Born as Dorothy Violet Ellen Brown into a working-class family, her father taught her to read at an early age, enabling her to write her first story at four years of age. Her stories, poems and articles were published throughout her twenties, and at this time she married her husband Frank Edwards and had two children, Jane and Frank.
Edwards' most famous stories are of My Naughty Little Sister, which she conceived to keep her daughter, Jane, quiet whilst on a family holiday in 1950. She wrote five books of these stories.
She also published several anthologies of short stories, folklore and poetry for children, chiefly on the subjects of magic, witchcraft and ghosts. Two of these are Ghosts and Shadows 1980 and Mists and Magic 1983.
She was shortlisted for the Whitbread Award for children's literature for The Witches and the Grinnygog 1981, a novel for children about the survival of benign pagan witchcraft in modern Britain. This novel was later adapted for television.
Edwards was part of the 1950s radio show Listen with Mother, and she also wrote for Playschool and Jackanory.
I found my copy of this book by accident a few weeks ago and remembered why this was one of my favorite books growing up. I’m not sure if these short stories are more amusing as an adult reading them. They’re hilarious/amusing. The artwork in this book is by my favorite illustrator Shirley Hughs. I’m obsessed with the amount of detail she puts into each illustration. She really helps bring the authors stories to life. I hope to one day pass down my copy to my children so they’ll laugh as much I have and frankly, still do.
I enjoyed so much this book! I bought the book for my daughter and ended up listening to the audiobook while cooking. I laughed so much! I’m sure it’s very different if you read it as a child or as an adult but my daughter also enjoyed reading it. I love the illustrations in the book, it is the reason why I first bought it. I adore Shirley’ s work.
I've listed this book as one of my 12 favorites for the year, but in truth, I think it belongs on one of my favorites for all time. I bought this two years ago for the naughty little sister in our household, and we've read and re-read it many many times. When we travel, it is the only book that I take with me for reading to five- year-old Ula. The stories are comforting, the culture of the book, even though it is set about 50 years ago in the UK, is familiar to my daughters in our radical homemaking lifestyle. I love the author's presence as a narrator in the book, and how she talks directly to the reader. Ula and Saoirse both eat it up, eagerly responding to her questions as I read them aloud, even if we are repeating a story for the 35th time. Best for me is that, since we do have to read and re-read this book, I love the language and the imagery enough to endure the endless repetition. If you get a copy of this book for your child, I am certain you will hold it close for your children and great grandchildren.
Still remember my Mum reading these to me as a kid, they're absolutely timeless 😭 my favourite as a kid was The Cocoa Jones Weekend, it was so fun rereading all my old favourites 💖
I read this when I was about 7 and I loved it. The reason why, was because I could relate to it easily. I have always been like her. This explains literally anything a cheeky 6 year old kid would do. In the book, her older sister is so sensible, exactly like my sister. It was just a really good book to read and I would recommend it to any child.
I bought this book at Foyle's in London when I was seven years old and on vacation with my parents. It has long been one of my favorite books -- I have read and reread it at least fifty times. I love the old-fashioned language (cross as cross!), the talk of trifles and boiled eggs and of times gone by. I waited patiently until I was 12 years old for my family to return to England so I could ask what eiderdowns and counterpanes were -- there was no internet back then!
I introduced my own children to these stories when they were young and they loved them too.