Sunday, October 7, 2007

Miss Pickerell!

I got a blast from the past in from a little throwaway comment in the Style section of today's New York Times. Bergdorf-Goodman in NYC is selling wallets and change purses made from vintage library-bound children's books. (I'm dying for one of these. But they're not cheap.)

"There's a lot of amazing drawings and imagery on old book covers," Ms. Cagle [one of the creators of the line] said, speaking of buckaroos, heroes in tricorn hats, bewigged kings, arkloads of animals and goofy titles like 'Miss Pickerell Goes to Mars.'"

I had completely forgotten about the Miss Pickerell books--and I LOVED them! Miss Pickerell goes out to her pasture to visit her pet cow one day (first reason I liked her) and finds a rocketship (second reason). Somehow, she boards the ship, which is headed to Mars. Science adventure ensues. The first book in the series came out sometime in the 1950s, and when the original author Ellen MacGregor died, Dora Pantell took over (keeping MacGregor's name on the book, however).

There are a bunch of other Miss Pickerell books, including Miss Pickerell on the Moon, Miss Pickerell and the Geiger Counter, and Miss Pickerell Goes Undersea. And although I do not remember this title (I did a little research on Amazon), I felt that Miss Pickerell may have jumped the shark with Miss Pickerell Tackles the Energy Crisis. My heart sank a little when I read that.

I realized that Miss Pickerell is Stella Brite's grandmother.

4 comments:

Speak(er) said...

Miss Pickerell was truly "outstanding in the field" of children's literature. (Sorry, I couldn't resist after seeing her with her cow).

Sara Latta said...

hahaha. By the way, you've been storming through the comments section on my blog--thanks!

Do you remember Miss Pickerell?

Ed said...

I loved the Miss Pickerell books when I was a kid! I couldn't remember any of the titles, just the basic concept, and have been digging around trying to remember them. I came across a hot tip last night and wound up at your blog.

Thanks for helping with memories!

Sara Latta said...

Hi Ed, glad you stopped by! Perhaps we should start a Miss Pickerell fan club.