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?

I still have my Olga da Polga books

Fattipuffs and Thinnifers - about two warring countries.
The Log of the Ark - Noah's diary.

Also a hilarious one called Bramble's First Date about a hedgehog trying to find a wife

I used to love the milly Molly Mandy books, and green smoke by Rosemary manning about a dragon in Cornwall.

Not sure if either of them are obscure but I loved them.

Yep, we have Mary Plain as well, DementedMa.

Happy sigh...

Well I meant the Rumer Godden one.

Marianne Dreams - For older children though. I have bought a copy for DS1 who is a bookworm but for some reason hasn't read it yet despite me telling him he must.

I remember Olga da Polga too!

I loved The House at World's End by Monica Dickens, less well known than her Follyfoot series, about a family of children whose parents are out of the picture (mother is ill/injured in hospital IIRC) who live alone in a ramshackle building and collect various animals.

Humphrey, we have the Bagthorpe books in the top floor bookcase

Brother Alonzo by Tom Hamil, a lovely tale for young children from the 1950s . The pictures were just lovely. My DCs had my copy but it was lost with a box of their books during a house move.

And another surreal one, called Wind on the Moon.

Oh, and how about The Ordinary Princess by M M Kaye. Loved that book too!

My DD has a copy of Rebecca's World, I picked it up in a second hand bookstore a few years ago, cost me about a pound.
I also loved the best fiend books. We also have In The Night Kitchen. A book I loved and can't seem to find anywhere, was Pa's Top Hat, seems to have vanished off the face of the planet.

Does anyone remember a children's book about a family of children on holiday by the sea. They find a rockpool, and either mermaids or fairies living there - they help them search for lost pearls from a necklace.

I remember Olga da Polga too! My favourite story as a child was 'A Cat Called Friday' by Rosalind Sutton about a little boy and his kitten. I also used to like the Ladybird Hannibal the Hamster books, although they are probably not that obscure. Anyone remember 'New Patches for Old' about a girl who emigrates with her family to Australia? Took my ages to track down a copy at a reasonable price a few years ago.

lancelottie you are the ONLY person I have come across who knows the Mary Plain books!!!! I remember the one where she ended up on a desert island and ended up doing a cake walk with all the black babies!!!! Very bizarre books. Didn't she come from the bear pits in Berne, or was that Paddington??? I'm confused.

I had Five Dolls in a House too! It had a bossy doll called Vanessa, and another doll called Lupin, and one who was a Paying Guest (I can't remember her name, it was something like Anne Marie).

Bobby Brewster too, though I don't think they were particularly obscure. And a series called Mark and Mandy I used to read a lot, given to me when I was unwell, as one of the stories was along similar lines (looking back I can't see how they appealed at all).

Then Elsie Dinsmore. Awful awful books, but for some reason I found them fascinating and thought her father was dreadful.

We had Mary Plain! I'm sure that was the book that said bears have two birthdays. My bear's birthdays are 17th May and 19th August!

Pippo. And an odd book called 'not now, Bernard' which was about a child who wanted someone to play with, was ostensibly ignored by everyone he asked and was eventually eaten by a monster if I remember correctly...hmm, and my parents wonder why I turned out like I did!

Does any remember "Hilda's Comfortable Chair"? It was a gorgeous book about long suffering Australian Hilda who finally sat down in her comfy chair. Then all these antipodean animals come along one by one and join her, and she's too nice to say know. It has great pictures. No one else has ever heard of it :-(

I loved The Warden's Niece and still have my copy!

I also adored The Saturdays, The Four Story Mistake and the other Melendy family books. I bought them for the DDs, who ignored them, so I have been re-reading them.

I also liked the Gemma series, I think by Noel Streatfeild.

Is anybody else getting inspiration from this thread I'm going to have a look for Mary Plain books first I think as I've never heard of those.

Nashville- it was ahead of it's time really- had it been published a few years later, I think it would have remained in print.

Marianne Dreams! I loved that- even if it was a creepy. Fortunately, that is still available, because I think DD1 will love it.

Rebecca's World! I'd forgotten all about that one, I loved it too, maybe we should start a mumsnet campaign to get it back into print, I'd love to read it again.

How to Eat Fried Worms (I think) a boy takes on a dare to eat worms and ends up liking them, no one seems to remember that one.

Beyond the Midnight Mountains, I've still got this, read it to DD and she quite enjoyed it (unlike the Moomins which she didn't, sob).

Arabella's Raven/Arabella and Mortimer, I've bought these from eBay recently.

I'm surprised that Olga da Polga isn't as well loved as Paddington, I always liked them better.