43
votes
Was "The Hobbit" book ever abridged?
Yes, several abridged versions have been made available;
The (2009) Highbridge Radio Edit (full cast)
The (2002) BBC Radio Edit (full cast)
The (1993) Martin Shaw Abridged Audiobook
The (1986) BBC ...
- 652k
26
votes
Accepted
Children's short story about material that accelerates away from gravity
This is "Peter Graves" by William Pene du Bois. The anti-gravity material is called Furloy.
It's a short book though, not a short story. Published in 1950. My copy is from 1972.
The cover ...
- 47.5k
26
votes
Sci-Fi Book With Cover Of A Person Driving A Ship Saying "Look Ma, No Hands!"
This sounds like book number three of the "Outernet" series, by Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore. As with yourself, it happens that I have only read this one volume of the youth-oriented ...
- 2,421
25
votes
Accepted
Story identification - Childrens' Sci-Fi circa 1980s
Douglas Hill - Huntsman, Warriors of the Wasteland, and Alien Citadel.
The Alien race is the slavers; they capture the protagonist (Finn) family, and in the course of trying to rescue them ends up ...
- 16.4k
23
votes
Was "The Hobbit" book ever abridged?
If you're looking for a picture book, there's a 1999 graphic novel you could look for. Otherwise there are a various illustrated editions that might be appropriate for reading along with; I found a ...
- 103k
21
votes
Accepted
Book about a mouse on a motorbike with a sick kid
The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
From Wikipedia:
Ralph is a mouse who lives in the run-down Mountain View Inn, a battered resort hotel in the Sierra Nevada of California. Ralph longs ...
- 38k
20
votes
Accepted
Bugs Bunny picture book involving a machine that creates carrots
Bugs Bunny's Carrot Machine (1971)
Here is a picture of the machine and Bugs putting junk in to get it to work.
And the machine does eventually break down explode due to Bugs being too greedy and ...
- 141k
19
votes
Children's novel about a boy and girl who slip back in time to the Roman days in England
This sounds like Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling. The book contains a series of linked stories about the adventures of two children across different times in England's history, guided by a ...
- 510
19
votes
Accepted
Is the 'Magic Ex Libris' book series by Jim C. Hines suitable for children?
No. Although the book series doesn't contain explicit descriptions of sex, it does contain a great deal of sexualised content. I've only glanced through looking for the naughty bits, so please bear ...
- 652k
18
votes
Accepted
Book series for kids with boy and stones that went on belt
Another possibility is The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper. There are five books in total:
Over Sea, Under Stone
The Dark is Rising
Greenwich
The Grey King
Silver on the Tree
Part of the ...
- 2,453
18
votes
Accepted
Children's book: Book of curious machines
This is The Book of Foolish Machinery by Donna Lugg Pape.
It contains 'The Click Clacker Machine' and other poems including 'The E Eater Machine' (which I hav r produc d in full b low)
The E-Eater ...
- 652k
18
votes
Kids' book about boys finding a disc from a planet called "Eyopee"
Could this be Rusty's Space Ship (1957) by Evelyn Sibley Lampman?
There was no way for Rusty Adams to know that the shiny metal disc he had found at the city dump and used on his play space ship in ...
- 652k
17
votes
Children's book - front cover displays blonde child playing flute in a field
I found the answer!!! It's The Moorchild (1998) by Eloise McGraw
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Half moorfolk and half human, and unable to shape-shift or disappear at will, Moql threatens the safety of ...
- 381
16
votes
Children's science fiction book 1960s?
This may be The Tripods trilogy (1967-8) by John Christopher.
Maturing children were "capped" to ensure their obedience to the alien invaders who'd conquered earth. The cap was a metal mesh (their ...
- 25.3k
16
votes
Accepted
Book where a boy and girl are transported into a fantasy video game
I believe that it is Demons Don't Dream, the 16th novel in the Xanth series. The protagonists, Dug and Kim, from "Mundania" (aka our world), start playing the Companions of Xanth game, which starts ...
- 2,360
16
votes
Children's novel about a boy and girl who slip back in time to the Roman days in England
This is likely only a partial match.
