Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep (Candlewick Treasures) (Hardcover)

by Eleanor Farjeon (Author), Charlotte Voake (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3-Farjeon's story, originally published in her collection Martin Pippin in the Daisy-Field (Lippincott, 1937), makes a lovely picture book. Elsie Piddock is a remarkable child, a born skipper. Andy-Spandy, the fairies' Skipping Master, bestows her with a magic skipping rope. As years pass, Elsie Piddock's name becomes just a legend around Mount Caburn, until an evil Lord threatens the skipping grounds and she returns, a lady of 109, to save the day with her magical skipping. First republished with Voake's illustrations in 1997, that edition had a small trim size and 61 pages, making it just right for independent readers. The artist has created new illustrations for this edition, in watercolor and ink. Emphasizing the green in her pastel palette and using sketchy lines and broad strokes, she captures the fairy-tale English countryside and its inhabitants in spot art or full-spread compositions. Though long, this edition is the perfect format for family reading. For those too young for Harry Potter, Elsie Piddock's heroism makes a far more enchanting tale.
Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Ages 5-8. "Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep" first appeared in Farjeon's Martin Pippin in the Daisy Field (1937) and has been a favorite of storytellers and their audiences ever since. Little Elsie Piddock has such a talent for skipping rope that the fairies summon her to skip for them on nearby Mount Caburn and award her with a magical rope. Generations later, a new lord buys the land and threatens to build factories on the mountain. Every girl and woman comes to skip on Caburn one last time, but when the aged Elsie Piddock takes out her rope and begins to skip, it spells the end of the new lord and his plans. Mount Caburn is saved for the people and the fairies forever. Voake's ink drawings with watercolor washes clearly establish the turn-of-the-century English setting and illuminate the tale with deft, precise lines and delicate tints of color. Not to be confused with Farjeon's 1997 book with the same name, which is smaller in format and has completely different illustrations. A fine edition of a beautifully crafted story. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick (October 6, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0763601330
• ISBN-13: 978-0763601331
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,777,391 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't skip this gem, November 21, 1999

By	A Grandad (Washington DC) - See all my reviews

There may be no better book for reading aloud to pre-teens. Originally one of the stories in Farjeon's "Tales Told Under the Green Umbrella" -- long out of print -- Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep is easily as much fun for the adult reader as for the young listener, and in this case that is saying a great deal. It is actually two consecutive stories (ideal for consecutive nights), one a delightful fantasy of fairies and skipping rope -- just as appealing to boys as to girls, honest -- and the second an adventure, at once enthralling and emotionally satisfying, with an ending that will bring tears of delight to all who hear it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Once encountered, never forgotten!, August 23, 2002

By	Stephen H. Zendt "Golden Gate Guy" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep (Hardcover)

Any child, and I am now fifty-nine years old, who can recite Andy Spandy's ropeskipping rhyme has me for a friend. This is one of those tales for children that sounds better being told aloud by a good reader. When I was growing up, both my parents loved to read aloud, and my sister and I heard many fine tales before the fireplace, listening to mother or father.
But the lilt of the language as the rope swings round is the unforgettable part:
ANDY SPANDY SUGARDY CANDY
FRENCH ALMOND ROCK!
BREAD AND BUTTER FOR YOUR SUPPER'S
ALL YOUR MOTHER'S GOT!

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, but a tear-jerker., January 8, 2009

By	sweetmusic_27 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep (Paperback)

All the other reviews here have it right, Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep is a wonderful, well-written story with a good foundation and a positive ending. However, there are some themes within the book (the loss of childhood/innocence, poverty, the coldness of industrial development, etc) that are very sad. Those themes give it weight and breadth, of course, and it's exceptional - but if you wouldn't give your child The Velveteen Rabbit to read, maybe reconsider this one.