A few days ago, Serena (age 9) was reading the start of this; when I asked her if she thought the stories had a moral to them, she came up with "don't do naughty things or you'll get eaten by lions and stuff", and I don't think I could do much better. They're ostensibly cautionary tales for children, but really, with titles like "Jim, Who ran away from his Nurse, and was eaten by a Lion", "Matilda, Who told lies, and was Burned to Death" and, in more bathetic vein, "Franklin Hyde, Who caroused in the Dirt, and was corrected by his Uncle", it's clearly much more likely to appeal to, well, people like me.
You should have heard her Scream and Bawl,
And throw the window up and call
To People passing in the Street --
(The rapidly increasing Heat
Encouraged her to obtain
Their confidence) -- but all in vain!
For every time She shouted "Fire!"
They only answered "Little Liar!"
And therefore when her Aunt returned,
Matilda, and the House, were Burned.
Written by Hilaire Belloc and illustrated more recently by Edward Gorey (though in his usual drawing-room Victorian style), it's an insubstantial but definite treat.
