The Old Woman who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle, A Kindle of Kittens both by Rumer Godden (Picturemacs, both £1.50).
THESE TWO delightful books with charming illustrations by Main i Hedderwick and Lynne Byrnes, have a little moral, but are told with such storytelling skill that children of junior school age can only be thrilled by them, and want to read them again and again.
They already have a little place on my son's bookshelf — next to Andrew Lang. These sort of tales can only inspire magic and thoughtfulness in a child's mind.
In the same Picturemac series there are also Janet Reachfar and Chichkabird, and Herself and Janet Reachfar, both by Jane Duncan, and with more of Main i Hedderwick's beautiful illustrations, again both at
1 .50.
These stories are not so well told as Rumer Gooden's lovely tales, but then I do prefer the older traditions of storytelling.
They are the sort of book I would borrow from the library, rather than buy, unless the child for whom they were intended was keen on art, as Maini Hedderwick's illustrations are a real lesson in how to handle the basic media of pencil, ink and
water colour. Beth Webb