Round the Mulberry Bush

Being a Book of Stories and Verse for Children from Six to Twelve
Edited by Rose Fyleman

I’m sure this book was a birthday present when I was quite young. It still has the paper cover my mother put on it long long ago. I recently reread some of the 27 stories. Amazingly I remembered them vividly!
“Noisy Nora” by Hugh Lofting is a cautionary tale about a girl who persists in bad eating habits, but some are adventure tales : notably “The Strange Adventures of Captain Marwhopple,” by Fyleman and “Stareek-A Sledge Dog” by Capt. Wilfrid M. Bruce (of the Antartic Expedition).
My favorite now, as long ago, is romantic. . . “Princess Melinda: or, the Good Disguise” by E. K. Woolner. What little girl would not emphathize with a princess who against all odds is reunited with her lover (himself needing rescue from the form of a cat!)
There’s some poetry and some folk-tales within its 192 pages. It is on heavy paper and beautifully illustrated: they just don’t make kids books like this anymore. ( )