Dimsie Does It

Lucy Mangan's latest recommendation for books that make a good library is Dimsie Goes to School by Dorita Fairlie Bruce.

The only problem is that the book (and the others in the Dimsie series) are not easily available. Girls Gone By publishers (which Mangan wrote about in 2004) have re-issues of some titles by Bruce, but, so far, no Dimsies.

Readers can try secondhand stores but must be prepared to pay quite high prices.

I have all but one of the Dimsie books and plan to read them this year, but my must-read-in-2009 list is long and Dimsie is not a priority as I didn't enjoy Dimsie Goes to School when I first read it several years ago.