Could this be The Magic Treehouse #13: vacation under the volcano?
In this story, the protagonists Jack and his sister Annie are taken to ancient Pompeii, just ...
- 3,654
15
votes
Accepted
Short series of 1980's children's SF books
I do believe I recognise these books. I don't think the series had a name - just the individual book titles - but Goodreads and Wikipedia refer to them as the "Professor Gamma" series, so ...
- 3,884
15
votes
Accepted
Children's book about a child that falls into a puddle and travels through a dark, twisted realm
Jeremy and the Puddle by Christopher Hobbs? It was published in 1990, and involves a child falling into a puddle (without his mother) and entering the world of Reflections. He does make his way back ...
- 14.9k
15
votes
UK scifi book with children kidnapped in spaceship
This is a 'Space Hostages' by Nicholas Fisk, published in 1967.
The ship was designed as the ultimate nuclear bunker for the government, but is hijacked by the lieutenant. He offers the children a ...
- 16.4k
14
votes
Accepted
An anthology published at least 17 years ago, containing an asteroid ghost story and others
I bought a book at a book fair 17 years ago. It is a collection of short stories.
It's a 1996 anthology edited by Mike Ashley, originally published in Great Britain as Space Stories by Robinson ...
- 153k
14
votes
Accepted
Book about a girl with telekinetic powers who is accused of killing her grandmother by pushing her down the stairs
I'm not sure if this is the one you are looking for, and I haven't read it in 20 years... But I THINK you are talking about 'The Girl with the Silver Eyes.'
Details that I remember:
Her powers are ...
- 58.6k
14
votes
Accepted
Early 2000's Children's Book With Rhubarb Farm
Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve
The summary from Goodreads is as follows:
Eleven-year-old Polly Peabody knows her family's world-famous rhubarb farm is magical. The plants taste like chocolate, ...
- 141k
14
votes
Book Identification - Children's sci-fi book about videogame aliens
This sounds like "Only You Can Save Mankind" by Terry Pratchett.
"...send him a message with a picture of some weird eggs with legs and something like 'Please don't shoot! There are children on board!...
- 103k
14
votes
Accepted
90's book about children climbing a tree and visiting different worlds from there
I'm pretty sure you're thinking of The Faraway Tree, a series by English author Enid Blyton. Books in the series include The Enchanted Wood and The Magic Faraway Tree.
The "pancake person" ...
- 61k
14
votes
Accepted
Fantasy book about walking backwards in a graveyard to an alternate fantasy world
Maybe the Spooksville series by Christopher Pike? Main character is Adam, and the Secret Path seems to be walking backwards through a graveyard. (Found with a search that brought up this result in ...
- 7,035
13
votes
Accepted
In Watership Down what was Lord Frith's gift to Rabscuttle?
I've checked in Watership Down and Tales From Watership Down, as well as a few fan sites and as far as I can tell the story of El-ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inlé is left unfinished (the ...
- 27.7k
13
votes
Accepted
Fantasy Story About A Boy And Girl That Enter A Fantasy World Pre-1994
This sounds a bit like The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O'Shea. There is a Wikipedia article on the book here. This was published in 1985 so it fits your time frame, but it's a lot longer than 60,000 ...
- 87.1k
13
votes
Accepted
YA/kids' book featuring a kid and an alien whose preferred pronoun is "it" rather than "he" or "she"
Might this be Aliens Ate My Homework (1993) by Bruce Coville...?
This review contains a good summary of the plot, confirming the interaction between a schoolboy and tiny aliens in a miniature ...
- 88.1k
12
votes
Accepted
Novel (or maybe series) About a Hidden Urban Underground Civilization
Possibly the Gregor the Overlander series? By Suzanne Collins, before the Hunger Games started...
There are some differences between these books and what you describe, but there are fundamental ...
- 47.5k
12
votes
Book about a babysitter who takes children to a fantasy world
This is probably P. L. Travers's book series about the magical nanny Mary Poppins, of which the first two books are Mary Poppins (1934) and Mary Poppins Comes Back (1935).
Mary Poppins is the ...
- 32.6k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible