Stella & Rose's Books

Great excitement in Nutwood! Saturday August 26th 2006 was the date of the 23rd annual meeting of the Followers of Rupert Bear.

Hundreds of Rupert Followers met in Warwick to chat about Rupert, browse and buy thousands of Ruperty items and to enjoy company of other like-minded Rupert fans. 

This year we saw ownership of Rupert transferred from the Express Newspapers to a company called Entertainment Rights and rumours were rife that Rupert would be changed forever from the character we know and love so well to a cartoon character similar to Disney's Winnie-The-Pooh.

Nardis Roscoe, representing Rupert's new owners, gave an excellent talk and reassured us that New Rupert, like Disney's Pooh, is aimed at pre-school children and that Classic Rupert, like Classic Pooh, is safe - and aimed at older children and adults.

(Published 20th Apr 2016) Read full article

The Bard slept soundly in his graveBut saw in dream a friendly wave

What can that be that comes this wayHe says to wife Anne Hathaway

Legs cross gartered yelleeowThat must be Malvolio

The Bard was wrong despite his stareWhom did he see – twas Rupert Bear.

Warwick Castle glowers downOn to its charming little town

It's menace lifts when it does hearRupert and Friends are drawing near

The stony keep all sad and coldSees all the Followers, young and old

And just once a year within it's ruleSees jolly friends at Warwick School.

The Avon glides slow on its wayIt counts its Swans each and every day

When August comes its sums are wrongThere's one more Swan that's come along

(Published 20th Apr 2016) Read full article

Having recently come to know more about Ladybird books in general, I have been amazed at the great interest still shown in Series 561 - 'Adventures From History'.

There appears to be a variety of reasons why this series in particular continues to be so very popular today. Many people still like to collect each title as part of their full Ladybird books collection. Sometimes parents will come and buy copies for their children if, perhaps, they are doing a school project on a specific character from history. Others just prefer the simple but informative style that Ladybirds use, so that they can learn about different periods of history quickly and easily.

With fifty titles in the series all told, Adventures From History is the biggest series that Ladybird produced between 1940 and 1981. The first title, 'King Alfred The Great', was published with a dustwrapper in 1956 and the last title, 'William Shakespeare', was published some twenty-four years later in 1981.

(Published 6th Apr 2016) Read full article

With our big stock of Ladybird Books that come through Stella and Rose's Books, we often see which titles are most popular by how long they stay on our shelves.

A title that appears to not stay on our shelves very long is that of 'Tootles The Taxi and Other Rhymes' written by Joyce B. Clegg and illustrated by John Kenney. This being the case, I wondered why this book was so popular and sat down to read it myself.

With the title, which I always refer to as 'Tootles', you could be led to believe that the book is mostly about a taxi by that name (well, that is what I thought anyway). To my surprise the rest of the title 'And Other Rhymes' describes the book more accurately. 'Tootles' is just the first rhyme in the book, with every subsequent page having a different vehicle and corresponding rhyme.

(Published 6th Apr 2016) Read full article

View current stock of Laydbird Nature Series 536

With many rhyming stories and fictional tales in their repertoire, Ladybird Books started adding educational titles to their ever expanding series of books for children.

Included among these educational titles are the four 'What to Look For' books in the 536 (Nature) series. These titles see the pairing of experienced biologist and writer Elliot Lovegood Grant Watson and famous illustrator Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe. The series explores all four seasons, and the changes and exciting events that could be observed during each season.

First to be published was 'What to look for in Winter' in 1959, followed by 'What to look for in Summer' and 'What to look for in Autumn' in 1960 and finally 'What to look for in Spring' in 1961.

(Published 6th Apr 2016) Read full article

The other day, I was handed some new Ladybird books that had come into our possession and was thrilled to see five of the six titles in 'The Adventures of Wonk' series.

This series, number 417, was the third series undertaken by Wills and Hepworth in their now familiar small Ladybird format. The books were all written by Muriel Levy ('Auntie Muriel of Radio fame' as it states on the title pages - see below right) and illustrated with beautiful and vivid full colour pictures by Kiddell-Monroe. Wills and Hepworth published them between 1941 and 1948.

Each title recounts the everyday adventures of Wonk, a sleepy, loveable Koala character, and his best friend, a young boy named Peter.

