Parenting, then and now
This crisp and even cavalier telegram has a distant father allowing his four children to sail to an island in...
Basilicata bibliomotocarro
Antonio La Cava, a retired school teacher, converted a quintessential Italian vehicle, the three-wheeler micro-van, into a travelling library.
For...
Chew on it
A satisfying simile for mulling over an idea before implementing it. There is much playful language in the wisdom deftly...
Pigtail prejudice
A charming example of prejudice, demonstrating its capacity to target just about anything, and with bewildering precision and disregard for...
Publishers, monkeys, monkeys, publishers
I love the way Captain Flint sees his mission to find a monkey for the children as a refreshing change...
Memory of a mistake
That awful dawning when you emerge from innocent sleep and remember something you didn’t do right, and dismay fills the...
Splatchers
‘Splatchers?’ said Roger. ‘Splatchers,’ said the boy. ‘For walking on the mud.’ ‘Gosh!’ said Roger. ‘Like snowshoes?’
When these children...
Foreign-going steamship
All the romance and none of the hardship in these three words.
Source: Arthur Ransome, Coot Club
...
Wind Island
The first edition of this book I found, at a flea market, was a French translation, and it took me...
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