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| Jake's Uncle Joe getting involved in helping me with my embroidery ... he thought he could pick out the next color I should use ... |
When I was listening to The Tale of Holly How by Susan Wittig Albert, I realized that it reminded me of many other books I have enjoyed since I "discovered" audiobooks in 2007.
For instance, the badger reminded me of The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Many of the other animals reminded me of Brian Jacques' Redwall series, and of The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett. And The Professor reminds me of Winnie-The-Pooh by A. A. Milne.
Events at the local school remind me very much of Battles at Thrush Green by Miss Read.
The Tale of Holly How is the second book in a cozy mystery series featuring Beatrix Potter as the amateur sleuth. Details of Miss Potter's life are used but a lot is fictional extrapolation.
I discovered the series recently when Susan Wittig Albert wrote a post at her author page at Facebook (Dec 24, 2015) concerning how it happened that the animals have speaking parts in the book -- which was not the original intention. She said that it turned out that Mrs. Tiggywinkle, the hedgehog, had something she wanted to say -- and (sorry if I am infringing on Ms. Albert's copyright here, but I think what she says here is rather important and amusing so I wanted to share it ...) "But Mrs. Tiggywinkle appeared in the first book, with important things on her mind. When a character wants to talk, there's only one thing to do: LISTEN! (and start taking dictation)."
I discovered the series recently when Susan Wittig Albert wrote a post at her author page at Facebook (Dec 24, 2015) concerning how it happened that the animals have speaking parts in the book -- which was not the original intention. She said that it turned out that Mrs. Tiggywinkle, the hedgehog, had something she wanted to say -- and (sorry if I am infringing on Ms. Albert's copyright here, but I think what she says here is rather important and amusing so I wanted to share it ...) "But Mrs. Tiggywinkle appeared in the first book, with important things on her mind. When a character wants to talk, there's only one thing to do: LISTEN! (and start taking dictation)."
The facts of Miss Potter's life are available all over the web -- probably Wikipedia is a good place to start -- if you want to know more about her. (And you probably will.)
The fact that she is the amateur sleuth in this series really isn't important (to me as a reader / listener). The books are so well written, the characters all interact so well and the mysteries are well crafted -- that is what makes the series so likeable for me. I am looking forward to getting into and through the rest of the series as soon as possible **grin**
