The best stories stay with us. Even if we can’t remember them at the forefront of our brain, it only takes a picture or a word to immediately take us back to our childhood, reminding us how it felt to be swept away into the world of the book that we read or that was being read to us.

We’ve racked our brains to come up with 20 of our very favourite childhood stories.

The Cat in the Hat

The Cat in the Hat was first published all the way back in 1957.

It was written by Theodor Geisel, but he was better known by his ‘pen name’ which was of course Dr. Seuss.

Sweet Valley High

A massive 181 Sweet Valley High books were published between 1983 and 2003.

How many do you remember reading?

The Worst Witch

The first Worst Witch book was published in 1974 and the latest, called ‘The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star’, was published as recently as 2013.

The series of books has sold more than 4 million copies overall.

The Secret Garden

Considered an English literature classic, and one that many of us read at school, The Secret Garden was first published in 1911 and was written by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

The Wishing-Chair

The Wishing-Chair is a series of two novels written by the legendary English author Enid Blyton.

Did you know there was also a third book published in 2000 that was compiled of Blyton’s short stories?

Stig of the Dump

Stig of the Dump was first published in 1963, is regarded as a modern children’s classic.

It’s often read in schools.

Mr Pink-Whistle

Another series of books written by the prolific Enid Blyton.

This series featured an entry called ‘Mr Pink-Whistle Interferes’. Ooh-err!

Flat Stanley

We remember this well…

…because who wouldn’t want to be so flat that they could post themselves in an envelope?

The Children of Cherry Tree Farm

It’s Enid Blyton once again.

She was responsible for so many of the favourite books from our childhood.

Meg and Mog

We recall reading this one at school.

The cover is etched into our memory.

Fantastic Mr Fox

We could have picked any number of Roald Dahl books, but Fantastic Mr Fox was a big favourite.

Which was your favourite Roald Dahl book?

The Naughtiest Girl in the School

Guess who wrote this?

Yes it’s our good friend Enid Blyton again, this time writing a series of books about Elizabeth Allen, a spoiled girl who is sent to a boarding school called Whyteleafe School.

Magic at Midnight

We know that many of you have fond memories of this magical tale.

Can you remember reading it?

The Three Billy-Goats Gruff

We remember many of these ‘Ladybird Well Loved Tales’ (The Magic Porridge Pot anyone?)

The Three Billy-Goats Gruff was one of our very favourites.

Five Children and It

Five Children and It was written by English author E. Nesbit, who also wrote the classic ‘The Railway Children.’

They’re not very similar at all.

The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark

The last time we did a post about childhood books, The Owl Who Was Afraid Of The Dark was the book not included on the list that you all mentioned the most.

It was written by Jill Tomlinson and is about a young barn owl called Plop who is of course scared of the dark.

The Magic Faraway Tree

This is the particular cover that we remember for this book, but there have been many different ones over the decades.

What a classic!

Flower Fairies

These were books of illustrations rather than story books, but many of you expressed a love for this series.

The illustrations were by Cicely Mary Barker who was unable to go to school as a child because of her epilepsy, meaning she was home-schooled and spent alot of her time drawing and painting.

Funny Bones

Recently released as a special 30th Anniversary edition!

This was a particular favourite.

Topsy and Tim

This featured a very non-PC story where Topsy and Tim paint their faces brown to dress up as gypsies for a fancy dress party.

These characters have been loved for generations and are still extremely popular today.