Top Ten Tuesday #53

 

Hey everyone! I have another Top Ten Tuesday for you all this week, courtesy of the lovely ladies over at The Broke and The Bookish. This week’s prompt was Top Ten Books That Will Make You Laugh, but unfortunately I can’t think of all that many books that fit that topic, I guess I read more dark, sad books than I do light, funny ones! So instead, I decided to do my Top Ten Childhood Favourite Books, since I thought it would be fun to revisit the books I loved as a kid. So here they are:

1. The Harry Potter Series-JK Rowling-This is a forever favourite, not just a childhood one, but that’s the same for all of these books really, just because I read them when I was younger, doesn’t mean that they’re any less important to me now. This is the series that shaped me as a reader, it was the first series I really fell in love with, so my list of childhood favourites would not be the same without it.
2. Matilda-Roald Dahl-Is there any book lover who doesn’t have this as a childhood favourite? It’s such a lovely, heartwarming story and it will always be one of my absolute favourite books.
3. The Faraway Tree Stories-Enid Blyton-Another classic from my childhood, it was one of my first forays into fantasy and I remember absolutely loving all the whimsical characters that Enid Blyton invented and all the different worlds at the top of the Faraway Tree, I always wished I could go to the top of the Faraway Tree with Silky, Moonface and Saucepan Man.This is kind of whimsical and funny, so actually fits the first topic.
4. Shadow The Sheepdog-Enid Blyton-This book was my dad’s when he was younger and when I was a kid he read it to me and I loved it, it was such a great story and it was one of the first books that I actually read on my own, so it means a lot to me. It actually fell apart, I read it that much (although age may have a little to do with it as well!).
5. James Herriot’s books-My dad used to read these to me as well, they would actually fit the humour theme for the original topic as well, because they’re really funny. My dad used to do the Yorkshire accents for all the farmers and I loved it so much. Seriously, if you ever get the chance to read these books, you should, because they’re hilarious (plus based on true stories from the author’s actual life as a country vet).
6. The Sophie books-Dick King Smith-I used to listen to these on tape actually, back when tapes were still a thing. Sophie loved animals about as much as I did (and still do), so naturally I loved these books!
7. Black Beauty-Anna Sewell-Naturally, as a horse lover, I loved this book so much (and still do). I actually got in trouble at school for reading this under my desk!
8. Charlotte’s Web-EB White-This was one of the first books that broke my heart! It’s a lovely story, but I can’t guarantee that you won’t cry at the end. Scratch that, you definitely will cry at the end. It’s impossible not to cry at the end.
9. The Roman Mysteries-Caroline Lawrence-I never actually finished this entire series, but I remember that when I was a kid, I devoured every single one of these books that I could find at my local library and I loved it. Detective adventures in the Roman times? Yes please!
10. A Series of Unfortunate Events-Lemony Snicket-These books, with their creepy, sinister tone and dark sense of humour, set the stage for a lot of the books that I like today. Yet another series that I devoured from my local library.
11. Ballet Shoes-Noel Streatfield-This was one of my favourite books when I was a kid, I loved the relationship between the three sisters and all of the performance aspects of the book.
12. Blind Beauty-KM Peyton-I first read this when I was 11/12 ish, I think (somewhere around that age anyway) and have reread it many times since because it’s a beautiful story.
13. The Heartland Books-Lauren Brooke-I was a horse crazy pre-teen (I’m still horse crazy, just not a pre-teen anymore) and I absolutely loved these books, I still have the entire series. I’m not sure if I’d love them as much now, but I did love them at that age.
14. The Saddle Club Series-Bonnie Bryant-Yet another one of the series I read when I was a pre-teen and I devoured all of the books in this series that I found at my local library. I never read all of them because it was an absolutely massive series, but I did love these books, there was a great female friendship between the three girls and lots of horses, what more could you want?
15. Chestnut Hill Series-Lauren Brooke-Another series by Lauren Brooke, and like The Saddle Club, my favourite thing about this book was the friendship between the four main girls (as well as the horses of course!).
16. The Sleepover Club Books-Multiple Authors-I remember borrowing these from the library when I was a kid and absolutely loving them, I never read the entire series of these either (another huge one) but I loved the friendship between the five girls and all the scrapes they got themselves into during their sleepovers.
17. My Secret Unicorn Series-Linda Chapman-This series combined my two favourite things, magic and horses, both of which I still love, I read books that have the same things in them now, they’re just a little more grown-up. I no longer have my copies of these books anymore (sadly I got rid of them to make more room on my bookshelves), but I absolutely loved them when I was a kid, I loved all the magic and adventure and it’s a love I still have now. I mean a girl who has a horse that turns into a unicorn? My eight (at least I think that’s how old I was when I read these, I don’t entirely remember) year old self lapped that stuff up!
18. The Stardust Series-Linda Chapman-I loved this author when I was a kid as you can probably tell by the fact that I have two of her series on this list. They were filled with magic and adventure and lots of great female friendship and I devoured the entire series when I was a kid. Again, not a series that I have anymore because I had to make room on my bookshelves for new stuff, but when I was a kid I loved them.
19. Jacqueline Wilson’s Books-I couldn’t really pick a favourite, I loved her books when I was a kid and there’s not a specific one that stands out to me that I loved, I enjoyed all of the ones I read. They were all kind of depressing, but then most of my favourite books are!
20. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe-CS Lewis-I loved this book when I was younger, I mean who didn’t love the magical world of Narnia? I didn’t pick up all the religious undertones in this book when I was a kid, so I’m not sure whether I’d like it as much now, but I do remember loving Narnia.

I’m going to stop here, I could probably go on, there are so many books from my childhood that I love, that if I listed all of them it would probably take me all day to write this list! What are your childhood favourites? Do we share any? What was on your list this week? Could you do the topic or did you have to choose an alternate one like me? Let me know! Next week’s topic is about Bookworm delights, things that excite you as a book lover, so for my list, I’m going to do Top Ten Reasons Why I Love Being A Bookworm (and yes there will probably be more than ten) as it’s a nice variation on the topic we’ve been given. That’s next week, but in the meantime, I should have my first April discussion post up for you guys very soon and a review of my latest read Code Name Verity, so stay tuned for those!