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Magical Cupboard #1
Parsley Sage, Rosemary & Time
Parsley the cat sat with his back to the garden wall. He stared at Rosemary, his mouth set in a strange grin.
"Stop that," said Rosemary. "It looks so silly." Parsley did not move, so she looked behind her. Nothing moved there either.
Not a leaf rustled ... not a fly buzzed ... It was a magic spell.
Ten-year-old Rosemary thinks the word cut into the marker stone in her aunt's old herb garden in Maine should be spelled T-H-Y-M-E until she tastes a sprig of it, and finds everything but herself ... stopped! Flies hang in mid-flight, a measuring worm in mid-reach. Not a leaf rustles. Before long Rosemary, a rather timid, proper child, is plunged into an extraordinary adventure-- in the eighteenth century!
"Stop that," said Rosemary. "It looks so silly." Parsley did not move, so she looked behind her. Nothing moved there either.
Not a leaf rustled ... not a fly buzzed ... It was a magic spell.
Ten-year-old Rosemary thinks the word cut into the marker stone in her aunt's old herb garden in Maine should be spelled T-H-Y-M-E until she tastes a sprig of it, and finds everything but herself ... stopped! Flies hang in mid-flight, a measuring worm in mid-reach. Not a leaf rustles. Before long Rosemary, a rather timid, proper child, is plunged into an extraordinary adventure-- in the eighteenth century!
108 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
8 people are currently reading
255 people want to read
About the author
Jane Louise Curry
40 books30 followersJane Louise Curry was born in East Liverpool, Ohio, on September 24, 1932. She is the daughter of William Jack Curry Jr. and Helen Margaret Curry. Curry grew up in Pennsylvania (Kittanning and Johnstown), but upon her graduation from college she moved to Los Angeles, California, and London, England.
Curry attended the Pennsylvania State University in 1950, and she studied there until 1951 when she left for the Indiana State College (now known as Indiana University of Pennsylvania). In 1954, after graduation, Curry moved to California and worked as both an art teacher for the Los Angeles Public School District and a freelance artist. In 1957, Curry entered the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) in order to study English literature, but in 1959 she left Los Angeles and became a teaching assistant at Stanford University. Curry was awarded the Fulbright grant in 1961 and the Stanford-Leverhulme fellowship in 1965, allowing her to pursue her graduate studies at the University of London. She earned her M.A. in 1962 and her Ph.D. in medieval English literature from Stanford University in 1969. From 1967-1968 and, again, from 1983-1984, Curry was an instructor of English literature at the college level. She became a lecturer in 1987. Besides her writings, Curry’s artworks are also considered among her achievements. She has had several paintings exhibited in London, and her works have even earned her a spot in the prestigious Royal Society of British Artists group exhibition. Among the many groups that Curry belongs to are the International Arthurian Society, the Authors Guild, the Children’s Literature Association, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers.
Curry illustrated and published her first book Down from the Lonely Mountain in 1965. This juvenile fiction based on Californian Native American folklore has paved the way for Curry’s expansive literary career. She has penned more than 30 novels, which are mostly based on child characters dealing with a wide variety of subjects. Many of Curry’s writings deal with folklore, such as the Native American folklore that she explores in her novels Turtle Island: Tales of Algonquian Nations and The Wonderful Sky Boat: And Other Native American Tales of the Southeast, and the retellings of famous European folk stories, such as Robin Hood and his Merry Men, Robin Hood in the Greenwood, and The Christmas Knight. Yet she also delves into the genres of fantasy, such as in her novels Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Time and Me, Myself, and I; historical fiction, such as in her novels What the Dickens and Stolen Life; and mystery, such as in her novels The Bassumtyte Treasure and Moon Window.
Curry has been honored with many awards throughout her writing career. In 1970, her novel The Daybreakers earned Curry the Honor Book award from the Book World Spring Children’s Book Festival and the Outstanding Book by a Southern California Author Award from the Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People. The Mystery Writers of America honored Curry two years in a row by awarding her the Edgar Allan Poe Award, or the Edgar, for Poor Tom’s Ghost in 1978 and The Bassumtyte Treasure in 1979. Also in 1979, for her complete body of work at that time, the Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People presented Curry with the Distingushed Contribution to the Field of Children’s Literature Award.
Curry resides in Palo Alto, California, and London, England.
Curry attended the Pennsylvania State University in 1950, and she studied there until 1951 when she left for the Indiana State College (now known as Indiana University of Pennsylvania). In 1954, after graduation, Curry moved to California and worked as both an art teacher for the Los Angeles Public School District and a freelance artist. In 1957, Curry entered the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) in order to study English literature, but in 1959 she left Los Angeles and became a teaching assistant at Stanford University. Curry was awarded the Fulbright grant in 1961 and the Stanford-Leverhulme fellowship in 1965, allowing her to pursue her graduate studies at the University of London. She earned her M.A. in 1962 and her Ph.D. in medieval English literature from Stanford University in 1969. From 1967-1968 and, again, from 1983-1984, Curry was an instructor of English literature at the college level. She became a lecturer in 1987. Besides her writings, Curry’s artworks are also considered among her achievements. She has had several paintings exhibited in London, and her works have even earned her a spot in the prestigious Royal Society of British Artists group exhibition. Among the many groups that Curry belongs to are the International Arthurian Society, the Authors Guild, the Children’s Literature Association, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers.
