Chosen by folk affiliated to the American Library Association, this is a list of ‘well-written books about girls and women that spur the imagination while confronting traditional female stereotypes’. And very honoured I am that Wildthorn is on it.

Amelia Bloomer(1818 –1894)

 will be forever associated with ‘bloomers’. In fact it was another American activist, Libby Miller, who first adopted the costume of long baggy trousers gathered at the ankles. Worn with a short dress or skirt they were designed to preserve modesty while allowing women more freedom of movement. It was the press that nicknamed them ‘Bloomers’ after Amelia Bloomer enthusiastically promoted them. Bloomers and their wearers were widely ridiculed and they never became popular. Amazingly, women preferred the inconvenience of the crinoline to this sensible garb.

What is perhaps less widely known is that Amelia Bloomer was the first woman to own, operate and edit a newspaper for women called The Lily and she used it to promote the cause of women’s suffrage.

So tonight I’ll be raising a celebratory glass in memory of a brave and pioneering woman.

Cheers, Amelia!

Hurrah for Wildthorn and Amelia Bloomer! is a post from: Jane Eagland

©2012 Jane Eagland. All Rights Reserved.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett springs to mind and I can envisage the picture of the robin perched on a fork, but looking for a copy, I discover I haven’t got it! Catastrophe! But I can remember the characters very well – Mary, disagreeable at first, invalid Colin and lovely Dickon, with his sympathy for animals – and the garden itself, which may have been responsible for my delight in walled gardens.

I did find these on my shelves and they have exactly the right winter afternoon quality:

To be honest only The Borrowers Afield belongs to my childhood – this is the very book I was given as a prize for winning the school poetry competition. (See About Me) Mary Norton brilliantly imagine how ordinary things and we ‘human beans’ are experienced by these tiny people, who are actually just like us. I love the illustrations by Diana Stanley in my copy (published in 1960). This, to me, is what Arriety and Pod and Homily look like – no other version will do

I was introduced to The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O’ Shea later in life, and though I’m not a great one for fantasy and this one has all the typical ingredients – the quest, the battle between good and evil – it is also funny and real and Pidge, the hero, and his sister Brigit are wonderfully human and believable.

And Journey to the River Sea by the late, great Eve Ibbotson is a much more recent publication( 2001) but has all the hallmarks of a children’s classic. Orphan Maia and her governess Miss Minton have to leave England for Brazil to live with the unpleasant Carter family. There adventures ensue, involving a travelling theatre troupe, and swapped identities and danger and excitement.

My final choice, The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge, goes back to childhood again. I have an old and battered copy:

It contains the original illustrations by C.Walter Hodges. Here right at the beginning of the story are orphaned Maria Merryweather, her governess Miss Heliotrope and Wiggins the King Charles spaniel:

They are on their way to Moonacre Manor to live with Maria’s cousin. There Maria finds herself drawn into an ancient feud…

Dusk is falling as I write this. Time to head for the sofa and start reading…

What children’s books would you choose as your winter favourites?

Tis the Season is a post from: Jane Eagland

©2012 Jane Eagland. All Rights Reserved.