Some of my fondest childhood memories are of reading Beatrix Potter's books. Life was quieter when I was a child and although my grand children could not comprehend life with out CD's, DVD's and iPods we children of the 40's were fortunate indeed. We have our imaginations intact and very well developed. Nurtured on the prose of the ilk of Miss Potter my two favourites were:
The Tailor of Glouster, (pronounced Glaw-S'-ter). Phrases such as, "cherry coloured silk", "no more twist" and "snippets" ran around through my brain as little mice furiously sewed the Mayor's wedding coat. I did not like the cat "Simkin", nasty old thing I was glad when he was thwarted.
The Pie and the Patty Pan was my next favourite. In case you didn't know a "patty pan" was a small pan placed under the pastry to hold up the crust so it didn't fall into the savoury and get soggy. There was a subtle message here about greed.
Miss Potter passed away 4 years before I was born but she is still very much alive to many of us today.