Visiting daughter: Mmmrg? [translation: I haven’t had any coffee yet. Can’t make human conversation.]
Me handing her a latte: It’s probably going to climb up to your bedroom window, climb in, go up to the ceiling above your bed, and drop onto your face while you’re sleeping.
Visiting daughter: Oh, for %#¢£$ sake. [translation: Why can’t I have a normal mother?]
See, I hate snails. Those little bastards spend the whole night getting in position so that when I stumble out with the dog in the morning, I step on them and they squorsh all over my shoes and I want to vomit. So of course, after this conversation, I had only one choice for a keyword search for this week’s Friday Five Challenge. I typed “snail” into Amazon and sat back ready to get ill. Wait…4951 results? Those little slimers have some serious PR muscle. I scanned down, past titles ranging from—I swear I’m not making these up—The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating to Talk to the Snail: Ten Commandments for Understanding the French to The Dead Snail Diaries. That last one was almost a contender when I spotted it: Doctor Dolittle in the Moon.
I still have no idea what it has to do with snails, but there was the original 1929 edition of Doctor Dolittle in the Moon, complete with dust cover and illustrated by author Hugh Lofting.
Rosie Amber’s Friday Five challenge is to take ONLY FIVE MINUTES to browse an unfamiliar category and select a book based solely on the cover art.
Book blurb:
One of those uniquely magical Hugh Lofting Tales brought to a rather surreal life by his equally magical illustrations – this one giving us a moon as some of us wishes it were.
Near Fine; Dust Jacket – Very Good; London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1929. First Edition. Illustrated by Lofting as well. Octavo, 320 pp.; decorative orange & black jacket with illustration; matching decorative boards with the illustration as a pastedown; illustrated endpapers. Near Fine copy, corners just touched, presumed slight darkening of page edges, nominal soil. Jacket has one moderate chip at top left front, some darkening of spine, less darkening elsewhere. Please see scans.
BUY LINKS:
- Book Title: Doctor Dolittle in the Moon Hardcover – 1929
- Author: Hugh Lofting
- Genre: Children’s fantasy
- Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd.; First Edition edition (1929)
- Price: NOTE: out of print. Eight copies available ranging from $19.99 to $325
- Reviews: 4 …but who cares?
- Pages: 320
My Analysis: I took one look at that dust jacket and went back in time. More than fifty years ago, my mother read these books to us. A few years later, I was reading them to younger siblings. Still later, it was my own children listening to the Doctor like it was a travel documentary. (Certainly, it made them receptive to that other Doctor a few years later!) Now, as I’m about to welcome my first grandchild, I wonder if that magic is still out there, waiting? As Hugh Walpole says of the “The Story of Dr. Dolittle“,
“This book is a work of genius. There is poetry here, and fantasy and humour, but above all a number of creations in whose existence everybody must believe, whether they be children of four or old men of ninety, or prosperous bankers of forty-five. It is the first real children’s classic since Alice.”
BUY or PASS: BUY — but only the original editions, before subsequent publishers abandoned the amazing and delightful original illustrations. (And, hopefully, not too many snails…)
Here is Rosie’s Friday Five Challenge. It only took five minutes and a couple more to write up, and was a ton of fun. I hope you’ll consider joining in. All Rosie asks is that you link back to her original post here so we can all join in viewing your challenge results.
AUTHORS – You often only have seconds to get a reader to buy your book, is your book cover and book bio up to it?
My Friday Five Challenge is this….. IN ONLY FIVE MINUTES….
- Go to any online book supplier,
- Randomly choose a category,
- Speed through the book covers, choose one which has instantly appealed to your eye,
- Read the book Bio/ Description for this book, and any other details.
- If there are reviews, check out a couple,
- Make an instant decision, would you BUY or PASS?
- I’ll be back next week with another Friday Five Challenge, do feel free to join in.
Ellen Hawley said:
I don’t mind them on the windows and walls so much, although if I had any decency as a housekeeper I would, but it means they’re not out there eating my plants, so I’ll give them a pass. In the spring, though, when I’m trying to give the young plants time to establish themselves, I’m out there stamping on the poor little bastards before they can mow down the entire garden. It’s horrible, but they have more to complain about than I do. And I figure it’s a faster death than what lots of people recommend–dropping them in a pail of salty water–or feeding them poisonous slug pellets.
Bleah.
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barbtaub said:
I have to agree, esp. about the snail pellets (I have the world’s stupidest dog, and very expensive veterinarians…) For me it’s the roses that I begrudge the little beggars. My mother’s method of dumping buckets of soapy water over them seems to actually work though…
And I realize that living in Glasgow is like living in the perfect snail environment, but they’re still not welcome in my house.
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shelleywilson72 said:
Thank you for the morning giggle, that’s just what I needed. I don’t think you can beat the classic books, I have a number of original copies of my favourites (before the publishers re-issued them with more modern character names!). It would be a buy for me too. rushes off to pen the outline of ‘Buffy the Snail Hunter 😉
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barbtaub said:
And Buffy’s weapon of choice, which she calls “Mr. Squishy”…
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Cathy said:
I feel just the same about snails and slugs..double ewww. Love the sound of the book, it would be a BUY from me too.
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Rosie Amber said:
I used to love Dr Doolittle too! The Push-me-pull-you was a favourite. I’d love a copy of this book.
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barbtaub said:
Okay, I admit it. I had a stuffed Push-me-pull-you on my bed.
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Rosie Amber said:
Really? Oh Wow! Photos please.
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Rosie Amber said:
Brilliant!
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barbtaub said:
Here you go! (Not mine, but very close. I found it in a hippy shop in the Haight.)
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Paul said:
It’s 5:18 am here Barb and I’m having my morning coffee and I almost choked and spewed coffee when i read about the snail climbing in the window and then positioning itself and dropping on your daughter’s face during the night. Bwahahaha! She must think you are bonkers- too funny.
We don’t have much in the way of snails – it gets too cold for too many months. The odd time they will inhabit a garden but I’ve never seen one away from its breakfast. Except for in aquariums. I used to have aquariums and snails were the bane of my existence. The little beggars could sneak in with new fish. especially of there was any gravel with the fish and once they inhabit an aquarium they are hell to get out. They do clean algae off the plants and glass but they multiply like crazy and the babies are so tiny they hide in the gravel. The only way to get them out is to drain and completely sterilize the aquarium and all contents and then restart the aquarium.
Anyway, so much for snail talk. When you mentioned the old favorite of Dr. Doolittle, it brought back memories of my favorite book when I was little :The Golden Treasury of Caroline and her Friends. Those puppies are selling for $800-$1000 CDN as collector items now. I loved that book and it was an important part of my young life for many years.
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barbtaub said:
I never saw that one, but I bet you wish you still had your ($800) copy!
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Georgia Rose said:
Against all popular opinion on here I am very fond of snails – it’s a long story that I won’t bore you with but I’m genuinely devastated if I tread on one accidently on my way to the shed at night while putting the dogs out. Now’t so weird as folk – I can hear you saying it! I’m a sucker for old books too so it would be a BUY from me!
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barbtaub said:
Well, since I can’t begin to know how to pronounce “Now’t”, you probably wouldn’t hear me saying anything but ewwwwww.
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coldhandboyack said:
Be nice to snails, I was one for a while.
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barbtaub said:
But you got better!
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coldhandboyack said:
Still feel like I need a calcium supplement.
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tric said:
I love this post. There is so much happening in it and all written so quickly! Well done. What a great book cover you chose.
Congrats on your grandchild to be. Happy days ahead.
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