Bittercon: "Forgotten Treasures"

[intertext]

What I think of as the "Harry Potter Effect" - a renewed interest in YA or children's fantasy - has resulted in the welcome recent republication of authors who had been well-known in certain circles, like DWJ, or well-known from the past, like Edward Eager. It has also seen the reprinting of some rather more obscure but equally deserving works, like A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond or Elizabeth Marie Pope's The Perilous Gard. I've been thinking for a while of beginning a series of posts on old forgotten treasures from my own collection - not necessarily SF or fantasy, but books I loved that I wondered if anyone else had heard of, that I think deserve a bigger audience and potential reprinting. So, I thought I'd launch that series here, and invite others on my flist or from the bigger bittercon community, to link comments to posts about their own forgotten but deserving treasures.

My first oldy but goody is Ellen Kindt McKenzie's
Drujienna's Harp, which begins on a day in an unnamed city in what seems to be our world - indeed I've always assumed it was San Franciso. It is uncharacteristically hot, and the sky is a strange translucent pink. Tha and her brother Duncan visit a curio shop and pick up a bottle that the shop-owner warns them has a curse on it. They are instantly transported to another world.

Of relevance to one of sartorias's panel topics on world building, this is one of the most distinct and well developed worlds I remember encountering in children's fantasy. It has almost a quality of the surreal, with its pink sky, killing winds, geographic areas spreading out in concentric circles from a mysterious and deadly mound in the center. It is also unusual in children's fantasy for its bleak picture of political totalitarianism. The inhabitants are kept in a kind of controlled state of unknowing; asking too many questions is punishable by imprisonment or death. Yet there are mysterious Histories and a Prophecy, suppressed but not forgotten, that hint of "two" who will come and put the world right - or destroy it. This book deals with many extremely serious and important themes: ignorance, real or feigned, the importance not so much of physical courage but of moral convictions. Tha is a strong and believable heroine and there is a cast of well-drawn supporting characters, from the morose Eshone and even more grim Acheron to the delightful "Know-nothing" Zacapoos.

Like Victoria Walker's equally obscure but not entirely forgotten work, The Winter of Enchantment, this fascinating novel is now listed on ABE with absurdly high prices. I used to borrow it time and again from the library, and managed to snag a copy a few years ago at a less than astronomical price, and I treasure it. Just writing about it now makes me think I should reread it again - I suspect it will not have lost its magic.

So now it's your turn! How many of you have read any of the books I mention, especially this one? What are your own forgotten treasures? And don't forget to write a review of your favourite and link it here.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I have to go on a 200 mile round trip slog (that means 123,675,674 miles because of LA traffic) so I don't get to play on the Internet for a while, but mine would be Mary Chase's Loretta Mason Potts. Mary Chase had an interesting career, and I wish she were more well known today--except for the giant rabbit story, her stuff is impossible to find.

This story doesn't have great worldbuilding, what it has is fascinating character, especially on the kids-eye view. Through the closet to a secret world, where kids can pretend at being adults , . . . oh, it's just a wonderful story. I used to check it out over and over again from the library, from age nine on, until their copy wore out and they did not replace it.

I found a used copy only with difficulty, some time back.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

I remember you posting about that book once before - and I had read The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden but not that one. From the comments on Amazon, it looks as if it will be hard to find.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Through the closet to a secret world . . .

My husband has mentioned a book in which two children, a sister and brother, go through a closet into another world in which the stars are all different colors. He doesn't think the book you mention is the one he remembers, but does this ring a bell for anyone?