SKH on Goodreads

This week is carnival week in Brazil and we had a big holiday. I used some of my time to apply for librarian status on Goodreads and it was granted. There wasn't all that much about Jane Shaw on the site beyond the Susan books and one or two other titles, so I set to and added all the Penny books, Venture to South Africa, the Dizzy and Alison stories and a lot of reviews and comments. The works. So now Jane Shaw's page on Goodreads has been beefed up. I wrote a new review for Susan's Kind Heart as well:

When Aunt Lucy receives Susan and Midge's dreadful report cards and sees that their French marks have dropped to an all-time low, she decides to "punish" them by sending them off to Brittany for the summer. The traditional Jane Shaw mixt of adventure, hearty meals, smuggling, ghosts and treasure keep the girls busy throughout their time in St. Close on the coast of Brittany. And of course, they don't learn much French. St. Clos is a thinly disguised Binic, Jane Shaw's beloved haven in Brittany, which had already been the setting for Breton Adventure (1939), The Moochers Abroad (1951) and Twopence Coloured (1954). As all the author's other heroines had visited Binic, in 1965 it was time for Susan to venture to the sands across the sea. Like all of Jane Shaw's books, this one is tightly plotted and entertaining. Susan's Kind Heart is the 9th book in a series of eleven, all of which were of very high quality. This book is a must for all Jane Shaw enthusiasts.

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/534885599

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/305257.Jane_Shaw

Threepenny Bit frontispiece

A nice cleaned up scan of the frontispiece to Threepenny Bit, showing the shop opened by the le Rouxs.

Quote of the Day

"Och, I'm not going to spend your old five pounds," said Susan, "but we could get five pounds' worth of pennies and go through them quietly at home for the important dates--" Tessa supposed there could be no harm in that, "--and if we had no luck we could take them back and change them for another lot--"

"Give ourselves hours of harmless fun," said Midge sardonically, but as she usually found that it saved  trouble in the long run to give in to Susan's dotty ideas, she didn't object, and the girls and Bill made their way to the bank.

From A JOB FOR SUSAN, Chapter 9, Easy Money.

Venture to South Africa

A very high resolution (200 dpi) scan of the frontispiece of Venture to South Africa. The illustration is of a scene in Chapter 12, Big Game. Ten miles from Skukuza, they come across giraffes, which Belinda claims she wanted to see more than anything, even the lions. By the way, there is no grammatical error in the subtitle. The children discover that people out in the big game parks do not talk about "a lion" or "lions"; instead, they call them simply "lion". The same goes for the other animals, so when you're out in the big game camps, it's correct to say "I saw giraffe".

Quote of the Day

Lilias was often deeply impressed by Pip's knowledge of practical matters; but she scarcely ever let her suspect it. Indeed, when she was cross with her, she often managed to convey the impression that the things Pips knew weren't worth knowing.

From THE CREW OF THE BELINDA, Chapter 4, Belinda. 

New House at Northmead (frontispiece)

A nice cleaned up scan of the frontispiece to New House at Northmead.  Newly arrived from Africa, where she was used to having servants chasing after her, Lynette is having trouble adapting to the English way of life.

Quote of the Day

The next half hour was very confusing for Susan and very nasty, a muddle of strange stairs and strange corridors leading to strange dormitories while crowds of strange faces loomed at her, grinning, and disappeared again, rather like the faces in the kind of dream you had when you had a high temperature or had eaten too much supper, she thought.

From SUSAN AT SCHOOL, Chapter 1, New Girls.