Tag Archives: children’s classic

The Big Six by Arthur Ransome – The 1940 Club

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The 1940 Club is hosted by Karen of Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings and Simon of Stuck in a Book.

For my second 1940 Club book I decided to read The Big Six by Arthur Ransome. The setting is the Norfolk Broads, East Anglia. Some of the dialogue is written in a sort of cod Norfolk accent, which I found slightly annoying at times but got used to it. I lived in East Anglia for a few years.

In this one Pete, Joe, Tom and Bill are enjoying themselves messing around on the river in their boat The Death and Glory. They’re waiting for some other members of The Coot Club to join them, the club was set up to protect nesting birds as at this time bird egg collecting is a popular hobby and not against the law. The children try to educate an elderly man as to why there were no bitterns about now, he couldn’t see that it was because he and others had shot them all!

But someone is going around casting off boats up and down the river and causing mayhem. Fingers are being pointed at the children as the culprits and the whole village seems to have turned against them, even their fathers aren’t sure of their innocence!

As you can imagine this puts the boys in a horrible situation especially when the local policeman Mr Tedder is convinced they are guilty, despite having absolutely no evidence against them, and he doesn’t even bother to carry out an investigation himself.

Things go from bad to worse when shackles are stolen out of a boatyard and immediately Mr Tedder blames the boys and he’s determined to send out a summons to them all.

The other members of The Coot Club Dorothea and Dick arrive and Dorothea immediately gets down to looking for clues as to who the real culprits are. She’s methodical, writing everything down and forming her own Scotland Yard which is where the title of the book comes from, although originally it was the so-called Big Five detectives who formed the actual Scotland Yard.

Mid way through the book the boys have a trip down the river to do some fishing and this was a relief from the uncomfortable atmosphere of the village they had been berthed at. It was a relief to me too as it was quite grim when everyone had turned against the Coot Club, even the far-flung members of the club were against them, or their parents had banned them from the club. I have to say that it was rather obvious who the baddies were.

So this one isn’t a favourite of mine although there is a bit of humour right at the end, however it shows that Ransome was keen to promote the preservation of wild birds, something that wasn’t foremost in people’s minds at the time I’m sure.

We Didn’t Mean to go to Sea by Arthur Ransome

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We Didn't Mean to go to Sea cover

We Didn’t Mean to go to Sea by Arthur Ransome was first published in 1937 and it’s the seventh book in the author’s Swallows and Amazons series.

The Walker children and their mother have travelled to Harwich to wait for Commander Walker to arrive back from a trip to Europe, they aren’t quite sure when he’ll get to Harwich though. The children can’t keep away from boats so make for the harbour to admire the various yachts. They befriend Jim Braiding who has just sailed into harbour in the Goblin, Jim has earned their admiration with his sailing prowess.

After being given assurances by locals that Jim is trustworthy and a great sailor Mrs Walker agrees to allow the children to accompany him on a voyage, but she stipulates that they must not go out of the harbour as any further than that and they would be sailing out to sea.

Of course everything that can go wrong does go wrong and the children find themselves sailing the Goblin on their own and having to navigate through a real pea-souper of fog and high seas. There’s an awful lot of sailing terms bandied about which might as well have been Greek to me, but this didn’t detract from this very suspenseful adventure.

These books are very much of their time, and for me that adds to the charm of them. There’s a lot of use of the word ‘jolly’ – but hockey sticks don’t feature!

I suspect that my mother-in-law would have been sea-sick if she had ever read this book. She could get seasick watching The Onedin Line.

The Dark Mile by D.K. Broster

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The Dark Mile by D.K. Broster was first published in 1929 and it’s the third part of a trilogy. The Flight of the Heron and The Gleam in the North should be read before this one.

The setting of The Dark Mile is nine years after the battle of Culloden. The inhabitants of the Highlands of Scotland are still very much under the rule of the Redcoats. They aren’t allowed to own guns for fear they would be used against the British army which is very much in control with hundreds of soldiers based at Fort William.

The disaster of Culloden isn’t far away, especially for Ewen Cameron who is still mourning the execution of his friend and relative Doctor Archibald Cameron at Tyburn, for High Treason. Ewen knows that someone had betrayed Archibald, probably giving information of his whereabouts to the English authorities – in return for gold.

