Dragons – Tarry at home – and travel in books!

One of the books librarian Dr Lydia Ferguson showed us from the Pollard collection on the 2019 theme of “Curious Creatures” was The Adventures of the Three Bold Babes (1897). It’s about three sweet-faced but adventurous small children who meet a dragon. This has to be the cutest dragon in Pollard, and maybe the cutest dragon ever, and it was created by an Irishwoman born in Hollywood, County Down in 1867. You can read the whole book here, thanks to the University of Florida which has digitised their copy.

S Rosamond Praeger (the S stands for Sophia) grew up with five brothers. One of them, Robert, became a famous botanist, and from her work you can see that Rosamond was very interested in nature too – she often draws or paints animals and scenes from nature. She studied art from the age of 16, first in Belfast, then in London and Paris, and was especially interested in sculpture.

Praeger went on to illustrate many children’s books, including a fine Aesop’s Fables, and to write and illustrate fourteen of her own books for children. She was also involved in the fight for equality for women, and designed postcards for the campaign for ‘women’s suffrage’, or voting rights for women. The girls in her books are as mischievous and brave as the boys, and it’s clear that Rosamond knew that she was equal to her five brothers in everything, at a time when women were often prevented from doing evreything that men did.

Dublin City Public Libraries also have a fine collection of Praeger’s children’s books, and a few years ago they put together an interesting gallery of her cover illustrations on their website – have a look here.

We’ve been so busy finalising the Bookmarks launch for tomorrow night in the lovely Long Room at Trinity College that I’m only now getting around to posting the composite stories. Here’s a little taster of the Drimnagh Castle, Scoil Cholmcille and Scoil Eoin books! There’s one composite tale from each school, put together using one line from each of the children’s books. The name of the author is in brackets after each line. Imagine how great it would be to read every book from cover to cover – we’re looking forward to doing that tomorrow evening!

THE DRIMNAGH CASTLE STORY

It was an ordinary day when Kevin, Zack and Jack woke up. (Clayton) A nervous waiter came up to them and said, ‘today’s special is spaghetti bolognese.’ He winked at Tom. (Martin C) In 2016 in Las Vegas, when Jeff was playing his game, a hand popped out of the flat-screen TV. (Adam) ‘There is a horrible creation called Casé Pedra – you need to defeat her, but not on your own.’ (Fabian) ‘So you want me to defeat that ugly person?’ (Martin M) Bob said to Max, ‘can you help me? The only thing is, there are going to be obstacles on the way.’ (Ross) ‘But before all of that, just enjoy the amazing underwater world,’ said Liz.

‘Oh almighty gemstone, give me three random powers, for I am the chosen one.’ (Jason) Barry was filled with the power of invisibility and Kevin was given the powers of strength and sword mastery. (Brandon) ‘Yep, they’re pretty cool, but do they do what it says on the tin?’ asked Phil. (Joseph) ‘Aaahh!’ screamed Mickey as he was falling out of a pink cloud. (Erik) ‘He was flying! He looked down and saw lots of snakes and a dragon. (Patrick)Help!’ he shouted when he landed, looking at the strange new world. (Seán) So the kids fell asleep on the old beds they found. (Conor) Bill took the berry in his mouth. He woke up next morning feeling really, really weird. (Rhys) The wall started to open and he walked through it. (Ben B)

Dear Alan, if you are reading this, then something terrible has happened. (Alan) Then the centaur said, ‘off with his head!’ (Chris) ‘How do you get out?’ ‘There is no way out.’ (Nathan) He had stumbled upon the stupendous tree he had found the other day, but the bear was still hot on his heels. (Barry) As they marched to the battle on the sixth day, some men were injured, tired and exhausted. (Jamie K) Harry and his army got ready to break the dam and get rid of the beavers for good. (Jamie D) As it got closer, they saw big fireballs flying over them, destroying the land around them. (Daniel) He took out a leather-covered book and said some magic words, and lightning struck a single ‘zombie’. (Damian) The catapult launched a boulder and it smashed into the castle. (Eamonn Sweeney)

Finn was so excited as he was going to attend Trinity College. (Finn) He impressed José Mourinho so much that he was selected for the Champions League final against Leicester City. (Cian) Ben pressed the traffic light and all of a sudden he was back home.(Ben H)

THE SCOIL CHOLMCILLE STORY

Eilly’s granny had left her a rusty locket and on her way home from the funeral she decided to open it for the first time. (Abbie) It was a normal night. The road was empty with not a bird in sight. (Alicia) When Savanah came out of the dark slide, she was under water. (Layla) Patrick was suddenly standing in another world. (Luke)

Joe looked around and saw space craft flying in the air, hovercraft hovering above the ground and buildings that could talk. (Josh) Seargent McClan gave Jordan three cybermetric powers. (Kyle) He had the power to shoot milk out of his ear and to turn into a fierce dog. (Bláthnaid) My blood was turquoise like the chemicals I fell into. (Callum)

I have never seen a human beat this ivy, Mango said. (Emma) They pushed through thorny bushes. Out of nowhere, they saw the villain’s castle. (Karla) They looked around and they saw only cobwebs and blood. (Bobby) ‘I’m… well, I have no name, actually,’ replied the boy. (Caithlain)

The crab was vulnerable against humans – I was the island’s only hope! (Lacey) ‘You must go through the dancing forest and pick an apple from the tallest tree.’ (Sarah) I was getting chased by a tiger and he was very fast, his stripes were fiery orange and a dark coal black. (Jade)

‘Remember how I told you you’d be in an abnormal football match?’ asked Stephen. (Liam) He tried to tell Lacey what was going to happen but she wasn’t listening. (Chloe)

THE SCOIL EOIN STORY

Before Tom’s father disappeared again, he gently touched Tom’s hand. Tom felt a sudden chill and all of a sudden he felt extra strong. (Ryan H) He was sitting in the sitting-room and his brother Jimmy was being mean to him – it wasn’t the first time it had happened. (Billy) They were twins – they wore the same clothes to trick people. (Finn) As he took a drink of his tea, Tom felt very different: he was burning hot inside. (Joshua) He was in the attic looking through some photos when he saw a chest covered with dust. (Daniel)

Mia felt someone or something was watching her. (Emily) As the girls left the Screen, they saw something really strange: they saw unicorns standing at the exit. (AbbiJane) Jane shone the light on her hand and saw a large sign that said, ‘Do Not Enter’. Jane walked inside. (Torrie) Beside his bed was a red door he’d never seen before – it was covered in dragon carvings. (Colm) As he went down the slide, there was a huge dirty puddle and he fell straight in. (Carla) The ground opened up and both children were pulled into another world. (Luke) The shower flushed him into another world, back in time before he was born. (Seán) He was whisked up to the sky and landed on a white fluffy cloud. (Nichita)

Jonny was a kind and happy troll with eyes as red as fire. (Evan) ‘The city has been overrun by evil puppets – you need to save the city.’ (Ryan L) Everything was metal: the trees were metal, even the ground was made out of metal. (Lee) As she looked around, all she could see were beautiful twinkling lights, and she heard the most amazing dance music. (Aoife) ‘But don’t be fooled, this isn’t any normal castle,’ said Sally. (Sharmaine) Then he realised he was the weird one on the planet. (James)