Tuesday 26 September 2017

One Children's Book.


There were 5 of us.  My mother is one of the most intelligent women I have ever known.  She was smart across the whole academic spectrum: English, math, history.  She is an artistic homemaker & an excellent cook.  She was also a prolific reader & read to us children so much that we were reading before we began school.

My mother is a realist.  She likes realistic books.  My first brother likes scientific books & my youngest brother liked animal stories. I generally read fantasy but among all the books on our shelves were my mother's school prizes:  Billabong Books; Dimsie Stories; Milly~Molly~Mandy.  They were there so I read them. 

Children's authors don't write books like this for children any more.  We have become way too politically correct but these stories of everyday children doing everyday things in an everyday manner were the sort of books you didn't have to pre~read to ensure the content was suitable for your child.

So down the road I became a very indiscriminate reader.  If it was printed I read it: junk mail, jam labels, newspapers, magazines & more books than anyone else in the house ~ both adult & childrens.

I was blessed to have an excellent Primary School library with a brilliant librarian & the freedom to change my books as soon as I had finished them.  I did not have to wait for library day. This meant I waded through the packed shelves at a truly frantic pace but much of what is now considered children's classics I didn't read till much, much later.  I was in my 30's before I read the Anne Books.  I have never read all the Little House Books.  I read Heidi backwards; Tom Sawyer but not Huckleberry Finn; Pocomoto & myriads of Chalet School Stories, The Abby Girls ~ & that staple of so many young girls, pony books.  Not that I liked ponies or horses & I never wanted to own one but, well, they were there & so I read them.  I said I wasn't discriminatory.

That is how I found Lorna Hill.  Tucked in amongst all the ballet books, which I read afterwards & disliked intensely, was a little red book minus its dust jacket called They Called Her Patience

For some reason this book fired my 10 year old imagination.  I could visualize the Northumbrian landscape vividly. I played tennis [badly].  I had been to Teen Ranch & ridden my first ever horse [also badly]. I empathised with spoilt Judy & her long rats~tails plaits.  I was intrigued by Patience. I longed for a protective older brother like David.

Unlike the ballet books, Hill's stories about Patience weren't all that popular, though I liked them better, & getting copies of these now out of print books is extremely difficult.  So many years down the track I couldn't even remember the title of the book I had read.  All I could recall was that the name Patience was in the title. Still the internet is a wonderful thing & Mr Google a wonder of misinformation so eventually I tracked down the author & eventually a book title.  It was reasonably priced so I forked out my hard earned cash & waited patiently for the book to arrive.  It was the wrong one.

Still I hadn't read it so I was only minimally disappointed.  Not as good as the book I remembered but I now had titles & was fairly sure of the one I wanted.  What I hadn't counted on was something that I have also struck with Antonia Forest ~ there aren't a lot of fans around but those of us who admire these now hard to get & out of print  books do not part with them willingly & when they do become available they are exorbitantly expensive.

I had horded my Christmas money as there was nothing I particularly wanted at the time & on a random search found They Called Her Patience was, unbelievablly, available through Abe Books.  Three copies: 2 in excellent condition, one fair ~ & with price tags to match.  The price tags put me off. Let's face it, new the book wouldn't have cost that much. Then it slowly dawned on me that this was my Spending money & if I wanted to blow the lot on an out~dated, out of print children's book then I jolly well could! So I did!




2 comments:

  1. I love seeing this photo, Ganeida. I have so many book memories too. I can still see the bedspread from the time I read this series, my bedroom configuration from that reading season, the school library where I pulled that title from the shelf and smelled (and read) it....nothing comforts like books. I liked reading your post. xoxo

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  2. I have soooo many good book memories. I empathize... ☺

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