Curry illustrated and published her first book Down from the Lonely Mountain in 1965. This juvenile fiction based on Californian Native American folklore has paved the way for Curry’s expansive literary career. She has penned more than 30 novels, which are mostly based on child characters dealing with a wide variety of subjects. Many of Curry’s writings deal with folklore, such as the Native American folklore that she explores in her novels Turtle Island: Tales of Algonquian Nations and The Wonderful Sky Boat: And Other Native American Tales of the Southeast, and the retellings of famous European folk stories, such as Robin Hood and his Merry Men, Robin Hood in the Greenwood, and The Christmas Knight. Yet she also delves into the genres of fantasy, such as in her novels Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Time and Me, Myself, and I; historical fiction, such as in her novels What the Dickens and Stolen Life; and mystery, such as in her novels The Bassumtyte Treasure and Moon Window.
Curry has been honored with many awards throughout her writing career. In 1970, her novel The Daybreakers earned Curry the Honor Book award from the Book World Spring Children’s Book Festival and the Outstanding Book by a Southern California Author Award from the Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People. The Mystery Writers of America honored Curry two years in a row by awarding her the Edgar Allan Poe Award, or the Edgar, for Poor Tom’s Ghost in 1978 and The Bassumtyte Treasure in 1979. Also in 1979, for her complete body of work at that time, the Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People presented Curry with the Distingushed Contribution to the Field of Children’s Literature Award.
Curry resides in Palo Alto, California, and London, England.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
April 3, 2008
This is not your typical girl-expects-boring-summer but-winds-up-having-a-good-time story. When Rosemary begins exploring her aunt's garden she is transported by a snippet of thyme, traveling back to the eighteenth century. Perhaps I didn't appreciate this fully because I had read Edward Eager so many times but it is extremely good.
I think it was my mother who found this talented (and overlooked) author at the library (well, her books, not Jane herself; the only author we ever found at the library was the late Virginia Haviland, which was indeed memorable). If Curry wrote the same book every time, she might have achieved more recognition/popularity, but it is part of her appeal that her books are so unusual and different from one another.
I think it was my mother who found this talented (and overlooked) author at the library (well, her books, not Jane herself; the only author we ever found at the library was the late Virginia Haviland, which was indeed memorable). If Curry wrote the same book every time, she might have achieved more recognition/popularity, but it is part of her appeal that her books are so unusual and different from one another.
September 4, 2021
A little bit of magic, a little bit of earnest historical fiction, and a fair bit of 'what kind of grown-up do I want to be?' Short and sweet. I'm a bit underwhelmed atm, but young me would have liked it quite a bit, maybe enough for a reread.
January 10, 2012
Books featuring the elements of time travel and/or magical realism aren't everyone's cuppa, but I'm here to tell you that when they're done right, the stories can be the reader's perfect blend of escapism and enjoyment -- if you're of a nature to "let go".
Parsley Sage, Rosemary and Time was probably one of the first books I had ever read in the genres mentioned above. Published in 1975, on the cusp of America's Bicentennial and in my 11th year, to say I was enthralled with this book doesn't do it justice. At that point in time, I adored cats (still do), loved colonial history (still do) and desperately wanted something special and magical to take me out of a fairly ho-hum childhood. The young heroine of our story, Rosemary Walpole, was just the book clone I needed to transport me on a reading adventure that I have now re-visited 37 years later (you do the math...)
While the book is slightly dated with some references to clothing styles, telegrams(!) and actual year dates, the gist of the tale remains timeless (excuse the bad pun here). The book title might even be a homage to the folksy hit by Simon & Garfunkle, which was popular at the time, as well as being a play on words with the characters and plot (i.e. "Parsley Sage" the cat, "Rosemary" our young heroine and "Time" - not Thyme - which is central to the story). The wild, untamed and magical herb garden in Rosemary's Aunt Sibby's house also plays off the book title, and is an all important locational element to the story at the beginning and end.
To say more would be to spoil the wonderful surprises in this book, so I'll end with merely saying that the influence of this book from childhood was far-reaching and the essence of my wish-fulfillment daydreams even today: an old house/cottage, an herb garden, and a purring kitteh - time travel optional...
