Anyone else love Thursday's Child by Noel Straetfield as a child?

wasn't so impressed with the Gemma series. i didn't dislike them, but they weren't anywhere near as good as her others. i remember loving White Boots and wanting to be Lalla. i tried skating but when i got on the ice i was nervous and ended up clinging to the rail

my favourites of hers were "A Painted Garden", "THeatre Shoes", "The Bell Family" and the semi autobiographical one she wrote about growing up in a vicarage in the 1900s

House in Corneall is the only one I have never found to reread as an adult, but I do remember Sorrel nerving herself up to do the climb, so it must have made an impact- would be over 30 years ago!

I loved the Gemma books too, though Wintles wonders was one of my favourites. I remember the barge in TC - was that also the one where she throws bread to the children left behind?

NS had such a distinctive style, and such a good way of getting into the "plainer" child's head, I absolutely loved them. Am conflicted about reading the adult books in case it spoils the memories- but also £££!

I find CofPL and HinC interesting because they are very different to her usual:
Older talented pretty girl
Middle plain clever but otherwise no talent girl
Youngest very talented and notably pretty usually girl, sometimes a boy.
And a couple of boys thrown in, may be twin of oldest or youngest (if girl).

Followed by story of how middle girl discovers she has a talent so doesn't need to be jealous.
That's really: Ballet Shoes, Tennis Shoes, Party Frock, Apple Bough, Painted Garden, Gemma Stories, Wintle's Wonders as a quick list. Even ones like Curtain Up, Bell Family, White Boots etc are variations.

The other thing to consider for CofPL is that it was written during the war when very few books were newly published and even authors like Enid Blyton were having their print runs limited. I suspect she was probably either commissioned to write a war story (which would be brave English children outwit Germans) or wasn't really going to get one published without doing that so wrote it in a kind of "if you can't beat them, join them" type attitude.

Interesting comments, Witchend! I should re-read it with them in mind, but I can't bear to - although I won't throw it out. Children of Primrose Lane also dreadful IMO. I do find it extraordinary that NS could write Ballet Shoes, Apple Bough, The Growing Summer, The Painted Garden, the Bell Family books, to name some of my favourites; and then such very inferior ones.

Bridget I suspect you've got the same paper back of me. Sorrel is spelt wrongly too on the back. Ds loved it.

I agree it's much more Enid Blyton-reminded me of the Secret series-even the "Prince" was indistinguishable from Prince Paul from there.

However what is most interesting for me is that it doesn't fit the normal children moulds from Noel Streatfield.
You have twins, which she likes, especially boy/girl twins who are devoted but not inseparable. I suspect that's a slight wish fulfilment on her part as she would have loved a twin brother like that.
The younger boy, Edward, I think, is the younger chatterbox boy that she uses a bit, but not a carbon copy.
But none of them have a special talent in the arts. There's not the youngest girl who is set on ballet and never stops doing it and is a bit spoilt on it. Nor is there the untalented awkward middle one.

The younger girl trying to stop herself being so tearful is quite realistic. I suppose you have that in Madge in "The Children of Primrose Lane" but in this case she's given herself something to do to try and stop it rather than Madge hoping she'll grow out of it. The giving herself marks is quite a childish thing to do. Maybe a reader suggested it to Madge or something?
And Sorrel being scared but trying not to be is also quite realistic. When she swims out with John and is pleased he thinks she won't be scared but is still scared while hiding it, is very different from the Enid Blyton characters (where only Anne/Lucy-Anne are allowed to be scared) and the usual Noel Streatfield characters (who don't usually suffer from worse than stage fright)

eddiemairswife I think the serial broadcast on Children's Hour was probably The Bell Family. I love that one, it's set in south east London and has some very funny bits. The sequel, New Town, is good too, but rather too strong on wish fulfilment.

I have to say, I thought The House in Cornwall was absolutely dire, much more like a poor Enid Blyton, and bizarrely the blurb on my paperback even refers to Uncle Quentin instead of the name of the uncle in the story.

I think I must be older than you, morningtoncrescent - when I read them in the mid 70s they were still quite recently published

Oooh, Einor (love your username), I've been searching for years for a DVD of Come Back Lucy. I'd seen the German version but I thought it must be in German so I never bought it. If the original soundtrack is there, I'm definitely getting hold of it now! And Thursday's Child as well.

I liked the Gemma series, Sadik. When I first read them, Gemma and Sisters had gone out of print and I remember the joy of finally finding it a year or two after I'd committed to memory read all the others. Ah, the days of scouring every bookshop and Smiths to see if a new (to me) NS or Chalet School had been reprinted...

I re-read all of them a few years ago when digging them out for DD. The Growing Summer which I never liked so much as a child was really worth going back to :)

Thursday's Child was one of my favourite Streatfields too, though Far to Go not so much (in fact I don't even seem to have a copy any more). TC, White Boots and Ballet Shoes were probably my top 3.

I must be one of the few people (on here at least) who liked the Gemma series, my copies are falling apart they were read so much.

Riding - here is the link to amazon - it is made in Germany but you have the option of the original soundtrack or the dubbed german soundtrack.

www.amazon.co.uk/Margreth-Thursday-Das-Mädchen-das/dp/B00B3RN0Z6

Come Back Lucy another of my favourite 70s children's series has a similar DVD

my first Noel Streatfield book was 'The House in Cornwall' - it was a green dragon Armada book - considered grown up for children aged 12 years or older. I still have my copy - it is relatively rare now. Great story!

Thursday's child is great as well and I have the dvd of the 1970s TV series.

I re-read Ballet Shoes not long ago, and loved how the Fossil children have stuck with me over the years

Have you read her original book, The Wicharts which is the more - ahem - adult version? It's a wonderful companion to Ballet Shoes I think, and adds to it rather than detracts from it. The three girls are daughters of successive mistresses rather than being mysteriously found on expeditions, and the theatrical detail is even more wonderful.

Stealth aha, I don't think she had children did she? Jacqueline Wilson seems genuinely interested in them, Blyton favoured fans over her real ones...
I loved The Painted Garden- I think she'd been to Hollywood, and it's a real American period piece.

A NS thread?!

I love Thursday's Child and enjoyed Far To Go but it's not quite as good, IMHO.

Apocalypse - I did meet her, and shattered lots of childhood illusions in the process. She was a very grumpy elderly lady who had clearly been pressured into meeting fans/signing books but was not at all happy about it.

Good point, actually. At least one of my yet-to-be-found childhood copies of these books is signed....

lala ghastly Gemma. If I recall correctly there was a strong whiff of 'now what do the young 'uns like nowadays' about that one- lots of clunky 'with it' references.
She was most comfortable writing about posh families with servants.
eddiemairswife A Vicarage Childhood, I think- autobiographical.
She was utterly magical- I really regret never writing and telling her so, I'm sure she got lots of fan letters but I was shocked when she died as I'd always assumed she was long gone.

OMG the edition of Thursday's Child I had is now £247+ on Amazon

..I must press my parents harder about the whereabouts of my books.

I loved her books, and now DD does.

...and apparently so does Jacqueline Wilson - according to the latest magazine which DD managed to persuade me to buy. There is even a competition where the prize is a bundle of NS books, which DD very nobly decided not to enter since she already has all but one of them

..off to order Thursdays Child as I am pretty sure we don't have that one yet.

I loved reading her books, and I remember listening one of them serialised in 'Children's Hour' on the wireless(!!). It was about an impoverished vicar's family, but I can't remember the title.

Gosh yes, loved it.

(& hello Laurie to a fellow Forest-er too!).