Look what's NOT back in print...

[forgottoremember]

I'm feeling v frustrated that so many books I loved in childhood AREN'T in print, and are only available for insane amounts of money second hand.

For eg
Tilly's House
books by Gunilla Wolde (Thomas bakes a cake etc. etc.)
Benjamin and Tulip

Why is this? Why aren't they republished?

What are your other longed-for books, that can't be got without (not quite) a second mortgage?

[Jusfloatingby]

Oh, and also 'The Swish of the Curtain' by Pamela Browne.

[Themumsnot]

I lent my copy of Charlotte Sometimes to a friend a couple of years ago. Never got it back. Remind me not to do that again.

[Diana2000]

justfloating I used to love the Jill books! Expect you can still get them on amazon marketplace. I actually bought Charlotte Sometimes from there purely out of nostalgia, along with some others that I remember fondly from my childhood like Tom's Midnight Garden and Marianne Dreams

I wish they'd reprint Phoebe And The Hot Water Bottles. It's a brilliant story about a little girl who wants a puppy but her dad keeps buying her hot water bottles instead and she puts them all on leads and pretends that they are dogs. But then she fights a fire with the hot water bottles and finally gets a puppy as a reward for saving the day. It's about £80 on eBay and amazon now :(

[Jusfloatingby]

Thanks Diana.
So glad other people remember Charlotte Sometimes.

[Poledra]

Oh, I remember Charlotte Sometimes! The bit at the end when she gets the letter from Claire's little sister, who's now a grown woman with her own children at the school was spine-tingling for me.

[Poledra]

Emily! (the little sister).

[SomebodySaveMe]

Drina Ballerina. Have rescued some from
Mums loft though! Admittedly not a great literary classic but I loved them!

[SorrelForbes]

Takver I have a copy of all the Beverly Nichols' books and they still read really well (I agree though, that the Mountain of Magic is bonkers!).

I also have a copy of Rebecca's World. It's one of the few books that I don't lend out.

I've managed to track down all the Sadler's Wells and NS books over the years but they do seem to be getting more and more pricey.

I've been looking for some Mara Kay books for ages. A Circling Star is currently selling for about £200!

[LauraShigihara]

Charlotte Sometimes is an amazing book (and also a often-listend to song in my house)

I lent my copy to a friend a few years ago, and she lost it, the twit. I keep meaning to get another one.

[mummytime]

I ahve a copy of "The Youngest Lady in Waiting" which is apparently worth £200, I found it in Hay on Wye about 20 years ago for 50p. I'm still cross that I didn't buy "Masha" fro 50p from Cambridge library about 25 years ago.
"The Swish of the Curtain" is available on Amazon for £6.97.

[SamsGoldilocks]

Themumsnot - sometimes just sometimes they do come back. I lent a book i loved to my sister who lent it to a work colleague. Ten years later and both of them living in different town to where they used to work, they bumped into one another. The colleague still had my book, returned to my sister and i now have been reacquainted with it. I thought it was lost to the ether.

[stealthsquiggle]

Bottersnikes and Gumbles.

I am that Noel Streatfield books are out of print. I shall have to raid my parents' bookshelves when they are not looking.

[imperialstateknickers]

Noggin The Nog.

[Ekka]

Swish of the curtain series are being republished by Longwater books (unabridged) - only the 5th in the series Maddy Again has yet to be published. Check amazon - they are all about £10 new.

Noel Streatfield are also republished but for some inexplicable reason they seem to have changed most of the titles to ones ending in 'shoes' eg Party Frock has become 'Party Shoes'

[DilysPrice]

Swish of the Curtain and Charlotte Sometimes are both in print and readily available online or to be ordered from all good bookshops.

Some Streatfeilds are out of print, (though the best known ones are still in print) but you can get almost all of them for 1p plus p&p on Amazon.

I want to get the sequels to Bottersnikes and Gumbles - now those really are expensive.

[Poledra]

Does anyone remember a book about a little girl called (I think) Comfort Jones? She is mixed-race, and lives with her mother, Margaret, who is killed in a car accident. Her father comes to claim her, and takes her back to Ghana to live with his mother in the village he comes from. I can remember most of the story, but not the title! She is called the 'been-to' child, as in she's been to the UK, and the grandmotehr talks about finding her a 'been-to' boy for a husband, though she's only about 12.

[Ekka]

There was a book my mum had when we were little called Susannah of the Mounties - we read it to pieces! I looked on Amazon to see if I could find a copy and found there were sequels as well, but they cost over £100 - ouch!

[Jusfloatingby]

Ekka

Tht 'Shoes' thing with Noel Streatfeild books seems to have been an American marketing technique. They changed all her titles to one with 'shoes' in it eg Curtain up is now Theatre Shoes, Wintles Wonders is now Dancing Shoes.
I think it's horrible and much prefer the original titles. I think Ballet Shoes, Party Frock (Shoes) and Curtain UP (Theatre Shoes) are the only ones that have been reprinted to date. Certainly they are the only ones in the bookshops here in Ireland. I still have my childhood copies of Ballet Shoes, Apple Bough, The Growing Summer, Gemma and Sisters and The Grey Family and have obtained a couple more on Amazon. Most of her books are still worth rereading.

[Themumsnot]

I have loads of the Noel Streatfeild's bought quite cheaply on Amazon Marketplace. Apple Bough is one of DD1's favourite books. I find it fascinating which of the older books my DDs will love and which leave them cold. All of mine have loved the Little House books and Anne of Green Gables and most of the Streatfeilds, as well as Lorna Hill and Drina but have turned their noses up at the Chalet School. Malory Towers are fine though, and DD1 developed an obsession with Angela Brazil when she was about 10. But the Pullein-Thompson pony books remain completely unread (except by me). And they didn't find Nancy Drew too thrilling either.

[Goatbongosanonynous]

I love this thread! So many books I had forgotten that I loved.
Poledra, the book you are thinking of is Comfort Herself by Geraldine Kaye.

I would love a copy of Valley of Song by Elizabeth Goudge, currently cheapest is about £60...

[nancerama]

The Woodland Gospels - it would make such a lovely christening gift, but it's such a risk buying second hand as the condition can be hit and miss.

[SorrelForbes]

Some later reprints of Charlotte Sometimes have a different (not as good IMHO) ended so buyer beware!

Yes, the 'Shoe' title was a marketing device for the US market. I'd forgotten about the Gemma books. Must hunt them out...

[Jusfloatingby]

Are the House at One End street still in pring? They were about a very large working class family with fancy names like Violet-Rose. I loved them when I was a child.

[Poledra]

Oh, thanks Goat - must ear-mark that one for the DDs when they're older.

[NormanTheForeman]

I still have a copy of Charlotte Sometimes, and four of the Sadlers Wells books. I also remember The Shoe Shop Bears - I remember reading it at school, and bursting into tears when the new shop manager decided he didn't want to use the bears in the displays any more!