Forgotten children's book from your childhood.

[Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 7,440
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I'm not sure if this thread will take off, but let's have a go.:)

When you was a kid there were books you loved or were really popular but now you never hear of them or don't see them on the bookshelves, even in libraries.

Some authors have carried on being popular over the years; Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, Lewis Carrol etc, but some have just disappeared.

Which books did you like as a child or were popular at the time that are gone and almost forgotten.

When I was growing up te teacher used to read the class stories. One we had read to us was Mrs Pepperpot by Alf Proysen.
I can barely remember anything that happened in the book but I do remember really looking forward to the end of the day at scool when we would be read a bit more of the story for us.
It's probably a load of old rubbish by today's standards.

Whilst I was Googling the author I found out that this week on Radio 4 Extra has been doing a radio dramatization of the book. The final part is this week. So maybe not forgotten after all.
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  • trinity2002trinity2002 Posts: 16,059
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    Ninety-nine Dragons by Barbara Sleigh ( and yes I did have to look up the author, it also took me a while to find it, even knowing the title)

    I remember this being read to us at infant school and then borrowing it from the public library so I could read it myself. It's about two children who try to go to sleep by counting dragons instead of sheep. They then go on to have a joint adventure.

    There was also When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr. It isn't a forgotten book by any shot, but I rarely hear people mention it nowadays.
  • Button62Button62 Posts: 8,463
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    Anything by Noel Streatfield. I loved her books, particularly Ballet Shoes and Thursday's Child. I also remember being amazed that with a name like Noel she was actually a woman !
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 932
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    I remember being really captivated by The Family From One End Street, by Eve Garnett.
    I also loved Mrs Pepperpot, Milly Molly Mandy - and I've just remembered Bobby Brewster, about a boy who had encounters with magical things, like a toothpaste which could produce any flavour he fancied - I'd forgotten about those books before this thread, but I adored those stories!:)
  • Phoenix LazarusPhoenix Lazarus Posts: 17,305
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    Botterstikes and Gumbles
    Fattypuffs and Thinnifers

    Both I read in the 1970s. I can't recall the authors of either.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 7,440
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    Yvie123 wrote: »
    I remember being really captivated by The Family From One End Street, by Eve Garnett.
    I also loved Mrs Pepperpot, Milly Molly Mandy - and I've just remembered Bobby Brewster, about a boy who had encounters with magical things, like a toothpaste which could produce any flavour he fancied - I'd forgotten about those books before this thread, but I adored those stories!:)

    I don't know The Family From One End Street or Bobby Brewester, but I do Milly Molly Mandy.

    My main recollection of it was even as a kid getting really sick of hearing Milly Molly Mandy did this, Milly Molly Mandy did that. Just call her Milly we know it;s the same person! lol
  • stud u likestud u like Posts: 42,100
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    Button62 wrote: »
    Anything by Noel Streatfield. I loved her books, particularly Ballet Shoes and Thursday's Child. I also remember being amazed that with a name like Noel she was actually a woman !

    She was born on Christmas Eve.
  • doom&gloomdoom&gloom Posts: 9,051
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    She was born on Christmas Eve.

    Yes but Noelle is the female version.
  • ACUACU Posts: 9,104
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    I used to read the Hardy Boys series, way back in the mid/late 80s.
  • Mrs MackintoshMrs Mackintosh Posts: 1,870
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    Thursday's Child for me as well. It's out of print now but I managed to get a copy from Amazon for my daughter about 6 years ago. It didn't have the same impact on her as it had on me, though she still quite liked it. Reading it again, it was a bit ridiculous and Margaret's mysterious benefactor was never revealed so it kind of left you hanging.

    There was a book called The Three Elizabeths that I loved, I think it was a contemporary novel written in the late 50s by a Scottish female author. No idea who and I've never found it again in adulthood.

    At primary we were read a book called Wee McGreegor, again, can't find it anywhere.
  • stud u likestud u like Posts: 42,100
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    doom&gloom wrote: »
    Yes but Noelle is the female version.

    Noel Gordon was spelled the same but pronounced as Nolly.
  • stud u likestud u like Posts: 42,100
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    ACU wrote: »
    I used to read the Hardy Boys series, way back in the mid/late 80s.

    I read those and "The Three Investigators".
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 932
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    I don't know The Family From One End Street or Bobby Brewester, but I do Milly Molly Mandy.

