Tuesday Thirteen

Yep it's Tuesday!! Time for Tuesday Thirteen. This week I have chosen 13 of my favourite books from childhood.

1. A Bear called Paddington, by Michael Bond. I love Paddington Bear! I read all of these books and can remember going to W H Smiths to try and find the latest one. I have my own original Paddington Bear which Simon got me many years ago. He stands in my bedroom. I posted his photo a few days back.

2. The Twins at St Claire's, by Enid Blyton. I loved the St Claire's series and wished so much that I could go to a school like that. They seemed to have so much fun. I had all the books in the series in my own collection.

3. Ballet shoes by Noel Streatfield. I adored this book. The story of the 3 little Fossil girls living with their guardian was like a real life fairy tale. A sort of "feel good" story for children! It was televised last Christmas and I really enjoyed the story being brought to life, although it wasn't wholly true to the book and some bits were missed out.

4. First term at Mallory Towers, by Enid Blyton. The same goes for this series as for St Claire's. School was never like this in my day!!

5. Going to bed tales, by Mabel Lucie Attwell. This was a book of fairy tales and had the most wonderful illustrations .Lots of cute chubby cheeked children. I loved those pictures as much as the words.

6.When we were very young & Now we are 6, by A A Milne. The original Winnie the Pooh stories and Christopher Robin. Who doesn't know those! I loved the poems, Such as "Alexander Beetle"!

I had a little beetle
So that beetle was his name
And I called him Alexander
And he answered just the same
And I put him in a matchbox
And I kept him all the day
But nanny let my beetle out
Yes nanny let my beetle out
She went and let my beetle out
And beetle ran away

She said she didn't mean it
And I never said she did
She said she wanted matches
And she just took off the lid
She said I mustn't worry
And I really mustn't mind
That there's lots and lots of beetles
The she's certain we could find
She said I mustn't worry
But it's difficult to catch
An excited sort of beetle
You've mistaken for a match

If we looked in all the places
That a beetle might be near
And we made the kind of noises
That a beetle likes to hear
And I heard a kind of something
And I gave a sort of shout
It was a beetle house
And Alexander beetle coming out
It was Alexander beetle
I'm as certain as can be
And he had that kind of look as though
He thought it might be me

And he had that kind of look as though
He thought he ought to say
"I'm really very sorry that I tried to run away"
And nanny's very sorry too
Cause you know what she did
And she's writing Alexander
Very blackly on the lid
So nan and me are friends because
It's difficult to catch
An excited Alexander
You've mistaken for a match

7. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C S Lewis. An absolute favourite. The magic of the Kingdom of Narnia fascinated me. I had the whole Narnia collection. They must have got lost or given away at some point, but I have a boxed set of them now that Simon got me for Christmas some years back. I can always re-read them. They are as much for adults as children! The TV series was very enjoyable too. We watched with the children, who also by then knew the stories too.

8. The Secret Island, By Enid Blyton. Four children and a cow escape by running away from their wicked guardian aunts and uncles to a deserted lake island and fashion their own survival. It's a real adventure story! A whole series of mystery stories followed on and I read each and every one of them!

9. Five run away together (The Famous five) by Enid Blyton. Oh the famous five! Didn't every child want to be in their gang? George, Anne, Julian, Dick and of course Timothy the dog. They had such fun. Always getting mixed up in things. This story is about the search for smugglers but they get caught up in something else entirely. Great mystery stories.

10. The Naughtiest Girl is a monitor, by Enid Blyton (Naughtiest Girl series) The story of Elizabeth Allen who is chosen to be a class monitor, but the more she tries to be good the worse she gets! Again there was a whole series of "Naughtiest Girl" books.

11. My Naughty Little Sister by Dorothy Edwards. This was about a very bad little girl and the things she used to do! There was also bad Harry. Another complete series of books.

12. Gemma by Noel Streatfield. Gemma is the story of a rich kid who has starred in Hollywood films. When her mother gets a big film role and doesn't have time for her, Gemma is sent to live with her cousins in England. She becomes a "nobody" in her new school and the story is about her struggles to settle down and be accepted. One of my favourite Noel Streatfield books. There was a series of about 7 "Gemma" books. I had them all.

13. Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott. A traditional, classic, girls story, which I imagine most girls of my generation would have read. Remember, Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth? It's a story of family life. It makes interesting reading today as the family life depicted is about as far from life as we know it today as it is possible to be! You have to remember this book was first published in 1868. I haven't read it in years, I shall have to find it in the library and read it again. I also had the follow up book called Little Wives.

I learnt to read at a very early age and it has continued to be one of my life long passions. I have to have a book on the go! I can remember how my Mum would get so irritated when she asked me to do something, and I would always say "just a minute" because I had my nose glued in a book. She always called me a book worm!

I think you can see that Enid Blyton was a favourite author of mine! I had hundreds and hundreds of her books. It seems such a shame that they are out of favour nowadays as I am sure they would still be enjoyed but todays children. Particularly the adventure stories.

Noel Streatfield was another favourite and I read every book he had written. I used to read the "Narnia" books over and over again and also the Christopher Robin Stories. I found a funny Blog site which you can see here: http://anonymouslefty.blogspot.com/2006/07/alexander-beetle.html

It kind of rewrites the Alexander Beetle poem. Pulls it apart! So the line, "And he had a sort of look as if he thought he ought to say: "I'm very very sorry that I tried to run away." Is translated as: "Oh shit, it's that insane child who imprisoned me for the entire day in a bloody match-box!" It really is funny, take a look.

I know I have had my thirteen, but I just have to mention, before I finish, the Milly Molly Mandy stories, The Pepperpot Stories and Pippa Longstocking! Wow, I want to re-read them all!