A step back in time (The Peppermint Pig - Nina Bawden)

Member Name: Karenwilson

Product:	The Peppermint Pig - Nina Bawden
Date:	23/09/01 (571 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Different

Disadvantages: ?

Many a time I picked this book up in the school library and took it home to read. Unfortunately I never gave myself the time to sit and read it. You see boys were the trouble then, I was much too busy chasing after them!!

I finally decided to buy this book recently as it never stood a chance in my younger days and I am pleased to say it was a good buy.

The book is obviously targeted for school children and the great start shows this by describing how Old Granny Greengrass had her finger chopped off in the butcher’s shop. Being a tough old bird she never complained fled the shop and sued like they would nowadays she just casually said “I could never make up my mind and stick to it Mr Grummett, that’s always been the trouble”.

Emily Greengrass tells this story and many other good ones to her bloody thirsty children, George, Lily, Theo and Polly.

The book is a step back in time going back a hundred years or more, which really made a pleasant change to read. The story follows Emily and James Greengrass and their four children. They lived in London and their father worked as a coach maker and would bring home gold leaf shavings for the children. They had a good life in London until one day their father got the sack from his job. The children thought it was because he had always brought home gold. The real reason was he confessed to stealing items from his work when in fact he did not but could not bring it to the attention of his boss that it was his one and only son who was stealing from his own father. So he took the blame so as not to upset his boss, as he always liked the old man.

With James Greengrass out of work he then decided to make his fortune in America and move in with his Uncle and in time the idea was that the whole family would join him. They sold most of their possessions to pay for him to go there and the rest of the family moved to Norfolk to live with Emily’s sisters A
unt Harriet and Aunt Sarah.

The children were obviously unsettled and even the younger children realised that money was tight and they were living off the charity of their aunts. Their mother was the most reliable presence in the children’s lives. Emily was obviously hurt by her husband’s decision to go off to America but wanted him to live his dream. Luckily for him he had such an understanding and responsible wife. To earn some money she took up dressmaking from home and was known for her good work. The children settled into their schools with some battles and illnesses along the way.

Their mother bought a peppermint pig from the milkman for a shilling and they called him Johnnie. Polly adored the pig and he followed the family everywhere they went and after a while you end up bonding with the pig as well, almost forgetting what era the book was in. Obviously I cannot tell you what happened to the pig you will have to read it for yourself.

I really enjoyed reading the way the family lived and the smallest pleasures that seemed to please.

Eventually after a year James Greengrass finally comes to join them in Norfolk after it becomes clear that he did not make his fortune there after all. The last page in the book describes just how little he knew what had happened to the children whilst he went around doing what he had always wanted. Polly was talking about Johnnie the pig when he replies “My darling, who’s Johnnie?

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