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Ooh, I've not read that one, but I might seek it out.

Audrey is my absolute idol! The best book I've read is written by her son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer and is called An Elegant Spirit. I love it, because it's such an intimate portrait of Audrey, with many never-before-seen pictures and anecdotes from Sean about growing up with a Hollywood icon as his mother! I think it's published by Sidgewick & Jackson.

Ooh, I think I might actually have another read of it! I've definitely still got it somewhere and it deserves being dusted off and read again.

I've never really thought about the age of an author when I'm reading a book. To me, if a story has depth, warmth and meaning and is entertaining to read, the writer could be 18 or 80 and I'd enjoy it all the same. Unless the book is written in a particularly immature style, I would say there shouldn't be much to give away an author's age, really. It's about the words and the author's own personality coming through in the story. Although from my own point of view, it intrigues me with children's writers, whether there's ever a difference between young writers of children's books and older writers. I've yet to notice it, but I always say writing for children means you kind of have to have a younger mindset anyway, whatever your actual age!

I absolutely adore Jill Murphy's books. Her stories for younger children, such as Peace At Last, are really bold and entertaining and her longer books, such as The Worst Witch series are entirely responsible for me being a children's writer. The Worst Witch itself remains one of my favourite children's books ever written! Anyone else a fan?

I think it does depend on how old you are when you first read certain books. I was probably 9 or 10 when I read Little Women and I really loved it. I thought Jo was ace, although she was mean to Laurie and I remember just thinking it seemed so innocent compared to the modern world (which of couse, is even more modern now!). I would like to re-read it with adult eyes, but I'm not sure whether it would spoil my memories of it. I might give it a go again soon!

I read a few of The Babysitters Club books. I just remember thinking life as a teenager in America sounded much cooler than life in Cornwall!

I can remember reading it when I was 13 or 14 and being fascinated and saddened by Anne Frank's story. It really affected me, possibly because I was brought up in a military family and had a real interest in WWII as a result. It's something I would like to see on the syllabus for history/literacy lessons in the year or two of Secondary School, as I think it's important that today's children fully understand the holocaust and what it was like for the normal people whose lives were turned upside down by it.

These books were a MASSIVE part of my childhood/early adolescence!! I used to collect them and still have probably 10-12 of them, including Teacher's Pet, The Mall, The Babysitter and many others previously mentioned. I'm sure if I re-read them now, I might cringe a little, but they were fantastic at the time and I'm keeping them for if I ever have kids of my own, because I reckon they're still definitely worth reading.

I have on holiday - I was also a RAF kid and lived in Germany briefly when I was growing up. Never have I ever met a member of the Royal family.

How does everyone feel about the Americanisation of Torchwood? I watched the first one of this series and keep missing it since then, so will have to catch up online. I like the high-impact nature of the first episode, but I do worry about it becoming a bit too polished, if you know what I mean?!

You're never too old for a good children's book. Vicky Angel is awesome; I wish I still had a copy!

Absolutely. She has definitely inspired my own writing, that's for sure! It's amazing how well she gets into the mind of a child; when I was working in my most recent TA job, most of the girls in the class were reading her books and would talk about how they felt she "knew about how we feel," which is an incredible skill to have.

I've never read that one, but I've heard really good things about it! It's on my "to-read" list. I think that's one of JW's skills - she definitely knows how to tackle a difficult subject in a reassuring way.

For some reason, when my sister and I were kids, we used have have a copy of "Undone" by Paul Jennings (an hilarious book for kids, if you've not read it!) and we always pronounced it "un-doony." I think we just thought because he had a bizarre sense of humour, it couldn't possibly be pronounced normally!

William Blake and Sylvia Plath (yes, even though so many people declare her to simply be "depressing!") are great, in my opinion. I tend to enjoy a lot of different poetic styles, so I hesitate to refer to a favourite. I love writing poetry too, although I don't claim to be brilliant at it.

It is indeed part of a series. What Katy Did was the first and is an amazing story about how a young girl learns to blossom and treat those around her with far more kindness and respect than perhaps she once did,whilst letting go of some of her childish selfishness. I like that her mischievous side isn't entirely taken away, though! What Katy Did At School came next (I think!!) and is about Katy going to study at boarding school. She struggles at first and shades of her old self shine through when she encourages her fellow boarders into all sorts of naughtiness! What Katy Did Next is about a trip abroad Katy takes as an adult, if I remember correctly. The whole series goes on from there, with stories about Katy's relatives, but I've not read any of those. This thread has reminded me though, so I may have to seek them out!

I think JW's best book is one that's not necessarily amongst her best known. It's called Vicky Angel and is about one girl's struggle to deal with her grief after losing her best friend in a car accident. It deals with some really complex human emotions, but in a manner that children can read, understand and enjoy, without it seeming heavy-handed or frightening. The idea that we build up people's positive attributes after their deaths and try to forget their negatives is tackled, as is the need to force yourself to move on at times, rather than allowing your grief to drag you down. It's an amazing feat for an author to be able to attempt a subject like that and yet still produce a book that is written at a child's level and in an entertaining style. Definitely worth a read.

Charlotte's Web is a lovely book and one that definitely inspired me to both read more AND write my own stories! I love the old-style cartoon film they made of it, too. I still end up singing the songs from that, at least 20 years after first reading the book!

I played recorder and piano at school. Never took grades or anything like that though; I was never quite good enough at reading music as I tended to play by ear! Nowadays I'm more keen on singing. I absolutely love it!

I have to be honest, Amy Winehouse's death has caused me to dig out Back To Black and it has barely been out of my stereo since. Awesome stuff.

This is a fantastic book. As a child, I often read books that were already quite old (The Secret Garden being one, What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge being another!) and loved the different pace of the story and the otherworldliness gained by knowing that the action took place so long before I was born. The Secret Garden was one of my favourites; I loved that Mary Lennox was able to not only learn to treat people better, but that they too can treat her with a level of kindness she'd not yet been lucky enough to receive. I'd definitely recommend it!

This has to be one of my all-time favourite children's books. I can remember reading it for the first time when I was a child and I was completely blown away! What was amazing about Roald Dahl was that he had an ability to get down to a child's level, understand their humour and incorporate an innocence into his stories that filled them with warmth and made them feel "safe." A Roald Dahl book never talked down to you, as a young reader. A lot of more modern books for children sometimes seem a little self-conscious, or aimed at encouraging adults to get on board too, but Roald was definitely writing for children and he's a total inspiration to me.