quick childrens' books question - anyone recognize this?

[gazzyk1ns]

Blyton wrote a series called The Secret Seven too, I read a couple - one involving an escaped circus lion.

[Rats]

Not a patch on the eggbound eight books in my opinion.
She wrote some bumf about a tree with some egg bloke in it as well I think.

[morgs]

Mr Tentacle....

I too remember these books, partcularly one called The Mystery of Banshee Towers.  I am reliably informed that there were 15 of them including The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage, The Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage and The Mystery of the Spiteful Letters.  A lot of stuff has been mentioned, but if my memory is still ith me I think that Fatty was also a master of disguise.

I read all my sister's Mallory Towers too.  Hmmmmmm.

[Rats]

I used to read my sisters books about young girls growing up with growing pains and stuff, playing spin the bottle and trying to make their tits bigger. That was much more interesting than winnie the pooh. Which author am I thinking of here? "I must, I must improve my bust!"

[morgs]

Not Judy Blume is it?  I read 'Forever' about a girl losing her virginity to a guy with a penis called Ralph.  Heady days!

[gazzyk1ns]

Which bit did you find more unusual, the fact that he'd named his penis in the first place or just that he'd chosen to name it "Ralph"?

[Rats]

Yes, that's it! judy blume, they were great.

[morgs]

They had such great titles didn't they??

"Are you there God? It's me Margaret"
"Blubber"
"Tales of a 4th grade nothing"
"Just as long as we're together"

Nicked them all off my sister and read them.  Felt they would be useful 'research'!  Everyone should read 'Forever' though.

[PS - maybe NOT the best research, but a conversation topic that I can join in with in the kitchen at parties...]

[fanny splendid]

Bitch is better than Woof.

I have two copies of 'Forever' if anyone wants one. I didn't wear it out after all...

[mayer]

i nicked all my sister's Enyd Blighton and Judy Blume and all.

i remember one book (not sure if it was one of Judy's) starting with two mates musing about whether their cocks would float in water, one of them reasoning that they would, having seen a floating breast once.

the best mate of the main character was called "Sully" and he wanted to be a doctor. the girlfriend of the main guy was a little self-conscious about her weight and i remember her hesitating to strip at one point and saying "I'm a little hippy".... and the main bloke saying "well, i'm a big republican, so we could have problems".

can't remember what that one was called.... anyone?

[Rats]

Don't do it people, it's a sting, he's trying to weed out the bunty men. Really fanny, you've soiled the image we all had of a young boys innocent curiosity here with your overweight sweating round the childrens section of the library.

[thomasina]

I used to read my sisters books about young girls growing up with growing pains and stuff, playing spin the bottle and trying to make their tits bigger. That was much more interesting than winnie the pooh. Which author am I thinking of here? "I must, I must improve my bust!"

Angus, Thongs and full frontal snogging, Dancing in my Nuddypants and Its ok, i'm wearing really Big knickers?   My daughter has them, they're really funny.

[thomasina]

Yeah, The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage, The Mystery of the Secret Room ... Peterswood (I think that's what the village was called) seemed to have an awful lot of shady characters, there was some big crime for them to solve every school holiday. You'd think somewhere along the line there'd have been some more policemen appointed to help PC Goon, he clearly couldn't cope on his own.

When i read Jack Black in Viz, I'm always reminded of those ones. I think its that character, Pip; what a thoroughly nasty little twat he was.   Its always some common people from the fair, or some nouveau riche but secretly common oik who just moved in to the village.  They'd catch him dropping an aitch and that would be it.

[Kawaii Five-O]

When i read Jack Black in Viz, I'm always reminded of those ones. I think its that character, Pip; what a thoroughly nasty little twat he was.   Its always some common people from the fair, or some nouveau riche but secretly common oik who just moved in to the village.  They'd catch him dropping an aitch and that would be it.

Yeah, it was either that or it was the servants wot done it, I remember it being the gardener/ cook in The Disappearing Cat and The Spiteful Letters. A tramp would usually turn up at some point too, and be the suspect for a while, I could never quite work out why, seeing as he'd been completely absent from the story up until that point.

[Jimmy]

Yeah I read "Faraway Tree" and a few of those Blyton books.

Also Mr Meddle, think that may have been Blyton too, about this fuck-up of a man that everything went wrong for... sort of like a literary version of Mr Bean.

I also remember reading a book in primary school about a girl who was being raped by her father, which was quite disturbing...

[gazzyk1ns]

"Goodnight Mr Tom" was a book I read in the last year of primary school, and that was heavy going too... it's about an old guy who adopts an orphan during the war, and the first quarter of the book is basically this child puking and pissing over himself because he's frightened and confused.

Apart from the usual Dahl/Blyton/Seuss books, my favourite book as a child was "The Turbulent Term Of Tyke Tyler", anyone else read that? I recommended it in Partridge's top 1000 books thread.