Ewen’s cousin Ian Cameron is now his father’s heir as the eldest son had died at Culloden. Ian’s father is keen for him to get married and is beginning to negotiate with another family for their daughter’s hand, but Ian has fallen in love already, unfortunately his choice is a Campbell. It seems doomed from the beginning as Ian’s father will have nothing to do with Campbells as they were on King George’s side during the Jacobite Rebellion.

This book has more romance in it than the other two, but there’s still adventure, danger and drama. It’s a good read.

Pinocchio by Carlo/ Charles Collodi

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<img src= Pinocchio Cover

Pinocchio by Charles Collodi is the children’s classic that I chose for my Back to the Classics Challenge 2021 list. I’ve been meaning to read it for years, but I must admit that I had no idea that Pinocchio was written so long ago. It was in 1880 that Collodi started writing The Adventures of Pinocchio, the stories were published weekly in a children’s magazine. The Disney film was made in 1940.

This was an enjoyable read with Pinocchio getting into all sorts of scrapes because he was being naughty, despite promising to be good. He’s always very sorry and sees the error of his ways, but he really just can’t help himself.

Each chapter is a warning to the young readers not to do what Pinocchio does. He runs away from Geppetto his ‘father’. He’s easily duped out of his money by a couple of con-men in the shape of a cat and a fox. He ends up being hung up from a tree, but rescued by a blue-haired fairy via a crow. There is a talking cricket but it doesn’t feature in the way that Jiminy Cricket in the film does.

The author managed to write stories with morals and warnings, about the best way children should behave to avoid trouble and upsetting other people, but without being preachy or prissy and with plenty of fun. It’s illustrated in line and colour by A.H. Watson, although there’s only one colour illustration.

My copy of the book dates from 1945 and has a foreword by Compton Mackenzie. It is DEDICATED TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS OF EVERY COLOUR, AGE, AND COUNTRY.

Pinocchio End Papers

I really like the endpapers, but as you can see a bookshop has added a sticker to the front ones.
Boans Book Salon, 1st FLOOR, MURRAY ST. END PERTH WA

The word PERTH jumped out at me and I thought, it hasn’t travelled far in its 76 years, then I realised it was Perth in Australia.

Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome – 20 Books of Summer

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Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome was first published way back in 1933 but my copy dates from 1948 when according to the inscription ‘Dear Phil’ was given it by his Nannie for his 11th birthday.

The setting is the Lake District in winter where the Swallows and Amazons children are joined by Dorothea and her brother Dick, they’re staying with their mother’s old nurse over the school holidays. Very quickly they meet up with the Swallows and Amazons and they join forces to have lots of fun and adventures on the frozen lake. The snow and ice is just perfect for them as they’re pretending that they’re Arctic explorers, the local townspeople are Eskimos and when Uncle Jim’s/Captain Flint’s houseboat gets frozen in the ice it’s renamed the Fram, pretending that it’s the ship in Nansen’s Arctic expedition.

This is a lovely read with the children quickly becoming firm friends and discovering that they have a lot to learn from each other, they all have their own talents and are happy to share their strong points with the others. Dot and Dick are very good at ice skating but know nothing of semaphore or Morse code. Obviously the Swallows and Amazons children are good at sailing and that skill is transferable as toboggans are converted to sail across the ice on their runners.

There’s a lot to pack into this adventure and the school holidays are lengthened by over a month as Nancy succumbs to the mumps which means that the other children can’t go back to school in case they’re infectious. Everywhere has to be disinfected and even notes from Nancy have to be baked in a hot oven before they can be touched. Honestly, I can’t get away from infectious diseases!

This one was my 14th Book of Summer read. It was perfect cool reading over a few hot days.

20 books of summer

Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean – 20 Books of Summer

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Peter Pan in Scarlet cover

Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean is the official sequel to J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan which was commissioned by Great Ormond Street Hospital. Barrie gave all the royalties for Peter Pan to the famous children’s hospital. There was a competition to see who would get the contract to write the sequel and McCaughrean won it, I feel that this might have something to do with the several one star so-called reviews of the book on Goodreads have possibly been posted by some who had hoped to win the chance to write the sequel. I cannot think of any other reason for them, and the posts just show up the reviewers as being ignorant. I doubt if they have ever read the actual original Peter Pan book and possibly have been no closer to it than the Disney animation and so have no notion of how well McCaughrean captured Barrie’s writing style.

