Magic moments

I suppose I will show my age here!! I used to like the secret seven and famous five. I used to wonder how they all managed to be able to disappear sometimes for days without any parents or teachers etc.... And how did they manage to keep thier hands off each other, I would have killed my brothers within a week. But I loved the idea of catching baddies, secret tunnels and hideaways, and I always wanted a dog. A

the jennings books and, ahem, winnie the pooh always did it for me...so my magic moments i suppose arose from recklessly adventurous but essentially good kids, and some implausible animals...does that help?

Well, I've got the recklessly adventurous kids; not sure if I can manage to fit any implausible animals in, but I'll give it a go... ( Children's authors definitely seem to be fascinated by talking animals, don't they?) Cheers, Robert! (and Antoinette!)

I have to bring Enid Blyton back in, Antoinette :o) To me, as a child, she wove such magical stories........I remember hiding under the bedclothes with so many of her books, for instance "The Enchanted Wood". She wrote in such a simple fashion, that really appealed to children..my own daughters even now are captivated by her work. The fantasical world to be found at the top of a tree, or the silly people with strange and special powers. What made it so appealing to me as a child, was the way that her magic worlds were always tied in with real lives of ordinary kids. Later, as I got older, I deiscovered, to my own mothers delight, the Narnia Chronicles, with again, fantastical adventures running parallel with ordinary childrens lives. Maybe its the sense of "It could happen to me!" that appeals most to a child. Theres nothing quite like the look in their eyes whn you are reading to them, and glance up, and see them totally rapt and immersed in a new world is there?

The Phantom Tollbooth, The Bluebird and The Snowgoose were all books with magic in them for me, generally because the kids were far smarter than the adults. When the children in the books were true to what they believed, rather than doing what the grown-ups told them to, everything turned out alright - so, kids being better than adults would be my thing. But maybe I was a particularly awkward child! Have to agree with Antoinette about the secret tunnels and hidden doors though. And I'm with Liana about the Enchanted Wood - in fact, Enid Blyton's amazing descriptions of food, from 'pop-pop' biscuits in the Enchanted Wood to the amazing midnight feasts in her school books (not to mention the picnics with lashings of ginger beer) always made me want to be in the story as a kid

Ooooh yes!! Silky's Pop biscuits.....and the slippery slip - remember the cushions that Moonface gave out for the trip down the tree? Dame washalot - could do with her in my bleedin' house :o) Speaking about wanting to be in the stories.....my parents (hippies of the highest order) were horrified when l asked to be sent to boarding school, a la Malory Towers......

I had the same experience - boarding school sounded so much fun in those books and they didn't tend to have many midnight feasts at my comprehensive! I do remember the cushions (didn't the evil cousin Connie refuse to use one and get her dress all torn?) Some of the lands that arrived at the top of the Faraway Tree were DEEPLY freaky though - real nightmare inducing material. As were the yellow and green rings in The Magician's Nephew, for some reason I can't recall - can anyone enlighten me what they did cos I don't have a copy of the book any more?

Yeah...Uncle Andrew, the evil magician :o) The green ring took you to Narnia, and the yellow brought you back, if i remember correctly. It always annoyed me that The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe was the one that was perceived by many to be the 1st in the Narnia Chronicles, when it was the Magicians Nephew. The whole point of their being a lamppost in Narnia came from that first book, there was a fight with a London cabby and they were transported complete with the lamp post to Narnia (Gawd this has me really racking my brains to remember) I think the cabby (Fred or something) ended up the first king of Narnia?) *sigh* Nostalgia!!! Oh, and re evil cousin Connie (I have to admit I snuck into eldest daughters bedroom and pinched the Enchanted Wood last night) she refused to stay with the others at Moonfaces hole in the tree for pop biscuits and google buns, and fell down the slope without cushion...thats where she tore her dress! :o) As for the lands at the top of the tree... I always fancied the Land of Take What You Want. Dame Slaps school caused some consternation though, especially to a kid that was crap at Maths! :o) Cheers Emily Ive enjoyed this trip down memory lane!

OH!!! And I just recalled..... The rings in The Magicians Nephew.....werent they made from the wood of a tree in Narnia, the same wood that the wardrobe was made out of some years after??

