Top Ten non-Blyton series

[Judith Crabb]

I was thinking that some of my favourite books came in series and therefore the series, rather than individual titles, is what I remember. My top ten, in no particular order, are the Susan and the Penny books by Jane Shaw., the Anne and the Emily books by L.M. Montgomery; the Pony series of the Pullein-Thompsons; William by Richmal Crompton; Biggles by W.E. Johns; the Lone Pine series of Malcolm Saville; the Romney Marsh series by Monica Edwards;the Ian and Sovra series by Elinor Lyon.
As a child, I did not read all the books in any series, just the ones I could get my hands on.
As an adult reading children's books I have learned to appreciate series which I avoided as a child, so my grown-up top ten would be a bit different.
I hope I am not mistaken about this being a new topic. I'll rely on a more informed person adding it to an old topic if I'm mistaken.

[Katharine]

A good topic, I don't know if it's been covered elsewhere.

Looking back, my childhood reading was mostly Enid Blyton.

I enjoyed my mother's Swallows and Amazons series, and also her Susan books - I think she had 4. I had some Rupert books, and at school I remember enjoying a few 'Alison' books - I can't remember the author, but I've managed to obtain a couple of books in recent years and hope to get more eventually.

Recent I read a book in the Stormy Petrel series by Violet Needham and am keen to read the rest.

As a child I had one 'Chalet school' book, which was one of the view I never finished reading. Since then I've collected quite a few from the series, just to see what they were like.

I only tend to read children's books from the 1950's and earlier, with the exception of the Harry Potter series which I really enjoy.

[Daisy]

My reading was mostly Blyton too! My father once said if we had school exams on her I would do very well! However I did read other authors and like Judith, just read what I could lay my hands on, often ignorant of the fact that it was part of a series. My list would certainly include the Anne and Emily books - still firm favourites for a re-read, the Lone Pine series by Malcolm Saville, the Brydon series and also the Dean series by Kathleen Fidler, the Alison books by Sheila Stuart. of which I have a few (they seem very scarce these days), the Susan books by Jane Shaw and the Penny series by A. Stephen Tring. I also discovered the Andy series by Freda Hurt and now have a good few of them too. I also have the Chalet school books by Elinor Brent-Dyer and the Abbey books by Elsie Oxenham one or two of which I had in my childhood. The Romney Marsh series by Monica Edwards is another dear to my heart.

[Katharine]

Sheila Stuart - that's it, I thought it was Sheila somebody, but had 'MacDonald' in my mind, which would explain why a quick Google didn't help.

I'd forgotten the 'Abbey' books. My mother and aunt had 2 or 3 between them which I also would have read as a child. I think 'Father Christmas' is bringing me one from that series this year.

Other authors that I probably read more than one book of were Noel Streatfeild and E Nesbitt, but I don't think many of those could be classed as a series.

[Lucky Star]

After Blyton I moved on to;

William by Richmal Crompton
Biggles by W.E. Johns
The Hardy Boys
The Three Investigators.

There were also a host of one offs that I read. Blyton and the Biggles stories probably remained my favourites right into my teens.

[Barnard]

As well as reading William and Swallows and Amazons, I enjoyed the Jennings stories of Anthony Buckeridge.

[Katharine]

I'd forgotten about the Jennings books.

I had a number that I got as a job lot at a school fete. I only read one or two, but quite enjoyed them. I still have them, so they are in my 'must read' pile.

[timv]

My list of the top ten series from my childhood /teens would be headed after Enid's series books by Monica Edwards - both Punchbowl Farm and Romney Marsh, though at the time I never managed to locate all of her books (the Armada editions) to buy. They would be followed by Malcolm Saville (Lone Pine, Nettleford, Jillies) , Arthur Ransome ( I got hold of and read all of his books, unlike with ME and MS), the Pullein-Thompson sisters' pony books (patchy availability), Antonia Forest (her four school books only, the final one of these not out until my teens), and the Mary Gervaise 'Georgie' pony book series. Also of course the C S Lewis 'Narnia' series, though I preferred the 'talking animals' theme to the religion! I read one or two of the Elinor Lyon 'Ian and Sovra' books, I think, and loved the Geoffrey Trease 'Bannermere' series.

I read a few of the Anthony Buckeridge 'Jennings' books, but never really got into prep school fiction as it was too alien to my experience and also there was not enough character development. The latter influenced me in reading more girls' school stories when available when I was around ten, eg at my third primary school which had more girls than boys and a library to match this - I remember reading some of the Elinor Brent Dyer early Chalet School books set in the Tyrol as nicely exotic.

