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Does anyone know the name of a children's author who wrote animal books? His name is Michael something. I remember reading a whole series of books about a group of feral cats and another about a group of animals that escaped from a pet shop.
Sorry, I know that's a bit vague!
-------------------- Brosandi. Hendumst í hringi Höldumst í hendur Allur heimurinn óskýr Nema þú stendur Posts: 694 | From: York, UK | Registered: Jul 2006
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Was that Colin Dann? He wrote "The City Cats" about cats living wild and "A Great Escape" about an escape from a pet shop. He is probably best known for "The Animals of Farthing Wood".
-------------------- "You learn something new every day if you're not careful" - Wilf Lunn Posts: 893 | From: Durham City, England | Registered: Aug 2005
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That's the one. Thank you so much for ending my torture
-------------------- Brosandi. Hendumst í hringi Höldumst í hendur Allur heimurinn óskýr Nema þú stendur Posts: 694 | From: York, UK | Registered: Jul 2006
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Don't know about obscure, but Peter Chaney was a very popular writer in the 40s/50s. His crime thrillers sold in the thousands, they were made into films as well. I recently enquired about his books at the library and the librarian could find no mention of him in the catalouge.
Posts: 1 | From: Bromley , UK | Registered: Jul 2006
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quote:Originally posted by dave73: Don't know about obscure, but Peter Chaney was a very popular writer in the 40s/50s. His crime thrillers sold in the thousands, they were made into films as well. I recently enquired about his books at the library and the librarian could find no mention of him in the catalouge.
This really bothers me about public libraries. I mean I do understand that space is limited and they need to keep up with the current authors who are popular but :Sigh: I've gone into our local public library looking for authors that were being published as recently as the 80s and unless the books have been re-issued the odds are against finding many of their titles on the shelf. So frustrating
-------------------- If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible you haven't grasped the situation. - Jean Kerr Posts: 18428 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Nov 2001
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Christie, at my library they discard according to how often the book is checked out, not how old it is. I know someone who periodically checks out books she wants to stay in the library just so they don't get discarded for non-circulation.
It is frustrating, but as you say, space is limited and how else are they going to judge which books need to go?
Seaboe
-------------------- Education is not the filling of a hard drive, but the lighting of a bulb. -- Yeats via Esprise Me Posts: 5562 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jun 2005
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Auntie Carol is constantly pushing the original Bambi, by Felix Salten on each new generation. Disney totally emasculated this wonderful nature book when he brought it to the big screen, and I always recommend it to older readers who think of it as a "baby book".
(The scene with the fox and the hound still freaks me out a little.)
Posts: 1651 | From: Columbus, Ohio | Registered: Aug 2004
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I don't know if it was ever not obscure, but One To Grow On by Nathaniel Benchley... i found an old library copy at Dark Star Books and just had to buy it. It's very interesting because it's a guy trying to write politely about unwed motherhood in the 50s.
-------------------- "dwight, what's your middle name?" "danger." Posts: 63 | From: Ohio | Registered: Mar 2004
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Speaking of the Benchleys, let me put in a plug for the daddy of 'em all, Robert. He's one of the few authors who can make me laugh out loud in print.
I agree that Jean Kerr has been sadly forgotten. I think her type of humor--the harried-housewife stuff--was done so well and so prolifically by Erma Bombeck that Bombeck overshadowed some others that were equally deserving of lasting fame.
Then there's Shirley Jackson, who's generally remembered for one short story, "The Lottery," but who wrote a whole slew of fine novels: Hangsaman, The Bird's Nest, The Sundial, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, The Haunting of Hill House. A couple of these inspired movies (Most notably Hill House in 1999, when it was blown out of the water by The Blair Witch Project). But they all deserve to be better known. She, too, wrote some lighter books about her family, Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons, which I haven't read apart from excerpts. Is anyone else familiar with them?
-------------------- Si hoc comprehendere potes, gratias age magistro Latinae. Posts: 1720 | From: Charlottesville, VA | Registered: Jan 2003
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quote: She, too, wrote some lighter books about her family, Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons, which I haven't read apart from excerpts. Is anyone else familiar with them?
I have these books, and re-read them quite recently. I highly recommend them both. Did you ever read the short story "Charles" by Jackson? If you did that gives you a little taste of the style these books take.
Very funny stuff, with the kind of edge to it that you would expect from someone who could write something like "The Lottery".
-------------------- If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible you haven't grasped the situation. - Jean Kerr Posts: 18428 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Nov 2001
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quote: She, too, wrote some lighter books about her family, Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons, which I haven't read apart from excerpts. Is anyone else familiar with them?
I have these books, and re-read them quite recently. I highly recommend them both. Did you ever read the short story "Charles" by Jackson? If you did that gives you a little taste of the style these books take.
Very funny stuff, with the kind of edge to it that you would expect from someone who could write something like "The Lottery".
Yes, "Charles" is one of the few bits I have read. It was anthologized in my seventh grade reader.
