Alison Uttley

A Traveller in Time

THE COUNTRY CHILD by ALISON UTTLEY - 1931 - ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- THE Authors thanks are due to the Editor of The Spectator for permission to reprint an episode, 6 Haymakers, in this book, and also to the Oxford University Press for the use of the Wassail Song, from The Oxford Book of Carols. The Authors and Publishersy thanks are due to the original publishers, Messrs. Faber and Faber, Ltd., for permission to reprint the book in this series. CONTENTS I . DARK WOOD . . I1 . WINDYSTONHEA LL . I11 . IDOLS . . . . IV . SCHOO . L . . . V . SERVING-MEN . . V1 . THE CIRCU . S . . V11 . THE SECRE . T . . V111 . TREES . . . . IX . LANTERNLI GHT . . X . MOONLIGH . T . . XI . DECEMBER . . . XI1 . CHRISTMADSA Y . . XI11 . JANUARY . . . XIV . THE EASTERE GG . XV . SPRING . . . . XVI . THE THREE CHAMBERS XVII. THE GARDEN . . XVIII . THE OATCAKME AN . XIX . MOWING-TIME . . XX . THE HARVEST . . XXI . THE WAKE . S . . vii THE COUNTRY CHILD DARK WOOD THE DARK WOOD WAS GREEN AND gold, green where the oak trees stood crowded together with misshapen twisted trunks, red-gold where the great smooth beeches lifted their branching arms to the sky. In between jostled silver birches - olive - tinted fountains which never reached the light-black spruces with little pale candles on each tip, and nut trees smothered to the neck in dense bracken. he bracken was a forest in itself, a curving verdant flood of branches, transparent as water by the path, but thick, heavy, secret a foot or two away, where high ferny crests waved above the softly moving ferns, just as the beech tops flaunted above the rest of the wood. The rabbits which crept quietly in and out reared on their hind legs to see who was going by. They prickedtheir ears and stood erect, and then dropped silently on soft paws and disappeared into the close ranks of brown stems when they saw the child. . She walked along the rough path, casting fearful glances to right and left. She never ran, even in moments of greatest terror, when things seemed very near, for then They would know she was afraid and dose round her. Gossamer stretched across the way from nut bush to bracken frond, and clung to her cold cheeks. Spilt acorns and beech mast Iay thick on the ground, green and brown patterns in the upside-down red leaves which made a carpet. Heavy rains had swept the soil to the lower 1eveIs of the path, and laid bare the rock in many places. On a sandy patch she saw her own footprint, a little square toe and a horse-shoe where the iron heel had sunk. That was in the morning when all was fresh and fair. It cheered her to see the homely mark, and she stayed a moment to look at it, and replace her foot in it, as Robinson Crusoe might have done, A squirrel, rippling along a leafy bough, peered at her, and then, finding her so still, ran down the tree trunk and along the ground. Her step was strangely silent, and a close observer would have seen that she walked only on the soil between the stones of the footpath, stones of the earth itself, which had worn their way through the thin layer of grass. Her eyes and ears were as alert as those of a small wild animal as she slid through the shades in the depths of the wood...

The Country Child

Tales of Little Grey Rabbit

"The story of Penelope, a modern English girl, who transcends time and goes back to the days of Queen Elizabeth I." - H.W. Wilson Co.

A Traveler in Time

A Year in the Country

Little Grey Rabbit

Katherine WIGGLESWORTH

Little Red Fox and the Magic Moon ... Pictures by Katherine Wigglesworth

Helen Cresswell

Susan Dickinson

Margaret Tempest

A Little Grey Rabbit book & tape pack produced especially to complement the TV animation. Narrated by Andrew Sachs. Little Grey Rabbit, Squirrel and Hare live in a cosy little house on the edge of a wood. Grey Rabbit is kept very busy gathering food for her friends and learning how to grow her own vegetables. But when a fierce weasel comes to live in the woods, life becomes very dangerous for all the animals. Grey Rabbit will need all of her quick thinking and bravery if she is to save her friends... AGE 4-8

The Squirrel, the Hare and the Little Grey Rabbit

When a storm brings down the hollow oak where Wise Owl makes his home, Squirrel, Hare, and Grey Rabbit determine to find him another house.

