Out of Print -- Out of Mind?? A special MMGM post

Have you ever forgotten a really good book?  One that's out of print now?  And then suddenly you come across it, maybe in a library, or a used bookstore, or even (in my case) on your own very crowded bookshelves, and you say, OH!  That book!

That was my reaction when weeding out my bookcases recently to try to squeeze in more acquisitions, and my eyes lit upon this:

The Mennyms by Sylvia Waugh (first published in the UK in 1993; US edition published by Harper, 1996, for ages 8 to 12).  First in a sequence of five books which includes:

(And if these titles remind you of The Borrowers, you're close!)

I nearly cried when I learned these books were going out of print, soon after I started working at the bookstore ten years ago.  I purchased all of them in paperback, read them several times and put them away on a shelf.

Who are the Mennyms?  They're a family of life-size dolls created by a lonely British woman, and when she dies... they come to life.  But they still have button eyes (take that, Neil Gaiman!) and they look, well, like dolls.  Soobie, the teenaged son, is blue.  The rest are more realistic, but they're still dolls, so they must stay close to home and not go out unless wrapped up in enough clothing to disguise themselves. They never age, they don't eat or drink, but they can communicate with the rest of the world by telephone or by writing letters (keep in mind, these books were written before computers and cell phones).  They're even clever enough to earn a living (Vinetta sews dresses, for instance, and Granpa, also known as Sir Magnus, writes articles for the Times).  

But trouble arrives in the form of a letter from their new landlord, who lives in Australia, and who has decided to pay a visit...

Wish I could tell you to go out and buy these books, but they're all out of print.  You know by now that I don't own an e-reader (and I'll resist as long as possible), but I can see that these are great candidates for e-books, if only to keep them from disappearing forever.

What out of print treasures do you wish would come back into print?

MMGM is the brainchild of Shannon Messenger.  For other MMGM bloggers, see my new list in the sidebar on the right!  If you don't see your own blog in there, let me know.  I'll update as needed. 

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For the next week and a half, I'll be taking a blogging break to spend some time with my family, but I'll be back on Friday April 13 with a Class of 2K12 interview with J. Anderson Coats, author of THE WICKED AND THE JUST, and on Monday, April 16, I have a special MMGM guest post from Class of 2K12 author Sarvenaz Tash, author of THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST.  See you then!