Yes, and I think the lamp-post came from the fact that anything you plant in Narnia from this world grows into a tree, so when the evil queen planted the iron bar she was using as a weapon, it grew into a lamp-post. Didn't they also plant some toffees that grew into a toffee tree? This is exactly the sort of stuff I wish I could write- it was about 20 years ago that I read that book, and I still remember it!

i was definitely bewitched by narnia books as a kid ... i remember being utterly horrified when eustace turned into that dragon ... it marked me for life ... i was into the adventurous four blyton wise (top parrot called kiki as i recall ... would give evil macaw lee culkin a run for his money) ... the five never did it for me ... and coincidentally my 8 yr old has just marched in on me announcing indignantly that the secret 7 is sexist ... my mother unfortunately avoided any literature for kids that she found "sinister" and so i missed out on various things including peter pan and alice .... and i didn't discover Winnie the Pooh til i was in 6th form ... but i seem to remember being taken with "the water babies" and being scared to death by moonfleet ... will never forget the scene where the hero is dangled down the well on a rope ... curua ... have you read the "his dark materials" trilogy by phillip pullman ... (northern lights ... the subtle knife ... etc) i do bang on about them endlessly ... they are brilliant ... and jacqueline wilson is another top writer i reckon ... am wrestling with writing a kids book myself so appreciate the probs ..... goodness me what a long posting .... i better have a lie down ...

Yes, Ivory, and I thought they were brilliant too, especially 'Northern Lights'. I especially liked the way they could be read as an amazing adventure story, or on a more adult, philosophical level. Liked all the Miltonic references too, and Lyra was an excellent character.

i think my favourite was The Subtle Knife ... all that opening into other worlds ... mmmmmmm ..... have you read clockwork???? .... and what about Margaret Mahy? i think the best kids fiction works on those different levels ... (and having just laboured through all four harry potters .....)

Jaqueline Wilson IS brilliant. I wrote to her once, to tell her how much I enjoyed The Lottie Project, and that I want to be a writer when I'm older. I write short stories at the moment too. Jaceline Wilson didnt reply, and I was a bit cross! I expect she gets a lot of letters.

hello liana's eldest daughter ..... i liked the illustrated mum best of all ... MY daughter says she likes The Suitcase Kid .... she hasnt read the lottie project ... but wants to get The Dare Game ... i would be cross if JW hadnt replied to me ... and if i ever meet her i will tell her so on your behalf ... x x x

I havent readthe Dare Game, but I've read all the rest, as far as I know. I think that they are all brilliant - I like the way she expresses herself, because her writing is so real. Mummy says I should try and answer the 1st question on this... what makes books exciting for me unexpected things happening exciting things (I like Harry Potter very much too) Weird things are always good. I like things that are written in a modern style, in childrens language. I like things that make me want to read more, and you cant put the book down. Funny is good too! Other favourite books of mine are The worst witch Point Horror books harry Potter and the goblet of fire is my favouritre book ever Double Act (jaceline Wilson again) Thank you for the reply Jeordie

hi Jeordie- thankyou very much for trying to answer my question. I will try and fit as many of those things into my book as possible, and I will read the ones on your list, to see if they give me any inspiration. (I liked Goblet of Fire too, but I thought that Prisoner of Azkaban was the best Harry Potter so far). keep reading! :-) Curua

Almost forgot a great kids writer - Nicholas Fiske - he wrote a brilliant book called 'A rag, a bone and a hank of hair' that was an amazing sci-fi book - may have to re-read it as an adult now this thread's reminded me of it. If you have any kids into sci-fi/fantasy, I can strongly recommend him

Now I remember why I don't use that as my writing name ! Without a doubt, the Faraway Tree books were one of the most transporting books of my childhood. I always felt deeply sorry for the Saucepan Man, although his courage shone through in later books. Anyone remember the wishing chair - chair with wings, many lands visited deeply similar to Faraway tree, and a little pixie called (rather dubiously in retrospect) "Chinky" ? Have to give reference to Five Children and It as well though; who hasn't daydreamed about having wishes granted? And yet, each and every one turns into a complete nightmare. Favourites being the one with the gold, and being as beautiful as the day. Modern stuff - Rowling is very good, though overreached with Book 4 - if you're going to write 600 + pages, don't make 200 odd of them padding. Philip Pullman is better, though less immediate, and I have to say that the concluding book was also overlong; Mrs Coulter though is one of the all-time villains, every mention of the golden monkey was giving me the horrors. And I want a daemon, I want one...

