Forgotten Vintage Children's Lit We Want Republished! discussion

"Denys James Watkins-Pitchford MBE was a British naturalist, children's writer, and illustrator who wrote under the pseudonym "BB" and also used D.J. Watkins-Pitchford."

Andrea kindly mentioned the publisher Slightly Foxed, who has republished The Little Grey Men and The Little Grey Men Go Down The Bright Stream. A link to the publisher's retail page here: https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/bb-li... (prices seemed high, but apparently include shipping)

EDIT: I see that they also have Brendon Chase: https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/bb-br... !

I was quite interested in Lord of the Forest and Brendon Chase, and taking a look at B.B.'s Goodreads page now, the Boland series looks rather appealing, too: The Forest of Boland Light Railway & The Wizard of Boland

Has anyone read The Little Grey Men? :)

I love it. He was a fantastic illustrator as well. Since there's ongoing interest in his work I'd expect to see more of it reappearing. Merlin Unwin has published some of the nature writing (not to everyone's taste). Another author who springs to mind when I think of BB is Elleston Trevor. His children's fiction might not appeal to modern tastes but 'Deep Wood' is wonderful.

Deep Wood is on my list - thanks, Sem!

It's available on Open Library as is Badger's Wood.

Oh, AWESOME! :D Thanks!

Elleston Trevor was sure all over the map, wasn't he? Most of his books are missing covers and synopses, so it's hard to tell, but from what's there he seemed to dabble in just about everything, eh?

Somehow or other I missed his children's books altogether. Our library can't have had them because they were just the sort of thing I'd have read. I knew him as the author of 'The Flight of the Phoenix' and the Quiller series. When I came across 'Deep Wood' I was like 'Elleston Trevor? That Elleston Trevor?'

Yes, I've read and reviewed The Little Grey Men (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) and been encouraged to read Brendon Chase though I've yet to get round to it. I'm no fan of hunting and shooting pastimes, but it's clear B.B. nevertheless retained a great love of nature, and I wonder if these days he would have taken a more ecological view of wildlife and its existential threats.

I am similarly disgusted by hunting (it's not a fair fight, unless the animals get to shoot back!!!). :) The hunting content was also unattractive to me.

Another excellent review - just read it now. Thanks very much, Chris! :)

I might stick with The Complete Brambly Hedge for the time being. No hunting...

Chris: If you don't like hunting you'll need to be cautious with 'Brendon Chase'.

Sem wrote: "Chris: If you don't like hunting you'll need to be cautious with 'Brendon Chase'."

(I'll have to demote it back to "uncertain" now, too). :S

That's what I meant about his nature books not being to everyone's taste. I don't deduct stars for that sort of thing so you'll want to take my ratings with a pinch of salt.

I’m not bothered about hunting in books myself, it’s just one of those thing that was acceptable in not very distant past times. There are a lot of books where it pops up, like Somerville and Ross’s very funny Irish R.M. books for instance. And there’s a fox hunt in one chapter of the brilliant Stig of the Dump by Clive King(though I don’t think the fox gets killed).

The Little Grey Men is lovely! I should look for the sequel.

To get a taste of B.B.'s writing and illustrating skill there is a volume published by Merlin Unwin, The Best Of BB. I recommend it.

Len wrote: "To get a taste of B.B.'s writing and illustrating skill there is a volume published by Merlin Unwin, The Best Of BB. I recommend it."

Thanks, on my to read pile it goes.