Books |
Toot & Puddle
By
Published: Jan 01, 2007
Category:
Children
Forty years ago, a young illustrator with the unlikely name of Holly Hobbie created a little girl who looked like rag doll. American Greetings marketed the nameless character. Soon she was a doll. Across America, little girls got the gimmes. Inevitably, the girl became known as Holly Hobbie. And why not? Everything about the name seemed fictional.
It is hard to believe that the woman who invented that corny girl is the author and illustrator of the Toot & Puddle series. Artistically, these are beautiful books. As stories, they are subtle and moving. There isn’t a pixel of Daisy Mae in the series.
So what do the Toot & Puddle books — which feature two little pigs — have in common with Holly Hobbie dolls?
Just one thing: Four-to-seven year-old kids love them.
These books come as individual titles or as boxed sets. I vote for the boxes. One, for reasons of economy. Two, because your child is going to want lots of Toot & Puddle books. And third — the best reason — because the cardboard boxes come with retractable handles, so kids can carry them around like little suitcases and, in the process, feel important. In our house, anyway, the kid likes to feel important.
I’d start with the “Travels with Toot & Puddle” set — three books that introduce the series and lay out the differences between these porcine personalities.
In “Toot & Puddle,” the pigs face a dramatic conflict. Puddle loves their little home in Woodcock Pocket; Toot loves to travel. And by page three, they separate and we follow parallel lives. The captions are short, the illustrations large. We learn as much about the beauties of Woodcock Pocket as we do about Africa, Egypt, the Solomon Islands, India, the South Pole and Paris. A lesser book would have drawn the expected conclusion: There’s no place like home. Not so this book. Travel and home are equal — but it is awfully nice to be together again.
“A Present for Toot” is the story of a challenge. Toot’s birthday is coming up, and it’s impossible for Puddle to figure out what to get him. At great length, he decides on a parrot; he buys one and hides it in the barn — only to discover that Toot loathes parrots. But the parrot insists on staying. What can Puddle do?
“You Are My Sunshine” deals with a topic usually overlooked in children’s books: a bad mood. Toot is “moping.” Puddle tries everything to cheer him up. What succeeds it? A thunderstorm. Because “sometimes you need a big whopping thunderstorm to clear the air.”
The characters are lovable, the stories delightful. But it’s the illustrations that will provide the deepest satisfaction. A walk in the woods on a fall afternoon is a study in gold and yellow. A snowy night sets white flakes against a luminous background. When it rain, it feels wet; when we’re in Paris, we can feel the excitement.
That deep beauty will go over a child’s head. No matter. These are not pictures for the brain, they’re for the heart. And your child would have to be hard-hearted indeed to resist these delightful books.
To buy “Travels with Toot & Puddle” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “Toot & Puddle: Top of the World” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “Toot & Puddle” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “Toot & Puddle: The New Friend” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “Toot & Puddle: The One and Only” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy the DVD of “Toot & Puddle: I’ll Be Home for Christmas” from Amazon.com, click here.
