Mads’s Comments (group member since Nov 12, 2014)

Mads’s comments from the What's the Name of That Book??? group.

Sue wrote: "I only remember 2 books; the first one is "Grinny" and the second one is "You Remember Me". Both by Nicholas Fisk.
In "Grinny" the robot turns up disguised as an old-lady relative.https://www.fant..."

Yes this is it! Amazing how fast you found them, thank you. I was convinced there was three of them haha. Bit of a personal Mandela moment I guess. And amazing that I remember Lisa perfectly, but don't remember the granny AT all. Memory is so funny.

Books were from the 1990s and I'm fairly confident there were 3. Each is a self contained story about an invasion attempt by robotic aliens, which are described as being like small droids which are torch or flashlight shaped (this stuck in my head as I found it very bizarre and unique at the time) and scurrying like rats in swarms. The series is narrated by children, one of them by a boy aged about 12 or 13. It is set in suburban USA and things start to go strange, basically only the children realise something dodgy is happening as adults are acting strangely, I think the robot aliens find a way to control them.

In the final book the aliens use a new tactic as the last two invasion attempts by the rat swarms had failed. A rising pop star girl turns out to be an android who was planted on earth for the invasion. I think her songs are brainwashing adults over the radio. I remember one scene where she is chatting happily over the radio (?? maybe on an old mobile phone) eating foil wrapped sweets, popping them into her mouth, but then the boy watches in horror as she absentmindedly eats them wrappers whole, without even noticing she's crunching the metal. This is one of the first clues that she is not as she seems. When she reveals herself to be an evil android plant she scares the children by squeezing lemon into her eyes to show that she's a robot not human. In the end the children defeat her and the invasion finally fails for good.

Becca wrote: "Could it be Starchild and Witchfire by David Henshall? The description reads:

When it snows in midsummer and a strange flying lizard appears at the window, Fern and Jamie know that ..."

BECCA. THAT IS IT. THAT IS IT!!! I'm actually crying. Yes, that's perfect --- it's from the right date (early 90s) it was definitely a British book - when I saw the cover you posted I thought OH my god. That is definitely the edition I read, amazing how over the years my memories of it had warped but the pool and the girl and the dragon are all there! The mention that it was snowing when the dragon landed on his windowsill is so important! That has stayed in my memory all these years!

I've just done my own Google, and reading other descriptions on various sites, there's mention of Mack the blind man and the crucial detail that they go to the fantasy land WITH their mum (which almost never happens in these types of stories). The land 'Mithica' even rings a bell and the more I think about the names Fern and Jamie, the more they seem buried somewhere in my subconcious too.

You're a GENIUS!! I would never have thought to follow a title like that -- the title doesn't bear any resemblance to my memories of the book haha, I don't remember anything at all about the Starchild. But the witch trying to take over the kingdom is 100% the Umbridge woman who tries to befriend them with sinster motives.

Thank you thank you, I'm actually crying. Ordering myself a copy so I can finally reread after 18 years!

Lobstergirl wrote: "PaperTigerMaddy, are you still looking for this or did you find it?"

Sadly I never found it and it still absolutely haunts me!

Sadly not, and I've trawled every list of dragon books on Goodreads to the moon and back -- thanks for the bump!

I read it in the early 00s, think it was written and set in the early 90s. Definitely children's fiction, pretty sure it was standalone. The kids live in a city, I think a big one, though it isn't named and you only see their suburb it could be London. By Umbridge-like I mean middle aged, plump, prim and proper and seeming sweet but actually malicious. And possibly looking like a toad. Matronly in someways, but also evil. She just came across as unpleasant in all the ways Umbridge does, except she was posing as an estate agent.

Thank you so much, that's it! I can't believe it :D

Sadly I only ever read an extract:

A glamorous witch with a handbag is standing in a queue, generally causing mischief, and to get to the front she pokes people with a pencil which is poisoned. I also have distinct memories of toads hopping by her, and of chocolate. Chocolate coins, perhaps? Did she turn money into chocolate?

The witch also had an interesting name, like Barbara or Miranda.

I think the title was evocative, something about the countryside, like 'The quickening stream' or 'Far off land' or something.

The story extract was in a puffin anthology called 'Witches'.

A boy and his younger sister (aged around 12 and 10 respectively) live with their single mum, who is a nurse (or other public sector worker). It is set in the late 80s early 90s, and they live in a city in the UK. The sister is obsessed with a TV show about a futuristic spaceship captain.

One day, strange things start to occur. It is snowing one morning, and the boy finds a small dragon sat on his window sill. He and his sister later befriend a strange old blind man whom they meet in their town, who tells them he is from a magical land, and to beware of an estate agent lady who keeps threatening the mum and trying to buy their house. He gives them a ring, which I seem to remember had a bright jewel on it, and tells them to protect it at all costs. He tells them not to let it fall into the hands of the estate agent, who is actually also from the magical land and who is evil. I remember that this woman really reminded me of Umbridge. The good vs evil conflict seems to focus around the ring which the children are given.

The entire family, mum included, go to this magical land, discovering they are in fact the heirs to the kingdom. Then they have to fight a large battle of good versus evil involving various creatures -- there may have been talking animals; my memory is hazy. The younger sister has the power to speak to dragons (who are benevolent creatures) and she sits by a pool in a cave, in which she and the dragons can see possible futures. But the only futures the girl and her dragon friends can see reflected in the water of the pool are ones where the good side lose, or in which the family walk home in the rain back in the UK.

During the final battle the family are betrayed. The old blind man tries to steal the ring, and it turns out he too was evil all along, although he was also competing with the Umbridge woman for power. I believe they were an evil wizard and witch respectively. Eventually good prevails, presumably with the help of the dragons, and the family decide to leave the land for now and walk home in the rain, thus fulfilling the prophecy.

The version I read had the sister on the cover, sat in the cave by the pool, next to a golden dragon and with a lot of red tones. Please help. This has been driving me mad for years.