As a bit of a J.M.Barrie fan I feel sure that he would have been absolutely thrilled with this sequel, the author has a fabulous imagination so it’s a very witty and entertaining read and beautifully written. The detractors obviously have no idea of the history behind Peter Pan, how Barrie based the Darling children on the Llewelyn Davies boys that he had befriended along with their parents. Michael was killed in the First World War and so he is missing from the cast in this book, and even that was well dealt with, but that horrified the one star ‘reviewers’.

All over parts of London ‘old boys’ who had been in Neverland are having vivid dreams about the place. They are adults now and have responsible careers and frequent a London club, one is even a judge. But Neverland is calling them and Mrs Wendy encourages them, so the old boys agree that on Saturday, 5th of June they’ll go to Neverland, it’s pencilled into their diaries, they just have to find some fairy dust so they can fly again. The Old Boys set off for Kensington Gardens with butterfly nets, intent on catching some fairies.

Of course they do get back to Neverland and Peter Pan, and so begins an adventure to rival Barrie’s. I don’t want to say too much about the story but it involves pirates, a strange ravelling wool man, thousands of fairies who have taken sides in a pointless war – are you red or are you blue?

This book is smart and witty and it was lovely to re-visit Neverland again and the old characters.

I hate to think that it might be dodged by future readers because of some ignorant reviews online. One reviewer was so incensed because of the way the First Nation people are referred to in the book. Such words as papoose, squaw and Red-Indian are used in this book. SO WHAT! When I read that nonsense I was fizzing mad. If people are so upset by the use of words that have now been deemed to be outdated then I would be more impressed if they actually did something to help the plight of the First Nation people who are in dire straits today, and in need of being treated like human beings instead of people being ‘upset’ by the use of anachronistic words in 2020 when a book is set in the 1920s-30s. Of course the use of the words is totally in keeping with the times that this book was set in. There are so many people trawling the net looking for reasons to pull someone apart and just showing themselves up as idiots.

I was lucky enough to be able to buy a signed edition of Peter Pan in Scarlet. This was the third book from my 20 Books of Summer list.

One by one, the individual flecks of colour separated and floated down, like rose petals at the end of summer. They brushed the upturned faces; settled on their shoulders. More and more fell: a light snow of flaking colour. Like snow it mesmerized them – a dizzying downward whirl of prettiness. Instead of spray from the waterfall they could feel only the soft touch of a thousand thousand fragments of loveliness. It piled up in their hair; it filled their ears and pockets; it tugged on their clothing. Tugged?

‘Fairies!’ cried Tootles delightedly. ‘Thousands of fairies!’

Sorry this was a bit of a rant. But….

This was book 3 from my 20 Books of Summer list

The Story of Dr Dolittle by Hugh Lofting – The 1920 Club

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Two People cover

The last book that I read for The 1920 Club week which finished yesterday was The Story of Dr Dolittle by Hugh Lofting. I’ve read a few of these books but this is the first one which explains that Dr Dolittle had been a doctor for humans, but he was far more interested in the many animals that he had in his house/surgery. Not surprisingly this upset his patients, one sat on a hedgehog and eventually he found he had only one patient left and no money was coming in. That one patient – the cat’s meat man – suggested that he should become an animal doctor. Dr Dolittle set about learning to speak with animals and in no time he was able to pay his bills again.

When a swallow brings news that all of the monkeys in Africa are dying of a strange disease (yes I know!) Dr Dolittle sails to Africa with lots of his animals including Chee Chee his monkey. So begins the adventure that sees them being locked up by a king when they travel through his land, but of course Polynesia the parrot helps them to escape.

Of course Dr Dolittle does manage to save the lives of the monkeys who haven’t already succumbed to the mystery disease that has killed thousands of them.

If only Covid-19 could be so easy to sort out.

This was an enjoyable read and it’s the first in a series of books which was turned into the film starring Rex Harrison in 1967 and more recently Robert Downey Jr. in 1998.

Dr Dolittle

My other Dolittle books are really nice old ones but this on is a modern one from 1998, published by the Daily Mail – of all things. The rather naive illustrations, also by Lofting, are charming.

Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum # 1920 Club

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Glinda of Oz cover

Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum is my first choice for the 1920 Club hosted by Simon at Stuck in a Book and Karen at Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings

I bought this book years ago but hadn’t got around to reading it before now. I had been under the impression that this was the only sequel to The Wizard of Oz so was very surprised to discover that this is number 14 in the series and there are also a few short story compilations too.

