Garden Gang books, Jayne Fisher

[parrotcarrotclaret]

Hi all,

My friends don't seem to remember these books to turning to the wisdom of MN.

I had a few when I was young and loved them.

My kids have recently got into them and I've bought them a few more.

I'm now trying to source some of the ones I don't have. EBay has been great (not much on Amazon).

But some of them seem really elusive and I'm wondering why?

Has anybody ever seen Barnaby Banana, Delia Damson, Tobias Turnip, or Paul Pumpkin?

Barnaby Banana seems particularly unusual because he doesn't often appear inside the front cover. I think I have only seen him inside one book.

I'm wondering if he maybe doesn't have his own book at all (sad ) of if it was just less popular than the others.

Similarly, I have Oscar Orange and Augustus Aubergine, but they don't appear inside the front covers of any of them.

Also, it's usually Simon Swede in top left inside cover, but sometimes it's Tobias Turnip. As swedes / turnips are so similar I originally assumed they had just changed the veg/name, but I have now read Simon Swede....he is a young lad, whereas Tobias Turnip wears a mortarboard and looks like a Headmaster or something.

Finally, does anybody know why Penelope Strawberry is the only one without an alliterative name?

I’m going to text my adult sons to see if they remember them as well as I do!

Wikipedia says there was an annual, so perhaps some of the characters without their own books were in that?

Yes, that's it

Google tells me the Garden Gang inspired the author CL Taylor - love her books.

Ooh, how did you find that out?

I suspect I will be doing the very same thing, many years down the line

Simon Swede and Avril Apricot are regulars in DD3's bedtime reading rotation. I recognise so many of these covers, what wonderful memories. We also have several Munch Bunch and Topsy and Tim books which she (and I) love. She is fascinated by Jayne Fisher; there's a photo of her on the back cover with some of the characters (people in costume), which DD pores over.

Well I’m very disappointed- boy 1 and 3 have replied and claim to have no knowledge or memory of these stories!

I probably have all of these, I certainly know I have quite a few of them but my collection was put in to storage and these were not ever high on my must have list, I have around 1200 Ladybird books, some duplicates.

Remember these because my little brother loved Roger Radish and I listened to him read it lots of times when mum was busy! I was a young teenager at the time

Oh the memories!

I had the whole set. My mum bought them from the newsagents by my nan's house.

Don't recognize the white covers though. Were they later editions?

I remember Belinda blackcurrant going to see her family. Loved grace grape too.

Even as a young child, I was impressed that Jayne had a series of books published at such a young age. But as an adult, I can appreciate that Jayne was staggeringly talented for a nine-year-old.

Thanks for this thread OP, I have enjoyed reminiscing! And have ordered a copy of Penelope Strawberry from world of books purely for nostalgias sake.

Yes, I think the white covers were later editions.

Not quite as nice.

Resurrecting this thread in the hope that someone can post a full list of the books please

I’m rubbish at links but it looks like there is a full list of them on Wikipedia if you search The Garden Gang.

Who remembers the munch bunch.