Tom's midnight garden- any others?

[peebles32]

How can I have missed this book? Pure genius and magical. I love children's literature so any recommendations appreciated. Another favourite was Wolf Wilder, Katherine Rundell.

Yes, I second that. I'm not a religious believer, but I still love Lewis. He is a superb writer. Tolkien's The Hobbit is also worth reading. I actually prefer The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings. The fascinating thing about Lewis and Tolkien is that both were Oxford professors. Intellectually, they were top of the food chain. These were men who read Dante out loud to one another in Italian, or spent the evening together translating Wagner from German. Tolkien knew 20 + languages and Lewis seemed to have read literally everything, often in the original language. He knew Plato and Aristotle and Homer back to front in the original Greek, and had read pretty much everything ever written in Latin. Yet they could also produce such charming, sweet, funny and imaginative books for kids. Even though you're reading books for children, you can feel these vast minds at work behind them.

I’ve just started reading Astercote by Penelope Lively, it’s a time slip story about the Black Death.

If you haven't come across it, try Friend Monkey - PL Travers. A lovely and charming book but with strands of sadness too.

I never read any of PL Travers' Mary Poppins books as a child but loved Friend Monkey. I don't remember much of the plot but the feeling of sadness resonates with me.

I didn't read PL Travers as a child but read Mary Poppins to my daughter, it was really funny and Mary was not as I expected- she was hilarious!

I loved this. Might reread.

I was going to say this!

Does anyone remember a book called Playing Beattie Bow? I can’t remember the author but I think it may have had a similar theme of time slip. It featured leg less man on a trolley (set in Victorian times). I remember loving it and finding it very creepy - similar feeling to Come Back, Lucy

Moonfleet
Heidi
The secret garden
The railway children
Whitefang
Shadow the sheep dog
The moondial
Midnight is a place (Joan Aiken)

I do. It was set in Australia and had the added drama of it being a love story. It was another one which left you feeling quite sad. If you like time slip books, The Root Cellar by Janet Lunn was similar to Playing Beatie Bow. I think it was set in Canada at the time of the American Civil War. Both great reads.

@avaritablevampire I had totally forgotten Midnight is a Place - I loved that one, too!
The Chimneys of Green Knowe was also a favourite. Glad to know there are other fans of Come Back Lucy - I agree it was quite creepy.

I love Tom's Midnight Garden and in the 1970s was lucky enough to attend a workshop where Philippa Pearce was talking about it. She was lovely.

My favourite Philippa Pearce book is Minnow on the Say, which I read to a primary school class on my first teaching practice in 1976. It was magical.

not read whole thread but will save to read at leisure

my addition would be Back Home by Michelle Magorian, she also wrote Goodnight Mr Tom which always seemed to be more popular but I just loved this one, I’ve re read it many times and I think it might be my favourite book ever.

@avaritablevampire

Shadow the Sheepdog! How could I forget

I also used to read Mr Twink books when I was quite young - cat detective with Sgt Boffer a very silly dog who was his sidekick

Try Robinsheugh by Eileen Dunlop ( possibly only on abebooks as out of print)

Yes - John Rowe Townsend called it the only masterpiece of children's literature published since 1945.

Loved nearly everything mentioned on this thread, but Charlotte Sometimes is without doubt my favourite.

Look at what won the Carnegie prize for children.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Medal_(literary_award)
Lark by Anthony McGowan is a great book.

Some great books in that list.

Cold Christmas by Nina Beachcroft was one of my favourites along with Charlotte Sometimes.

Penelope Farmer, who wrote Charlotte Sometimes, wrote two other books I remember enjoying as a child, William and Mary, and The Castle of Bone.

Some books that I remember loving as a child were The Mouse and His Child by Russell Hoban, and The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid "Pippi Longstocking" Lindgren.

Some children's books can be so profoundly memorable but also the plots can be quite devastating.

Yes the Carnegie prize is a wonderful list. Remembering Elfrida Vipont's The Lark on the Wing sent a shiver down my spine and brought the song back into my head.

Joan Aiken not mentioned enough on this thread!

The short story The Serial Garden (there was more than one featuring the same family) was my favourite

The Pirates in the Deep Green Sea by Eric Linklater all about Davy Jones.

Yes, Joan Aiken is fab, I loved The Wolves of Willoughby Chase as a child.