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?

How about the weirdness that is 'The Shrinking of Treehorn' and his horribly dysfunctional parents! A bit like 'Not Now, Bernard', which I also love!

Blackberry Farm - a weird mixture of farm animals that seem quite ordinary (except they talk) and other animals dressed in clothes and living in their own houses.

Aflorrick I have just ordered a copy of The wave from Amazon to give to my 13yr old, I think it would be something, that given the current climate, that should be used in schools.

So many books here that I remember, I mostly got my books from Jumble Sales and can still recall the excitement of bring home a bag of "new" books, I was a voracious reader from a very young age and it is still one of my greatest pleasures.

Another set of books I remember from very young were the Emma and Thomas books. I think they were first experience type books. My favourite was Emma is contrary. And there was,Thomas goes to the doctors, where he had his vaccination and then comes back and does the same to his teddy. And then sings a song which starts"coughs and colds and sneezes and dangerous diseases"
I think the last book was the only one with the both on and called "Thomas and Emma are different" and was about the difference between boys and girls. They look the same with their clothes on, but different with them off, was the general gist of it.

Bertha and the Racing Pigeon by Pam Ayres

The Princess and the Steam Roller by Boswell Taylor

The King's Damosel by Vera Chapman

Thank you, this has reminded me to look for them on Amazon and they're all there!

I loved the Wells books AFlorrick, I still have a few and keep foisting them on DD (who prefers the Hunger Games). Loved Trebizond too, they seemed so racy compared with Malory Towers, 'Boy term' and all that!

I also loved all the Noel Streatfeild books, particularly her autobiography, A Vicarage Family.

Ooh that was the other book I was going to mention (I have seen it discussed on here, on another thread), The Fearless Treasure, by Noel Streatfeild. Loved it so much.

Fantastic thread, lots of books I remember and lots more that I have now added to my wish list

I have just today taken delivery of Morris's Disappearing Bag and Grandmother Lucy And Her Hats, for DD's 4th birthday :)

I loved Ant and Bee!

Also "Moon Man" - a short story about how the man in the moon looks wistfully at the happiness on Earth, and one night catches a shooting star and comes to the Earth. But he is treated as an invader.

Oh yes island of the blue dolphin! I remember that one! Loved it so much.

A Hundred Million Francs by Paul Berna. Mr Williams read it to us in my last year at primary school.

Horopu another fan of A Hundred Million Francs! Isn't it wonderful?

Annabel and Bryony - oh I loved it so much I wrote to the author. Had a heartbreaking reply: she wrote two sequels, but alas, sales figures on the first book had been bad so... Had I been older I might have begged for manuscript copies!

Adding Grimble - DH favourite childhood book . I hadn't heard of it.

Another vote for arabels raven etc.

And many of the above.

I've just remembered this one: The Ghost-eye tree. For younger children, but it's the first properly scary book that I remember reading. Although some of my school books were scary too - I remember one about a girl who gets lost in the jungle and meets a friendly girl who turns out to be a malevolent spirit (you can tell by the way her feet point backwards). I still remember the terrifying illustration....

Books used to be downright inappropriate!

Oh and "there is no such thing as a dragon". Very much like not now Bernard - the grown ups ignore the child's plea to see the dragon / feed the dragon etc and it eats everything and grows out if the doors, windows and chimney!

Probably not that obscure, but I absolutely adored The Naughtiest Girl books from Enid Blyton, though they seem to be some of her lesser known ones. My copy is falling apart!

Oh yes, Grimble was magnificent!

marsh just in case you're wondering I had to go to Haynes Lane yesterday and the old bookstore place has gone but a new one just outside the sort of main entrance past the crockery is there. I looked briefly but didn't see a huge amount of children's books but had 5-10 minutes. I'm sure if more time I could unearth classics or ask for them to be looked out for!

Free ah yes we had Island of the Blue Dolphin too so magical, will check with my mum when I see her next if she has it still.

Professor Peabody's First Case. There are questions on each page so you can help the professor solve the case, we've still got a very dog eared copy, loved by me and both Ds's ( now both in their teens).

Another vote for Phoebe and the Hot Water Bottles - beautifully illustrated.

Anyone remember Granny Perkins' Thinking Cap? My absolute fave when I was wee.

Btw, rather a random one but does anyone remember Hagbane's Doom, Gublak's Greed & Surin's Revenge?

Yes I now remember The Endless Steppe and also used to make my dad read The Cow That Fell Into The Canal most nights.
The Sue Barton nurse series were great too but the children's library we went to most weeks didn't stock all of them.
Phantom Tollbooth was awesome.
Flat Stanley was another favourite but I'm not sure if that's very obscure.

The Kangaroo With a Hole in Her Pocket

www.amazon.co.uk/Kangaroo-Hole-Her-Pocket-Rejane/dp/B0006CPTVM/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1437418528&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=the+kangaroo+with+a+whole+in+her+pocket

Makes me think of my dad - he read it regularly at bedtime.

And the Mrs Pepperpot books which reminds me of my infant school teacher.
www.amazon.co.uk/Pepperpot-Stories-Summer-Reading-Collections/dp/0099411393/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437418584&sr=8-1&keywords=mrs+pepperpot