Six Degrees of Separation: May 2021

Six Degrees of Separation is hosted by Kate of booksaremyfavouriteandbest.com.

The starter book this month is Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary. I have to admit I'd never even heard of Beverly Cleary before, but I've now learned that she was one of America's most successful authors, wrote mainly for children and young adults, and died in March at the grand age of 104. She sounds like an amazing woman. 

Beezus (Beatrice) and Ramona Quimby are two of Cleary's best known characters; they are sisters aged 9 and 4. Beezus has to deal with the many challenges of having an eccentric, naughty little sister; she also feels guilty that she doesn't seem to be able to get along with Ramona as well as their mother does with her own sister (Aunt Beatrice), but eventually she discovers that they too used to fight as children. That's what sisters do.

Another very challenging little sister, but this time with a long suffering older brother, is Annie Rose. Shirley Hughes has written and illustrated many stories about Annie Rose and Alfie, and I think I loved these books, with their beautiful pictures of life in the middle class suburbs, even more than my children did (in fact they were far too tame for my youngest, who wanted something much more subversive; please read on...) Hughes shows us Alfie and Annie Rose going about their daily lives; children can easily recognise the things that happen to them, and parents can equally easily identify with Mum and Dad. There are trips to the seaside, the problem of a leaking roof, visits from granny, and a wedding in which Alfie and Mum have to get Annie Rose out of the bridal procession before a toddler tantrum disrupts the entire ceremony. Wonderful bedtime reading; in fact, I think I might re-read some of them myself.

My youngest daughter, however, preferred a far more demonic sibling; Francesca Simon's Horrid Henry (aged 8) is always in trouble, and always being compared to his angelic (smug) younger brother Perfect Peter (6). Their obnoxious next door neighbour, Moody Margaret, is also regularly involved in Henry's wicked schemes. Stories (all perfectly illustrated by Tony Ross) include Horrid Henry's Dance Class, Horrid Henry's Holiday and Horrid Henry's Evil Enemies, and they all inevitably include Mum's catchphrase 'Don't Be Horrid, Henry!'

A Peter who is far from perfect is perhaps the most famous character ever created by Beatrix Potter. Peter Rabbit lives in a burrow with his mother and his well-behaved sisters, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail. Mrs Rabbit is a widow, her husband having met a sad fate when he ventured into the gardener's vegetable patch. Peter is warned not to follow in his father's footsteps, but of course he does, and is pursued by Mr McGregor - though unlike his father, Peter escapes, runs home, and is put to bed with a cup of camomile tea. The Tale of Peter Rabbit has sold over 45 million copies, making it one of the best selling books in history.

Writing partly in the same era, Alison Uttley created the much loved Little Grey Rabbit series. A very different character from Peter, this rabbit is a mild-mannered, well meaning, motherly soul who shares her home with Hare and Squirrel. Uttley wrote 37 stories about Little Grey Rabbit and her many friends, and over 60 other books for children and adults, but her diaries reveal that, unlike her best known character, she was an unhappy, jealous, controlling woman, who, on moving to Beaconsfield, took an instant dislike to her new neighbour, one Enid Blyton, fell out with her own illustrator, and loathed  being compared to Beatrix Potter.

Finally, Enid Blyton takes us back to the theme of siblings. If there is any brother more annoying than Perfect Peter, it must surely be pompous Julian, the oldest child in Blyton's Famous Five series. He has a younger brother, Dick, and sister, Anne. Julian always takes charge of the Five's numerous adventures - and because we are in Blyton-land, the other children generally put up with this. Five On A Treasure Island is the first story, in which Julian, Dick and Anne are sent on holiday to their Uncle Quentin (distracted eminent scientist, of course) and Aunt Fanny's home at Kirrin Bay. (Why? Because 'Daddy wants me all to himself in Scotland' says Mummy, without a trace of embarrassment...) There they meet their cousin Georgina, or George as she prefers to be known, and her dog Timmy. There are twenty-one books in this series, and as a child I lapped them up, re-reading every one many times. I had a set of red hardback editions - these had been handed down to me by my much worshipped older cousin Sally, which bestowed on them a great deal of extra cachet. Time changes perceptions. I imagine Julian in his adult years - probably as a city banker or perhaps even a self-important author - and I'm sure I'd now avoid him like the plague. 

I found this month's chain almost as difficult as April's, but I'm glad I perservered. 

May's starter book will be The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld. It's been described as a 'modern gothic triumph.'  I haven't read it (yet) but I must say I am intrigued.