For the purposes of the talk I gave this summer at the Bristol conference on 20th Century School Girls and Their Books, I have gathered all the 20th century time travel books for children and teens published in the UK that I know about, listed in chronological order (not including picture books or adult books). Books for older readers are labeled ya (young adult)
NB: there are certainly books missing from this list, and I have not included books first published in North America and later published in the UK).
Please let me know if you can add to this list, or if you see mistakes! I have thoughtfully put stars next to books I don't own in case anyone needs a present for me....
1st half of the
century (8 books)
The Story of the Amulet, by E. Nesbit (1906)
The House of Arden, by E. Nesbit (1908)
Harding's
Luck, by E. Nesbit (1909)
*The Highway, by Hugh Chesterman (1935)
A
Traveler in Time, by Alison Uttley (1939)
Bedknob
and Broomstick, by Mary Norton (1943)
*Clover
Magic, by Victoria Stevenson (1944)
Borrobil, by William Croft Dickinson (1944)
1950s (19 books)
*Caterpillar
Hall, by Anne Barrett (1950)
The
Gauntlet, by Ronald Welch (1951)
Caravan
Holiday, by Hilda Boren (1953)
*The
Prize Essay, by Kathleen Wallace (1953)
*The
Fearless Treasure, by Noel Streatfeild (1953)
Drumbeats! by David Severn (1953)
Sun Slower, Sun Faster, by Meriol Trevor (1955)
*The
Hunted Head, Olivia Fitzroy (1956)
Argyl’s
Mist, by M. Pardoe (1956)
Merlin’s
Ring, by Meriol Trevor (1957)
*The
Grandfather Clock, by John Pudney (1957)
*The
Golden Shore, by Elinor Lyon (1957)
The
Ship That Flew, by Hilda Lewis (1958)
The
Future Took Us, by David Severn (1958)
Argyl’s
Causeway, by M. Pardoe (1958)
Tom's
Midnight Garden, by Phillipa Pearce (1958)
The
McNeills at Rathcapple, by Meta Mayne Reid (1959)
*Argle’s
Oracle, by M. Pardoe (1959)
*Sandy
and the Hollow Book, by Meta Mayne Reid (1961)
Two Gold Dolphins, by Elisabeth Beresford
(1961)
Stig of the Dump, by Clive King (1962)
The
Hubbles' Treasure Hunt, by Elaine Horseman (1965)
The
Green Bronze Mirror, by Lynne Ellison (1966)
Earthfasts,
by William Mayne (1966)
The
Snowstorm, by Beryl Netherclift (1967)
Jessamy,
by Barbara Sleigh (1967)
When
Marnie Was There, by Joan C. Robinson (1967)
The
Glen Beyond the Door, by Meta Mayne Reid (1968)
House
in the Wood, by Rodie Sudbery (1968)
The
Hill Road, by William Mayne (1968),
A
Game of Catch, by Helen Cresswell (1969)
The
Ghosts (retitled The Amazing Mr. Blunden in 1972), by Antonia Barber
(1969)
Charlotte Sometimes, by Penelope
Farmer (1969)
A
Chill in the Lane, by Mabel Esther Allan (1969)
1970s (36 books)
The House in the Waves, by James Hamilton-Paterson (1970)
Astercote, by Penelope Lively (1970)
Catweazle, by Richard Carpenter (1970)
The Old Powder Line, by Richard Parker (1971)
Catweazle
and the Magic Zodiac. By Richard Carpenter (1971)
Up the Pier, by Helen Cresswell (1971)
The Last Straw, by Margaret Baker (1971)
Castle Merlin, by Ursula Moray Williams (1971)
The Driftway, by Penelope Lively (1972)
A Pattern of Roses,
by K.M. Peyton (1972) ya
Time to Go Back, by Mabel Esther Allan (1972) ya
In a Blue Velvet Dress, by Catherine Sefton (1973)
The Autumn People, by Ruth M. Arthur (1973)
Beadbonny Ash, by
Winifred Finlay (1973) /ya
The House in Norham
Gardens, by Penelope Lively (1974)
To Nowhere and Back,
by Margaret J. Anderson (1975)
Robinsheugh (aka
Elizabeth, Elizabeth) by Eileen Dunlop (1975)
Romansgrove, by Mabel
Esther Allan (1975)
A Stranger Thing, by
Ruth Tomalin (1975)
Cat in the Mirror,
by Mary Stolz (1975)
On the Wasteland, by
Ruth M. Arthur (1975) ya
The Stones of Green
Knowe, by L.M. Boston (1976)
The Wind Eye, by
Robert Westall (1976) ya
A Flute in Mayferry
Street, by Eileen Dunlop (1976)
The Time Tangle, by Frances Eager
(1976)
A Stitch in Time, by
Penelope Lively (1976)
The Other Face, by
Barbara C. Freeman (1976) ya
Requiem for a Princess, by Ruth M. Arthur (1976) ya
*Huck and Her Time Machine, Gillian Avery (1977).
