My mum and I recently found a box full of books in the loft from when my brother and I were young children. It brought back some great memories of characters and stories that we loved to read and have read to us when we were little. I thought I would share a few of our favourites with you – I’d love to know if you have read any of them!
Letterland Storybooks
This series of books was one of my favourites. I turned four years old in the July before I started school in September, by which time I already knew the alphabet thanks to these stories. My parents tought me how to pronounce each letter and then read the books to me – Bouncy Ben’s Birthday and Sammy Snake and the Snow were my favourites.
The Wild Bears by John Richardson
The Wild Bears was my brother’s ultimate favourite book when he was little – my parents read it to him so many times that he could pretty much recite it word for word, despite not yet being able to actually read the text. His favourite character was ‘a tiny little baby bear called Grub’. In one part of the book, four of the five wild teddies run out of the house to escape Jack Alabaster, but Grub isn’t there. My parents loved the anticipation before turning the page and my brother ‘finding’ Grub hiding in Jack Alabaster’s toy cupboard!
A Year in Percy’s Park by Nick Butterworth
This book incorporates the first four Percy the park keeper stories into one volume, bringing a year with Percy and his animal friends to life. I loved this book because there were loads of animals inside and the stories were always about Percy helping the animals. Another reason I loved the book so much was because there were lots of rabbits included, and they were my favourite animal when I was little. My number one cuddly toy was Flopsy Bunny!
The China Rabbit by Enid Blyton
The China Rabbit was one of Enid Blyton’s Pocket Library books – a series of short story books that were published in the early 1990s but which contain material first published between 1926 and 1953! Aside from it being another book about a rabbit, my mum and I can’t remember any specifics about why this was a favourite when I was little. However, as soon as I saw the cover, I felt a sense of familiarity and I remembered reading about The China Rabbit over 20 years ago! It’s a very cute little book with lovely illustrations. It would be nice to find some of the other Pocket Library books at some point.
It was very nostalgic reading back through these stories that we found in the loft, and I can’t wait to read them again when I have my own children. Hopefully, one day somebody will include Dave and Darcy Go to the Beach in their round up of favourite childhood stories!