A garden of Lilies by Prudence A Goodchild

A Garden of Lilies Improving tales for Young Minds

by Prudence A. Goodchild

from the World of Stella Montgomery by Judith Rossell

This book is not for the faint-hearted.  Every child inside this book suffers a terrible fate for their 'disobedience' of rules such as :

Modesty should be your aim,
Or you will surely come to shame.

Curiosity killed the cat,
And you as well. Be sure of that.

Be neat and tidy, clean and trim,
Or your ending will be rather grim.

In Withering by Sea we meet Stella and in the sequel little Stella she is forced to spend her time reading "A Garden of Lilies Improving tales for young mind."  Poor Stella this is such a miserable book and reading it must have made her feel such despair but luckily it will have you (the modern child, teacher or parent) rolling with laughter.  Read this review.

I am so pleased to see this inventive book on the CBCA Notables list for 2018.  Even if it doesn't make the short list of six, teachers could have such fun exploring these imaginative cautionary tales and using this format as a writing idea. This is a little book to treasure and share.

Colour plates by Judith Rossell will add to your enjoyment along with the embossed cover, scrumptious end papers and little ribbon book mark.  I also enjoyed vocabulary on the language of flowers page - haughtiness, fidelity, amiability, malevolence and consolation and the A to Z arrangement of moral stories featuring Agnes, Beatrice, Cornelius and Drusilla through to Tilly, Ursula, Victoria, Yaxley and Zenobia.

Here is some of the wise advice found on the final pages:

Never meddle with gunpowder by candlelight.
Endeavour to  acquire the power of swimming in case of shipwreck.
Do not sleep out of doors, particularly if it is snowing.

Here is a set of teachers notes for Withering by Sea.