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Children's books

Join in for children's book recommendations.

books from the 1980s that no-one else remembers!

341 replies

GoldenGreen · 21/12/2010 11:22

For some reason I have been compulsively trying to track down half-remembered books that I read as a young teenager - not sure why as they are not classics but I would really like to revisit them. I had hoped my younger sister might have picked them up but she never liked the same books as me.

Does this ring a bell with anyone:

Series with the children of detectives - I think a brother and a sister and an adopted sister (her parents were police officers who died - I think she was Irish, red haired and fiery - obviously) - they solved mysteries based around school. In one they caught a vandal because of the paricular way he wrote "H". In another there was a school trip to France with an old fashioned type of Polaroid camera - this was a key part of the plot but can't remember any more!

The other book that I remember reading obsessively was a teen romance one with a girl whose parents were repressed and abusive. She was not allowed any freedom at all but managed to meet a boy and sneak out. The thing I most remember is that she had no clothes apart from school uniform so she had to embroider flowers on her school shirt when she went out to meet him.

Anyone else got any vague memories of books they once loved and that no-one else ever remembers?

OP posts:
ScatterChasse · 24/12/2010 15:46

Oh, does anyone know one about a dragon who swam up a river. I remember it was an old copy when I read it, so not sure when it was published.

He was trying to get to Weymouth I think, and he met two men at a pub and he sang with them, a version of It's a Long Way to Tipperary, but with the words changed.

scouserabroad · 24/12/2010 15:59

I read My friend Flicka, and as many of the Jill books as I could find - I think they might have already been out of print when I started reading them.

I quite liked Jill, looking back she was quite efficient & got things done, and didn't take any crap - the opposite to the Enid Blyton type girls!

Southwestwhippet · 24/12/2010 16:05

I don't think the Jill books are out of print, I have them all and one or two are fairly modern editions. There are 9 in total.

Jill's Gymkhanha
A stable for Jill
Jill has two ponies
Jill enjoys her ponies
Jill's Riding Club
Rossettes for Jill
Pony jobs for Jill
Jill and the Perfect pony
Jill's pony trek

[whispers] have just finished re-reading them all and my Jinny and Shanti books about the girl and her arab - they are the perfect size for holding are reading whilst nursing DD to sleep.

BellaBearisWideAwake · 24/12/2010 16:07

Does anyone remember a series called 'Me, Jill Robinson and the ...'

I had one where she took part ona quiz show. They moved to a New Town somewhere and she made friends with the mayor's daughter in lived in the penthouse of a tower block.

scouserabroad · 24/12/2010 16:09

Ooh not out of print? Cool they should be quite easy to find on Amazon then! I remember in the early 1990s they were impossible to find in bookshops.

I liked Jinny & Shantih too, but the mystical side of it used to bug me a bit sometimes.

PatientGriselda · 24/12/2010 16:29

The dragon singing Long Way To Tipperary one is one off the Dragon series by Rosemary Manning, scatterchase. I remember beige read that a one of a class of 7 year olds.

PatientGriselda · 24/12/2010 16:29

One of, I mean.

PatientGriselda · 24/12/2010 16:30

And being, not beige...

ScatterChasse · 24/12/2010 16:34

It was The Dragon in the Harbour. Thanks PatientGriselda!

aristomache · 25/12/2010 00:04

Just thought of some more all by betsy byars, nightswimmers, the cartoonist and the TV kid.

I remember that the youngest child in the nightswimmers thought that the bowlwater plant was an actual growing plant, when it was actually a nuclear plant

RumourOfAHurricane · 25/12/2010 00:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

DandyDan · 25/12/2010 22:46

Glastocat - re the sci-fi books written by a teenager: I read some semi-sci-fi books written by a late teen just under 30 years ago - but they were short stories, all three volumes (although some of the stories might have been set in the same "universe")- by a guy from near Sheffield called David Hutchinson. The first anthology of stories was called Thumbprints. Some distintly creepy stories and half-way to decent (at least I thought so back then). Never seen them since, though the author is still around. The other volumes were Torn Air, Fool's Gold and The Paradise Equation.

splishsplosh · 25/12/2010 23:29

Have read so many of these - makes me want to go and re read them all again

anyone else ever read The Silver Crown? Great book, just looked it up, and i never realised it was by Robert O'Brien as well

glastocat · 26/12/2010 14:07

DandyDan you are a genius! That has been bugging me for decades, no-one else remembered them at all. I'm off to order them again, thanks a million, you've made my day!

ShoshanaBlue · 27/12/2010 01:12

Does anyone remember a book about twins called Lottie and Lisa? Their parents divorced and split the kids like some sort of assets and the kids met at some sort of summer camp years later (ok, this was a long time ago and for me it was the first time I'd ever heard of a summer camp and rarely came across divorce). I was fascinated and read it lots of times (we didn't have it, it was in the library) as it opened up a whole new exotic world!!!!

BellaBearisWideAwake · 27/12/2010 08:31

Lotte and Lisa by Erich Kastner (same guy as wrote Emil and the Detectives

talkingnonsense · 28/12/2010 16:52

Allnightlong that is by Caroline cooney and I think is called the face on the milk carton, sequel the voice on the radio. All her books very readable, but sometimes only published in the us.

nickelbabyjesus · 29/12/2010 10:45

there's a publisher called Jane Nissen Books that's brought quite a lot of the old books into print - some of the Shoes series that weren't popular enough; Green SMoke (one of the R Dragon books by Rosemary Manning); The Magic City (E Nesbitt); the house in norham gardens; etc etc.

iloveblue · 29/12/2010 10:55

Ooh I remember Harold and Bella, Jammy and me - off to google it now!

Did anyone else love Marianne and Mark by Catherine Storr - seems to be out of print now, but I would love to get a copy.

My Mum sold all my books at a car-boot sale when i went to University Shock - I have never forgiven her.

notcitrus · 29/12/2010 11:47

Bella - the Jill Robinson books were by Anne Digby who wrote Trebizon. Her best friend was called Randy, I recall.

The Willard Price animal Adventure books are still popular in my local library - very good for boys who are fed up of magic and want adventure.

I loved Diana Wynne Jones particualarly Dogsbody (Irish girl has to live with English horrible rellies, adopts dog who is actually Sirius the Dog Star). She wrote a couple books aimed at adults which got the same covers - shocked me no end recently when I read one and the illicit sex started! Confused

Parents have just delivered four boxes of my books from their garage...all the Blyton series, some Ladybirds and more. Grin

BellaBearisWideAwake · 29/12/2010 15:32

aha! thank you!

GoldenGreen · 29/12/2010 20:12

Been reminded by Mary Poppins on TV this afternoon - did anyone read the original books? They are absolutely nothing like the film and actually quite unsettling in parts - very unusual and interesting.

When Marnie was There was mentioned further up the thread - that is a brilliant book.

Anyone else love the series about the Melendy family - American books from 50s I think? Starts with The Saturdays, where they pool their allowance each week and each one gets to go on a different adventure in New York. Lovely.

OP posts:
boogeek · 31/12/2010 19:07

I had the Mary Poppins box set - 4 books? Loved them, found the film quite disappointing :)

IvantaOuiOui · 03/01/2011 13:13

GoldenGreen - I remember the Melendy family! The Four Storey Mistake was my favourite.

topsmart · 07/01/2011 14:00

Ooh Boogeek and all the rest of you who named 'knock and wait', you are complete superstars. How brilliant to finally find out what it is. And to know that lucy mangan loves it too! thankyouthankyou

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