Chosen by November 2011 Guest Editor, Steve Cole: "I loved the fun fantasy of plucky Mrs Pepperpot, who never knew when she would inconveniently shrink to the size of a… well, pepperpot. (It’s a good job she didn’t marry Mr Subatomic-Particle.) Luckily, with this alarming temporary condition came the ability to talk to animals, so she always got out of her various scrapes. I remember often wondering about author Alf Prøysen’s name, it looked as if someone had made a mistake when writing it…"
Mrs Pepperpot has a problem - a huge problem - she shrinks! And when she shrinks she finds herself in all sorts of trouble...Mrs Pepperpot is determined to practise her swimming, so when all the village children go for a picnic in the mountains she goes to the pool in the wood. But disaster strikes - just as Mrs Pepperpot jumps into the water she shrinks! Now the pool seems as big as an ocean. Luckily there's a friendly frog nearby to rescue her and give her swimming lessons. When Mrs Pepperpot agrees to mind baby Roger from next door, she doesn't know that she's going to shrink. How can she look after him when she's only as tall as a pepperpot? Baby Roger thinks she's a doll and jiggles and joggles her and throws her high in the air. Will Mrs Pepperpot be able to keep the baby out of mischief until his mother comes to get him?
Alf Proysen was born in Norway in 1914. The Mrs Pepperpot books first appeared in the 1950s and were an immediate success. They have been loved by children ever since and have been translated into many different languages. Hilda Offen is a well-known picture book illustrator, who won the Smarties Prize in 1992 for Nice Work, Little Wolf. Since then she has illustrated many picture books, including Fred and Ted's Treasure Hunt. She lives in Brighton.
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