Big Jubilee Read

Taking inspiration from the Big Jubilee Read, last week our staff were asked what their favourite books were when they were growing up. Our librarian, Miss Gitsham, collated the results and the list was found to cover five decades.  

The earliest decade was the 1970s with regular mentions of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien, The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton and Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce. The 80s, the decade with the most contributions, saw an array of books and authors, notably Watership Down by Richard Adams, The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells and The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.  

Jacqueline Wilson books were a popular choice in the 1990s along with Judy Blume books and The Demon Headteacher by Gillian Cross. The 2000s had a plethora of Stephen King books, in addition to the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling which was mentioned both in the 2000s and 2010s.  

Across all the decades, there was recurring mention of The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton, with Roald Dahl being a prominent author of choice between the 1980s till our most recent decade, the 2010s.  

The official list reports 70 books with ten titles from each decade of HM The Queen's reign. To read the official list, click here. 

We hope the Big Jubilee Read as well as our own favourites will inspire you to pick up a book as you relax over half term!