Off to the Library

My bookcases are once again bursting at their seams (or equivalent). I have to have another clear-out. Soon.

It's difficult to choose what books to remove from my collection but at least I know that they'll be going to a good home: I can't remember if I've blogged about the library I'm helping set up. It's in Section 17 Petaling Jaya and when it's up and running it's going to have a rather good collection of children's books - if I say so myself.

Anyway, I'm going to spend a few hours this evening going through my books and choosing titles to "retire". I will ask myself the following questions to help me decide:

1. Have I ever read this book?
2. Did I know I owned this book?
3. Will I ever read this book (again)?
4. Do I want my children to read it someday?

To justify keeping a book, I need to say yes to at least three of these questions., but it's not like I'll never see the ones that have to go ever again cos they'll be right there in the library.

My old Puffins are definitely staying though. I write about them in today's Tots to Teens and I've pasted the whole article at the end of this post.

Puffin celebrates 65 years this year and Kinokuniya is offering a 20% discount on one Puffin per cutout of the column.

From Star Mag, 19 March 2006

Growing up with good Puffins

TOTS AND TEEN BY DAPHNE LEE

 

WHEN I was little, my favourite books were Puffin Books. Actually I had relatively few children’s books and read mostly my mother’s novels. But of the 20 to 30 books of my own, the ones I read and reread until their covers were all faded, the pages frayed and dog-eared, and the spines rubbed, chipped and peeling, were Puffins.

I’ve always, always read every single bit of text in books, including the copyright details (yes, I know, I’m quite strange) and the synopses of other titles in the endpapers. When I was a child, these little synopses made me long for the books they described. I used to write down all the names and kept the list and eventually found and read most of the books – but only after spending 20 to 30 years hunting them down! Mind you, my childhood was spent in the tiny Johore towns of Segamat and Batu Pahat, and bookstores like Kinokuniya and Borders were but a distant dream.

 

However, I would occasionally find a children’s book tucked away amongst all the textbooks and workbooks and stationery in one of the local bookstores. It was really odd, looking back, how these “stray” volumes would almost magically appear, out of context, so to speak. It’s as though they materialised just for my reading pleasure.

To this day I have no idea why any store would order just one copy of a book by, say, Noel Streatfeild. It wasn’t even like it was one book a week or a month. It wasn’t even restricted to a single publisher. The supply was totally random and so I’d find a hardback English translation of a children’s fantasy novel by an obscure Norwegian writer one week and then, six months later, the final book of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series and, browsing a week after that (I lived in constant and, frequently, vain hope), I’d come across the middle book in K.M. Peyton’s Flambards trilogy. (And it wouldn’t match my copies of the first and third books, damn it!)

 

Puffins popped up every now and then, and were the cause of much celebrating and gloating. I would read them from cover to cover and I soon began to notice a name that appeared on the title page of each of these books: Kaye Webb. Editor: Kaye Webb, to be precise. All the older Puffins I own – all my favourites – bear this name and so she assumed hero status in my mind: Kaye Webb=good books. 

Sadly, I no longer automatically equate good books with Puffin. I’m not too crazy about the titles they’ve published over the last 10 years or so – obviously-commercial releases like Madonna’s picture books make me realise that this is the 21st century and the bottom line is no longer quality fiction – but they aren’t all bad. There’ve been some good reads, like the first Lionboy, and Time Waits for No Mouse and the Artemis Fowl series. 

Puffin’s list for younger children also includes some gems like Lauren Child’s The Princess and the Pea. And of course it boasts talents like Eric Carle and Rod Campbell. Still, there is really nothing, in my opinion, that matches the Puffins I read when I was a kid: Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild; Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson; The Family on One End Street by Eve Garnett; Devil in the Fog by Leon Garfield; Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce; Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer; Tales from End Cottage by Eileen Bell; Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome.

Most of my favourite Puffins have stood the test of time and the books remain in print although a number of them are no longer published by Puffin. Many are out of print but, who knows, they might someday see the light of day again. I mean, look at Nurse Matilda! If only Emma Thompson would write a screenplay based on Antonia Forest’s boarding school books!

Puffin celebrates its 65th anniversary this year. Happy birthday, Puffin and thanks for the memories and good books.

 

 

• Daphne Lee was a cheerful three-year-old (pic above) before she became a grumpy old lady whose idea of heaven is curling up in bed with a good book, her husband, their three children, and a plateful of sausage rolls. You can e-mail her at [email protected]and check out her blog at daphne.blogs.com/books.

 

 

For a 20% discount on one Puffin book of any title, cut out this column and present it at the cash register when you buy the book/s at the Kinokuniya Bookstore in Suria KLCC. This offer is valid (while stocks last) until March 31. 

 

 

Comments

[nerr]

oh good luck! i hate parting with books - even ones i haven't picked up for a long time +)

[Tearose]

Hello,

Thanks for sharing with us about the new library that you're helping to set up. Would love to come and visit once it's completed.

[GC]

Got your blog site from a friend in Pg. Keep up your good work.
I'm getting a vast list of books that my kids could read but will need to explore with them.

Two of my elder kids enjoyed Bk 1 of the Bartimeus Trilogy but "Only you can save Mankind" did not go down well with them.

my youngest girl isn't so keen on reading,she's 10. I wonder if the Puffin books that you mentioned recently would interest her.

Any idea where I can get a copy ? Preference is to borrow, rather than purchase as I recently bought Bk 2 and 3 of BArtimeus Trilogy.

[ShiJing]

Hi Daphne,

Not sure if you remember me. I'm the student from Down Under who sent an email to you a couple of months ago. Wow, a library! Will it be a children's library? I so love that idea! I was planning to set one up myself when I graduate and go home... looking forward to hearing more about it. =)

[Julianne]

Hey is it the one at the cafe that you mentioned to me before?

[Phil]

Hi Daphne,

Bookstores like kino and borders are still a distant dream in BP. I remember my mum used to bring us to this bookshop at Jln Mohd Salleh which I dont even remember the name! We would get our Ladybirds book there.

[Liz]

hey daphne! i don't think you have blogged about this new library that you are setting up - it would be great to know more!