Review: How the Heather Looks

Here's my second book review for my challenge this year. For the 20th century classic, I read How the Heather Looks by Joan Bodger. An American family steeped in British literature takes a trip to Britain to find the settings from their favorite classics. The Bodger family goes about this is a different way than I expected. Mr. Bodger is a historian and Mrs. Bodger a literary literalist (how's that for a tongue-twister). They expect to find actually places that correspond to illustrations and descriptions in their storybooks.

Although I consider myself to be well read, there were some books with which I was unfamiliar. Caldecott (yes, the Caldecott of the picture book award) illustrated nursery rhymes and tales were not a big part of my childhood. I had never heard of another mentioned illustrator. These chapters of the book were a little tedious for me, as the family searched for specific landscapes and townscapes with which I was unfamiliar. Some sweet anecdotes of two-year old Lucy and escapades of nine-year old Ian kept my attention.

Even those stories mentioned in the book that I do know and love, I would not have considered trying to find the exact place described. I would have been happy to see a Yorkshire moor and know that it was a place like this where Mary Lennox of Secret Garden played. I would have been content to paddle along the Thames River, believing that Toad Hall and Water Rat's home were nearby without spending days searching for the actual whereabouts. Searching for King Arthur and exploring some storied places traditionally associated with him were highlights of the book for me.

Overall, I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. I could not relate to the family's preoccupation with precise locations. The more you know about the stories for which Mrs. Bodger and her family were searching, the more you will enjoy this book. Maybe you can find a list online, so you can read or re-read them before reading this. If you do enjoy, or have enjoyed as a child, British literature, you will find this book worth a read.