In this one, two of the tribes who inhabit the land of Oz are at loggerheads. The Skeezers are led by Queen Coo-ee-oh who is incredibly supercilious and a tyrant, her people are afraid of her but as she rules by magic they’re unable to do anything about her behaviour.

The Flatheads are furious because Queen Coo-ee-oh turned their queen into a Golden Pig and there’s nothing they can do about it. When Dorothy and Princess Ozma discover what is going on they’re determined to help the situation, but its some time before all of the magic that Coo-ee-oh has performed can be undone. It’s made more difficult because Coo-ee-oh has been turned into a swan and is so enamoured of herself that all she can do is admire her reflection in the lake. Princess Ozma has to ask for Glinda’s help.

This was a lovely light read, just right for the moment. It’s another journey involving a Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, a Patchwork Girl and various others, but I feel that the book has a serious side, presented in a light manner. The lesson being that war is to be avoided if at all possible, something that I’m sure a lot of people felt just two years after the end of World War 1.

This is Edinburgh by Miroslav Sasek

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This is Edinburgh cover

This is Edinburgh by Miroslav Sasek was first published in 1961 but my copy is a 2006 reprint. I swithered about buying this one, I already have so many books for children but the illustrations are so charming and as I flicked through it I saw the iconic Jenner’s department store building – that swayed me to definitely buy it. I’ve been told that Jenner’s is going to be shut as a store and converted into posh apartments, so it’ll be nice to have it still as it was within the covers of this book.

This is a lovely volume which features many of the places that tourists want to see when they visit the city – Edinburgh Castle, St Giles’ Cathedral, Greyfriars Bobby and Holyrood Palace, but also the more out of the way places such as Dean Village, which I love. The famous penguin parade at the zoo is depicted, although since the pandas took up residence the penguins haven’t been the main attraction that they once were, much to their chagrin, but they started getting their own back by aiming their poo at the waiting visitors!

From The Times, 2011: Penguin poo hits the fans in panda queue


They arrived at their new home in a police cavalcade, having touched down in a private jet, so it was perhaps inevitable that the UK’s only pair of giant panda would ruffle the feathers of their neighbours at Edinburgh Zoo.

According to keepers, the penguins who live upstairs may be suffering from “monochrome jealousy” of Tian Tian and Yang Guang. Eschewing traditional housewarming gifts, the rockhopper penguins are targeting the visitors queueing up to see the pair with droppings.

There is a news video from 2011 about the jealous penguins here.

Of course the pandas don’t feature in this book as it dates back to 1961 with just a few wee updates at the back of the book.

You can see a lot of the illustrations in this book here.

The author first wrote This is New York and This is London before turning to Edinburgh. It’s a children’s book to be enjoyed by all ages.

The Mousewife by Rumer Godden

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The Mousewife cover

The Mousewife by Rumer Godden was one of the books I got for Christmas, it was first published in 1951 but my copy was published in 1958. It’s such a cute wee book with just 39 pages and lots of illustrations which are by William Pene du Bois. This is ostensibly a book for children but in reality it will probably be appreciated more by adults, or maybe I should say by women.

A mouse couple live in an old house belonging to a spinster. They’re house mice and never venture beyond the walls, they think that the house is the whole world, but when the mousewife catches sight of the garden and woodland through a window she’s entranced by what she can see. The seasons come and go and she sees all the flowers and then the snow, but all her husband thinks about is cheese.

She’s a good mousewife, taking care of her husband when he over-indulges on currants and wrapping him up with tufts of carpet wool behind the fender. By this time she has a family to look after too and she’s the breadwinner so to speak and she has no time for thinking. But a boy brings the spinster homeowner a dove in a cage and the dove is pining for the great outdoors, it has lost the will to live, the peas which the dove is given for food are just what the mousewife needs to feed her growing brood and she makes friends with the dove.

This is a lovely tale with the dove and the mouse helping each other. The dove tells the mousewife about the hills, corn, stars and clouds.

It has been given to few mice to see the stars: so rare is it that the mousewife had not even heard of them, and when she saw them shining she thought at first they must be new brass buttons. Then she saw they were very far off, farther than the garden or the wood, beyond the farthest trees. “But not too far for me to see,” she said. She knew now that they were not buttons but something far and big and strange. “But not so strange to me,” she said, “for I have seen them, and I have seen them for myself,” said the mousewife.

Ladies or mousewives – please beware of neglecting your husband, as if you don’t give them your full attention, they might just bite your ear! You can see some of the illustrations here.