PLEASE HELP!!! me find this book. Someone must know what it is.

It doesn't look like it's that Timbuktu. Might have to read them sometime though.

MIpMipMip- bit of a long shot, but you wouldn’t be thinking of The Chrysalids by John Wyndham? About a group of young people in a post -disaster society who have telepathic powers. They have to go on the run because their fundamentalist religious community regards any deviation from normal to be an abomination. Not strictly a children’s book, but would certainly have been in school libraries a few years back.

Polly! You’re a superstar, that sounds like it.** Been trying to work it out for years

Ooh, noodle x post. Recognised the book immediately. The suburbs seemed terrifyingly dull-even though I lived in the area end of nowhere, 30 miles from the nearest big town!

Harriet My Darling Villain? Lynne Reid Banks and Jean Ure were staples of my early 90s library.

Ah, I was mixing two things up - the boyfriend/motorbike book is My Darling Villain by Lynne Reid Banks. Still on the hunt for the pink haired fashion designer!

Inspired by Blue Planet tonight. Read it around 1990. Set in Australia. Man ends up in.slightly magical.place after being torn apart by coral. Falls in love with woman (magic all woman?) Who saves him. Some other magical creatures. Big message about ecosystems Tec.

Oh, Harriet, your teenager book - this definitely rings a bell for me. Did the girl also have a boyfriend who rides a motorbike? (Possibly not, I may be conflating two books here).

I love these threads! I don't have a mystery one to contribute, sadly.
Am wracking my brains about the chaps and the boat though, sure I'm familiar with that one..

@Ahardmanisgoodtofind sorry I couldn’t remember your name.

Whoever was looking for the book about the girl that moved to Salem and became a witch I’m pretty sure that’s the Secret Circle series by LJ Smith.

She also had a series where some kids with special powers escaped from a group home MipMipMip. It was more YA than kids book though so might be a bit old for y5. Google suggests it was called Dark Visions. Set in America?

Good call Sorrel but I'm afraid not. This one was modern day (or was when it was written!) and there were definitely powers. Just the travellers I'm not sure about and the title.

I read the synopsis of Thursdays Child to double check and I have read that. I always liked the crowns on her belongings when she was boasting.

pollyhemlock I bloody love you!!! Thank you for my soon-to-be nightmares

Chipinthesugar, I'm pretty sure the book you're looking for is The Sign on Rosie's Door by Maurice Sendak.
Rosie dresses as 'Alinda, the lovely lady singer' and sings On the Sunny Side of the Street.

I just had the weirdest thing happen - I turned my Kindle on after not having used it for a few weeks and there was a new book downloaded that I must have bought about a month ago and forgotten about. It was recommended on here, I had a quick glance at the time and thought it was up my alley and got it on impulse. The book is called Sealskin and is about the myth of the selkie - just like Seaward, which I only found out about again yesterday, and I didn't even remember the selkie element! It's crazy to think all this stuff is stored away in our brains without being us being aware of it - did I ask about this in the first place because the memory was unknowingly triggered by buying the other book, or did I choose the book because it triggered the memory of the old book? Such a strange coincidence. Anyway, looking forward to reading both!

MipMipMip That sounds a bit like Thursday's Child by Noel Streatfeild.

There were definitely similarities with Bluebeard though; I think she had a key/keys? But no dead wives!

TellMeDinosaurFacts Your book is The Silver Crown

Unfortunately not Remus, thanks though!
I can definitely remember that behind one door was lots of autumn leaves etc (like I say, there were lots of detailed pictures) I was thinking maybe it was all of the seasons, but I think there were more than four doors.
I remember reading it in the children's section of the library when I was younger and then I could never find it again.
I've searched for it so many times online!

Being told not to look behind doors sounds like Blue Beard - could it have been a version of that?

La Contessa: the sinister book with the bread tasting of blood is I think The Witch of Lagg by Ann Pilling, originally published under her pen name Ann Cheetham

Can someone please tell me what all these fascinating books are so I can read them 😂

Ohh I've got one! I read it in about year five, so roughly twenty years ago. It was one of those short novel books you found in school libraries. It was a group of children/teenagers who ran away from some kind of group home or school. They had special powers and possibly escaped to a traveling community. Not sure about that bit though. They were tracked down somehow. I want to call it The Thunder Child but I don't think that's right.

I can't imagine what the book with three men and a boat could be.

(It wasn't the 12 dancing princesses)

I have one that's driven me mad for YEARS. Children's book with lots of pictures- there was a girl (I think she may have been a princess) and there were I think 12 doors? And something different behind each door.
She'd possibly been told not to look behind the doors.
I used to be able to remember more of it, but I still couldn't find it