Outside of a Dog: Eager, Edward: (02) Magic by the Lake

Jean

Jean wrote on February 4, 2004 at 7:24 AM:

The funny thing is, I read those sandwiches as entirely American! Jam, I grant you, is an English word - but peanut butter, at least when Eager was writing, and I first read these books, was a something foreign and exotic, and even now peanut-butter-and-something-else is not that familiar a concept in England. And as for prune-and-marshmallow..!

You don't mention the N.M. Bodecker illustrations - I hope your edition has them, as they were one of the best things about the Edward Eager books.

Kate

Kate wrote on February 4, 2004 at 12:23 PM:

My idea of a sandwich is ham and cheese, or roast beef, or turkey. Meat, bread, maybe a little cheese, some mustard; peanut butter and jelly is an honorable exception. Those sandwiches aren't even in the same universe.

Yes, they have the illustrations, which are charming. The most recent U.S. editions have covers by (insert name of guy who illustrates Roald Dahl's books), which also fit very well.

Jean

Jean wrote on February 9, 2004 at 4:39 PM:

Well, there goes another illusion: you read that bit as an example of the weirdness of English sandwiches, and I read it as an example of the weirdness of American sandwiches (even allowing for the fact that Martha is the youngest, so this may not be standard fare).

The substitute illustrator is probably Quentin Blake: he has many fans, and it isn't his fault that I can never forgive him for replacing illustrations that I already know and love - same thing happened with another favourite from my childhood, J.B.S. Haldane's "My Friend Mr. Leakey"...

Kate

Kate wrote on February 9, 2004 at 4:58 PM:

Oh gosh no, the covers are by Blake (you're right), but he didn't do the interior illustrations--they're obviously by someone different, and by checking Amazon's "look inside" feature, the interior are definitely still Bodecker.