Tim and Charlotte

He's only "Little" Tim, but he has adventures worthy of any Old Salt. Edward Ardizzone gives us tales and illustrations of daring-do on the English coast, back in the day when ordinary little boys were taking on tasks that today would challenge our "super-heroes." There are 10 or 12 books in this series, which our six children (five girls, one boy) have all enjoyed. Thank you to Frances Lincoln Children's Books for republishing these titles in quality bindings.

Edward Ardizzone had the knack of writing and illustrating wonderfully satisfying adventure stories for young children. You can read this story to a five year old, and both of you will interested - even enthralled. There is a quietude to his illustrations that my children loved. Pen and ink with watercolor washes, they convey the mood of an English seacoast town, the moods of this story's many characters, and allow room for the viewers' moods and varied reactions to the text. Children don't so much gawk at his drawings as enter them - safely.In this story, despite wearing a life belt, a little girl nearly drowns, and is rescued by the boys Tim and Ginger. They carry her limp body into Tim's house where "Tim's mother put her to bed with lots of hot water bottles and blankets." No one knows who she might be. The doctor is called, and her convalescence begins. Her recovery is rocky and it is that process, with plenty of drama, that forms the rest of the story. Ardizzone's messages are in favor of friendship and sticking out one's neck for others. There are some disturbing but manageable events in the story that parents might want to talk about with children. (Charlotte's amnesia; the absence of her parents; Tim's treatment at school - for writing to Charlotte, later - whom he misses.)Another wonderful children's book by Edward Ardizzone.