Wise Owl's Story

THE COUNTRY CHILD by ALISON UTTLEY - Originally published in 1931. CONTENTS I . DARK WOOD . . I1 . WINDYSTONHEA LL . I11 . IDOLS . . . . IV . SCHOO . L . . . V . SERVING-MEN . . V1 . THE CIRCU . S . . V11 . THE SECRE . T . . V111 . TREES . . . . IX . LANTERNLI GHT . . X . MOONLIGH . T . . XI . DECEMBER . . . XI1 . CHRISTMADSA Y . . XI11 . JANUARY . . . XIV . THE EASTERE GG . XV . SPRING . . . . XVI . THE THREE CHAMBERS XVII. THE GARDEN . . XVIII . THE OATCAKME AN . XIX . MOWING-TIME . . XX . THE HARVEST . . XXI . THE WAKE . S . . vii THE COUNTRY CHILD DARK WOOD THE DARK WOOD WAS GREEN AND gold, green where the oak trees stood crowded together with misshapen twisted trunks, red-gold where the great smooth beeches lifted their branching arms to the sky. In between jostled silver birches - olive - tinted fountains which never reached the light-black spruces with little pale candles on each tip, and nut trees smothered to the neck in dense bracken. he bracken was a forest in itself, a curving verdant flood of branches, transparent as water by the path, but thick, heavy, secret a foot or two away, where high ferny crests waved above the softly moving ferns, just as the beech tops flaunted above the rest of the wood. The rabbits which crept quietly in and out reared on their hind legs to see who was going by. They pricked their ears and stood erect, and then dropped silently on soft paws and disappeared into the close ranks of brown stems when they saw the child. . She walked along the rough path, casting fearful glances to right and left. She never ran, even in moments of greatest terror, when things seemed very near, for then They would know she was afraid and dose round her. Gossamer stretched across the way from nut bush to bracken frond, and clung to her cold cheeks. Spilt acorns and beech mast Iay thick on the ground, green and brown patterns in the upside-down red leaves which made a carpet. Heavy rains had swept the soil to the lower 1eveIs of the path, and laid bare the rock in many places. On a sandy patch she saw her own footprint, a little square toe and a horse-shoe where the iron heel had sunk. That was in the morning when all was fresh and fair. It cheered her to see the homely mark, and she stayed a moment to look at it, and replace her foot in it, as Robinson Crusoe might have done, A squirrel, rippling along a leafy bough, peered at her, and then, finding her so still, ran down the tree trunk and along the ground. Her step was strangely silent, and a close observer would have seen that she walked only on the soil between the stones of the footpath, stones of the earth itself, which had worn their way through the thin layer of grass. Her eyes and ears were as alert as those of a small wild animal as she slid through the shades in the depths of the wood...

Sam Pig, who enjoys music, unexpectedly meets a real hurdy-gurdy man.

Sam Pig and the Hurdy-gurdy Man

Phyllis Bray

Penelope Taberner Cameron is a solitary and a sickly child, a reader and a dreamer. Her mother, indeed, is of the opinion that the girl has grown all too attached to the products of her imagination and decides to send her away from London for a restorative dose of fresh country air. But staying at Thackers, in remote Derbyshire, Penelope is soon caught up in a new mystery, as she finds herself transported at unforeseeable intervals back and forth from modern to Elizabethan times. There she becomes part of a remarkable family that is, Penelope realizes, in terrible danger as they plot to free Mary, Queen of Scots, from the prison in which Queen Elizabeth has confined her. Penelope knows the tragic end that awaits the Scottish queen, but she can neither change the course of events nor persuade her new family of the hopelessness of their cause, which love, loyalty, and justice all compel them to embrace. Caught between present and past, Penelope is ever more torn by questions of freedom and fate. To travel in time, she discovers, is to be very much alone. And yet the slow recurrent rhythms of the natural world, beautifully captured by Alison Uttley, also speak of a greater ongoing life that transcends the passage of the years.

After the animals return from a fun day on the ice, they find an unwelcome visitor tucked up in Squirrel's bed: Rat! And so they decide to teach him a lesson that gets him into a bit of a twist...

Squirrel Goes Skating

Little Grey Rabbit is one of the classic gems of children's literature. The series is being relaunched to tie in with a classic television adaptation, and will delight children as much today as when it was first published seventy years ago. Little Grey Rabbit lives with Squirrel and Hare in a little house on the edge of a wood. One day, Moldy Warp the Mole finds a tiny piece of stone with a golden eye painted on it. He loves nothing more than a good treasure hunt, so off he sets to find the rest of the stone picture it must come from. Along the way he is joined by all his woodland friends. They wait for him in a meadow, while Moldy Warp digs deep below the ground. He finds Badger's secret home -- and a treasure trove AGE 4-8

Moldy Warp the Mole

Tales of Little Brown Mouse

The Alison Uttley Literary Property Trust and the Trustees of the Estate of the Late Margaret Mary

Little Grey Rabbit lives with Squirrel and Hare in a little house on the edge of a wood. It's going to be Grey Rabbit's birthday on Midsummer Day, and Squirrel and Hare are planning a wonderful surprise for her. They've invited all their woodland friends to a birthday party, and are making a birthday cake, all by themselves! But they are keeping it a secret from poor Grey Rabbit, who feels very left out. She'll just have to wait and see - AGES: 3+ years AUTHOR: Alison Uttley (1884-1976) grew up at Castle Top Farm in Derbyshire and her passion for the countryside comes across vividly in the timeless Little Grey Rabbit Stories, the first of which were published over eighty years ago. Margaret Tempest (1892-1982) illustrated these classic tales with sensitivity, warmth, wit and a true understanding of the English countryside where they are set. Her partnership with Uttley lasted for forty years. SELLING POINTS: * A brand new edition of the classic Little Grey Rabbit hardback * A story about the popular childhood theme of birthdays, so a great birthday gift * The next instalment of the successful rerelease of the Little Grey Rabbit Hardbacks which started in 2013 Illustrated

Little Grey Rabbit's Birthday

The Little Red Fox Book

Little Red Fox: Little red fox and the wicked uncle.-Pt.2. Little red fox and the magic moon

Down in the dell, behind a curtain of foxgloves, lives a family of crafty w easels. They steal from all the little animals as they walk by; Speckledy Hen's eggs, Moldy Warp's axe... One day, as Little Grey Rabbit bravely hurries past the w easels' haunt, they jump out and snatch her away. "We've been waiting for you," the weasels say, "we want somebody to bake and wash and clean." Now it is up to her woodland friends to save Little Grey Rabbit and finally teach those weasels a lesson!

Alison Uttley

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