As a columnist for The People’s Friend, I was asked to contribute to a feature about World Book Day.
The Friend, the world’s longest-running weekly magazine for women, is supporting the National Year of Reading campaign and did I have a favourite children’s book I’d like to share?
My first thought was The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C S Lewis (1950).
The idea of entering new lands through the portal of an ordinary piece of bedroom furniture was pure magic. I’m still convinced Narnia was modelled on my part of Dorset.
Sadly, another contributor had already chosen that book, so I had to come up with another.
As the youngest of five, I had free access to books handed down by my older siblings. My mother also took me to the town library every few weeks, as a reward for visiting an elderly great-aunt who lived in dark rooms behind a shop in the main street.
Enid Blyton’s Tales of Long Ago fuelled my interest in ancient mythology, particularly the Greek stories.
I loved The Hobbit and still have a ragged copy I received for a prize at school speech day. The little person embarking on a perilous journey, triumphing and returning home to the easy comfort of the Shire.
Anything that took me to magic lands, like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll, and The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley (1863). Mrs Do-As-You-Would-Be-Done-By is still, for me, the most influential character in the history of children’s literature.
But, of all the books I’d read as a child, which one inspired me the most?
And then it came to me.
There it was in the glass-fronted cupboard, sitting next to its sequel.
A hardback book called Clover Magic (1955) by Victoria Stevenson and sumptous illustrations by Pauline Baynes, an artist who became well known for her cover illustrations for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and for her map of Middle Earth.
It’s a children’s time travel story in which, with the help of Fairy Queen Titania and a four-leaf clover, two young sisters meet great women of English history, including Boadicea, Elizabeth Fry and Florence Nightingale.
A few years ago, I found a copy of this book online so I snapped it up, along with its sequel, The Magic Footstool.
It’s a book I treasure and, looking at it now, I realise it sparked my interest in history and the role of strong women through the ages.
So, if you had to choose one book from your childhood, which one would it be and why?
Maddie Grigg 