To ask if you remember this VERY strange book from my childhood ...

[eatsleepread]

I'm mid-forties, and I've sometimes wondered about a book I read while at primary school. It really was weird. It's about a dark-haired young girl who lives in a tent with her family. Looking back, I think they were made out to be gypsies.
The girl discovered a tasty herb growing locally, or possibly some sort of salad leaf. She used to pick it and hide it under her duvet. When her father found out, he beat her.
I read it at lower primary, and it was a story/picture book, as opposed to a chapter book.
Reading my post, it makes me wonder how a book like this could ever have existed. But I'm not making it up!

Thanks for that @muggleaunt but I'm afraid it's not that one either!

@ThumbWitchesAbroad

Yes, that's the Family from One End Street - a lovely set of books (there are 3).

Lily Rose, Kate, James and John, Margaret (Peg), Joseph (Joe) and William

The first baby was named after Sargent's Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose.

And yes to the measles - Kate, Peg and Joe all ended up at the Dew Drop Inn to convalesce.

I properly LOVED those books.

I can vaguely remember them meeting someone called William Shakespeare and checking to see if there was enough blue in the sky to make a sailor's trousers.

I've been driven mad by the memory of a book I read as a teen (late 80s). A girl had a clock which allowed her to time travel. She went right back to when she was a baby/toddler and was really rude to a woman who cootchie coo'd her. Then she went forward in time and when she got back she split up with her boyfriend because of what she'd seen. It had a white cover with an abstract painting on it. I'd recognise it if I saw it in a heartbeat but no idea what it was called or the author

Delighted the OP found her book.

I've been thinking about a childhood book all day. I got it from the primary school library so I probably read it in the early '80s. The book was set in the US and I think in the same era as the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. The family lived on a farm and travelled by buggy. There were eight daughters in the family. Iirc the father had been widowed and re-married. He had four daughters from each marriage. So there was an older group of four girls and a younger group of four girls. The main character was the eldest daughter of the younger group. She rather resented always being labelled one of the babies. By the end of the book she'd grown closer to her older half-sisters and was happy that she was no longer being regarded as one of the children. I don't think anything really dramatic happened in the book - it was just based around life in the house and on the farm but it was a lovely happy book. If anyone can throw any light on the title or author, I'd be very grateful.

@Purplealienpuke I remember 'Maggie' and can still hum the theme tune. My older sister (also a bookworm) bought some of the books. I didn't realize they were written by Joan Lingard. I loved the Kevin and Sadie books. Has anyone re-read those as an adult?

MyGhastIsFlabbered That’s Changing Times by Tim Kennemore.

And this is probably the cover you had - same as my copy! www.amazon.co.uk/Changing-Times-Tim-Kennemore/dp/0571132855?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

*Taytocrisps Fri 19-Jun-20 22:07:17

Delighted the OP found her book.

I've been thinking about a childhood book all day. I got it from the primary school library so I probably read it in the early '80s. The book was set in the US and I think in the same era as the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. The family lived on a farm and travelled by buggy. There were eight daughters in the family. Iirc the father had been widowed and re-married. He had four daughters from each marriage. So there was an older group of four girls and a younger group of four girls. The main character was the eldest daughter of the younger group. She rather resented always being labelled one of the babies. By the end of the book she'd grown closer to her older half-sisters and was happy that she was no longer being regarded as one of the children. *

I think this may be 'The Half Sisters' by Natalie Savage Carlson.

@Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies That’s it! The Great Gilly Hopkins is definitely the cover I was remembering - thank you! I have probably conflated plot memories from other books read at the same time, which is maybe why my storyline summary doesn’t match :)

@pugmum123

Was it "Jennys Adventure" by Jean Gilder?

It's about a rag doll left at the seaside by accident and who decides to walk home during the night. She's helped by some animals (including rabbits and a badger) who make her a new dress and it finishes with the postman finding her in the road and putting her through the letterbox.

Omg treasury of poetry and the rage taggle gypsies oh. I loved this I really miss it. The dancing flames of the fires.

@ddl1 I'm not 100% sure that's the book but I'll check it out. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

@confusedbear omg I think it is! Just ordered a copy so fingers crossed! How on earth did you know what the book was based on my terrible description?😂

I had that Treasury of poetry too. I think it had
"The Winds they did blow, the leaves they did wag
Along came a beggar boy and put me in his bag
He took me up to London, and Lady me did buy
She put me in a golden cage all hanging up on high
With apples by the fireside and nuts for me to crack
Beside a little feather bed to rest my little back."

And the one where she's running in the country and ends with
"On every leaf on every tree, a fairy sat and smiled at me."

@nibdedibble - are you in Australia? I am, I've just had a look and can't find anything under that name either, so maybe not Toowoomba? Maybe somewhere else?

@Taytocrisps I've just been down a wormhole on Google.
The theme tune was by BA Robertson! That's out there for listening to (although the recording I found was awful....) and Google acknowledges Maggie was a TV show between 1981-2 but there seems to be no recordings to watch 😔. I'm sad. A bit of nostalgia today would have been amazing.
Thank you for remembering though, I genuinely thought I'd made the whole thing up because nobody else I know, even siblings, remember this show!! 💐💐💐💐

This thread is amazing, I can't believe so many people can track down these obscure books

I have a copy of a book called 'Jane's adventures in and out of the Book'
It is about a girl in a large old house who finds a book, she keeps 'falling' into the pictures and has adventures.

I loved it as a child, and still have my copy and read it aloud to my dc. But I have never seen anothe rcopy or come across anyone else who has heard of it. I think I must have got it second hand, as I don't remember it ever being new. It has a cover from 1960 or 1970s I think (coloured picture on the cover and paperback.)

Has anyone else ever read this book?

It's so frustrating, this! I remember a book from my childhood that I loved, in which the characters were toys, and included a Russian doll with all her children, but I can't remember the other names. I think it might have been in the Storyteller series of magazines and cassettes, if anyone remembers those.

@witchend this is for you. (I have the 1978 copy).

@Sandra2010

It's so frustrating, this! I remember a book from my childhood that I loved, in which the characters were toys, and included a Russian doll with all her children, but I can't remember the other names. I think it might have been in the Storyteller series of magazines and cassettes, if anyone remembers those.

I don't remember that story specifically but I still have the first Storyteller series and all the tapes. I'll try to dig it out and have a look for that story.

Going off topic here, but when I felt like my OH wasn't pulling his weight and my eldest son was being really messy I bought a childhood book called Piggy Book. It is about a mother who does all the cooking, earning and works, but the father comes home from work and sits on his arse with their two sons and treats her like shit. The mum leaves and the house becomes a tip and they all turn to pigs! I didn't read it to DS in the end, but I do love the book.

I also really loved Puddle Lane and Pleasant Dreams books (which came with a toy and cassette story) when I was really young - I learned to read with the Puddle Lane books.

@bookworm14. Thank you!!! Yes that's the one. Must buy a copy to re-read

@MilesJuppIsMyBitch
Thank you. I loved the illustrations of that book. We had a story book in the same series too.

Anyone remember the Emma and Thomas books? My favourite was Emma quite contrary where she falls down and has to go to have stitches.
There was one where they meet called "Emma and Thomas are different" about the differences between boys and girls.

Does anyone remember Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr? A bizarre, and slightly disturbing book about a girl who dreams about what she draws. It's a bit Dr. Who - ish, although written much earlier.

@Karenenya Indeed. It’s quite sinister in parts.There is a sequel, Marianne and Mark.