The Little Bookroom by Eleanor Farjeon was first published in 1955, it is illustrated by Edward Ardizzone. It’s one of my 20 Books of Summer. This book won the Carnegie Medal.
There’s an Author’s Note at the beginning of this book, she explains that the house she grew up in was filled with books everywhere but there was one room which was called The Bookroom which housed ‘a motley crew of strays and vagabonds, outcasts from the ordered shelves below’. There was so much dust in that room it made her eyes smart, but it was still her favourite place to be. I must say that the whole house sounds like a wonderful place to grow up in.
Anyway, this is a book of charming short stories, suitable for children of all ages. some of them feel quite traditional in the fairly tale mode, and others are really different. I can see why it won the Carnegie Medal in 1955.
I’m doing well with 20 Books of Summer. I’ve read 14 so far, but still have four or five to review.
This is one of Rich’s favorite children’s books!
Wilhelmina,
He has good taste. My copy is just a modern paperback, but I have a nice copy of her Elsie Piddock Skips In Her Sleep.
I remember the look of this book and having it out of the library more than actually reading it . You are making good progress with your list. Does that mean you are planning a trip in August? I am going to Cape Cod for a few days but that is less than two hours away (unless one leaves on a Saturday morning in the summer – that could take four hours).
Constance,
We have planned a few nights away in the Lake District later in the summer/early autumn, but hopefully before that a few days up north and maybe the Border country, so nowhere very far away and weather depending. It’ll be a long winter with not much travelling beyond Edinburgh I suspect! Cape Cod should be lovely, but busy!