-------------------- Si hoc comprehendere potes, gratias age magistro Latinae. Posts: 1720 | From: Charlottesville, VA | Registered: Jan 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Christie: I have these books, and re-read them quite recently. I highly recommend them both. Did you ever read the short story "Charles" by Jackson? If you did that gives you a little taste of the style these books take.
Very funny stuff, with the kind of edge to it that you would expect from someone who could write something like "The Lottery".
I read "Life Among the Savages" years ago.
I was thrilled to find 2 Peg Bracken books at the thrift store recently.
-------------------- "I have never in my life been more disappointed by a politician I voted for than I have been with George Bush. He is a total liberal."- overheard by me on the shuttle to the U of A game on Nov. 11th. Posts: 3878 | From: Tucson, AZ | Registered: Jan 2001
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Anyone ever read any of the Three Investigators series? That was most definitely my favorite mystery series as a child. Originally they were titled as "Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators", but I believe that was changed after Hitchcock died.
Heroic Muse
-------------------- Elsie Worthing and the Hydra's Curse Can one small girl overcome the darkness within to thrive at Hogwarts? http://fanfiction.mugglenet.com/viewstory.php?sid=57042 In memory of David Newton (1962-2006) Posts: 689 | From: Fayetteville, NC | Registered: Oct 2002
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I used to love those! I wanted to have a den made of junk with a secret slide exit like Jupiter Jones. And I sometimes still say "Goodness and mercy and sweetness and light!" like his aunt (Martha?).
-------------------- ~~Ai am in mai prrrrrraime!~~ Posts: 10111 | From: Oklahoma | Registered: Sep 2004
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I came across a stash of Three Investigators books in a charity shop in England a few years ago. I bought them for my nephew who was visiting at the time, yeah, that's the ticket, for my nephew . What a blast from the past. And actually they stood up fairly well to re-reading, unlike my beloved Adventure series by Enid Blyton (sigh). Anyway did any other fans know that the writer(s) aged the boys by a few years and had a few more titles released with them old enough to drive and have girlfriends? Those weren't as good as the ones I remembered when they would tell Mr Hitchcock their adventures.
-------------------- If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible you haven't grasped the situation. - Jean Kerr Posts: 18428 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Nov 2001
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I did quite enjoy Enid Blyton. The boarding school ones...(St. Clares, was it?), the Famous Five, The Secret Seven. Those circus ones. (Speaking of Famous Five, I remember reading a transcript of Five Go Mad in Dorset, a parody.) I'm sure they won't hold up if I ever go back and reread, but they do hold fond memories.
-------------------- "You can't play Electro-magnetic Golf according to the rules of Centrifugal Bumble Puppy." -Mustapha Mond, "Brave New World" Posts: 679 | From: New York | Registered: Oct 2001
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She wrote about St Clares, Malory Towers and also the Naughtiest Girl series which were all set in boarding schools IIRC. The "Five Go Mad in Dorset" starred French and Saunders and was absolutely hysterical -- if you ever have the chance to see it, grab it!
-------------------- If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible you haven't grasped the situation. - Jean Kerr Posts: 18428 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Nov 2001
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Ooh. I just looked up Five Go Mad in Dorset. I'm a huge fan of Jennifer Saunders...plus the episode also features Robbie Coltrane. I'll try to find a copy of "The Comic Strip Presents..." as soon as I can.
Ah, the series I read was St. Clare's. As I recall, characters would show up, recalitrant and full of spunk, only to realize the errors of their way and shape up. Or ship out...
Also, midnight feasts. I longed for my own midnight feasts when I was a youngster. Getting high and devouring Chinese food at 3 in the morning in college just wasn't the same as saving up scones and chocolates and little tea sandwiches and trying not to be caught.
Question, though, for anyone who's read the series--was the book "Claudine at St. Clare's" making a reference to the famous Claudine novels by Colette? Never picked up on that as a child, but now that I've looked up the books again on Wikipedia, it does make sense.
-------------------- "You can't play Electro-magnetic Golf according to the rules of Centrifugal Bumble Puppy." -Mustapha Mond, "Brave New World" Posts: 679 | From: New York | Registered: Oct 2001
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I have a complete collection of "Three Investigators" books, including the later books! Yes, they went with fictional detective Hector Sebastian after Hitchcock's death and reissued and rewrote slightly the ones with Hitchcock to be with Hector Sebastian instead.
Also a complete collection of "Trixie Belden."
Somewhere I also have a copy of The Flight of the Doves by Walter Macken. My friends and I all loved that book.
-------------------- "I have never in my life been more disappointed by a politician I voted for than I have been with George Bush. He is a total liberal."- overheard by me on the shuttle to the U of A game on Nov. 11th. Posts: 3878 | From: Tucson, AZ | Registered: Jan 2001
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. What a blast from the past. And actually they stood up fairly well to re-reading, unlike my beloved Adventure series by Enid Blyton (sigh). Anyway did any other fans know that the writer(s) aged the boys by a few years and had a few more titles released with them old enough to drive and have girlfriends? Those weren't as good as the ones I remembered when they would tell Mr Hitchcock their adventures.