uncle andrew! .. YES ... the wishing chair .... and mr. pinkwhistle .... and i agree about the villainous mrs. coulter and her monkey ... i want a daemon too ... *thinks of seperate thread What Would Your Daemon Be ...* .. now i've finished the everlasting potters i have started reading northern lights to my daughter kit ... whooohoooo forgot to mention the hobbit earlier ... definitely have never been able to shake off terrifying visions of gollum and all that whats it got in its pocketses business ... another author i have read to my kids and loved is Philip Ridley ... i wonder if jeordie has read any of those liana???

For anyone that enjoys children's fiction, I thoroughly recommend 'The Hounds of the Morrigan' by Pat O'Shea. Pure magic from start to finish! (Whatever age you are...) P.S. My daemon would be a, um, a, er.... hang on, I'll have to think about that for a while...

my 7 year-old expert would like to say that he has thought about all this A Lot. the best book is in fact roald dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox, because as well as adventure and animals, you get grown ups who are so not clever they make you laugh until your tummy hurts. he would also like to know what poems other children like. his favourite is my doggie don't wear glasses by john hegley. *note from dad: that's the ONLY poem you like! you said poems were for girls!*

my fifteen year old was reminding me the other day that i used to Scare Him To Death by reading Where The Wild Things Are in A Very Sinister Voice ....

On subject of Enid Blyton and writing to authors (we were, just a few scrolls up the thread, honest) When I was seven, I wrote to Jim'll Fix It, asking for him to fix it for me to meet Enid Blyton, who had been dead for about fifteen years. I had no idea and never got a reply. I still curse Jim every time I eat Ski Yoghurt or run a marathon.

Childhood memories? Falling on pavement and grazing my knee, leaving those little gravelly stones in the cut until they were cleaned out with TCP. Ouch! I was very proud of my plaster though (wore it like a badge of courage for much longer than was needed for my wound to heal).

I read 'The Northern Lights' on your recommendation. Wonderful stuff.

Eddie - Subtle Knife is better, though less Lyra and Mrs Coulter. Has anyone read Artemis Fowl ? I am three-quarters through it now and quite like it, but it's not as good as it could have been. There is potential which is not quite hitting the high notes. And I agree with Taj - most of my childhood was falling off things, getting my wellies full of water and ripping my school trousers playing football. And never forget the ability of a small boy to imitate noises made by inanimate objects (cars, planes, machine-guns, grenades etc)

gosh eddie ... glad you liked it .... read the subtle knife immediately! most of my childhood was spent thinking ...

Another excelent book (for younger children) is 'Little Wolf's Book of Badness' by Ian Whybrow. I read it to my kids at school, and they were in hysterics.... as well as thinking Uncle Bigbad was incredibly rude for saying things like "GET ME MORE BLINKING BLUNKING PIES, SWIFTLY, SWIFTLY!!" (You get to do cool voices when you're reading it...always the sign of a good children's book).

I also want to throw in my fourpennorth for "The Ogre Downstairs" by Dianne Wynne Jones. Magic chemistry sets, a hero named Caspar and a family coping with having two separate families of children shoved together and told 'this is your step brother, you will get on'. I can still remember the living toffee bars shedding their wrappers, slithering about the house and eventually dying on warm radiators. Can't seem to find it in bookshops anymore, I'd love to read it again.

The favourite book as a child was "The Silver Sword" by Ian Serallier (I think that's how you spell it) it was a children's war story set in Poland, quite heavy stuff, but an uplifting, ultimately cheering story.....triumph over the odds, happiness in the midst of war sort of thing. I read it several times and it always pleased me, entertained me, inspired me. I must go and look for a copy again, I'd like to see how it affects the man, rather than the boy.