What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
This topic is about
Bobby Brewster and the Ghost
SOLVED: Children's/YA
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SOLVED. Possibly 70s children's book series about a schoolboy with special powers. [s]
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No, I'm afraid not. Tim and the Hidden People appears to be much more adventurous than the series I am thinking of: a Harry Potter of the time perhaps, whereas the stories I am thinking of a rather more like the cartoon series Mr Benn in tone (if that helps...!)
The Trick series by Scott Corbett? There were quite a few: The Lemonade Trick, the Black Mask Trick...
This is much more like it... and with this clue I have also looked at the Danny Dunn and Henry Huggins series' via Wikipedia and elsewhere but all of these series have US authors and US settings, whereas I am pretty certain that my book series is English and the BBC Childrens series I mention is definitely set in classic English countryside (featuring a canal and barge...)
This may be a very stupid suggestion, and if it is please ignore and forgive, with my apologies -- but if you know it was a BBC tv series have you looked at lists of those, too, to see if you can id the series and then find the books? Ex: http://www.listal.com/list/great-brit...
I have checked out those lists (and more...), most of which I watched and enjoyed at the time but they catalogue the celebrated productions in the main and I'm afraid that the series I have in mind is an also ran.I should say, for anyone interested in BBC Childrens TV, that I would place very high up in these lists 'Gods Wonderful Railway', from 1980 - which often seems to be forgotten but represents the pinnacle of the BBC giving children drama, history and decent production values...
Thank you for the recommendation -- I'll look for that!
Oh no... Tomorrow People is S-F. This boy and his setting are completely normal - it's just that extraordinary things occasionally happen to him...
Still driving me mad (has for years...). The premise is similar to the well known ITV Children's series 'Bernard's Watch'... except that in my case the book series came first by several years and each of the stories in the series has a different 'magical' property that drives the narrative. I am still thinking the books must date from the 70s...
It doesn't fit that well, but just to rule it out - Chocky?
(I asked for you on a British children's TV group I am on, and this is the only thing people could think of there).
Sadly, no - but thanks for researching!
This is solved now... partially...The book series is Bobby Brewster by H. E. Todd.
The Children's TV series appears to be a red herring in the sense that it definitely exists (title unknown at present) but doesn't appear to be based on the BB books, which are well known enough for the connection to be positively disproved even though I haven't identified the TV show.
Thanks all...
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I was between 5 and 15 in the 70s and an advanced reader for my age. I believe these books were aimed at younger readers so they would most likely have been published prior to 1975.
However, a BBC TV series was made from the series (not hugely successful) and this could have been screened in the late 70s or the early 80s.
The story that sticks most closely in my mind is an experience that allows the boy to see his friends thoughts as if they were 'speech bubbles' above their head. Naturally, he thinks this is a great idea at first but learns better as the story goes on...