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Original poster

Can any help me decide whether this ruddy book was real, or whether I dreamed it?

38 replies

GreenLumpyTonsilsAgain · 15/11/2006 21:10

It was called "The Birthday Present" I think. But when I search (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones etc) there are other books with the same name but not the one I remember

I was about a child wanting to buy a birthday present for his/her mother, I can't remember whether it was a boy or a girl. Various options get considered and rejected, it goes through all the different colours, and the eventual result is a basket of fruit (ie all the colours in one present). I think there was a rabbit in there somewhere, making suggestions.

Please tell me it really existed. I want to get it for ds2, but I can't find it

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Ellieorange · 16/11/2006 20:27

No, tisn't any of those on wikipedia. maybe it was called something like 'the day that stood still' or something about time. captured my imagination anyway. i'll try and find it and let you know.

NotQuiteCockney · 15/11/2006 22:03

The Madeline one has the girls in rows a lot, with very striking (to my childhood ear) rhymes. On amazon, you can look inside the Madeline book, but not the Orpheline one, as it's not really in print in the US. Anyway, link here

Original poster
GreenLumpyTonsilsAgain · 15/11/2006 21:49

I think it was the Happy Orpheline....but I'm not sure. The illustrations inside would have been different from the ones on the cover anyway.

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FrannyandZucchini · 15/11/2006 21:49

am going to bed now before I can get stumped again

NotQuiteCockney · 15/11/2006 21:48

Ah, that would be why she was using the french for orphan. I did wonder ...

lemonaid · 15/11/2006 21:48

Bah! Beaten by Franny mumblegrumblemoanwhinge

FrannyandZucchini · 15/11/2006 21:47

Oh good point Lemonaid I don't know why I posted the uk one, tbh

I am sorry but have drawn a blank on the guinea pigs, unless it was one of the ones on Wiki

Original poster
GreenLumpyTonsilsAgain · 15/11/2006 21:47

Is it NQC? I saw the film of Madeline and like it, but couldn't decide whether it was related to the book I remembered, it seemed so different in character - perhaps because of the illustrations.

Come to think of it, I think there may have been several books (and several book-related run-ins with that teacher, she was a horse-faced old bitch anyway)

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lemonaid · 15/11/2006 21:47

Or possibly The Happy Orpheline , by Natalie Savage Carlson?

NotQuiteCockney · 15/11/2006 21:47

This one?

The youngest one was Madeline, etc etc?

FrannyandZucchini · 15/11/2006 21:46

Or do you mean this , Greeny?

lemonaid · 15/11/2006 21:45

If you're posting on the abebooks forums probably best to post on the main (.com) site rather than the UK-specific (.co.uk) site -- it gets a lot more traffic, even from UK posters (I used to be a prolific abebooks poster in my pre-DS and maternity leave days, and one day I shall be again)

NotQuiteCockney · 15/11/2006 21:45

That's Madeline isn't it? Two straight lines etc etc.

Original poster
GreenLumpyTonsilsAgain · 15/11/2006 21:42

There was another one, I got hit with a ruler in primary school for reading it under the desk when we were supposed to be colouring in cross-sections of the Earth

It was about an "orpheline", it was in English but set in France, red cover, paperback, and had these lovely simple curly line-drawing illustrations, like Art Nouveau but simpler.

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FrannyandZucchini · 15/11/2006 21:40

Ellie is it any of these? (scroll down for list of Guinea Pigs in literature)

FrannyandZucchini · 15/11/2006 21:37

oh blinking heck

these are getting hard

can I retire now in a blaze of glory while I still have everyone's admiration?

because if you all start posting things like "there was a book, it was about so big, with word on the cover, it may have been pink"

then I am stuffed

Ellieorange · 15/11/2006 21:35

oh good, you can help me then franny. I had a french one about guinea pig. it was in english but the characters were french (i think). i think it had something to do with time, i remember a clock on the cover

FrannyandZucchini · 15/11/2006 21:25

Yes, I know exactly what you mean Greeny

when I have finished being an heuristic guru I shall return to my previous incarnation as a used children's bookseller, and I will track down everybody's childhood favourites until they weep with joy

FrannyandZucchini · 15/11/2006 21:24

Nope, I don't SneakyMouse, but it sounds fab

you might want to ask about it here , they can be very helpful

Original poster
GreenLumpyTonsilsAgain · 15/11/2006 21:24

OK, now I'm impressed

I LOVED those books. You know how you read a book at that age when you are all magical-thinking and imaginative, and then it sorto f becomes a total legend at the back of your mind? These books are like that

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SneakyMouse · 15/11/2006 21:23

She set it for being a schoolchild, about 7, and saw her parents together again, she set it for being a baby and told an old lady to piss off from her pram, and she set it for the future and saw that the boyfriend she had now kept her make-up-less and drudge-like - but she had two adorable children with him - and she had the awful decision to make of leaving him and never knowing them, but having a stab at some semblance of life for herself, or condemning herself to no make-up and grey existence so she could see them again.

FrannyandZucchini · 15/11/2006 21:22

I presume you are referring to "Fudge in Bubbleville?"

I think you will find all you need to purchase them here, Modom

SneakyMouse · 15/11/2006 21:21

OK, book whizkids, you don't remember one about a little girl who had an alarm clock she could set and she'd wake up the age she set it for, do you?

Was for older children - teenagers, really.

Original poster
GreenLumpyTonsilsAgain · 15/11/2006 21:20

thank you morningpaper, how clever of you to post a link

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FrannyandZucchini · 15/11/2006 21:19

I don't know them but I can find them]

I have contacts, you know