[Debbie]

My list would be (from my childhood):
1.Lone Pine (and others by Malcolm Saville)
2. Monica Edwards, prefer the Romney Marsh ones, but the Punchbowl ones come pretty close.
3. Antonia Forest-actually my favourite are the historic two ("The Player's Boy" and "The Players and the Rebels")
3. Violet Needham
4. Narnia
5. Chalet School
6. Pat Smythe - Three Jays
7. Arthur Ransome
8. Joan Aiken's Dido Twite books
9. Bannermere series by Geoffrey Trease (although I love Cue for Treason too, but it's not part of a series)
10. Williard Price Adventures

There's others my children have enjoyed too, but they're too modern for my childhood. Roman Mysteries, Alex Rider and the Cherub series have all gone down well with all three of them. My son loved the Naitabal Series by David Schutte too, he also likes Biggles, but I never read any.

There's lots of authors I read loads of, but didn't really do series books. Noel Streatfield is probably the most obvious one. I know she did write the Gemma series, but that wasn't one of my favourites. But also Elizabeth Goudge, Phillipa Pearce, Josephine Tey... I did read a lot though.

[Daisy]

To bring my total up to 10 I would add that I read almost all the Biggles books but I was not a child when I first met them. I also liked the Jennings books. I enjoyed Arthur Ransome books in my early teens, and also Elizabeth Goudge. I could easily exceed 10 I think!

[Barnard]

I have got most of the Chalet School books, but mainly in Armada paperbacks. Unfortunately, the paperbacks are abridged but good condition hardbacks are too expensive for me. The thing I like about the Chalet School is the fact that the girls do grow up, get married, and have children who eventually go to the school.

[Anita Bensoussane]

An interesting topic.

Off the top of my head, my favourite childhood series (most of which have also been mentioned by others) would probably be:

Antonia Forest's series about the Marlow family, which begins with Autumn Term and consists of books set at school and books which revolve around events taking place in the holidays. A varied and intelligent series in which literature, drama, religious questions, boats, cricket and falconry feature prominently.

Laura Ingalls Wilder's autobiographical Little House books. A fascinating slice of American history detailing a life of hardship, steadfastness, hope and love.

E. Nesbit's Five Children and It series. My favourite is the third title of the trilogy, The Story of the Amulet, in which the children travel to the past and the future in search of the second half of an ancient amulet. Enchanting, thought-provoking, stunning and moving. The Treasure-Seekers series by the same author is wonderful too.

C. S. Lewis's Narnia series. Truly magical!

Noel Streatfeild's autobiographical A Vicarage Family and its two sequels. It's always interesting to learn about an author's experiences and what influenced his/her writing.


As an adult I've thoroughly enjoyed:

Julia Golding's Cat Royal series - Beautifully written historical novels with lively characters and plenty of drama.

Alex Scarrow's Time Riders series - Incredibly imaginative and involving.

Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider books - Fast-paced adventure stories, complex and gripping.

Victor Watson's Paradise Barn books - Engaging wartime stories. I became very involved with the characters and found the series really moving.

Sally Gardner's Red Necklace series - or duo! - Like Julia Golding, Sally Gardner has a beautiful writing style. These books, set at the time of the French Revolution, are quirky, memorable and full of historical detail.

[Barnard]

Anita mentioned the Five Children and It series by E. Nesbit. I think that the three books that make up this series are laugh aloud funny. It is impossible to pick a favourite as all three are brilliant.

[Fiona1986]

I do love a good series! There's nothing better than reading a really good book and then discovering that there are more! I'd say you can never have too much of a good thing but some series do start to decline of course.

As a child I loved:
Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene - aka the Stratmeyer Syndicate (both the early mysteries and the 80s files), but the newest incarnations are pretty awful
The Baby-Sitters Club by Ann M Martin (particularly the mysteries, super specials and super special mysteries. The main series definitely declines past book 80 or so, when more and more became ghost written, though all the mysteries were ghost written, by Nola Thacker I think)
Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry
The Borrowers by Mary Norton

As an adult I've discovered
Harry Potter
The Magician's House by William Corlett (I watched a TV series based on this when I was younger)
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Adventure Island by Helen Moss
Wells and Wong Mysteries by Robin Stevens
Lone Pine by Malcolm Saville

[Judith Crabb]

I agree with Fiona that books in series can be really satisfying. I was hoping to be reminded of series I'd forgotten and of course the Abbey series by Elsie J. Oxenham and The Three Jays of Pat Smythe were favourites of mine. Lorna Hill's Annette series I preferred to the Sadler's Wells but both fired me with a desire to be a (part-time) ballerina. I also wanted to be a librarian. (Sigh).
My leaving out the The Stormy Petrel series by Violet Needham was a complete oversight, although my very best Needham favourites were (and are) stand-alone novels, or related to the series rather than firmly included.
One of my favourite children's series which I first read as an adult is Edward Eager's, starting with Half Magic. I don't laugh aloud easily when reading, but Half Magic had me incoherent with laughter, which is not a problem but I was supposed to be reading aloud to a class of ten-year-olds.