In the Keep of Time, by Margaret J. Anderson (1977)
Crocuses Were Over,
Hitler Was Dead (Now and Then in the UK), by Geraldine Symons (1977)
Come Back, Lucy, by Pamela Sykes (1977)
The Devil on the Road, by Robert Westall (1978) ya
A Chance Child, by Jill Patton Walsh (1978)
In the Circle of Time, by Margaret J. Anderson (1979)
Steps Out of Time, by Eric Houghton (1979)
1980s
(16 books)
Playing Beatie Bow, by Ruth Park (1980) ya
Cat's Magic, by
Margaret Greaves (1980)
Curious Magic, by
Elisabeth Beresford (1980)
The Mysterious Girl
in the Garden, by Judith St. George (1981)
The Secret World of
Polly Flint, by Helen Cresswell (1982)
The Castle Boy, by
Catherine Storr (1983)
Changing Times, by
Tim Kennemore (1984) ya
*The Messenger, by Monica Dickens (1985)
Children of Winter, by Berlie Doherty (1985) ya
A Tale of Time City, by Diana Wynne
Jones (1987)
Moondial, by Helen
Cresswell (1987)
King Death’s Garden,
by Ann Halam (1987)
A Long Trip to
Teatime, by James Dunn (1988)
Mazemaker, by Catherine Dexter (1989)
Wild Robert, by Diana Wynne Jones (1989)
1990s (9 books)
Time Spinner, by Roy Apps (1990)
The Mirror Image Ghost, by Catherine Storr (1994)
The Children Next Door, by Jean Ure (1994)
The Secret of the Ruby Ring, by Yvonne
MacGrory (1994)
*Cuddy,
by William Mayne (1994)
Webster's Leap, aka Castle Gryffe, by Eileen Dunlop (1995)
Johnny and the Bomb, by Terry Pratchett (1996)
Tanglewreck, by Jeanette Winterson (1996)
The Sterkarm
Handshake, by Susan Price (1998) ya
Button styles
In the Circle of Time! I loved that one. What a fantastic list! Did you know that there are two other titles by Penelope Farmer, and Sometimes Charlotte is the third in the series? Still trying to get my head around that one!
ReplyDeleteyes re the Farmer books! but they are very strange and apart from the names being the same, totally unrelated to Charlotte Sometimes, so I don't think of them as part of the same series.....
ReplyDeleteOh, well done – you've certainly included all the timeslip children's fiction I could rememberreading, plus a couple that I'd forgotten included time travel (such as the Hilda Lewis and the Winterson). I wondered about the last couple of titles in Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series, but I suppose it's difficult to judge when a plausible past parts company with a fantasy past.
ReplyDeleteIt's true I don't think of them as time travel because of the fantasy, and also after the first in the series the others seem to have been first published in the US and I didn't go down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out every time travel book from the US released later in the UK.....If you ever do think of any I missed, let me know!
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