BOOK REVIEWS ~ "Postman Pat and the Surprise Breakfast ~ By: John Cunliffe

Poor Postman Pat!

In "Postman Pat and the Surprise Breakfast," this hard-working letter carrier has a rough start to the day. It's "half-term" and Pat has to make his own breakfast, since his wife and son are enjoying the school holiday and sleeping in.

Pat knocks the glass milk bottle off the counter.  Of course it shatters on the floor.  While he is busy cleaning up the mess, Pat smells something burning.  It's the last two pieces of bread in the house, that he's just put on to toast.  And he can't even have a cup of tea because he forgot to fill the electric kettle with water before he turned it on.  It got red hot and then the fuse blew in the small appliance.  Jess, the cat, is sympathetic to Pat's plight and kindly offers him a dead mouse for his breakfast.  While appreciative, Pat declines the offer!

Pat is so hungry that he stops to eat some blackberries he spies growing "along the hedges."  He proclaims them to be delicious, before heading to the Post Office to pick up the letters for delivery.

Things start looking up when Mrs. Goggins offers him a cup of tea and a biscuit.  Pat gladly accepts the sustenance.

From there, Pat's first stop is at Greendale Farm.  Mrs. Pottage offers Pat "some fresh cream with a scone."  "I'd love it," said Pat, and "Jess had some too."

Time is not of the essence for Postman Pat as when he arrives at Thompson Ground, Dorothy is "just getting a batch of biscuits out of the oven."  She tells Pat to help himself and pours him a cup of coffee.

Miss Hubbard's house is the next stop.  She serves the Postman a champagne glass of blackcurrant cordial.  " 'Superb!' said Pat.  'I am feeling better and better.' "

But the gastronomic extravaganza is not over yet!  Ted Glen is making ice-cream.  He serves Pat and Jess with big bowls of ice-cream and fresh strawberries.

When the day's work is over, Pat arrives home. 

" 'Whatever happened at breakfast-time?' asked Sara. 'I never saw such a mess.' "

" 'It was one accident after another,' said Pat, 'and we had to rush out without any breakfast.' "  

This evokes much sympathy from his devoted spouse.  " 'Poor Pat and Jess,' said Sara, 'you must be starving.  Never mind.  We went shopping, so we can have a really nice dinner.' "

" 'We're not exactly starving,' said Pat, 'but we'll enjoy a good dinner, won't we Jess?' "

Jess doesn't "let the cat out of the bag" and Sara is oblivious to the fact that her husband may be verging on committing the sin of gluttony!.

Both Alisdair and Isobel were amused by this tale and all the interesting food stuffs that Pat was served.  The book even inspired Alisdair and I to try making our own scones with a recipe we found in a British cookery book from the library.  But that's another post . . .  

BOOK REVIEWS ~ Postman Pat and the Frog Pie Dinner ~ By: John Cunliffe

It's "April Fool's Day" but Postman Pat is so busy, delivering the mail, he doesn't realize the date.  He meets Peter Fogg and he tells poor Pat a tale about seeing "flying frogs."

Pat is astonished at the thought of a "flying frog" and says:

"Flying frogs?  Is that right?  My goodness!"

Peter responds with a British turn-of-phrase ~ "Well, keep your eyes SKINNED," said Peter.  "They do say a whole flock flew over the church this morning, and I do believe they're very good at it." [See discussion of this phrase below.]

Pat leaves Peter and heads over to "Greendale Farm" where he tells Mrs. Pottage "all about the flying-frogs."  She laughs and clues Pat in on the joke.  "He caught you out properly, didn't he?" she tells the oblivious Postman.  "He certainly did," said Pat, agreeing.

Just then the twins (Katy and Tom) run in.  Luckily, Pat has the presence of mind to foil their own April Fool's Day prank, when they tell him "there's a spider on your nose!"

That evening, Pat tells his wife, Sara and son Julian, "all about Peter's April Fool joke."

"I know what we can do," said Sara.  "Peter's bringing a load of logs tomorrow.  Let's ask him if he'd like to stay for a spot of dinner.  I'll make a mushroom-pie, and we'll tell him it's a frog-pie!"

"What a good idea," said Pat.

"Then the joke will be on him," said Julian.

"And we'll tell him, later, that it's only mushrooms," said Pat.

"So that he can enjoy his dinner," said Sara.

Saturday dawns.  The mushroom pie is baked and Peter Fogg arrives with the logs.  

When they were all unloaded, Pat said, "We have a special treat for dinner."

Peter guesses "steak and kidney pud" might be on the menu (as it is his favourite!)"

At that point, Sara tells Peter:

"No.  It's a special treat.  Flying-frog pie.."

