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Books And Authors Who Coloured My Childhood – Part 3 – Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake

23 Apr 2015 31 Comments

by Ritu in Childhood Authors, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Children's Authors, Quentin Blake, Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

The BFG!

George’s Marvellous Medicine!

The Twits!

The Witches!

Oh I could go on!

I loved Roald Dahl! I am sure pretty much all of us would have been in some contact with Dahl’s work, whether it be by reading, or watching certain rather popular films! And the wonderful illustrations by Quentin Blake.

I was actually a late started in getting into the actual books. I loved to watch Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, with the Oompa Loompas and all the funny characters, but I never realised it was a book first! Then at school we read George’s Marvellous Medicine and my literary world was expanded, yet again to a wealth of literature!

I didn’t get to read all his books then, but again, book slave that I am, I bought the set for my kids, and added where I found extras!

Roald Dahl Books

But a couple of books we all read as youngsters, and which I find rather gruesome and funny to date were the Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts Poetic Short Story books!

Poetry Perfection!

Again, when I saw them on offer, I had to get them for my children, how can you grow up and not have a dash of Roald Dahl in your life?!

Talking of a ‘dash’, did you know there is even a recipe book to go with these books?

Cooking with Dahl! (and I don’t mean lentils!)

And where there’s Dahl, there has to be Blake, who can forget his great Mr Magnolia book, and Mrs Armitage stories!

Quentin Blake’s efforts!

There are a few now that have been made into movies, and obviously we saw the remake of Willy Wonka recently, which I can proudly say my brother is actually in! He was part of the production team so his name is in the credits and he was asked to step in as an extra too! He got to meet Johnny Depp – swoon! but didnt’ get me his autograph! Bah! More recently, a lesser known book, Esio Trot, was made into a tele-film with Dame Judy Dench, and Dustin Hoffman!

I am now familiar with most of his texts as I have read them with my kids, and I loved every minute of reading to them! Now, as they are getting older, they pick books like these themselves to read silently, and I am so happy to see that!

Which Roald Dahl book was your favourite?
Read part 1 here.
Read part 2 here

Books And Authors Who Coloured My Childhood – Part 2 – Roger Hargreaves

16 Apr 2015 12 Comments

by Ritu in Childhood Authors, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #TBT, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Children's Author, Little Miss, Mr Men, Roger Hargreaves

After the success of my Enid Blyton post, I thought I’d better get on with part 2!

Roger Hargreaves!

For me, Roger Hargreaves means the Mr Men!

I grew up reading those small square books, and at that time there weren’t so many of the characters, but my brother and I loved them just the same. There was even a TV series then, that we could watch, I think I have some on video! Those little instantly recognisable, brightly coloured characters were a favourite for everyone!

I don’t have the original books as I think they fell apart! But how could I not introduce my children to them?!

It was the full series, but they have added to it since I got that too!

Then there was the introduction of the Little Miss series, which gave great happiness to all the little girls out there, finally we could have a character too!

The Little Miss Series.. again, its been added to since I bought these!

I wonder who I am likely to be likened to??

Never??! Hee Hee!

And even though Roger Hargreaves is no more, it doesn’t mean that the magic has ended! The characters have had revamps.

Old

New

And there is a new improved TV show (though I have to say I prefer the original ones!) there are also another series of books with the more popular characters in different adventures!

More Mr Men and Little Miss adventures!

Were you a Roger Hargreaves fan? I know he wrote many other books, but these were the ones that I read, and enjoyed, and what my two monkeys love to look at now!

Read part 1 here.

Enid Blyton Overload!

13 Apr 2015 21 Comments

by Ritu in Childhood Authors, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Enid Blyton

I wrote before about my love of Enid Blyton books here… and lamented the fact that there were so many I didn’t have, or that I had never had a chance to read…

Well, my Mum and I have been busy, and we have managed to amass a whole new amount of her books for the kids (and me!) to enjoy!

Check this out!

Then…

And…

That’ll keep em busy! And me!!

Books And Authors Who Coloured My Childhood -Part 1 – Enid Blyton

09 Mar 2015 37 Comments

by Ritu in Childhood Authors, My Writing, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Childhood, Enid Blyton, reading

On a comment conversation with a fellow blogger, susieshy45, we started discussing, briefly, books, and the conversation turned to Enid Blyton books, and how a bookstore in The US that she visited hadn’t even heard of Enid Blyton!

I was astonished! How could a bookstore not have heard of her? It was possibly a young employee, but still!! Enid Blyton rocks! Her books were the core of my reading as a child, the reason I fell in love with books!

My mother was, and is an avid reader. She likes the family sagas by Cathrine Cookson, romance by Danielle Steele, all the Virginia Andrews Books, and many more, but as she grew up, and went to an English school in Kenya, she was exposed to the literature of Enid Blyton, and alongside many traditional tales, she encouraged my love of books too.

At the tender age of 4 I was admitted to hospital… Nothing drastic, my tonsils needed removing, but I was in there for 2 nights. As a reward I was bought the Noddy series of books.

The originals!

These are the uncensored ones, before Shhh! Gollywogs were not allowed…!

Hello Noddy and Big Ears!

How I loved these books! I read and re-read them! My mother had kept them for me, so I could share them with my children, but not before I had invested in some modern versions of the wonderful Noddy for Lil Man and Lil Princess.

Modern day Noddy!

This was just the start of my love for Blyton’s books. As I grew, I read the Amelia Jane series and the Naughtiest Girl books. I think I must have read them so much they near disintegrated! But I managed to find some for the kids.

More modern classics

And I then progressed to Mallory Towers, and St Clare’s. Oh how those books made me long to go to boarding school! I read them all. Again and again. These are the next ones I hope to get for try children to enjoy too!

I was never into the Famous Five, or the Secret Seven, but thanks to Macdonalds, of all places, and a very thoughtful range of Happy Meal gifts, the kids even heard some of these stories!

Three cheers for Maccy D’s!!

And that’s not all. I discovered a whole host of Enid Blyton classics that I hadn’t devoured as a child, which I read with my children now!

Even more Blyton!!

Ok, so I know she wasn’t politically correct, there were racist tendencies in some stories, but I can look beyond them! She was an amazing author, and probably a huge part of my desire to write, for children, as well as for adults!

There are other authors who I enjoyed immensely as a child, but she was my number 1! Who was yours?