Those magical Unusual Books of childhood

[the smiling weirwood]

The Dalemark Quartet is awesome! Very Celtic inspired methinks.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Starting this thread seems to have inspired a lot of memories! Excellent!

I seem to recall a series called DRAGONFALL 5, can't remember the author but it was about a space ships called...DRA... well guess...

 

[sabinerak]

Wow, where to start....

Dr. Suess, fairy tales of all sorts, Mary Poppins series by P.L. Travers, Narnia, witch books by Ruth Chew, Louisa May Alcott, Raggedy Ann books by Johnny Gruelle (sp?), Bobbsey Twins & Nancy Drew, Wizard of Oz....these are the ones I can think of off hand.

 

[jackokent]

I know these aren't sifi or fantasy but does anyone remmeber the Arthur Ransom books ie swallow and amazons?

 

[BookStop]

Dr. Suess
The Borrowers by Norton
Ralph S. Mouse by Cleary
Hobbit - had to read it in 4th or 5th grade but I loved! it.

 

[Anomander]

There was a book I read about a boy (I think his name was Arob or so) who was left a magical prize that was supposed to grant wishes, only the prize was faulty, so he travelled to the past, fought with some froggish invader (I think his name was Grimston Rogg) and blah, blah blah.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Quite a few of the good books mentioned in this thread weren't even written when I was (chronologically speaking) a child. The Hobbit had been, but I never ran across it until I was in my late teens.

Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books, C. S. Lewis's Narnia, various books by E. Nesbit, Edward Eager, and Andre Norton came into my life about the same time as Tolkien, or a little later. A pity, since I would have loved them even more if I had discovered them earlier.

But Dr. Seuss came along at the right time, and Mary Norton's Borrower books, the Oz Books -- obviously Alcott and Laura Ingalls Wilder had already written their books -- and yes, I blush to admit that I was a big fan of the series books cranked out for young readers, the Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, Judy Bolton, et al. Oh, and I loved the Melendy books by Elizabeth Enright -- no reason to blush over those, because I'd buy them for my grandchildren without hesitation.

 

[BookStop]

Everyone and their mother seems to have read Nancy Drew. What about Trixie Beldon? I had the first 22 or so. Loved 'em. My daughters are not mystery fans and wouldn't give them a chance past the first book. Of course, they would'nt read Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys either. Hrrmmph.

 

[Anomander]

Did anyone ever read a book about a magic <bed knob> or something (I remember a bed with a red knob on one of the posters) and flying to some strange land where a bear informed the kids that No humans were allowed. I can't remember the name of the book now though

 

[Alia]

Another one of my favorites. A completely mad book

This is such a good thread.

One of the great things about Children and Y A books is it doesn't take much for us to get carried away in a story. We leave with good feelings and no deep thoughts. They are easy to understand and fun to read!

Children books are awesome to encourage young and old to read and keep reading! That's why this thread is so fun. We are bringing back warm fuzzy feelings of good memories of reading great books, even Dr. Seuss. He was one of the masters of fun reading. I love his Foot book. *giggles*

 

[Nesacat]

The earliest 'magic' books I remember were the Amar Chitra Katha comics of Indian mythology. I still have them battered and mended as they are. They basically split up Hindu Mythology into individual tales and each one was a beautifully illustrated comic. These books created a lifelong love for world mythology and are really a wonderful introduction to a very complex universe.

The book I remember clearly reading after these is Enid Blyton's Tuppeny, Feefo and Jinks and I was very happy to have found a copy earlier this year in Scotland at an Oxfam store. There was the rest of them ... Mr. Meddle, Mr. Pink Whistle, The Secret 7, Famous 5, The Three Investigators, Mallory Towers, etc

Another favourite were the fairy tale books with a colour in the title by Andrew Lang. And the all time favourite fairy tale was Beauty & the Beast. I have since gone on to collect many variations of the tale by different authors and it's probably my all-time favourite fairy tale.

