found out that there is actually a small library at the school. before i could get excited about it - i realised by looking at the half empty shelves that most of the titles could make the day only of a 6 year old living in norwich during the 1950s.
they are all very old volumes - children stories.
"black beauty" stood out as a remarkable and daring title - and i reckon that really says it all!
yet, faced with this odd literature selection... i ended up turning the pages of a rather daunting tome, bearing the title "2ND BOOK OF HEROINES, 1971".
in it, propaganda-like pages put one next to the other the likes of lady jane grey, novelist george sand, maria theresa, charlotte bronte, elizabeth the first, elizabeth fry...etc.
the headings of the chapters are one better than the other - and all sounding extremely matronising.
e.g. -"marie antoinette - SHE LIVED FOOLISHLY, BUT DIED BRAVELY".
mysteriously - the book also dedicates praises and plauses to the following HEROINES:
- sappho (?!)
- shirley temple (...tip tap might be a form of martyrdom, after all)
- the norwegian icea skater sonja henie (well, she married three times...)
- pat smythe and her pony bubbles (...right...)
i think elizabeth the first and mother theresa would approve...
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