Favourite but obscure

[littlebillie]

The same modern books come up as favourites for the modern childhood I want to hear about books that are probably out of print but well loved. Mine are

Trebizon series
The tree that sat down
Heidi
Turpenny Feefo and jinks

Knock Three Times. Fabulous and scary - originally from the 1920s. I loved it as a child and still re-read.

Ghost in the Water was good too. Joan Aiken now very underrated I think, and Alan Garner. Anyone remember 'A Haunting Air' by Barbara Freeman. Also a lot of short story collections by Ruth Ainsworth like 'The Phantom Cyclist' .

Elidor by Alan Garner is a truly wonderful book. All his children's books are great, but that one is his best, I think. The Owl Service is a close second.

Another of my favourites is Green Smoke by Rosemary Manning (about a Cornish dragon who once knew King Arthur).

Tamora Pierce- Alanna stories

Fire and hemlock. No idea what happened to my copy but the story still pops up in my head every now and then

Fire and Hemlock is probably my favourite Dianna Wynne Jones - fudge it's going for a penny (+ postage) on Amazon if you feel like re-buying it!

I was just looking at them bless but I should really look for it in the house first. There may be a box or two never unpacked from moving in 5 years ago

Yes to The Children who lived in a barn.. I bought a haybox on the strength of it!

If The Great House is Cynthia Harnett, then yes to that, though I love The Woolpack, Stars and Stripes and The Load of Unicorn even more.

The Criwn of Violet by one if Geoffrey/Henry Treece/Trease,

What about The Secret Garden and A Little Princess? Obscure now?

I don't think Secret Garden or A Little Princess are obscure these days - my dd has been given copies of both (and I have my old copies).

Love to see that Trebizon is on the list - I absolutely loved it, but have seen some mixed reviews here! I've bought the new versions for my dd and she loves them too and has got all her friends reading them

Crown of Violet is Geoffrey Trease.
Also Cue for Treason by him.

I don't know how many of these are obscure.

My DD had read a lot of them - but maybe that's because I kept my own copies (and in some cases my Mum's copies) which she has read.

Yes, I wouldn't count most of these as obscure, just old and some out of print.

Demon Island by I think Cecil Baldock is one my DC liked and no one else seems to have completed me across.
Some of the rarer Malcolm Saville ones, especially the Marston Haines spy series probably count (although the Buckingham series is also good, but not as rare)
I'm sure we've got other rate ones I can find later.

Bogwoppit by Ursula Moray Williams. Loved it as a child;couldn't say if it's out of print now though.

Yy to hayboxes. Think they featured in The Kerry Caravan which was a fave of mine.

Also loved Rebecca’s World
Lion at Large

And a favourite of my mum’s from the 40s - Brown Mouse.

Has anyone else read the Fell Farm Set. Fell Farm campers, Fell Farm Christmas, I think and one more?

Then Eric Leyland adventure stories were loved by dd1 at one point. Vaguely spy types I think.

The Jill books by Ruby Ferguson are hilarious and great for any pony-mad DCs - ridiculous wish-fulfillment stuff, but really enjoyable.

Elizabeth Enright's Melendy family books are brilliant, starting with The Saturdays.

Phoebe and the hot water bottles.

Phoebe and the hot water bottles yes but if you don't have a copy, have you seen the price it goes for!

Fell Farm yes, though I preferred Swallows and Amazons, the Melendys yes.

Oh, the Melendys! I must reread those. I was obsessed with finding secret rooms for a while after reading The Four-Storey Mistake.

Also - The Greengage Summer, anyone? One of the best coming of age stories ever written.

Carbonel
The Box of Delights
The Faraway Tree
The Great Granny Robbery

These were all childhood favourites of mine which my son is now enjoying.

I love The Greengage Summer too, bookworm14! Also Rumer Godden's The Peacock Spring.

Green Knowe series...
Land of Green Ginger
Some of the 5 children and it/Phoenix and the magic carpet stories

Witchend Fell Farm Holiday is the third one. I tracked them all down on AbeBooks last year for DD who is completely disinterested . Loved them and was so excited the first time I went through the Lake District.

Little White Horse
Lone Pine Club
Bobby Brewster

Carbonel, Rumer Godden ( Holly and Ivy, The Diddakoi, Greengage Summer); Green Knowe, E. Nesbit, Elizabeth Goudge Little White Horse, Linnets and Valerians/ The Runaways, yes yes yes.

Mishmishmish, love the name.. reason for choosing?