Children's fantasy classics - Susan Cooper, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, Robert Westall, Ursula le Guin, and more...

If anyone hasn't come across this museum in Oxford - www.storymuseum.org.uk/
while some of it is definitely for younger children, it has a wonderful section which relates to fiction. It was fascinating to see in their collection the plate from the dinner service which Alan Garner used as his inspiration for The Owl Service (I think the plate belonged to his in laws as part of their Sunday china).

Ah this takes me back! Absolutely loved Weirdstone. I did read The Owl Service but it didn’t stay with me in the same way. Also loved Ursula le Guin. I always thought how skilled the writers were to “get” what it was to be a child & the darker side of childhood emotions etc.

AmadeustheAlpaca
Of course I was replying to the
“ Marianne Dreams” post and the quote went wrong!

I remember reading this, as a child and really enjoying it. Soon after there was a TV adaptation which I found terrifying.
I came across the book as an adult and read it again, for some reason I found it quite disturbing.
I have recognised many “old friends” on this thread.
Maybe “The Little Grey Men” and “Down the Bright Stream” by “BB”, deserve a mention too.
Someone earlier mentioned
“ Duncton Wood”, from what I remember it’s probably not suitable for a ten year old- scan through it yourself again first before passing it on to the child. The behaviour of some of those moles left a lot to be desired!😂 Unless my memory is defective.

Another book which has stayed in my memory is Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr about a girl who starts drawing a strange house and its occupant while she’s ill. I didn’t love it the way I enjoyed other novels and the plot is quite weird and creepy. This thread has brought back so many childhood memories which I’d forgotten.

@BustopherPonsonbyJones Apologies, I’d intended to reply to you earlier. Thank you for the recommendations for Nicholas Stuart Gray. I read Mainly in Moonlight around the same time as I read Grimbolds Other World, haven’t read the Stone Cage or the Seventh Swan - I will look out for them.

Diana Wynne Jones' Fire and Hemlock is one of my absolute all time favourite books, even though I discovered it as an adult.

I've just downloaded a load of books based on this thread-very excited to get started 😊

Oh my god yes, all of these! Currently reading Frances Hardinge's Deeplight, was obsessed at different times with The Owl Service and The Changeover, and have taken huge delight in introducing my daughter to DWJ and so many of these old friends.

I love the Belgariad although I didn't discover it until I was at uni.

Yes yes to the changeover, I was absolutely obsessed with it. There's something about the juxtaposition of the utterly mundane New Zealand setting mixed in with the strangeness of the magic that really got to me. And Sorry, of course, what a dreamboat.

Re Margaret Mahy, does anyone else remember Aliens in the Family, which was televised on the BBC around the late 80s?

That’s the one. The Changeover by the same author is also excellent.

How about Alison Uttley's A Traveller in Time? Absolutely gorgeous book and was televised years ago.

@BustopherPonsonbyJones that’s the one!

I vaguely remember The Haunting and have a copy somewhere. Was it about a boy called Barney or Barnaby and his uncle who was a magician? But somehow it is actually about his sister. I think I enjoyed it!

This is a fab thread. Some of the books mentioned I read as a child and still returned to, some I only discovered as an adult. I definitely think that there are writers for children/YA that outclass vast amounts of literature aimed at adults. I’m currently listening to A Face Like Glass on Audible, and concurrently reading Time of the Ghost on Kindle!

A book that I tried to get DS to read without success was The Haunting by Margaret Mahy - anyone remember that? Not fantasy, but involving magic and that spooky sense of ‘wrongness’ in normal life. And great descriptions of family relationships.

@Hobbesmanc it's on Amazon

The Witch’s Daughter by Nina Bawden was a lovely book. I was caught reading it by torchlight under the covers, got into trouble for that, especially as I was suffering headaches at the time (just needed glasses, it turned out).

I read and loved most of the books on this thread, also Margaret Mahy who wrote for a wide age range, but I got hooked by two strange, supernatural young teen romances: The Changeover and The Tricksters.

Absolutely, especially the Chageover.

I absolutely hated Grinny and refused to read any other Nicholas Fisk as a result.

Does anyone remember a book called Emerald Magic. I think it was part of a series all called [colour] magic, but my memory is very hazy on this

Hello my people!

I still re-read many books on this thread regularly, especially Archer’s Goon, The Blue Sword, Anne McCaffrey Pern and all Susan Cooper. I’m very sad that my kids are not fantasy lovers - they quite enjoyed some of these but didn’t love any of them in the reading-under-the-bedclothes sort of way I remember so clearly. The 80s were such a great time to be a bookish kid - but I guess my two did get to have Potter.

I have to say to those who are planning a reread of the Belgariad - if you want to keep these memories precious don’t go down an internet rabbit hole with what Eddings was like in real life. I don’t want to ruin him the way I ruined Marion Zimmer Bradley for my friend who was obsessed with her novels when we were teenagers…

Loved Playing Beatie Bow.

I’ve never got on with DWJ. Always surprised at how popular she is on here.

And the stream that stood still. Really hard to find as sadly out of print.

Oh yes, I love Frances Hardinge too - A Face like Glass & also Fly by Night. DD really enjoyed them around 10 or 11, perfect for that age when they're looking for something a bit more sophisticated than many children's books, but YA often has themes that don't appeal.

I thought Treacle Walker was pretty dreadful.