Sunday, January 13, 2013

New York Review - Mud Pies and Other Recipes

I must have been living under a rock not to have know anything about the New York Review of Books children's books.  They are a literary review but publish several collections of notable but out of print or not in English books. For their Children's List they have published over sixty out of print books that that they feel deserve to be rediscovered by a modern audience. They not only bring these back into print but the editions themselves are beautiful. Really nice paper and sturdy bindings and the pictures are in beautiful colors. I've bought some reprints of wonderful old books only to find that they that look like poor photocopies.
I already told you about Wolf Story.  With some much loved gift cards to Amazon I got another title from the New York Review Children's Collection. This title is one I remember from childhood.
Mud Pies and Other Recipes by Marjorie Winslow
Marjorie Winslow was a magazine editor and author and involved in several business ventures in her life but published this one children's book in 1961. In my research into who the author was I found her recent obituary.

I first found this book in the library when I was about 8 or 9.  Even though I was rather young I appreciated the tongue in cheek humor. The recipes for "Pie Throwing Pies" or "Fried Water" tickled my funny bone then and continue to delight. I actually followed her directions for "Back Yard Stew" and paced off an eight step square and remember trying to find as many different bits of flora as possible to put in the "stew".  Rereading this as an adult, it strikes me that it assumes children have access to the outdoors (and not just overly groomed and manicured yard) and plenty of free time. Both I think are necessary for a healthy and happy kiddlet. A dirty child is a happy child!

I've decided to review as many of the New York Times Children's List as I can this year.  This list is huge and they keep adding to it. I'm off to try to choose the next ones.

1 comment:

  1. Didn't know about the List either. Thanks for sharing this information. Love your blog.

    ReplyDelete
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