In My Mailbox Today: Little Women

I already own a copy of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, but mine is a somewhat battered 1950s hard-cover edition. I had toyed with the idea of buying a good condition vintage copy, but when I saw this Puffin edition, I decided I loved it too much to pass it up. 

A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett)

When I was about eight or nine my grandparents took me to a Chapters and allowed me to chose a book as a gift. I chose this very edition of A Little Princess. Yet, in my childhood, I never once read the book. I'd wanted the little golden locket that came attached to the cover of the book much more than I'd wanted the actual book. 

Two weeks ago, I picked up A Little Princess, in the same edition I had years ago, for $8. Needless to say, I read it this time. (I am however, just a little disappointed that the book did not come with a locket this time). 

I watched the Shirley Temple adaptation many times as a child, and read an abridged picture book of the story, so I knew the basics of the story going in. Sara Crew is the daughter of rich Englishman. At the start of the story her father is taking her from India, where she was born, to a boarding school in London. Sara is gifted and good, two qualities which cause her classmates to refer to her as a "little princess." After the death of her father, Sara is left as a penniless, starving, servant girl. Like all fairy-tales, she lives happily ever after, in the end. 

It's a sweet, heartwarming story--in many ways a re-telling of Cinderella, but as I read though, I found myself critiquing. Class barriers are very rigid in this story.  

The Shirley Temple adaptation paints a somewhat rosier picture. Sara's friend and attic-mate Becky is welcome into Captain Crew's open arms as a daughter in the film adaptation, but in the original story, this is not so. Sara's new guardian invites Becky into his home, not as a daughter, but as a maid for Sara. There is an implicit understanding that Becky is a servant and will always be a servant. In the same way that Sara is always a princess--no matter how rich or poor she is--because she was born a princess, Becky is always a maid or a servant, because she was born into that role. 

Regardless of the class politics portrayed, A Little Princess is an excellent book. I wish I'd read it as a child. 

Anne of the Island (L.M. Montgomery)

Anne of the Island is the third of six books in L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series. Originally published in 1915, this book, like all of the Anne books, remains timeless. Sourcebooks Fire published this particular edition, and Jacqui Oakley designed the cover. 

This novel takes Anne outside of P.E.I to Redmond College in Kingsport, Nova Scotia. At the start of the novel she is 18 and by the end she 20. We find her a lot more grown-up and less whimsical. She deals with the death of a friend, the marriage of another, and her own uncertain feelings for Gilbert Blythe. Not to give anything away (we all know that they end up together anyway), but this is the book where Anne finally realizes her love for Gilbert. 

Anne of the Island, like all the Anne books, is considered young adult. It took me a little over two hours to read all 268 pages of the book. I have to say, it was just as good as the first time I read it. 

A Little Christmas Present for Myself: Anne of Green Gables (Books 1-6)

I bought myself a little early Christmas present this week. These are the Anne of Green Gables books published by Sourcebooks Fire, an American publishing company. I fell in love with the covers when I saw them and thought they were well worth the $9-$10 I paid for each of them.

In My Mailbox Today: "Freddy and the Dragon"

Two weeks ago I ordered Freddy and the Dragon, the 26th and final book in Walter R. Brooks' Freddy the Pig series, which was published between 1927 and 1958. As I'm sure you can see from the picture above, I purchased a used hardcover copy. Unfortunately, a piece of the dust-jacket was damaged when I removed the library binding that covered the book (I expected there to be some damage). Thankfully, I'm not the sort of collector who insists on only owning flawless books. 

Although I haven't read Freddy and the Dragon yet (it only arrived in my mailbox about an hour ago), I thought I'd take the opportunity to share it here. Most likely, I won't write a follow up review after I read it. My consensus on the Freddy series is already in; I love these books. They're fun stories and they remind me of my childhood, browsing the shelves at my small community public library. I plan to collect all 26 books. I would encourage parents to get these classics into the hands of their children. 

If you haven't seen my posts from September yet, check out my Freddy Goes to the North Pole Review  and  A Childhood Favourite: "Freddy Goes to Florida" & The Freddy Books

A Childhood Favourite: "Freddy Goes to Florida" & The Freddy Books

When I was about eight or nine, I pulled a battered hardcover off the shelf at the library and added it to the (most likely) giant stack of books I planned to check out. Over the next three years I read it, Freddy Goes to Florida, originally published in 1927 as To and Again, by Walter R. Brooks, over and over again, only stopping when I made my move from the children's section to the young adult and then upstairs to the adult department. About three years ago, I found an old library copy at a used book sale, re-read it and it has sat on my shelf ever since, tucked in between Anne of Green Gables and If I Just Had Two Wings. 

My copy of Freddy Goes to Florida is from 1966. The copyright page says it's the thirteenth re-printing. 1960's children's hardcovers were made to last. The cover boards are thick and the spine is strong, like an old Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys. Like all older books, my copy has adopted that faint musty-paper smell. It's wonderful to hold. I'm reminded of many evenings and afternoons spent curled up in bed or on the couch in my parent's living room, reading and re-reading the story of how farm animals ran away and journeyed to spend the winter in Florida.

(an image taken of an illustration in Freddy Goes to Florida)

Freddy, is case you've never heard of the book, or the 26 others written about Freddy and his friends, is a pig. Other characters include Charles the rooster, Alice and Emma, the ducks, cows, spiders and a cat named Jinx.

A few days ago, reading a book about book collecting, I was reminded of Freddy Goes to Florida and the 25 other books which, sadly, I never read. I recall five or six more Freddy books lined up the library shelf next to Freddy Goes to Florida but somehow I never got into them. I remember trying, but at the time, none of them seemed as good.

So here I am, twenty years old, and I recently placed an online order for a very cheap used copy of Freddy Goes to the North Pole and Freddy and the Dragon. What I missed out on as a child, surely, I can make up for now? I have an image in my mind of 26 weathered, well-loved hardcovers lined up in a row on my bookshelf, perhaps with a shelf all to themselves. With a little bit of hunting, I'm sure I can make that image a reality. I like what I see.