Written by the famous UK children's author Enid Blyton and originally published in the 1960s, this collection of short stories is a delightful, insightful introduction to the flora and fauna of the UK, and how rural life was intimately linked with the bounty provided by nature. The stories are short and illustrated with simple line drawings. They are suitable either for reading to very young children or as reading practice for slightly older children.
The protagonist is a mischievous pixie called Pip and readers of all ages will be delighted his escapades and the way he interacts with and uses the natural world around him. In the introductory story, Pip learns to collect glue from the buds of the chestnut
trees to fix a broken sugar basin. Permaculturists will love the emphasis on solving practical problems using natural, locally sourced materials.
This was originally published in two volumes,
The Adventures of Pip and
More Adventures of Pip. Later editions contain all 60 stories in one 184 page volume, with the same title as the first volume. Do be careful if you purchase on older copy that you are getting everything you thought you were paying for. The kindle edition appears to be the full version. Other ones listed on amazon seem to be a bit mixed up, with some illustrations obviously not matching the publishing dates claimed, so extra caution is called for. For that reason, I have provided links only to the kindle versions.
kindle on amazon.com
kindle on amazon.co.uk
Here is a sample story, where Pip needs to find a purse for his Aunt Twinkle and is provided with one by a plant in return for planting the seeds it contains.