 Poor Peter can't believe his ears and says, "Frog-pie?  Well ... I don't feel very hungry..."

Sara slices up the mushroom pie.  "Do have a piece," she said.  "It's delicious!"

Peter sits and watches "them all eating the pie.  He still doesn't eat his share."

"Shall we tell him?" said Julian.

"Yes," said Pat.

"It's Mushroom Pie," said Sara.

"Mushroom?"

"Yes!"

"Oh!"  Peter began to laugh.  "I LOVE Mushroom Pie!"

When he had eaten it up, he said,"Well the joke was on me!  It was a lovely pie!"

"Better than a frog-pie?" said Pat.

"Much better," said Peter.

... and everyone is happy (except for Jess ~ the black-and white cat ~ who dreams of eating a special mouse pie treat!)

***

 

Alisdair and I were inspired by this book ~ so we went to the grocery store and got some ready-made pastry and a huge bag of mushrooms ~ and made our own "Mushroom Pie" ~ but that's another blog post!

***

Q From Mark Kleiman: Can you enlighten me on the origin of the expression keep your eyes peeled or pealed?

A It’s spelt peeled, as in peeling an apple. It derives from an old verb pill, “to plunder”, which is the root of our modern word pillage. It came to us from the Latin root pilare, meaning “to take the hair off, pluck” (closely connected with our depilate), but which also had the figurative meaning of “plunder, cheat”, almost exactly the same as the figurative meaning of our modern verbs fleece or pluck. From about the 17th century on, pill was commonly spelt peel and took on the sense of “to remove or strip” in the weakened sense of removing an outer covering, such as a fruit. The figurative sense of keeping alert, by removing any covering of the eye that might impede vision, seems to have appeared in the US about 1850.

World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion, 1996–2011. All rights reserved.

BOOK REVIEWS ~ Postman Pat and the Goat's Supper ~ By: John Cunliffe

There are few things Alisdair and Isobel like better than a Postman Pat story!  Perhaps it is their British heritage coming out, I don't know!

There aren't many Postman Pat books available here, but we were lucky enough to obtain a couple in a recent inter-library loan shipment.  One of these was "Postman Pat and the Goat's Supper."

Pat delivers an unusual "big, soft, squishy parcel" to Miss Hubbard.  She asks Pat to "have a cup of coffee" while she opens it.  Inside is a "lovely blue jumper [sweater]."  It fits perfectly.

"What a kind cousin," said Pat.  "Does she knit things for men?" (Obviously hinting he would like a new jumper, too!)

Pat goes on his way and forgets about the jumper until he sees it on the washing line one evening, when he is returning home from work.  But since there isn't any wind, Pat assumes it will be fine.  But Alf's goat has other ideas!

"No-one saw it jump over the wall, looking for something to eat for its supper.  Its bright eyes spotted the jumper, and it trotted over to see what it was.  Then it did what some goats will do.  It tugged and it nibbled ... and chewed at it ... and ate a great chunk out of the sleeve."

Of course Miss Hubbard is very upset when she discovered the "hole in the hedge, and then saw the hole in her new jumper!"  After all, it was her favourite.  Pat suggests Miss Hubbard writes to her cousin "Nellie in Nelson" to ask her to knit another sleeve to replace the one that was damaged.

But, "before the end of the week, there was a postcard from Nellie."  Obviously there are no privacy restrictions surrounding the Royal Mail, at least not the cards and letters that are delivered in Greendale, as Postman Pat reads the card aloud to Miss Hubbard, before she even gets a chance to look at it!

"It's not good news ... She says she has no more wool of that colour."

"Oh, deary me, it's just what I feared,"

"Don't take on," said Pat.  "I'll keep a look out."

And Pat is true to his word.  He ties a strand of the yarn around his steering-wheel and does not rest until he casually observes Granny Dryden knitting a blue scarf for Ted Glen.

"The very same colour!" said Pat, running to get the wool from his van.  It was a perfect match."

Our favourite line in the book comes when Pat asks Granny Dryden, "Can you knit sleeves?"

She responds to his query, declaring, "I was knitting sleeves before you were born!"  (On subsequent readings, both children tried to deliver that line before I could read it out loud!)

Apparently Granny Dryden has a whole cupboard full of the exact shade of blue wool, and she kindly knits a new sleeve for Miss Hubbard's jumper.  Miss Hubbard has learned her lesson and never leaves it hanging outside to dry overnight.

And Alf mends the fence and the goat "had to make do with oats and grass for its supper after that!"

A delightful British tale!  However, even Postman Pat cannot inspire me to begin knitting again.  (I haven't attempted to do so for many years.)  I'll leave that task to Cousin Nellie and Granny Dryden!