I like a bonfire! Sadly, the American fall holiday is Halloween, which does not entail bonfires. Candy, yes. Slutty costume versions of really strange things like bumblebees, yes. But no sparklers, very few sausages, and rarely fireworks or bonfires. And no burning effigies at all, unless Bonfire Night happens to coincide with the Bama game.
Whenever Bonfire Night rolls around, I get nostalgic for the Little Grey Rabbit books. Did anyone else read these? They are charming – all about a rabbit and a hare and a squirrel that live together and have little adventures. In one book they go to the ocean; in one there is a young fairy that gives Grey Rabbit an egg; in one they have a birthday party for Grey Rabbit, and Wise Owl swallows her thimble. In one book, Hedgehog says that his little son, Fuzzypeg, is very smart. Hedgehog says, “He told me once I was a quadruped, and I said No! I’m a plain hedgehog. Plain I am and plain I’ll be, but my Fuzzypeg, he’s a scholard.”
One of the Grey Rabbit books is about Guy Fawkes Day. Hare sneaks into town and gets the cat in a village shop to give him fireworks, which is exactly the kind of thing Hare would do. Wise Owl sings a song about gunpowder treason, and they light Catherine wheels. The wicked Fox, who at one point tried to eat Speckledy Hen all up, creeps away because he is Guy Fox and doesn’t want to get burned all up on top of the bonfire.
At Easter I always want to read this one picture book, The Easter Bunny that Overslept; at Christmas it’s The Story of Holly and Ivy. We’re still a ways off from “the holiday season”, but I am curious now: what are some books you like to read at the holidays?
(You like how I am cunningly getting book recommendations from you? Subtly varying my questions to elicit more and more suggestions for comfortable rereadable books?)