Childhood stories — which books did you love? As a Child — what stories did you like to hear?

Part of Reading with Children Campaign — listen to the Podcast here

As a Child — what stories did you like to hear? Do you remember this…?

Fee-fi-fo-fum

I smell the blood of an Englishman

Be he alive or be he dead

I’ll grind his blood to make my bread

It is a little grim perhaps for a 3–4 year old but I, and my daughters in their turn, loved it!

We listened to it, through a Glaswegian accent and in the arms of a loving father and grandfather.

It didn’t matter that this part of Jack and the Beanstalk, an English fairy tale from the 1800s, was scary because the person reading it to us was the same one who would protect us from any danger — particularly from being gobbled up by a giant!

This didn’t become my favourite story but the strong memories of being read to and watching my daughters being read to by my father still remain strong. They are a lasting legacy covering 54 years!