Help me find a book from my childhood

December 7, 2007 8:56 PM

Trying to find a children's series, but I can't remember the titles or the protagonist's name. I can remember salient details however...

The story (it was a series...although I only remember reading two of them) was from the perspective of a young girl. I remember her talking about how her spoon stood up in her oatmeal like a palm tree. She had a pet hedgehog. Her mother was always in the kitchen putting up jams and jellies. Prickly Pears played a part...but I don't remember why.

In the first book she went chasing rainbows with her father. In the second, she had to find her dad, who was living in a mirage, and to get there she had to ride the train to the end of the tracks, then use a magic tea cozy to jump off a cliff....

I'm almost positive they were written by a British author.

You'd think that would be enough to find it via google...but no. I'd really like to find the books again. Does anyone have any idea what they might be?

posted by dejah420 to grab bag (6 comments total)

Though the details don't exactly match, for some reason I think I should point you to Ellen Raskin, if only just to rule her out.

Her books weren't a series but were thematically similar. In "Figgs & Phantoms" she uses antiquarian books to reconstruct the story of a relation who has been lost on the Isle of Capri, only not the real CApri, a fantastical one.

Magic realism for kids. Great stuff.
posted by Miko at 9:15 PM on December 7, 2007

Miko, it's not her...but how fabulous is she! :)
posted by dejah420 at 9:25 PM on December 7, 2007

Beyond the Paw Paw Tree and The Silver Nutmeg, by Palmer Brown?
posted by iconomy at 9:59 PM on December 7, 2007

Ooops...The Silver Nutmeg link.
posted by iconomy at 10:00 PM on December 7, 2007

OMG! An hour! That is amazing! You so, absolutely, rock! My sister and I have been trying to remember the title all night. Right at this moment, I adore you! Just out of curiosity, did you remember it, or do you have some sort of supernatural searching powers?

Now, if only the publisher would reprint it, because $200 a copy is a little silly.
posted by dejah420 at 10:49 PM on December 7, 2007

Yay! I like being adored :)

I did a search using book "off chasing rainbows" mirage father and it was the ONLY result!
posted by iconomy at 10:58 PM on December 7, 2007