Everyday Matters - Week 6 Challenge - Toyland

'The Chair Rose Up ...'

This is my drawing of an illustration from my 1952 hardback copy of 'Adventures of the Wishing-Chair' by Enid Blyton. 'The Faraway Tree' books were probably my favourite as a child but there wasn't much in it (actually it was probably only the 'Secret Seven' books that I never really got into). I also loved 'The Secret Island' and dreamed of running away and escaping to our own island where there were no adults and we lived in a house made from the weaved branches of a willow tree with bracken and moss for mattresses. Unfortunately Enid Blyton books don't really stand up to re-reading as an adult but I can't bring myself to get rid of them from our bookshelves. When I was a young child we gave away most of our collection to a jumble sale and then almost instantly wanted them back so we gradually replaced them with our birthday and Christmas money each year (being a twin meant they were replaced twice as quickly). Luckily the Famous Five books which had belonged to my Mum and her brothers and sister still lived at my Grandma's house so they survived the cull. Most of my collection are secondhand so they are a bit scruffy and well-loved - the book I copied this illustration from even has some of the pictures coloured in which I would never have done as a child but it doesn't really bother me now. I think it's funny how adult nostalgia for their childhood has meant that 1st editions of children's books now sell for hundreds of pounds and the less 'loved' a book has been, the higher its value which seems to be completely the wrong way round to me ... who wants a children's book that hasn't been read by generations of children until the dust jacket is torn and discarded and the spine falls off?
My twin sister and I practically lived in our local library and hoovered up any book we could get our hands on until we were about 18 and then just seemed to lose interest overnight. Happily it was only a temporary (if somewhat extended) glitch and about 7 years ago my love affair with books resurfaced with a vengeance. So much so that my husband and I got married in the library of an old manor house (I made my entrance through a secret door in the bookcase ... very 'Famous Five'!) and our new house has a room in it that will eventually become our very own library and dining room. As a child I was never into the Moomintroll books but my husband bought one last year and I was totally captivated. They're such simple, funny (lol and rol - read out loud), heartwarming books and the illustrations are intensely detailed eye-magnets. You can read a whole chapter from one of the books here. I also tracked down a large picture book which is full of Tove Jansson illustrations in glorious technicolour exactly like the one on the cover and just opening it up brightens the darkest of days. If you're like me and have a deep-seated affection for islands, grandmothers and deceptively innocent prose-like books where nothing (and everything) happens you will love Tove's adult book, A Summer Book. And one day I *will* be going on a pilgrimage by steamboat to here and getting my face painted with moomin characters while I make my own pancake ~ and I know that I could be most contented living in a house like this.