Jay Williams (1) (1914–1978)

Belladonna, a city witch with a magical talent for making things go, and Foxglove, a country witch with the ability to get things to grow, switch places in this vintage witchy story (published in 1979) by Jay Williams. Each magical practitioner, although happy in her home, and well loved by her friends and neighbors, because of the aid she gives - Belladonna helps with traffic jams, and Foxglove with ailing crops - decides she needs a vacation, and so Belladonna heads to the country, and show more Foxglove to the city. Both witches soon discover that their counterparts are expected to perform tasks not suited to their own specific talents, but step into the breach, regardless, with satisfactory results. In the end, though, there is no place like home...

A witchy remake of the Aesopic fable of The City Mouse and the Country Mouse, and one which reaches the same conclusions, about home and belonging, The City Witch and the Country Witch carries an additional message, about doing the best we can in new and challenging circumstances, and about contributing to the common good, using our own unique talents. I don't know that I absolutely loved the story, or the artwork, but they were engaging enough to keep me entertained, and I certainly preferred this picture-book to the more recent City Witch, Country Switch, which addresses some similar themes. Recommended to readers who enjoy vintage picture-books, and to Jay Williams fans. show less

Princess Bedelia of Arapathia is beautiful, graceful, and practical - so when a dragon moves in and demands a princess to eat, she has a clever solution. She also has a clever solution to avoid marriage to Lord Garp of Istven, and when she's locked in a tower and discovers Prince Perian of Istven, she comes up with a solution for them both to escape (hat tip to Rapunzel).

Drawing on fairy tale traditions but making the princess the hero, this is a delightful story. It's quite text-heavy show more compared to contemporary picture books - this was published in 1969 - but for those with the attention span, it stands the test of time. The illustrations feature detailed pen and ink work and jewel-like colors.

See also: The Paper Bag Princess show less

First sentence: Danny Dunn bent over a strange device that hung from the ceiling of his bedroom, directly over his desk.

Premise/plot: Danny Dunn loves to learn, experiment, invent. He's driven by curiosity. However Danny Dunn and his friends--new and old--don't like doing homework. In this "vintage" children's book Danny programs the Professor's computer [large, bulky, not user-friendly computer] to do their homework. This requires a LOT of programming, a LOT of extra work. He first has to show more teach the computer and then has to teach himself and his friends how to use the computer. Danny is under the belief that he is saving time by using a computer. The adults may be getting amusement out of this realizing that extra homework is what it really is.

My thoughts: This book does not age well....for better or worse. On the one hand, I do think vintage books can give you a glimpse into the past, a time capsule if you will. In this book and in the previous Danny Dunn book I've read, it's a glimpse into how THEY in the 1950s thought the future would look like. The first book I read Danny Dunn was about space and space travel. This one was about computers. It can be amusing to see how those living in the past imagined the future playing out. On the other hand, Danny Dunn's life is so out of place--so dated. I have a hard time imagining kids today reading about this super-ancient "advanced" computer that is "oh so miraculous" and "amazing." The story, the dialogue, the characters don't really age well. As an adult I was amused yet not particularly entertained. show less

I was skeptical because “I’m writing new fairy tales” isn’t always reassuring- like are they going to have the feel of the big ones, without going too heavy on morals and getting kind of dragged down by details. These hit perfectly though - right vibe, good stories, and some practicality and feminism built in. I don’t know if this has been reprinted since 1978, but I hope it has.