[Ambient Sheep]

Ah, now if we're talking teenage fiction, I remember that A Very Long Way From Anywhere Else by Ursula K. LeGuin (yes, the SF/Fantasy writer in a rare diversion) made a big impression on me.  Must re-read it one day.

[Kawaii Five-O]

Apart from the usual Dahl/Blyton/Seuss books, my favourite book as a child was "The Turbulent Term Of Tyke Tyler", anyone else read that? I recommended it in Partridge's top 1000 books thread.

Yes, it was one of my favourites too. I also loved Humbug by Nina Bawden but the Alice books were my all-time faves.

[mayer]

can't remember what that one was called.... anyone?

i just remembered that the main character's "mom" worked in a stripjoint, but he told his girl she was a waitress.

also the guy had some land he inherited from his dad which he worked on with a tractor.

his girl's dad was a big rich mall owner who was buying the land to turn it into another soulless mall.

i'm guessing i'll have to wait till i visit home and look through my sister's old bookcase to figure out the damn title of this one.

[mrpants]

I was a big fan of Robert Westall's Machine Gunners.  It's about a kid who finds a machine gun from a downed german plane in the blitz.  He sets up a bunker with his mates and tries to shoot down german planes with the gun.

I was also a big Willard Price fan and also a big Hardy Boys fan.  Does anyone remember the Hardy Boys case files?  They were like a half grown up version of the Hardy Boys books but with terrorists and torture stuff.  Joe was always pissed off because his girlfriend was killed in a bomb in the first book.

[fanny splendid]

Really fanny, you've soiled the image we all had of a young boys innocent curiosity here with your overweight sweating round the childrens section of the library.

Sorry to disappoint you Rats, but unlike your good self, I have only recently acquired the trappings which you have admired your whole life.

Say 'hello' to mangoliver as he reads this out for you, wont you?

[smoker]

I was a big fan of Robert Westall's Machine Gunners.  It's about a kid who finds a machine gun from a downed german plane in the blitz.  He sets up a bunker with his mates and tries to shoot down german planes with the gun.

yeah i liked that one, there was a sequel to it as i recall.

someone up there just recommended the william series by richmal crompton. damn you, now i am going to have to go and dig out my entire collection and re-read them from start to finish.

[Munday's Chylde]

I was a big fan of Robert Westall's Machine Gunners.  It's about a kid who finds a machine gun from a downed german plane in the blitz.  He sets up a bunker with his mates and tries to shoot down german planes with the gun.

I was a big fan of the tv adaptation as a kid too.

[mrpants]

I never got to see the television adaption, which annoyed me lots because at one point it was my favourite book ever.

The sequel is called Fathom Five which is also quite good.  It is all about Chas on the trail of a spy.  More of a young persons mystery/ thriller than the Machine Gunners.

[Johnny Yesno]

Back in the day's of my childhood, them Willard Price books were all the rage. So many adverntures, sea, jungle, desert, mountain, every setting under the sun. Except space. Or did they do space? Probably not.  Still, a cracking yarn all round. Full of suspense. Or maybe it's just the nostalgia talking...

Yep, they were great. There was one, Sea Adventure or something, where Hal and Roger were off their heads due to lack of water, which was funny.
Them books with Kiki the parrot were good too.
I also liked Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators. I really coveted their junkyard hideout, but not the name Jupiter.
Does anyone remember a series of sci-fi books imaginatively called Sci-Fi 1, Sci-Fi 2, etc.? They had some really weird tales in them.
And finally, I really should have a look at The Phantom Tollbooth again. I know I loved that book but I can barely remember anything about it, I read it so long ago. In fact it was so long ago it may have been read to me.

[Ronster]

Thanks for reminding me of the Phantom Tollbooth - I remember loving that as a kid and I seem to remember a movie of it as well with part live action part animation.

Wasnt the boy called Milo and he had a dog didn't he?  Wasn't he trying to rescue the sisters Rhyme and Reason or am I making it up as I go along?

I must track it down!

[Fucknose]

glad someone mentioned that, The Machine Gunners was excellent, also remember reading a book in a similar vein by robert someone called 'future track five' which was quality (when I was 13 anyway)

[Munday's Chylde]

Help I'm a Prisoner In A Toothpaste Factory

and it's sequel (or prequel?) Ronnie and the haunted Rolls Royce

[butnut]

Does anyone remember the one about the boy who falls asleep (I think) and goes flying around in his pyjamas, and ends up in a big vat of porridge. And there's all these large milk bottles. It might have been written by the man who wrote 'Where the Wild things are'.

[Johnny Yesno]

Thanks for reminding me of the Phantom Tollbooth - I remember loving that as a kid and I seem to remember a movie of it as well with part live action part animation.

Wasnt the boy called Milo and he had a dog didn't he?  Wasn't he trying to rescue the sisters Rhyme and Reason or am I making it up as I go along?

I must track it down!

That's the one. Yeah. Milo. The sisters. I'd forgotten about them. He went through Digitopolous, or somewhere, on his travels too.