Beyond The Pawpaw Trees: Classic Children's Edition

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Sometimes you just feel it.

Boom, boom. 

The heartbeat of a book. Unmistakable.

But with other books there is no sound.

They tiptoe silently, coming up right behind you, and then they seize your heart without you feeling it.

It is strange how you can fall victim to a good book.

Reading aloud calmly and then, all of a sudden, boom!

You stare for a second, incredulous.

You blink. You look again.

You fell for it.

Yes, it is you now in the book, on the speeding train in the imaginary land.

Smiling and waving back from a passenger car rushing down the tracks to nowhere.
You know something has happened, but the train is moving so fast, the sentences are flying one after the other.

All of a sudden, Anna Lavinia and you are on the train to the end.

You can no longer pull out of the book, it is that involving.

But why?

Simply, there is a special kind of magic in Brown's words. A magic that is only present in effortlessly written books.

Admittedly, our sofa was the same old massive dark blue sofa. The one where we usually sit to read.

My son was sitting on my left side, my daughter on my right side.

But for the first time ever - we were sitting on a runaway train.


Beyond Oz

Seeing is not always believing.
          Martin Luther King, Jr.


Beyond the Pawpaw Trees is an adventure. But it does not feel like an adventure book.

It is a simply a story about a girl and her cat. They are thrust into adventures. 

They find themselves in a virtual hurricane, but in the eye of the hurricane everything remains calm.

This little gem was written back in 1954 by Palmer Brown and published by Harper.

Many reviews I read about it were from a truly devoted fan base who were heart-broken that the book went out of print.

We are talking about a book that is so good that it even saved a marriage.

Whenever I read about a children's book with such a strong impact on readers, I know that we have to savor it.

One simply cannot rob kids of such a gem.

I've been trying to put my finger on it, what is it that makes it so special.

Was it the unforced mood? The surprise plot twists? The magical atmosphere?

Was it the unconventionality? Or maybe its 'lavender blue' mood?

I cannot pinpoint it yet.

What is certain is that Palmer Brown created an adoring story.

Anna Lavinia lives with her mother and a cat named Strawberry in a house surrounded by pawpaw trees and beyond the pawpaw trees was a high brick wall.

Her father - who is chasing rainbows - sends letters promising he will come back and her mother says "Never believe what you see or hear. He will not come".

"Never believe what you see" was her mother's life motto.

Her father's motto was "Believe only what you see".

Anna Lavinia tended to side with her father's view of things.

One day her mom announces that it is time for Anna Lavinia to go and visit her father's sister - Aunt Sophia Maria.

Anna Lavinia was so excited that she stopped eating her oatmeal 
and left the spoon sticking straight up in the dish.

Anna Lavinia goes for her first ever adventure - which starts on a fantastic train trip that leads her to amazing lands where she meets unconventional people and animals.

On lavender blue days like today, Anna Lavinia could not help thinking 
that the world beyond the pawpaw trees and the brick wall 
must be a very wonderful place, full of strange things.

It is the attention to the little details that make this book exceptional.

From Palmer Brown’s beautiful hand drawn illustrations to the minute mood setting elements.

Anna Lavinia was almost certain, though not quite sure, 
that the hedgehog opened one eye and winked at her.

She travels on a vegetable cart to the train station when the vegetable cart driver gives her a silver key that her father had once forgotten several years ago, after hitching a ride in a thunderstorm.

On the train, Anna Lavinia meets a very fat lady with dozens of packages and during their conversation she discovers that Strawberry has decided to follow her as a stowaway in her carpet bag.

The adventure goes completely haywire from here when the fat lady and the train engineer step down from the train.

Map from Beyond The Pawpaw Trees
via NYRB classics A Different Stripe
Anna Lavinia and Strawberry continue the ride on the train completely alone.

