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?

Does anyone remember "yak and the painted cave" about a yak who hung paint pots off his horns and turned out to be an amazing muralist?

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George ????

Ach! Fat fingers!

So, Julie of the Wolves was about an Inuit girl who runs away from a horrible unwanted early marriage in to the Alaskan wilderness. She survives the winter with the help of a pack of wolves who become her only family.

And then, on a similar theme, Island of the Blue Dophins, about a Native American girl living on one of the Aleutians islands, whose community are all murdered by Europeans, and who then survives on her own (looking after her little brother I think) until they are rescued.

Both thrilling stories of female independence and courage that had a big effect on me as a teenager.

The Fox Went Out On A Chilly Night by Peter Spier.
Borka about a goose with no feathers.
Swallows And Amazons - loved them!

teacher I was going to say My Friend Mr Leakey! With fantastic Quentin Blake line drawings. My copy is held together with rubber bands but the text was available free online a while back.

Loved Necklace of Raindrops - it was a huge brown hardback in the library I read loads so was slightly disappointed when I bought one and it was a slim paperback. Of course I was bigger!

Also Magic at Midnight by Phyllis Arkle - pub signs come alive and thwart criminals.

Marshmallow - yes, I have the Dew Drop Inn book as well :)
Kate went with Joe and Peg, because they'd had measles. She hadn't, so she pretended to have measles to go with them (painted dots on her face with red ink), and then she caught measles herself anyway so ended up going (her dream!)

I also had Snow Cloud, Stallion, and another book called Lyrico, about a flying pony.

Does anyone else remember The Cow Who Fell in the Canal? It was Dutch (we lived in Holland), but had in in English translation. Think it's a bit of a Dutch classic.

We had The Cow Who Fell in the Canal -- brought back from Holland as a present.

NotCitrus My son LOVED Magic at Midnight! It is not a book I had when I was little but I got it for him from a second-hand shop, and it was pitched exactly right for him when we were moving from picture books to chapter books. He also really loved another by the same author, Magic in the Air (I think) - weathervanes come alive and foil thieves (I see a pattern...)

I loved a book called Temba Dawn My Calf about a boy who lived on a farm and raised a calf by hand. The farm was in financial difficulties and the family had sell up, and surely in the name of happy endings he must have been able to keep his calf/cow somehow but I can't remember! I thought my copy was in my parents' attic but it is nowhere to be found.
I also fondly remember a library book about three children who all went to the same childminder. The book told their separate stories in three different parts and it began with one of the girls walking along a wall and falling off and ending up in hospital (I think). I can't remember who wrote it or what the title was so if anyone recognises it I'd love to know!

oobedobe I had the Lion in the Meadow too.... and loved it too... I can't understand why publishers don't republish originals as the illustrations are amazing and very of that era.

Ones I recall having (will have to quiz mum now) are:-

The Butterfly Ball (mum kept that one!) - about a butterfly ball
The Diddakoi (mum kept that one too)
Tyger Tales/Adventure (she kept that one) it was about a tiger family who I think had Gipsy or Indian relatives and sailed round the world/to India/Far East and one of the tigers got sick...
there was also an obsure 70s book about making things... with that slatted wooden 70s/60s door stuff (mum still has that)
Kate Greenaway (think mum got rid of that).
we also had first edition Charmed Life and the Ogre Downstairs lent them to someone and they never came back! we had those as my mum's close friend worked for the publishers MacMillan and got all sorts of books free or reduced cost.

Our absolute favourite goodness knows why was a child's safety book about all sorts of things about children not accepting sweets from strangers, not swimming in an unsafe place - very 60s/70s and I swear my mum said she got rid of it... upset wasn't the word from my brother and I!

Where I live is an amazing market (Haynes Lane SE19) and I know for a fact there are a few book stalls/book stores so I think I may pootle down there just have a look... when I went before an old man had a store/stall with books packed to the rafters... you never know what you might find!

nimimny - I recall having a book which my mum has kept about Laplanders - more of an informative but sort of 'life as a Laplander'.

I still have Z for Zachariah - never read it until about 15-16 but amazing for its time if a bit depressing then.

snozzberrypie just ordered Manx Mouse . Paul Gallico . Thank you.

Glad to be of help, trumpton - I hope it's as good as I remember!

Snozzberry We are Manx and it will be a lovely addition to my Manx collection of books.

Another book Angry Arthur about the rage that takes over a small boy and destroys the universe leaving him on his bed on a floating bit of Mars in space thinking "why was I so angry ?"
Very weird and I thought Japanese but the author is South African Hiawyn Oram , however the illustrator IS Japanese, Satoshi Kitamura.
It's a great book and my toddlers loved it during the terrible years .

I remember one from when I was very small called 'Mrs Nibbles moves house'. About a family of rabbits who used a wheelbarrow to move house. I don't know why, but it really resonated with me

I also loved the Ant & Bee books, which I used to take out from the library.

Lastly, there was I think a French author who used to write older childrens/young teenager stories which involved quite exciting adventures I think, one involved a place flooding. Sadly I can't recall the name of the author and I didn't own any of his books as I used to borrow them from our local library.

Oh I've just remembered another one - a mouse who lived in a French cheese factory, with his wife and their 3 sets of twins, Claude and Claudette, George and Georgette and I can't remember the 3rd set - he was called Anatole and he used to come out at night and score the cheeses out of 10.
I loved that book, I wanted his job!

Loved...
Mousehole Cat
Comic and Curious cats
Monkeys Marching Band
Brambly Hedge
Kabouter by Rien Poortvliet
There was another one called something like Georgina and the Dragon. It was awesome, but unfortunately I can't find it anywhere!
Oh and the Jolly Witch

I loved The Endless Stepoe when I was a tween. In a similar vein to The Diary of Anne Frank, it's the memoir of a Polish girl who was exiled to Siberia during the war. It was pretty tough reading but I was enthralled by it.

Consulate I loved The Endless Steppe! I wanted to use it for my Open Study but I believe it's a translation so they wouldn't let me.

Many of my favourites on here already, but no-one has mentioned Kate Seredy 'The Good Master' and 'The Singing Tree'.

'Fat Tulip' by Tony Robinson.

Pesto Mrs Nibbles was part of the Blackberry Farm series: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackberry_Farm_(books)

I had a few of the blackberry farm books. They were lovely. Mr Nibbles Calls a Doctor was my favourite.