Customer Reviews

How the Heather Looks: A Joyous Journey to the British Sources of Children's Books

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a rare gem for anyone who truly believes that children's books matter. Joan Bodger writes engagingly about her family's journey to Britain to discover the places and landscapes that inspired the writers of their favorite children's books, including Kenneth Grahame, A. A. Milne, Beatrix Potter, Rudyard Kipling and others. Pooling the family's talents (the author's passion for stories, her husband's research skills and her children's imaginations) they set off on a summer-long adventure scouring the back roads and villages of England to find prototypes for Toad Hall, the Hundred Acre Wood, King Arthur's Camelot and more. This is a book that opens up remarkable possibilities for travelling with children and for honoring the world of childhood. A far cry from Disneyland...

If you love children's books and/or are an Anglophile at heart, you will love this book. The Bodger family is on a quest around England to find Pooh's Enchanted Place, Toad Hall and other places from classic British children's books. In addition to enjoying their literary discoveries, I enjoyed Joan Bodger's descriptions of the special challenges of traveling with young children. Food, laundry, and places for their children to play are as important as locating Beatrix Potter's farm. While reading this book I felt as if I were on a vacation with some very good friends. I loved this book.

This is a delightful book. (I read the earlier edition, and I am glad that it is back in print). I recommend it to anyone who is interested in England, children's literature or the pleasures and problems of traveling with young children. I have visited many of the places described and find that the book brings back many happy memories.

You're enjoyment of "How the Heather Looks" may be in direct proportion to your ability to instantly recall scenes from classic British children's books. And not just the "classic" classics, mind you, but some rather obscure works indeed, classic for their quality instead of their familiarity. Do you know the illustrated verses of Randolph Caldecott? How about Arthur Ransome's "Swallows and Amazons" or Kipling's "Puck of Pook's Hill?"

I found that my interest waxed and waned along with my familiarity. I was thrilled to go to Tintagel and Sherwood Forest in search of King Arthur and Robin Hood. I delighted to visit with Mrs. Millne in the Hundred Acre Wood of Winnie the Pooh. Toad Hall and Rat's Riverbank are well-traveled terrain. Less so are the lands of The Borrower's, or the Gypsy Caravans or Pook's Hill. (I winced when they drove past Anlwick Castle without stoping. They missed out on quite an experience.)

The writing is very much like that of a person keeping a journal. Details do not fit into a story, and the narrative drifts along with the same randomness of the family. The only voice is Joan Bodger's, and her husband and children are foils for her to act upon.

All in all, it is a very pleasant little book that I enjoyed reading. I know I would have enjoyed it more if I had a library of British children's literature to browse through for familiarity.

I would recommend this book to anyone- as a read-aloud, a travel book, or just something to read to yourself. Mrs. Bodger & her family truly loved English lit., and her love for it shines through. In this book you will discover Narnia, Beatrix Potter's country, Kipling's "Puck of Pook's Hill" ( a delightful look at old England) and many other such treasures. Mrs. Bodger's writing style is clear, her family wonderful- and the subject, English children's literature- will always be fantastic.

Thank goodness this book is back in print! A delightful serendipitous account of a young family's trip in England discovering places made famous in the children's books they love, even living in a caravan and "messing around in boats." A book I've treasured but been unable to find even in my county library. Now I'll have my own.

I wanted to like How The Heather Looks, really i did. For all her alleged prowess as a story-teller though, Bodger was unable to fully engage my attention. Her writing style came between us, as did certain aspects of her story. On a trip to discover the landscape behind certain childrens classics, her family was curiously uninformed about where they were and what they were missing. One becomes tired of the phrase, "Later we found out..." or "If only we had known...". We are treated to a detailed explanation of how much her family knows about Gypsies, but we look in vain for that information when it would be appropriate; instead we are told of another castle passed by. I was sadly disappointed by the lack of information at the bottom of the story.