And finally there's Rudyard Kipling's Cat Who Walks Alone. I think my mother read it to me first and I guess it struck a chord somewhere. I only found out much later that it was part of a collection of tales. I guess it fits.

 

[BookStop]

Did anyone ever read a book about a magic <bed knob> or something (I remember a bed with a red knob on one of the posters) and flying to some strange land where a bear informed the kids that No humans were allowed. I can't remember the name of the book now though

Bedknobs and Broomsticks was the move adaptation for 2 or three books in that series. Can't remember the actual title of the first book though. Also by Norton of Borrowers fame, right?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

What about Trixie Beldon? I had the first 22 or so. Loved 'em.

Yes, I loved those, too. Well, the first five or six. After the one on the dude ranch there was a lapse of several years before they published any more, then they obviously brought in a new writer (or writers) and there was something different about the characters ... I can't say what it was. Probably not noticable to anyone who read the new books alternately with the first batch. Alas, I'm old enough to be a Trixie Beldon purist. (Neither did I like the Nancy Drew rewrites or those heretical later books -- obviously added at a date far removed from the original series.)

I just hate it when they tamper with the "classics." No one will ever win me over by modernizing a book; I like a period feel, darn it. I could just accept it when Nancy Drew discarded her roadster (with a rumble seat!), but when she changed her hair color and became a mid-century girl, that was too much for me.

 

[Carolyn Hill]

Alexander Key's The Forgotten Door is the first science fiction book that took me away to a magical place. Its anti-establishment, pro-alien, longing-for-home message has stuck with me and no doubt led to many of my liberal attitudes today.

A wonderful third-grade teacher read Charlotte's Web and The Secret Garden to our class, and I reread both for myself soon after. Those two books called forth deep emotions, teaching me about death and disability and the solace of gardens and friends. Today, I'm an avid gardener, I try not to kill spiders, I deal with disability in my family, and I value my friends.

In kindergarten and first grade, my father read me the Jungle Books and a talking-animal book whose name I can't recall. (It may have been part of a series of books. Lots of forest creatures. Owls that hunted mice. Rabbits featured prominently. Not Watership Down--something earlier, aimed at a younger audience. Does this sound familiar to anyone?) These books seemed magical because he read them to me.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Uncle Wiggley or Mother Westwind at a guess.

I'm assuming you'd remember Br'er Rabbit more clearly, because of Disney's Song of the South, and because the stories used to turn up in anthologies (and even school books).

 

[Carolyn Hill]

Not Uncle Wiggley. As I recall, there weren't any human characters, and the stories were big on natural details. And you're right, not Br'er Rabbit. I don't know what Mother Westwind is, but the title sounds more like the spirit of the novel(s) . . .

The books were hardback, perhaps smaller in size than an "adult" book, with light gray covers. They weren't thin.

 

[BookStop]

My girls loved Beatrix Potter when they were tiny.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I don't know what Mother Westwind is, but the title sounds more like the spirit of the novel(s) . . .

The books were hardback, perhaps smaller in size than an "adult" book, with light gray covers. They weren't thin.

Mine (I read others but only had one) was a hardcover chapter book, about the same size as the Nancy Drew books, and about 200 pages if memory serves me. I don't remember the color of the cover. However, I'm sure the books have been reissued many times, so who knows what edition you might have read, if this is even the right series.

Thornton Burgess was the author.

 

[dustinzgirl]

Jane Yolen's dragon books ruled my childhood. Then Anne McAffery, and that other woman that writes all those vampire novels--I haven't read them in years. Then I read stephen king's pet cemetray and from there moved to harder horror and harder fantasy, wiess and hickman--anything D & D related. Now as a grown up I read them to my kids, except king, which is pretty cool. Cooler if I could get them away from comic books, LOL, but my boys are stuck on comics. They think real books are too long to get to the point and the violence. Oh, how I weep for this generation!

 

[the smiling weirwood]

Give them the Sandman comics!