For my recent anniversary I was given the gift of re-living my childhood - a collection of books which I had adored as a child growing up, and which had been lost along the way (or given away - a crime for which my mother is still given grief!!).

I was, to say the least, extremely excited at the idea of re-reading these books, to see if they have been able to retain some of their charm as an adult. As I don't have any children, I have always been interested in whether modern children can enjoy the stories which we grew up with.

So, with trepidation, I embarked on the first of these new-old novels - "A Bear called Paddington". I have always been a "fan" of Paddington Bear, and a recent trip to London included a special trip to Paddington Station so I could buy a legitimate bear of my own! This was an interesting little story, which hadn't really dated all that much, and probably still translates fairly well to children, in spite of it's very British middle-class family.

Happily satisfied, I moved onto the next, and the one which really started it all - "The Never-Ending Story". This was one of my prized novels growing up. I remember loving the concept of the story within a story, and it really captured my imagination as a young girl. This story, re-read as an adult, was not quite as inspiring as I hoped. The main character is an unlikeable child, and even though the moral of the story is about being happy with yourself, as an adult I found myself not caring all that much about what happened to the protagonist. The world of Fantastica also, which had seemed so full and rich as a child, has been dwarfed now by the inevitable comparisons to LOTR and other complex universes.

So, feeling somewhat tentative, I moved onto the next, which was part of a highly prized collection I had as a youngster - the first novel in the "Trixie Belden" series. Trixie Belden is very similar to Nancy Drew - a series of adventure, mystery stories with the main character an 11 year old girl solving these mysteries along with her best friend, brothers and family. Of those I had read so far, this story was probably the most dated, as coming from 1948, it didn't feel like a "period" novel, and yet had some very dated messages about women's roles in society, which was particularly odd for a female character-driven novel. I had a big laugh at the first line where Trixie complains to "Moms" that if she doesn't get a horse she'll "just die". Not sure that this series would translate so well to today's 11 year olds!

From there I moved to a classic Australian children's story - "The Complete Adventures of Blinky Bill". This was definitely my most disappointing. For a start, it appeared that somewhere along the way, someone decided to fix up the inaccuracies of calling koala's "bears". So, the name of Blinky's mother went from Mrs Bear to Mrs Koala several times through the book. It seemed that about half way through, the decision was made to just let them be called bears, despite the inaccuracies. This novel is probably more suited to small boys, as Blinky is a very naughty little koala, who is always running away, and getting up to mischief. Looking as an adult, I would say Blinky is a border-line sociopath, with no real feelings for anyone. Sadly, I would probably have to think strongly before giving this to children to read now. Hopefully some of my other fondly remembered Australian stories (Snugglepot & Cuddlepie, The Magic Pudding, Dot & The Kangaroo) will hold up better to the test of time.

My last two were more traditional "classics" - "Little Women" and "Anne of Green Gables", both of which have remained more strongly in my memory, thanks to movie adaptations of the novels. Anne of Green Gables more than held up to both the comparison to the movie, and to the test of time. As a clearly recognisable "period" story, the inevitable religious and moral overtones are somewhat tempered, and Anne remained as lovely as I remember her. "Little Woman", while still enjoyable, was much more difficult reading, particularly with the overtly religious and moral messages thrown throughout the novel, not just from the characters, but also from comments directly from author to reader - a practice which was quite irritating after a while. Also surprising was that many of the interesting parts of the story I remember from the movie, are actually from later novels, so the story was also much slower and less interesting than my perception. Those who may remember a Friends episode where Rachel gets Joey to read "Little Women" and then "spoils" it, will be happy to know that none of the spoils she mention happen in the novel "Little Women" at all - all are from the movie, and later novels - a little oversight by the writers!

So - can you re-live your childhood? Unfortunately, I think the answer is a resounding "no", but it can be fun trying - and I am hoping to embark into the world of Narnia soon, with the impending release of "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" to the movies soon....