(Published 5th Apr 2016) Read full article

2015 marked the 150th anniversary of the original publication of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

A year of events to celebrate all things related to Alice have seen some wonderfully inspired activities, plenty of opportunities to take tea with a Mad Hatter, and our own Rose's Books at Hay-on-Wye have had a splendid window display with the kind assistance of Mr. Wakeling.

Partners Chris & Cliff, now enjoying their retirement in Portugal, have sent us details of the story covered in the Portuguese press!

 

 

(Published 24th Mar 2016) Read full article

Why rodents in children's books you may ask?

Simple answer - my husband and I are the proud owners of four beautiful dumbo-eared rats. We got our four girls ('does') back in March 2015.

After much deliberation (which pets should we get - cats? rabbits? hamster? rats?), we decided on rats. So we researched cages, food and all necessary equipment. When all this was purchased and set up, we had another choice to make: boys or girls? After much changing of our minds (we'll definitely have boys – two – called Caspian and Reepicheep – so we thought!), finally we decided on girls as they were just so pretty. We picked them up from a breeder not too far away from us and set about getting to know their individual characters.

(Published 1st Mar 2016) Read full article

In 1946 my family bought their first jeep – a Willys with a civilian registration DJY 201. 70 years later I still own and drive that jeep.

Above: Cliff in the jeep in 1956.

About 8 million horses died during World War One, they were used for transporting men, materials and guns. In World War Two the US Army needed a replacement for the horse and in early 1940 the US Army issued a specification. The Bantam Car Company and Willys-Overland were the only two companies that responded to the Army's call, although over 130 companies had been invited to respond. They had been given a 49-day deadline and Willys-Overland asked for more time to finish their vehicle.

(Published 12th Jan 2016) Read full article

Or, for those of you who enjoyed my previous article about our garden visitors, here are “More Garden Visitors” to our garden here in Portugal. Cliff and I have been settled here for a year now and continue to be amazed at the abundance and variety of wildlife we see right outside our back door. Mind you, we have to look very closely on occasions to see the beauty, or some would say peculiarities, of the little creatures that frequent our flowers and the nooks and crannies in the stone walls. Here are some we found particularly fascinating.

(Published 30th Dec 2015) Read full article

We have been fortunate in my part of the world (Hay-on-Wye, UK) to have enjoyed a glorious Autumn. The colours of the leaves as they have turned have been stunning – and the weather has been mild with some sunny days which have added to the beauty. The season is now turning to Winter. I know this is not a favourite season for many but I quite like Winter. Well actually, what I like is seasons to be seasons! So there should be a gradual warming with new plant growth and lambs in the fields in Spring, warmth and lazy sunny days in Summer, glorious colours in Autumn, with a gradual cooling towards Winter which should be cold, crisp and with snow on the hills!

(Published 24th Nov 2015) Read full article

After reading other Enid Blyton titles (mostly Secret Seven and Famous Five), I discovered in my local library another series penned by Blyton - the Adventure Series. To me the titles in this series felt more grown-up and exciting than the other books I'd read by Blyton and they quickly became my favourites (with perhaps the exception of 'The Secret of Spiggy Holes' - my favourite Blyton title of all time!).

As with other Blyton books you have a group of central characters and in this series they are Philip and his sister Dinah, together with orphaned brother and sister, Jack and timid Lucy-Ann. Philip is an animal lover and no animal seems to dislike him. Dinah, his sister is adventurous and in total contrast to Lucy-Ann, whom you feel would rather not get into these dangerous adventures, but would opt for a quieter time if she didn't always want to be so close to her beloved brother, Jack! Jack is bird mad, and his quest to go bird watching contributes to some of their adventures. An example of this is in 'The Castle of Adventure' - Jack wants to watch some eagles and when he decides to stay overnight he realizes that he is not alone in the castle! Last but not least, who can forget Kiki, Jack's 'scarlet and grey', very talkative parrot?

(Published 15th Nov 2015) Read full article

It was that time of year again... the last Saturday of August (Bank Holiday weekend) and The Followers of Rupert AGM. Every year, Stella & Rose's Books make a pilgrimage to Warwick with all our Rupert stock in tow. This year was no exception.

What was different this year, is that it was my first time (believe it or not in the almost 20 years that we have been a part of this event) that I went along with Maria and her husband, Steve. Usually, the group would include Maria, Steve (Maria's husband and fellow Follower), Chris & Cliff. However, Chris & Cliff are now people of leisure living it up in Portugal and so I was roped in!

