Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 140636651X ISBN 13: 9781406366518

Publisher: Walker Books, 1851

Synopsis

Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep

About this title

About the Author:

Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965) is regarded as one of this country's finest writers of poems and stories for children. In 1956 she was awarded both the Carnegie Medal and the Hans Christian Andersen International Medal; her hymn "Morning Has Broken" is a favourite around the world. Eleanor lived for many years in a little village called Houghton. The children of the village used to gather outside her cottage to play their favourite skipping games, and one day Eleanor went and asked them to recite their rhymes for her. These rhymes, which have been passed down from generation to generation, can be found word-for-word in Elsie Piddock Skips in her Sleep. Charlotte Voake is a distinguished and much-loved illustrator of children's books. Her picture book Ginger was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal and won the Smarties Book Prize Gold Award. Charlotte visited Mount Caburn while preparing the illustrations for this book, and found it "an extraordinary place. I could well imagine Elsie Piddock skipping there with Andy-Spandy, Flea-Foot and Heels-o'-Lead. The atmosphere is magical."

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 3-Farjeon's story, originally published in her collection Martin Pippin in the Daisy-Field (Lippincott, 1937), makes a lovely picture book. Elsie Piddock is a remarkable child, a born skipper. Andy-Spandy, the fairies' Skipping Master, bestows her with a magic skipping rope. As years pass, Elsie Piddock's name becomes just a legend around Mount Caburn, until an evil Lord threatens the skipping grounds and she returns, a lady of 109, to save the day with her magical skipping. First republished with Voake's illustrations in 1997, that edition had a small trim size and 61 pages, making it just right for independent readers. The artist has created new illustrations for this edition, in watercolor and ink. Emphasizing the green in her pastel palette and using sketchy lines and broad strokes, she captures the fairy-tale English countryside and its inhabitants in spot art or full-spread compositions. Though long, this edition is the perfect format for family reading. For those too young for Harry Potter, Elsie Piddock's heroism makes a far more enchanting tale.
Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Walker Books
• Publication date: 1851
• ISBN 10: 140636651X
• ISBN 13: 9781406366518
• Binding: Hardcover