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A review of Milly-Molly-Mandy: Gift Box

by Joyce Lankester Brisley

A nostalgic delight for young and old alike

Reviewed by: Helen Harvey
About Helen Harvey

Milly-Molly-Mandy: Gift Box Once upon a time, a long time ago, in 1925, in fact, when the world was free of television and computer games, and Harry Potter had yet to cast his first spell, there lived a little girl, who, was not always pestering her parents for the latest designer fashions, and generally dressed in, what has become, her trademark red and white, candy-striped dress. This little girl was called Milly Molly Mandy, and her adventures delighted me as a child. I did not just love this character and her adventures, I absolutely adored her.

Thrilled to find Milly Molly Mandy still in print, an indicator in itself as to just how wonderful these stories are, I was reminded, in a trip down memory lane, how much they captured my imagination as a child. The magic here isn't of the wizardly kind, it's more the pure and simple joy of a child in a safe and carefree world.

Milly Molly Mandy lived in a thatched cottage in a sleepy English village, together with her mother, father, grandpa, grandma, uncle, and an aunty. A true family, indeed. The simplicity of tales, such as her toffee-making and dressing-up, are a wonderful reminder of the innocence of bygone childhood, and a great way of imparting just a little social history to 21st century misses.

Joyce Lankester Brisley's timeless tales, will be as fun and captivating in the minds of today's thoroughly modern Millies, as they were back in my childhood days, when the latest trends in toys came no more complex than an Etch-A-Sketch. Illustrated throughout with the author's original black and white line drawings, these stories are, quite simply, enchanting. The version that comes complete with its own cotton rag doll Milly, although with more modern illustrations by Clara Vulliamy, is sure to charm any little girl from 5 to 95 years old!

Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: Milly-Molly-Mandy: Gift Box

Copyright © by Helen Harvey, 2002

Reviewed by Helen Harvey:
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