How the Heather Looks

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.

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.

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...