda has always had the edge for me. In fact, it could possibly be Matilda's character that set me off on my love for books - although no magical powers ever manifested like I wanted them to!

2.

The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark was another childhood favourite of mine - It was one of the first books I learnt to read on my own, and I read it countless times before I was old enough to read bigger books. It still holds a very special place in my memory, and I still have my copy tucked safely away. Hopefully one day I will be able to read it to my children.

3 & 4

Another author I read a lot of when I was younger was Jacqueline Wilson (like most young girls in the UK, I think). There are two of her books that I wouldn't be able to choose between if I tried, so I'm not going to, instead they are going down as numbers 3 & 4 together. Sleepovers is one I don't particularly remember too much about, but I do always remember it being one of my favourites, so that one needs to go down. The other is Midnight, which was the last of her books I read, anything she published after that, I was too old for, but this one was definitely a joint favourite - what young girl can resist fairies?

5.

I re-read Noughts & Crosses last week as part of my Children's fiction module at University, and it was a pleasure to find myself lost in the story again. The first time I read it was when I was about 12, so it wasn't fresh in my mind at all, and I had completely forgotten how upsetting it is, but it is still a beautiful novel. I read the sequel to it as well, Knife Edge, which I am hoping to also re-read soon!

6.

What self-respecting reader wouldn't be able to put Harry Potter down in this list? I read the first book, again, when I was about 12, but I've chosen The Prisoner of Azkaban because it was always my favourite.

7.

I read so many of Lucy Daniels's novels when I was younger that I've lost count of all of them. I think Panda in the Park was the one I read the most times (and I also had it on audio cassette, back in the day!), so this is the one that's going down on the list. Again, it's been so long that I don't remember too much about the books now, but I do remember how much I loved them.

8.

This one is probably the book on this list that most, if not all of you will not have heard of - it's not even in print any more! But I remember it really clearly from my childhood. I think I even still have my copy tucked away in a memory box of some sort somewhere. It was a great read!

9.

Winnie the Witch was one of the picture books I remember having as a really young child, but I carried on loving into my primary school years (even going to meet the illustrator of the series, Korky Paul). If I thought I could get away with it, I think I'd still have a little peak at them now. Definitely some of the books my children will be reading (when I have children).

10.

And finally, but certainly not least, we have Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo. I read this when I was 10 in school, and I immediately loved it - so much that I actually went out and bought my own copy, which has now been handed down to my little brother. Morpurgo's stories are always wonderful, and they are among the only children's books I would still sit down and read. I highly recommend that anyone reading this does the same!