They meet a real-life Pasha, go for a ride on a camel, pick up a crazy talking parrot, levitate in the hot winds after jumping off a cliff, climb down a well, carry a strange animal named a thobby, ride into a flying mirage town... and at the end of the adventure Anna Lavinia finds someone who she loves dearly.

This fabulous book - recently reissued in a beautiful hardcover edition by the New York Review Books as part of the NYR children's collection - is an unmissable read-aloud.

If you happen to like it, as I hope you will, you are in luck.

Palmer Brown followed up Beyond the Pawpaw Trees with another book of Anna Lavinia's adventures, which is named The Silver Nutmeg. The NYR Books will also publish The Silver Nutmeg and it is due in April 2012.

By now, you are wondering about Beyond The Pawpaw Trees.

Is it a fairy tale?

A fantasy?

A fantastical adventure?

Is Anna Lavinia a kindred spirit with Alice and Dorothy?

Well, you do not have to take my word for it.

Bella on Books maintains that the answer to all these questions is a resounding Yes.

I love what Bella says: fans of My Father’s Dragon would probably love this book as well, because of its very similar feel.

Well, it did not cross my mind originally - but I see her point.

It is like a more mature version of the adventures in Blueland and with a girl protagonist.

About Beyond the Pawpaw Trees, his first published book, Palmer Brown said: “If it has any moral at all, it is hoped that it will always be a deep secret between the author and those of his readers who still know that believing is seeing.”

I can only add, that you have to read it to believe it.




Beyond the Pawpawtrees is available from bookstores in the US 

Amazon

The Book Depository (free worldwide shipping)

and other countries:

Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Amazon DE







8 comments:

  1. Love the description and the link to the saved marriage (although there was an extra space in the url). I would love to read this to my little ones and was surprised it wasn't at our local library. I'll have to put it on our Amamzon wishlist instead.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Brenna,

    First of all - thanks so much for the tip about the incorrect URL. I corrected it in the text above - congratulations for finding the error and successfully reading the post about a saved marriage.

    I'll include a link (http://craighodgkins.wordpress.com/2007/07/28/how-i-finally-satisfied-my-wife-with-a-lavender-blue-strawberry-choo-choo-train/) here as well, so that readers don't have to scroll through the text to find it if they missed it. 

    Your little ones will certainly enjoy Beyond The Pawpaw Trees - it is a beautiful adventure - I am certain that we will be revisiting it frequently. 

    My daughter is pressuring me to read The Silver Nutmeg now, but we still don't have it - it will be reissued in a couple of months. We can't wait. 

    Thanks so much for your valuable comment and help!

    Read Aloud Dad

    Re: @50a3500ad7a1dc7aaae954fa91439702 

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  3. Oh! I love it when a day starts with a recommendation for a book that I don't know yet! I can't wait to read this one to my girls...

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  4. Thanks Staceylo,

    I certainly hope your girls will love it! 

    Please do share your joint "read-aloud" impressions after you finish the book! I'd love to know!

    Many thanks for your message :-)

    Read Aloud Dad

    Re: Staceylo 

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  5. I'm adding this to the list of books I need to get for my nursery, even if it's not quite baby-appropriate. ;) 

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  6. Hi Heather,

    Thank you so much for leaving this comment - I'm really glad that Beyond the Pawpaw Trees will be part of your nursery library. 

    It is a timeless book, I can see families reading and re-reading it many times. 

    One day, when you read it to your young one ... please do come back and leave a new comment with your impressions! 

    Ooohhh can't wait - like travelling through time!

    Read Aloud Dad

    Re: @956cf37452bdf3edf976a767f0e7c973 

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  7. Thus really sounds like a must have book. I stumbled it.

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  8. Hi Jdaniel4smom,

    Thanks so much for leaving your comment! 

    It is a great read-aloud book indeed, with a fab vocabulary - perfect for reading aloud. 

    Hope you enjoy it!

    Read Aloud Dad

    Re: @b262adaeaa046a5f261775c3bf47fa83  

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