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?

Oh Wow!!
The Overland Launch
We had that read to us as our end of day story.
Fabulous
I had forgotten all about that book

In The Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak. It is quite surreal! I loved it so much that it fell apart, so I bought myself a new copy this year. The children are too old to enjoy it as I did, so I take it out every so often and relive my happier childhood memories, just me and my book.

What-a-mess - about an Afghan hound.
A reading scheme in primary school about/called? 'Tim and Tobias. Even people I went to school with don't remember it! I remember bing mildly scared and very gripped...
Randomly, one called the Tattooed Potato and Other Stories and another, title of which escapes me, about an amulet and royalty and based in the Black Forest in Germany... Loved them all.

We had loads of noggin the nog books. My favourite was when the inventor invented the push chair. It said something along the lnes of "Olaf said one day it would be used all over the land. But Noggin knew he always talked up his inventions" and the one with the island and the mermaids.

I bought 5 dolls in a house only a couple of months ago.

Best story I loved was Demon Island. Chap only wrote that one I think. Really good adventure story.
And the Black Bog mystery, Lane Mitchell I think. Very funny.

I could go on with others...

Dear Mr Henshaw.
I still have my original copy and no one I know has heard of it.

I read the overland launch at school.

I think we've still got some What-a-Mess books somewhere too.

Did anyone else have Eric the a wild Car? My childhood copy seems to have vanished

I'm not sure how obscure it is, but a book I loved aged about 8 (35 years ago!) was 'Rebecca's World' by Terry Nation. It's been out of print for ages, and reasonably priced copies(that don't turn out to be an audiobook) are non-existent. With the Doctor Who connection, I'm amazed it had stayed out of print.

I remember a thread years ago where I (and others) mentioned it- and Terry Nation's daughter (who,iirc , is called Rebecca) came on and was lovely about how fondly we remembered the book. Which was very nice.

Other childhood books, that no-one I speak to remembers (that I have managed to track down and buy as an adult) are The Last of The really Great Wandoodles (by Julie Andrews, under her married name, Edwards) , Bogwoppit @Giant, and '99 Dragons'.

I am still trying to find a copy of 'Help! I'm a prisoner in a toothpaste factory'

The wardens neice by Gillian Avery. I loved that book. Later the change over by Margaret Mahy. I see a poster about the place called LauraChant (main protagonist) and keep meaning to give her a metaphorical fist bump, but never do.

Mooch the messy (who liked a crunchy bed) as well as What a Mess.

My favourites book as a young child was Paws with Shapes.
I also had one called Clara's country year, which I learnt a lot about old traditions too. I bought it from the library when they got rid of it and still have it.

I know quite a few of these. Noggin the Non, Olga da Polga, Thursday's Children and the Giant Jam Sandwitch I liked. Especially the last one.

I love Cynthia Harnett's books, which people on here sometimes know but aren't known well generally. Also Two-Thumb Thomas, about a boy who was raised by cats in a school.

I also liked the Ox-Cart Man.

I loved the Thief of Always too!

catrin- I loved 'What-a-mess' ! Frank Muir used to read it on Jackanory.

Ant and Bee........wished I could get it for my children ????

AmeliaPeabody I had (and loved) the Story of Ping too.

And HarryLimeFoxtrot omg yes to Eric the Wild Car! Wish I had kept my copy, you can't get it anywhere these days.

Posted too soon again.

Jacob two two and the hooded fang.

The three robbers

What a mess the good

I liked WhatAMess! Also Bottersnikes and Gumbles - an Australian book about small dragon things that preyed (badly) on the Gumbles which were like guinea pigs. Iirc the Bottersnikes didn't eat the Gumbles, just stuffed them into jam tins???

Books by William Corbin, Horse in the House and Storm.

Charlie, Emma and Alberic about 2 children and a dragon. I think there were a couple of sequels too. No idea who they were by and my copies are long gone. I loved them!

I read the Cynthia Harnett books, Jeanne - in fact I bought a couple, for nostalgic reasons, last year.

I have all the Moomin books too, LadyPlumpington!

I came in to say The Giant Jam Sandwich too. DS absolutely loves it and I have very fond memories of it from infants school.

Don't Forget The Bacon is another one that I have fond memories of.

We've been given a copy of I'll Love You Forever as that was a favourite of a colleague of mine. I can't read it for bawling!

Saguaro that rings a bell, did Froggy die?

I remember lots of these books. I just read The Giant Jam Sandwich to DD2 tonight!

I loved Mary and John by Grace James that my grandmother had at her house.

Olga da polga and her boyfriend, Boris da Poris. Was it by the paddington bear chap?

I have got a copy of Help I'm a Prisoner in a Toothpaste Factory!

And another (my school seemed to favour books that went out of print as soon as we read them, it seems- The Very Hot waterbottle. it as about stolen jewllery, hidden in the eponymous water bottle - and I vividly remember the from cover had a suit case on it .