Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories
Written and illustrated by Joyce Lankester Brisley
Publisher: Puffin Books
ISBN: 0-14-030523-8
Summary/Back cover:
Children love to read about this enchanting little country girl!
Milly-Molly-Mandy and her friends Susan and Billy Blunt live in a little village in the heart of the English countryside. They do all the sorts of things that country children enjoy – like blackberrying, gardening and going to the village fête. These well-known and well-loved stories are delightful to read whether you live in the country or in a town.
A book particularly suitable for reading aloud to young children.
Review:
I’m not sure that I will get many opportunities to read these stories aloud to my children – both boys – but I love, love, love Milly-Molly-Mandy stories. I still remember thumbing through the pages of this book at my Nana’s house when I was about 8 years old. There is a map in the front of the book showing the village where Milly-Molly-Mandy lives, which I used to gaze at for ages imagining which way Milly-Molly-Mandy might walk on her adventures. I clearly loved the other illustrations, too, as half of them have been coloured in, presumably by me, although I don’t remember doing it! There are 13 stories in this book and each one is only a couple of pages long. Which makes it ideal for reading aloud or for young readers just beginning “proper” books.
Milly-Molly-Mandy is a very likeable young girl who works hard, and has fun and loves her family, which is just as well since there are no shortage of relatives living in the same “nice white cottage with the thatched roof”.
The stories have some degree of moral lesson to them, as was customary for the time, but I find them much less derisive than other books of the same era. Milly-Molly-Mandy sets a good example, for instance, when she refuses to pick blackberries from the field with the sign that warns against trespassing, and is rewarded by finding a rabbit (she has a soft spot for bunny rabbits).
I don’t suppose Milly-Molly-Mandy is for everyone, particularly in this day-and-age, but she was a character I absolutely adored when I was a young girl. The stories in this book capture the magic of adventures in a quiet village in time gone by.
My rating: 5 out of 5
Review written by team_s
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