    My main recollection of it was even as a kid getting really sick of hearing Milly Molly Mandy did this, Milly Molly Mandy did that. Just call her Milly we know it;s the same person! lol

    :D::D I thought it was such a cool name as a kid, but now that you mention it, I suppose it was a bit of a mouthful!!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 7,440
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    Yvie123 wrote: »
    :D::D I thought it was such a cool name as a kid, but now that you mention it, I suppose it was a bit of a mouthful!!

    Maybe she had 2 imaginary friends and Milly wouldn't go anywhere without them :rolleyes:
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 7,440
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    Thursday's Child for me as well. It's out of print now but I managed to get a copy from Amazon for my daughter about 6 years ago. It didn't have the same impact on her as it had on me, though she still quite liked it. Reading it again, it was a bit ridiculous and Margaret's mysterious benefactor was never revealed so it kind of left you hanging.

    There was a book called The Three Elizabeths that I loved, I think it was a contemporary novel written in the late 50s by a Scottish female author. No idea who and I've never found it again in adulthood.

    At primary we were read a book called Wee McGreegor, again, can't find it anywhere.

    Good news :)
    I know who wrote it....The Three Elizabeths is written by Jessie Margaret Page

    Good News 2 :)
    I found a hardback copy of it :)

    Bad news :cry:
    It costs £35

    http://www.abebooks.co.uk/Three-Elizabeths-Page-Cable-Lindsay-Illus/9227164556/bd

    Wee McGreegor....? Sure it's not Wee MacGregor by J.J. Bell?

    If it is I found it and a couple of his books, but they are in the US. They vary in price, most being under £10 but the postage whacks it up to £20+

    http://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/title/wee-macgregor/author/bell/sortby/3/page-1/
  • ironjadeironjade Posts: 10,001
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    "The Ship that Flew" by Hilda Lewis.
    Great fantasy about a bunch of kids travelling through time/ space in a model ship.
    I've never met anyone else who's even heard of it, let alone read it.
  • quatroquatro Posts: 2,886
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    Bobby Brewster used to love sardines!
    I used to read all the Jennings books, all the Billy Bunter books and of course the William books.
    A relative used to send me a Cherry Ames book every year - Cherry Ames was a nurse, working in different areas. The relative wanted me to become a nurse - I didn't!

    I remember reading Bobbsey Twins books too.
  • Bella TrixBella Trix Posts: 7,278
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    I loved Mrs Pepperpot!
    Also Milly Molly Mandy and Ramona Quimby. Don't know if they are still about. Ramona was my favourite.
    Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown
    The Olga da Polga books by Michael Bond
    I liked Noel Streatfield too, also remember a great series of ballet books called "Scrambled Legs"...they were hilarious :D

    Does anyone remember a book called "Grinny"? I remember taking it out of the library, reading it in bed one night and then having nightmares about it and taking it back without finishing it because I was too scared :o first book I ever started but didn't finish!
  • Phoenix LazarusPhoenix Lazarus Posts: 17,305
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    Grimble.
    Conrad, The Factory-Made Boy.
  • spiney2spiney2 Posts: 27,058
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    angus macvicars Lost Planet childrens' sci fi stories. Hesikos, the visiting planet that broadcasts "peace thoughts" from The Electronome which makes a continual ticking sound.......

    i have some of the hardback editions from second hand bookshops. never see them now.

    also The Cherries of river tree cottage. child amateur detectives in Enid Blyton mould.
  • ironjadeironjade Posts: 10,001
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    How about: Mike Mulligan, Henry the Helicopter, Kemlo and Capt. W.E. (Biggles) Johns SF stories, e.g, Quest for the Perfect Planet, The Man Who Vanished into Space?
  • ChristopherJChristopherJ Posts: 976
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    The Three Golliwogs by Enid Blyton – Golly, Woggie and N****r. Can't think why its popularity declined. Incidentally, the woman who bought it for me was a next door neighbour who had a black cat she'd named Sambo.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 16,986
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  • stud u likestud u like Posts: 42,100
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    I liked him. He was a lovely half brownie, half human.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 16,986
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    I still have it. It was a Sunday School prize for attendance in 1969 :D
  • MoscaMosca Posts: 17
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    A rag, a bone and a hank of hair, by Nicholas Fisk. I first read this book when I was about 11 in the early 80s. Absolutely loved it. The story stayed with me for ages. Think I'm going to have to find a copy and read it again.
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