Forgotten Vintage Children's Lit We Want Republished! discussion

Margaret J. Baker was a prolific author of children’s books, both realistic, and also ones with fantasy. My favourite of her ‘realistic’ family stories is A Castle And Sixpence, in which an impoverished widow inherits a castle, much to the joy of her four children. My favourite of her fantasy books is Porterhouse Major, in which a ginger cat grows to an enormous size, causing complications for the family that owns him. Another one I particularly like is Fresh Fields for Daisy, about a discarded plaster model from a dress shop who finds a new career as a scarecrow.

I like her books for when I need light reading; my favorite is Castaway Christmas. Porterhouse Major makes me nervous; the stress of it all is just too much for me!

I think I have all of those on my to-read list (Castaway Christmas is at the top!). Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find them on the cheap - probably still 'affordable', but not readily available.

For the purposes of tracking back to the book's page:
Margaret J. Baker

Castaway Christmas & Cut off from Crumpets
A Castle and Sixpence
Porterhouse Major
Fresh Fields for Daisy

Does anyone know anything about The Birds of Thimblepins? Looks interesting - especially with the Slavic-sounding* "Peskova" sign in the shop front seen through the open window.

*I'm no linguist. XD

Or about The Young Magicians?

I'm less drawn by the cover, but I hate when there's NO INFO out there. >:(

also:
The Fighting Cocks?
St. Andrew's Church: Old Cleeve?

There isn't much information about those books. All I could find out was:

The Birds of Thimblepins, published by George G Harrap in 1960 and illustrated by Elizabeth Grant. A reprint edition was published in 1976 by White Lion Publishers, which seems to be the edition available online. IMDB shows it was an episode of a UK TV show called Fact and Fiction broadcast in1960. The only description I came across was given by a seller on Abebooks: “children's mystery involving a house full of stuffed birds”.

The Fighting Cocks: a Tale for Children, published by Isaac Pitman in 1949 – and that is all.

The Young Magicians, Brockhampton in 1954 and illustrated by Terry Freeman. As you've seen there is only the dustjacket illustration to suggest anything about the story, a girl levitating – or flying.

St Andrew's Church, Old Cleeve (with the architectural description of the church by F. C. Eeles). The British Library catalogue suggests it was published by Old Cleeve Parish Council about 1995. Illustrated by Angela Metcalfe and Heather Burns. The British Library catalogue has an image of the cover. Old Cleeve is an attractive town in north Somerset. I don't know if Margaret J. Baker lived there.

Many thanks, Len! Oh dear. This is just making me all the more curious, I'm afraid! :S

I finally got myself an OpenLibrary/Archive account, but there isn't a single Margaret J. Baker book available on it.

It's so hard to tell if I should fork out serious cash to track down a copy of The Birds of Thimblepins or The Young Magicians, or if these have just been lost to time because they weren't quite as good or as worth reading as the others... and I don't feel comfortable making that assumption given firsthand experience to the contrary!

Ah well, will have to go on my "white whales" list with Billy Buck. ;)

There are some cheap copies of Porterhouse Major on Amazon. Also some of The Last Straw, which is a rather good time slip story. Castaway Christmas seems to be staggeringly expensive though.

I ordered Porterhouse Major just yesterday... ;) Your recommendation convinced me, Louise!

I finally got myself an OpenLibrary/Archive account, but there isn't a single Margaret J. Baker book availabl..."

They have a secret stash: https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL288...

HOW did you get at that, Sem!? :D Wowee! THANKS!!!

Well, there's 2 or 3 I will read. Pity they don't have more!

It's not a very cooperative website. Sometimes you have to persist.

I meant to add - if you don't see the books you want on the author's page, it's a good idea to search by title. There could be another author's page. There might be books under 'Margaret Baker', for example (I haven't checked). There might even be something lurking on Internet Archive. XD

Thank you. I did discover that, for some reason, what's on I.A. is not necessarily on O.L.!

I will do just as you suggest! :)