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?

SchnitzelVonKrum I read the lone Pine books by Malcolm Saville and loved them. I still have some. So nice that someone else like them as well!

Did anyone read When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (and sequels) by Judith Kerr who wrote "The Tiger who came to tea"? There was a documentary about her life recently on BBC4 (of course)?

Oobedobe now you mention it I remember the Lion in the Meadow - you are right it was surreal but kind of magical as well. Thinking back so many books were. Weirdly I had a picture book called "Bother that Blue Tit" doesn't get more odd than this - has anyone else ever come across it? I read it to DS. Even at the age of 3 he thought it was peculiar...

I have The Chirldren who lived in a barn right next to me where dd2 left it after reading it this afternoon.

Anyone who is interested in the Lone Pine series might like to know that there's a version of Mystery at Witchend touring this summer. And there's a Malcolm Saville Society that meets and walks round the locations. Ds was desperate to go and find the Gay Dolphin. Was most disappointed to find the real name is the much less interesting "Mermaid".

www.pentabus.co.uk/lone-pine-club-alice-birch

Deewee what are the chances of that?! Thanks for the Lone Pine info too.

I remember a book where a family of children end up living in a house in the countryside (maybe on a mountain), having to look after themselves - I seem to remember an episode of hay box cookery - is that The Children who Lived on a Mountain, or another book?

Some books I'd completely putt at the back of my mind until until this thread, specifically Dear Mr Henshaw and How to eat fried worms, both of which I loved and can remember pieces of. Am also gutted my copy of Rebecca's world is awol seeing the prices of it on ebay, but still have my copys of Gerald Durells Talking Parcel, The Children of Green Knowe and several of the three Investigators Books.

Also loved the following- The Captain COBWEBB series by Gordon Boshell - David and Toby Green have adventures with their invisible Uncle Captain Cobwebb

The Reluctant Vampire by Eric Morcambe

The Race Against time series were a boy and his uncle had secret advnetures all over the world without the parents finding out.

Private Keep Out by Gwen Grant about a girl growing up i a mining town in the 1950s- written in first person and still one of the funniest books have ever read.

forgot to add- Exiles of Colsec by Douglas Hill. Teenage misfits exiled to alien planet- my first experience of science fiction aged nine- mind blown!

Ahh. Warm fuzzy feeling of nostalgia. Was total bookworm as a child - still try to! Shout out to:
The tattooed potato by Ellen Rankin
Charlotte sometimes
The Otterbury Incident
Island of the blue dolphins.

Walt Disney treasury: Donald and Daisy meet a ghost my absolute favourite.

And one I got from the library loads... Can't remember the title but it was a detective book with the clue to the next page hidden in the (full page) picture.

The Owl Who Was Afraid Of The Dark. The owl was called Plop.

I remember Exiles of Colsec - it was also my first intro to scifi apart from Peter Davison's Book of Alien Planets and Peter Davison's Book of Alien Monsters!

I was thinking about this thread the other day and remembering a really obscure book which I thought was called Greylock but tracking it down it is called Snowcastles. It was very very odd - like it was supposed to be the first in a series but I could never find any others. The main character was a barbarian prince in a land of snow who was exiled for some reason or other, but there were weird details about the creatures in the lands beyond his kingdom that were never really explained.

I definitely didn't buy it so some relative must have bought it for me when I was about nine - not sure what they thought I would think about the cover!

If anyone else has read it I will be thrilled! (And amazed!)

ha! Thanks to the internet I have just discovered there was a sequel, which explains a lot...

Oh yes I was just going to say Trouble for Trumpets!

ISn't there a hay box used in one of the Fell Farm stories?

There is a haybox in The Children Who Lived In A Barn, too.

I've just bought myself a copy of The Children Who Lived In A Barn.

Dh is going to be cursing this thread, when he sees how much I am spending on books thanks to you lot!

Don't stop though - I can handle him!

The book I mentioned - Kerry Caravan - had a hay box too. Has anybody ever tried this outside of children's fiction? I seem to remember you needed a wooden box and some straw and hey presto - roast chicken and gravy

Just remembered another fond favourite - Lion at Large by Richard Parker. About an ordinary schoolboy who found a lion in his garden and fed it dog food - it wasn't mystical - it was a real lion and he was trying to get people to take him seriously whilst at the same time I think trying to keep it secret.

We had Rebecca's World read to us at school when I was about 8 or 9. I'd love a copy of it.

I loved the Tim and the Hidden People series. There were loads of books; it was a reading scheme. Really good.

I remember Olga da Polga, and we have The Giant Jam Sandwich. The kids love it.

Another one we have that I've never seen anywhere else is The Boy Who Was Followed Home, about a boy who is followed home from school by a hippo.

Oooh, the Otterbury Incident, I'd completely forgotten that. We had it read to us in juniors and I loved it.

National Velvet, anyone? I adored that book and it was my emotional 'escape' at the boarding school I hated.
The Flambards books - not sure if they are considered obscure.
Once Long Ago - a collection of illustrated fairy stories from around the world. I lent it to a friend when I was a child and never got it back, and I searched for it unsuccessfully for years.
Then the Internet arrived and I found a copy at once.

Miss Happiness and Miss Flower by Rumer Godden. I read it till it fell apart I bought a new copy for my DDs a couple of years ago. They were gentle and polite in their dismissal.

Found a copy of Rebecca's world in the charity shop yesterday!

Bought it for dd1 after remembering how many of you loved it! She is 7. Is she ok to read it now or wait a bit?