Obscure children's books that you used to love

[LadyPlumpington]

Mine is 'The Island of the Skog' by Steven Kellogg. The DC love it too :)

What are your old obscure favourites?

The dragon rings a bell but sadly not the oxo cubes

The series is on youtube now

I will have to check that out.

I will never know about the oxo cubes.

I also loved Back Home by Michelle Magorian about a girl returning to England after being an evacuee to the U.S. during the war.

And, as many have said, The Silver Sword.

And Don't forget the bacon!!

So many memories here! Some books I remember really well and others that ring a vague bell but I'll have to go and look up to remember what they were about.

I also loved Rumer Godden, the diddakoi, Miss Happiness and Miss Flower and Little Plum. And had forgotten the Dolls House so thank you for that.

I also loved the Susan books!

And Trebizon.

I read all the Kevin and Sadie books too - remember them seeming very grown up.

And when Marnie was There. Also by Joan G Robinson, Charley is an excellent book - I bought if off Amazon second hand recently and it was as good as I remembered.

Another book I loved but I never see mentioned anywhere was called The Bewitching of Allison Allbright. It was about a girl who was 'adopted' by a rich lady who took her under her wing and bought her clothes, took her to her glamorous house - it turned out that she was the double of the lady's dead daughter and she was reliving her life via Allison. I read it literally dozens of times. Anyone else remember that?

Oh, and another one - Fifteen, by Beverley Cleary who also wrote The Ramona books. It was a coming of age book set in the 1950s. I learned everything I knew about dating (ie not much!!) from some outdated 1950s book set in San Francisco!!

I remember The Bewitching of Alison Allbright. Had totally forgotten about it until I read your post. It was good!

I'm starting a wish list of all these books I've been reminded of.

purpledaisies I'm so happy someone else remembers it! I still sneak a quick read when I go back to my M&D's and it's in the bookshelf...

I read it over and over again. The rich lady spots Allison from a train and tries to spirit her away from her home where her family don't have any money. Most of my childhood books got damaged in a damp attic (sob!) so I'm slowly replacing the ones I can remember. That one is definitely going on the list.

Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories. I think they were American, a never ending series, they were Christian, and each story had a moral.

I've still got all my Susan books.

When Marnie Was There was my favourite book ever. Charley was also good. Did anyone read A Few Fair Days, I think by Jane Gardam?

Up A Road Slowly - American book about First Love, among other things.

A Girl of the Limberlost.

I remember Fifteen.....

Did anyone ever read BlitzCat?

I had two copies of Charley and I have no idea why. I didn't buy either of them. I just discovered the extra one in the bookshelf one day.

I didn't realise the author also wrote When Marnie Was There. I remember Charley putting flowers in her hair and wandering down a dusty road, and the book introduced me to Debussy I think. Not that I did much with that introduction.

Another here who remembers The Bewitching of Allison Allbright, had totally forgotten that one til now. Gah I'm actually writing a list of books I want to buy and re read and it's a long list. This thread is going to cost me a fortune AND I'll need to quit work!

I don't know if it has been mentioned already, but 'My Friend Mr Leakey'. Written by JBS Haldane, the scientist.

My favourites were The Wool Pack by Cynthia Harnett, Children of Greene Knowe (I would love to go and look round the house!) and the Queen Elizabeth Story by Rosemary Sutcliff, which was about 2 children preparing for Queen Elizabeth I passing through their village. Am sure there was more to the story than that but that's all I can remember.

The Pony In The Luggage by (I think) Gunnel Linde

The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones

Devil On The Road by Robert Westall (also The Machine Gunners by the same author)

For younger kids, The Fox And The Tomten by Astrid Lindgren

Giddy, a relative of mine was part of the overland launch.

Anyone looking for Linnets and Valerians - it was re-issued as The Runaways.

Love that book.

Looking for the final one of the 3 Rumer Godden ballet books - all about Holbein's, which also appears in Listen to the Nightingale, but which (unlike Thursday's Children and Listen to the Nightingale) hasn't been reissued. Anna's story? I think

The bewitching of Alison Allbright bt Alan Davison and all his Anabel books - fab!

The Garden Gang series by Jayne Fisher - such great illustrations

Up the Attic Stairs by Angela Bull - fab coming of age story weaving story of modern day student and suffragette ancestors.

Also loved the Bewitching of Allison Allbright. I used to borrow it from the library as a child and I'd forgotten what it was called until it came up on a similar thread on here a few years ago. I went straight into Amazon, ordered a second hand copy and now I can read it whenever I like!

Another one I remember was serialised in Jackanory. It consisted of a girl who was posing for a friend's father to paint a portrait of her. I think it was set in a stately home (?) and the girl possibly had long red hair. Sorry, not much to go on, but does that ring any bells with anyone?

One book I loved as a child was called Manx mouse, it was about a mouse with no tail who has to go on a quest to find a Manx cat. I wonder if anyone else remembers this?

Mr Gumpy's outing by John Burningham
Vlad the drac by Annie Jungman
The Borribles by Micheal Larabeiti

Mine was The Lion in the Meadow, loved that book it seemed very magical. The original is out of print which is a shame as the illustrations were very trippy/70s. I got the DCs the new version which is still good.

She does MrsDeVere! It's great for the strong female characters it has in it. I had no idea about the serialisation. I'll have to look that up!