(Published 1st Nov 2015) Read full article

MOLLY BRETT (born: Mary Elizabeth Brett)

The daughter of the noted animal painter Mary Gould Brett, Molly was born in 1912 and brought up in a country district of Surrey. She had little formal training but after taking a correspondence course she started illustrating and writing children's books.

She wrote and illustrated more than sixteen books for the Medici Society and illustrated many other books,however, here we are most interested in the books she illustrated for Enid Blyton. There are thirteen in total, all published by Brockhampton press between 1951 and 1961.

(Published 30th Oct 2015) Read full article

As this was my 1st Enid Blyton Day, I had been anticipating it for some time. To increase my knowledge of our stock for weeks I had been cataloguing and pricing any Enid Bylton books which were sitting in our store room. There was also great excitement as this website was being built all with the 12th of May in mind as a launch day. At times it was touch and go to see if everything was going to be ready in time, thankful everybody pulled together and Stella and Rose's Books were ready for the fair 1 only week early, which is most unusual.

On the 11th May, the difficult decisions are made, which books do we take and which books do we leave in the shop. Thankful as I had a day off I could escape these difficult decisions and the boxes of books were packed up by my colleagues. With everything packed ready to go the next day, all that was needed was a good nights sleep.

(Published 30th Oct 2015) Read full article

Stella & Roses Books were delighted to participate in the Enid Blyton’s Society Day meeting at Twyford, UK on 7th May.

Above, left to right: Stella and Roses Books Stand; Settling down for the 1st talk of the day; Enid Blyton's daughter, Gillian, at our stand.

The aim of the Society, which was formed in early 1995, is to provide a focal point for collectors and enthusiasts of Enid Blyton through its magazine The Enid Blyton Society Journal, issued three times a year, its annual Enid Blyton Day and its website. (www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk).

Around 100 enthusiasts, including Enid’s two daughters Imogen & Gillian, spent the day gossiping (sorry I think networking is the word), browsing the Enid Blyton items for sale and listening to a talk on the early years of Enid Blyton as a governess in Hook in the 1920’s by Mark Davison. The talk was based on material from Mark’s book ‘Hook Remembered’ (mark.davison@virgin.net).

(Published 30th Oct 2015) Read full article

The Secret Seven series of 15 books, by prolific author Enid Blyton, follows the adventures of a strictly secret society made up of 7 children, who like to solve mysteries that they happen upon, or actively go looking for!

The History:

Although many may think, like I did before doing this research, that The Secret Seven - the first title in this series - is the first time we are introduced to the seven, this is not the case. In 1947, At Seaside Cottage a small volume was published by Brockhampton Press and featured the main characters of Peter and Janet, with their golden spaniel, Scamper. A year later in 1948, Secret of the Old Mill was published, in which Peter and Janet, after reading a book called The Secret Society, decide to create a secret society of their own, using the old mill on a hill near their home as a meeting place. They invite five of their friends to join them, and so The Secret Seven are born.

(Published 30th Oct 2015) Read full article

"Most people love butterflies and hate moths," he said. "But moths are more interesting - more engaging.” Thomas Harris, The Silence of the Lambs

One of the wonders of grand-children (and they are so many that I have neither the time nor talent to do them justice) is that they can take our imagination by the hand and lead us down paths of curiosity we haven’t known since we were young ourselves.

“What are moths, Pompar?” A simple enough question from a six year old but, just as the attention of the bee stimulates a flower to offer nectar, suddenly my childhood fascination with these mysterious creatures of the night sky came flooding back. Luckily, it was late August and Isaac was staying with us for a while over the holidays. Here was a golden opportunity for Isaac and I to do something together.

(Published 16th Oct 2015) Read full article

Stella & Rose's Books were delighted to attend the 21st annual meeting of Biggles & Co - a group of enthusiasts who meet to celebrate the life and works of Captain W.E. Johns. 

The event, held this year on Saturday 17th April 2010 at Lodden Hall, Twyford, is a wonderful opportunity for those who enjoy these books to get together and chat about Biggles, Gimlet, Worrals and all their chums... There is also a large number of quality books and artwork to browse and buy - a great chance to fill gaps in even the most comprehensive collection!

After arriving around 9am there was an hour to set up our stall and display all those Biggles books which we had carefully transported from our two shops. All went smoothly and, after a final check to ensure that Biggles was sufficiently presentable to meet his adoring public, the doors opened and the real business of the day started - meeting old & new friends, and exchanging views on our favourite literary hero.

(Published 16th Oct 2015) Read full article