Mr. Pudgins

Mr. Pudgins is the type of book you don’t get anymore — which is quite a pity, as magic-imbued books like this, Mary Poppins, or Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle are just as popular with today’s kids as they were when they were first published. The pipe-smoking, roly-poly Mr. Pudgins ushers in all sorts of magical occurrences into the lives of siblings, eldest John, 6-year-old Janey, and 4-year-old Pete: a talking dodo, a marshmallow-loving black bear, children escaped from the mirror, burp-induced canaries (you have to read it!), and plenty more.

A fun book that adults and children alike will love. Special thanks to Two Lions and Nancy Pearl for re-issuing Ruth Christoffer Carlsen’s gem, complete with Meg Bradfield’s charming illustrations.

This is one of the books I loved as a girl, then couldn't remember the name of for many years and wanted so much to read again! One lucky day, I found a beat up copy of it at Goodwill, and was so thrilled! It was as good as I remembered---an older man babysits some children. He is somewhat magical, and they have adventures like flying around in a bathtub and having all the faucets in the house give out different flavors of soda. I always loved the end of the book best, when Mr. Pudgins makes Christmas ornaments from bubbles, each of which have a little scene inside, and one of the scenes tells him that another girl he has cared for is very sick and he needs to go to her. I always wished there was a sequel!