Look what's NOT back in print...

I got a copy of Rebecca's World second hand on ebay recently for about £6. Impossible to find it anywhere else. It's such a great book, am reading it with the DCs at the moment .

But what about the fabulous books that are in print?

there are currently 14million books in print, and it's impossible to keep all books in print.

sometimes, the books that we remember and loved when we were children, actually turn out to be total crap when we re-read them as adults.
Maybe that's all you had available at the time?
Maybe they weren't actually any good then, but you just imagined them to be?

Does anyone remember a book/series about dolls that lived in a dolls' house. There was a very snooty doll called something like Anastasia. Can't really remember much else but I know I loved it/them as a child.

What A Mess is brilliant - my parents kept all our copies so DS and DD can see them when we visit - I got a copy of What a mess goes to school from ebay recently too, so I can relive the drama of the brick being taken for a walk too :o

wish the chalet school was still in print, my parents got rid of my whole collection after I went to uni. god knows how much it would be worth now.

forgottoremember

Did you get your Noel Streatfeild's from Amazon or are they ones you've kept from your childhood?
I recently ordered two from Amazon - The Bell Family is a lovely old tatty hardback with the name of a girls' school library stamped on the inside. Caldicott Place is a 1990s edition paperback with kids in brightly coloured dungarees and t-shirts on the front. It just doesn't have the same magic. .

Whatamess is out of print? No! I was really hoping to get some Whatamess books for DD who loves animals (they can't stop printing Hairy Maclary!)

Do Choose Your Own Adventure books still exist? I loved them as a primary schooler and would love to get them for my goddaughter. It was a lovely idea as it encouraged you to work out an ending for yourself. There were a lot of medieval ones IIRC.

Great thread! (I nearly added "and what ought to be" to the "look what's back in print" thread).

I wish Ursula Moray Williams' Toymaker books (The Toymaker's Daughter etc.) were in print.

It was Lily Rose at House from One End St. The others were Kate, James and John, sweet William, maybe a couple more.

Early Chalet Schools are dirt cheap on Ebay - only the later ones are rare.

Was sad to find that charity shops can't sell tatty books of wonderful kids' stories - shelves are filled with shiny nearly-new books and much of the well-thumbed stuff has to be pulped if they don't have a volunteer to sell stuff online.

Diana2000 I can't believe someone else remembers the hot water bottle book. I used to love that!

Once there were giants - Martin Waddell

I keep seeing this mentioned on mn but I've never read it. I'd love to read it but don't want to pay ££££

Colynbourne, I am very very !!!

House at One End Street was reprinted a few years ago. I know I had a copy then because I remember reading it to DD1, but I can't find it any more. But there should be secondhand copies around.

I still have my copy of Charlotte Sometimes (I can see it from here), and also The Swish of the Curtain (with the BBC production pic on the front).

I picked up a copy of The Valley of Song by Eliz Goudge at a church book sale just last week, for 50p.

I still have a copy of Charlotte Sometimes, and four of the Sadlers Wells books. I also remember The Shoe Shop Bears - I remember reading it at school, and bursting into tears when the new shop manager decided he didn't want to use the bears in the displays any more!

Oh, thanks Goat - must ear-mark that one for the DDs when they're older.

Are the House at One End street still in pring? They were about a very large working class family with fancy names like Violet-Rose. I loved them when I was a child.

Some later reprints of Charlotte Sometimes have a different (not as good IMHO) ended so buyer beware!

Yes, the 'Shoe' title was a marketing device for the US market. I'd forgotten about the Gemma books. Must hunt them out...

The Woodland Gospels - it would make such a lovely christening gift, but it's such a risk buying second hand as the condition can be hit and miss.

I love this thread! So many books I had forgotten that I loved.
Poledra, the book you are thinking of is Comfort Herself by Geraldine Kaye.

I would love a copy of Valley of Song by Elizabeth Goudge, currently cheapest is about £60...

I have loads of the Noel Streatfeild's bought quite cheaply on Amazon Marketplace. Apple Bough is one of DD1's favourite books. I find it fascinating which of the older books my DDs will love and which leave them cold. All of mine have loved the Little House books and Anne of Green Gables and most of the Streatfeilds, as well as Lorna Hill and Drina but have turned their noses up at the Chalet School. Malory Towers are fine though, and DD1 developed an obsession with Angela Brazil when she was about 10. But the Pullein-Thompson pony books remain completely unread (except by me). And they didn't find Nancy Drew too thrilling either.

Ekka

Tht 'Shoes' thing with Noel Streatfeild books seems to have been an American marketing technique. They changed all her titles to one with 'shoes' in it eg Curtain up is now Theatre Shoes, Wintles Wonders is now Dancing Shoes.
I think it's horrible and much prefer the original titles. I think Ballet Shoes, Party Frock (Shoes) and Curtain UP (Theatre Shoes) are the only ones that have been reprinted to date. Certainly they are the only ones in the bookshops here in Ireland. I still have my childhood copies of Ballet Shoes, Apple Bough, The Growing Summer, Gemma and Sisters and The Grey Family and have obtained a couple more on Amazon. Most of her books are still worth rereading.

There was a book my mum had when we were little called Susannah of the Mounties - we read it to pieces! I looked on Amazon to see if I could find a copy and found there were sequels as well, but they cost over £100 - ouch!

Does anyone remember a book about a little girl called (I think) Comfort Jones? She is mixed-race, and lives with her mother, Margaret, who is killed in a car accident. Her father comes to claim her, and takes her back to Ghana to live with his mother in the village he comes from. I can remember most of the story, but not the title! She is called the 'been-to' child, as in she's been to the UK, and the grandmotehr talks about finding her a 'been-to' boy for a husband, though she's only about 12.

Swish of the Curtain and Charlotte Sometimes are both in print and readily available online or to be ordered from all good bookshops.

Some Streatfeilds are out of print, (though the best known ones are still in print) but you can get almost all of them for 1p plus p&p on Amazon.

I want to get the sequels to Bottersnikes and Gumbles - now those really are expensive.