Childhood Favourites: Jacqueline Wilson

Jacqueline Wilson was one of my favourite authors as a child. I still have a big collection of her books, with loads of hardbacks; I was always super keen to get new releases. My first Jacqueline Wilson book was a "double decker" of Double Act and Bad Girls. I remember standing reading it in the Waterstones on George Street in Edinburgh, while on a family shopping trip, and reading the whole first chapter, trying to send a strong hint to my parents that I wanted this book. Up until this point I had struggled with reading and was in the bottom reading group at school (this must've been in about 1998, when I was 8, I didn't find out I was dyslexic (with specifically slow reading skills) until I was 16). My hinting must've worked because they bought the book and I still have it. I couldn't stop reading this book, and soon my Jacqueline Wilson collection grew. I used to act out scenes from Double Act with my friend Clare in the play ground, where as the twins Garnet and Ruby we would become pop stars and play at Wembley, I think we even performed our work at Brownies. 

Her stories were so real and wonderful, covering mundane and terrible and brilliant lives all with the same care. Her own story is really interesting too. I haven't yet read her stories based on her life, but I really should soon. I loved the Girls Out Late/In Love etc. books and The Illustrated Mum too. Also, Nick Sharratt's illustrations became synonymous with the whole Jacqueline Wilson experience. I think I had one of books with a different illustrator and it just felt so wrong. He is so great at capturing her characters. She inspired me to love reading and I think my mum thanked her for this when we went to see her at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Thank you Jacqueline Wilson, I owe you!

Childhood Favourites: The Claidi Journals - Tanith Lee

Law of the Wolf Tower, Wolf Star Rise, Queen of the Wolves (and Wolf Wing, which I've only just realised exists- oops) make up The Claidi Journals series by Tanith Lee. News broke of Lee's passing a few weeks ago, so it felt like a good time to write about this childhood favourite of mine. I absolutely loved this series, which I must have read around the age of 10-12, and reread many times again. I just got so lost in the worlds Lee created- the gardens of (the second book?) especially, and all the different towns they had to travel through, which seemed to be almost completely isolated communities popping up across a kind of post-apocalyptic wasteland. The sheep land is maybe my favourite. The travelling Hulta were wonderful too.

I had no idea Tanith Lee had written 90 novels, so I should probably get to work on remedying that!

Childhood Favourites: A Series of Unfortunate Events- Lemony Snicket

These books were SO GREAT, and physically beautiful too. I got numbers 7 and 8 in Canada and the 'Unauthorised Autobiography" too, so they have different but equally beautiful covers to the UK editions. The signature humour and quirky writing style of Snicket felt so refreshing to read. The story of these three very unfortunate orphaned siblings spans 13 volumes, as they are shunted from one terrible or unsuitable foster carer to the next, slowing figuring out more about the mysterious secret organisation their parents belonged too, narrowly escaping the dreadful Count Olaf at every turn. It's an fantastic tale, with really great characters- even the baby is well developed- it never patronises, but teaches the reader words and theories along the way. The grim story made endlessly fascinating and readable with the use of quirk and humour in even the most unfortunate of events. 

Uncle Monty might just have been my favourite in The Reptile Room, he is exactly how I imagine Newt Scamander will be in Fantastic Beasts. I can remember reading The Vile Village and The Hostile Hospital on holiday in Canada- I was very excited to get them as they were not yet published in the UK. I think I read them them in 2 seconds flat in the RV we were travelling from Calgary to Vancouver in- that was a fun holiday! I also got the Canadian The Unauthorized Autobiography, which has a very different cover from the UK edition. The false cover (for keeping the book secret) reads "The Luckiest Kids in the World! Book 1! The Pony Party! by Loney M. Setnick." What more can I say:  I loved them!

The Unauthorized Autobiography/The Luckiet Kids in the World!

I've read only one of Daniel Handler's (Snicket's real name) books for adults, We Are Pirates, but the weird and wonderful quirky writing style is still there so I'll have to read some more. I also have one of his All The Wrong Questions series as Lemony Snicket, which have realllllly nice illustrations by Seth, I might have to collect a few more of that series. 

Book Memories: Childhood Favourites

Almost Forgotten Childhood Favourites

Sometimes I forget that I actually read a few books which were NOT part of the Harry Potter series when I was growing up. There were whole other series that I adored, authors whose every book I had to own, stories I would revisit again and again. So, to honour these almost-forgotten-favourites, I will be taking a little trip down memory lane over a series of blog posts to share my favourite childhood books and probably a few teenage favourites too! A lot of them are still popular with children and teens today, which makes me very happy, and some may have been forgotten, but either way I'll be giving them all a little bit of attention here.

What were your childhood favourites? Let me know!

March reviews coming soon too! I read We Are Pirates by Daniel Handler, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, and The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury. I'm almost finished Sally Green's Half Bad, so that may sneak into the March reviews too!