Obscure children's books that you used to love

oobedobe I had the Lion in the Meadow too.... and loved it too... I can't understand why publishers don't republish originals as the illustrations are amazing and very of that era.

Ones I recall having (will have to quiz mum now) are:-

The Butterfly Ball (mum kept that one!) - about a butterfly ball
The Diddakoi (mum kept that one too)
Tyger Tales/Adventure (she kept that one) it was about a tiger family who I think had Gipsy or Indian relatives and sailed round the world/to India/Far East and one of the tigers got sick...
there was also an obsure 70s book about making things... with that slatted wooden 70s/60s door stuff (mum still has that)
Kate Greenaway (think mum got rid of that).
we also had first edition Charmed Life and the Ogre Downstairs lent them to someone and they never came back! we had those as my mum's close friend worked for the publishers MacMillan and got all sorts of books free or reduced cost.

Our absolute favourite goodness knows why was a child's safety book about all sorts of things about children not accepting sweets from strangers, not swimming in an unsafe place - very 60s/70s and I swear my mum said she got rid of it... upset wasn't the word from my brother and I!

Where I live is an amazing market (Haynes Lane SE19) and I know for a fact there are a few book stalls/book stores so I think I may pootle down there just have a look... when I went before an old man had a store/stall with books packed to the rafters... you never know what you might find!

I loved a book called Temba Dawn My Calf about a boy who lived on a farm and raised a calf by hand. The farm was in financial difficulties and the family had sell up, and surely in the name of happy endings he must have been able to keep his calf/cow somehow but I can't remember! I thought my copy was in my parents' attic but it is nowhere to be found.
I also fondly remember a library book about three children who all went to the same childminder. The book told their separate stories in three different parts and it began with one of the girls walking along a wall and falling off and ending up in hospital (I think). I can't remember who wrote it or what the title was so if anyone recognises it I'd love to know!

NotCitrus My son LOVED Magic at Midnight! It is not a book I had when I was little but I got it for him from a second-hand shop, and it was pitched exactly right for him when we were moving from picture books to chapter books. He also really loved another by the same author, Magic in the Air (I think) - weathervanes come alive and foil thieves (I see a pattern...)

We had The Cow Who Fell in the Canal -- brought back from Holland as a present.

Does anyone else remember The Cow Who Fell in the Canal? It was Dutch (we lived in Holland), but had in in English translation. Think it's a bit of a Dutch classic.

Marshmallow - yes, I have the Dew Drop Inn book as well :)
Kate went with Joe and Peg, because they'd had measles. She hadn't, so she pretended to have measles to go with them (painted dots on her face with red ink), and then she caught measles herself anyway so ended up going (her dream!)

I also had Snow Cloud, Stallion, and another book called Lyrico, about a flying pony.

teacher I was going to say My Friend Mr Leakey! With fantastic Quentin Blake line drawings. My copy is held together with rubber bands but the text was available free online a while back.

Loved Necklace of Raindrops - it was a huge brown hardback in the library I read loads so was slightly disappointed when I bought one and it was a slim paperback. Of course I was bigger!

Also Magic at Midnight by Phyllis Arkle - pub signs come alive and thwart criminals.

The Fox Went Out On A Chilly Night by Peter Spier.
Borka about a goose with no feathers.
Swallows And Amazons - loved them!

Ach! Fat fingers!

So, Julie of the Wolves was about an Inuit girl who runs away from a horrible unwanted early marriage in to the Alaskan wilderness. She survives the winter with the help of a pack of wolves who become her only family.

And then, on a similar theme, Island of the Blue Dophins, about a Native American girl living on one of the Aleutians islands, whose community are all murdered by Europeans, and who then survives on her own (looking after her little brother I think) until they are rescued.

Both thrilling stories of female independence and courage that had a big effect on me as a teenager.

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George ????

Does anyone remember "yak and the painted cave" about a yak who hung paint pots off his horns and turned out to be an amazing muralist?

She does MrsDeVere! It's great for the strong female characters it has in it. I had no idea about the serialisation. I'll have to look that up!

Mine was The Lion in the Meadow, loved that book it seemed very magical. The original is out of print which is a shame as the illustrations were very trippy/70s. I got the DCs the new version which is still good.

Mr Gumpy's outing by John Burningham
Vlad the drac by Annie Jungman
The Borribles by Micheal Larabeiti

One book I loved as a child was called Manx mouse, it was about a mouse with no tail who has to go on a quest to find a Manx cat. I wonder if anyone else remembers this?

Also loved the Bewitching of Allison Allbright. I used to borrow it from the library as a child and I'd forgotten what it was called until it came up on a similar thread on here a few years ago. I went straight into Amazon, ordered a second hand copy and now I can read it whenever I like!

Another one I remember was serialised in Jackanory. It consisted of a girl who was posing for a friend's father to paint a portrait of her. I think it was set in a stately home (?) and the girl possibly had long red hair. Sorry, not much to go on, but does that ring any bells with anyone?

The bewitching of Alison Allbright bt Alan Davison and all his Anabel books - fab!

The Garden Gang series by Jayne Fisher - such great illustrations

Up the Attic Stairs by Angela Bull - fab coming of age story weaving story of modern day student and suffragette ancestors.

Anyone looking for Linnets and Valerians - it was re-issued as The Runaways.

Love that book.

Looking for the final one of the 3 Rumer Godden ballet books - all about Holbein's, which also appears in Listen to the Nightingale, but which (unlike Thursday's Children and Listen to the Nightingale) hasn't been reissued. Anna's story? I think

Giddy, a relative of mine was part of the overland launch.

The Pony In The Luggage by (I think) Gunnel Linde

The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones

Devil On The Road by Robert Westall (also The Machine Gunners by the same author)

For younger kids, The Fox And The Tomten by Astrid Lindgren

My favourites were The Wool Pack by Cynthia Harnett, Children of Greene Knowe (I would love to go and look round the house!) and the Queen Elizabeth Story by Rosemary Sutcliff, which was about 2 children preparing for Queen Elizabeth I passing through their village. Am sure there was more to the story than that but that's all I can remember.

I don't know if it has been mentioned already, but 'My Friend Mr Leakey'. Written by JBS Haldane, the scientist.

Another here who remembers The Bewitching of Allison Allbright, had totally forgotten that one til now. Gah I'm actually writing a list of books I want to buy and re read and it's a long list. This thread is going to cost me a fortune AND I'll need to quit work!

I had two copies of Charley and I have no idea why. I didn't buy either of them. I just discovered the extra one in the bookshelf one day.

I didn't realise the author also wrote When Marnie Was There. I remember Charley putting flowers in her hair and wandering down a dusty road, and the book introduced me to Debussy I think. Not that I did much with that introduction.