I'm glad you like the look of Jane Nissen, kcab--she's been a real find for us. Some of hers I wasn't able to get through amazon, but most of them were in stock at
www.bookdepository.co.uk . I find that as I run out of things I remember from childhood, I increasingly search by publisher, and have had good luck with books from Jane Nissen, NYRB Children's Collection, David Godine, Purple Horse, and Puffin Classics (ie all reprints--somehow my boys [or their mother??] are more comfortable, generally speaking, with older stories).
Happy to give you a smile, Kriston! (Returning the favour--you've made me chuckle many a time here!) I do find that my ideas have to wait to get to the front of the queue, or something...my poor old scrambled brain!
St Pauli Girl, I had another thought--the magic in this one is a bit different (and of course it's not a series--that's the hardest bit of this request, I think--I do wish some of these people had kept on going!), but it's a wonderful book, with an amazing battle at the end--Ted Hughes's "Iron Giant". That's one the lads have come back to several times over the last few years (thank goodness they're keen rereaders, or I'd be in bigger trouble than I already am!)
Happy reading!
minnie
PS I wonder about fairy tales? I'm thinking in particular of the Joseph Jacobs ones--English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, Celtic Fairy Tales, etc.--some of those (Childe Rowland, Binnorie, etc.) are very different from the Andersen ones,for instance. I remember liking these a lot when I was small.