***
2012 personal reading challenge for the month of January:
Childhood favorites that influenced my subsequent reading life
Adult Equivalents:
Thornyhold by Mary Stewart
and
The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley
Parsley Sage, Rosemary and Time was probably one of the first books I had ever read in the genres mentioned above. Published in 1975, on the cusp of America's Bicentennial and in my 11th year, to say I was enthralled with this book doesn't do it justice. At that point in time, I adored cats (still do), loved colonial history (still do) and desperately wanted something special and magical to take me out of a fairly ho-hum childhood. The young heroine of our story, Rosemary Walpole, was just the book clone I needed to transport me on a reading adventure that I have now re-visited 37 years later (you do the math...)
While the book is slightly dated with some references to clothing styles, telegrams(!) and actual year dates, the gist of the tale remains timeless (excuse the bad pun here). The book title might even be a homage to the folksy hit by Simon & Garfunkle, which was popular at the time, as well as being a play on words with the characters and plot (i.e. "Parsley Sage" the cat, "Rosemary" our young heroine and "Time" - not Thyme - which is central to the story). The wild, untamed and magical herb garden in Rosemary's Aunt Sibby's house also plays off the book title, and is an all important locational element to the story at the beginning and end.
To say more would be to spoil the wonderful surprises in this book, so I'll end with merely saying that the influence of this book from childhood was far-reaching and the essence of my wish-fulfillment daydreams even today: an old house/cottage, an herb garden, and a purring kitteh - time travel optional...
***
2012 personal reading challenge for the month of January:
Childhood favorites that influenced my subsequent reading life
Adult Equivalents:
Thornyhold by Mary Stewart
and
The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley
January 12, 2015
Another long-lost favorite from childhood. 10-year-old Rosemary is sent by her very practical, fact-finding parents to spend the summer with her eccentric and dissolute Aunt Sibby at her home in Maine, the mysterious Whychwood.
From the beginning, Rosemary's resolve to find logical explanations for all mysterious occurrences is tested. There's something "witchy" about Aunt Sibby, the cat is acting peculiar, and then there's the herb garden with the strange plant that, when touched, seems to stop time. She has to accept the existence of magic when she finds herself whisked back to Colonial times along with a girl named Baba and infant Wim. Adventures ensue. They save Goody Cakebread from false accusations of Witchcraft, and escape danger with help from Goody Cakebread's magical cupboard. (Duly noted: simply OWNING magical furniture does not make one a witch.)
Not to be confused with Edward Eager's The Time Garden, this book ALSO features time travel, "Time/Thyme" wordplay, and a sundial in the herb garden. I think this is a little more earnest and less humorous than that one, but they were both favorites of mine during that time of my childhood when I loved books about real magic happening to ordinary kids.
Also: the cat's name is Parsley Sage. Get it? Parsley Sage, Rosemary, and Time? You know I love that.
From the beginning, Rosemary's resolve to find logical explanations for all mysterious occurrences is tested. There's something "witchy" about Aunt Sibby, the cat is acting peculiar, and then there's the herb garden with the strange plant that, when touched, seems to stop time. She has to accept the existence of magic when she finds herself whisked back to Colonial times along with a girl named Baba and infant Wim. Adventures ensue. They save Goody Cakebread from false accusations of Witchcraft, and escape danger with help from Goody Cakebread's magical cupboard. (Duly noted: simply OWNING magical furniture does not make one a witch.)
Not to be confused with Edward Eager's The Time Garden, this book ALSO features time travel, "Time/Thyme" wordplay, and a sundial in the herb garden. I think this is a little more earnest and less humorous than that one, but they were both favorites of mine during that time of my childhood when I loved books about real magic happening to ordinary kids.
Also: the cat's name is Parsley Sage. Get it? Parsley Sage, Rosemary, and Time? You know I love that.
July 31, 2022
What a charming lil book. I found an older, well-loved edition in a comic book shop tucked in with paperbacks and got it for the *aesthetic* Finally read it. The characters aren't really developed and not much happens, but it's a young reader book and it has a magical cat :)
April 24, 2015
I loved this book as a kid! One of my favorite books from that era.
January 25, 2021
Rosemary's practical, no nonsense, proper parents must take a rushed business trip to China, so they pack their prim and proper daughter off do the summer to her aunt, who, naturally, is not remotely prim or proper.
Rosemary's adventures include time travel (to New England three or four decades after the witch trials), a cat named Parsley, a good witch, a magic garden, and she learns there is more to being human than just the facts. She learns to appreciate mystery.
It's a sweet, fun little book for kids who are just getting comfortable with chapter books but it's a fun read aloud, too.
Here is an excerpt:
"The first two moss-lettered stones read PARSLEY and SAGE. "Oh!" gasped Rosemary. And then, with a nervous giggle: "How funny."
Parsley twitched a disdainful car and moved on. Rosemary, alarmed but determined, followed. Parsley's third stone read ROSEMARY. The letters of the fourth spelled out TIME.
The cat stepped back to PARSLEY and began calmly to groom himself.
PARSLEY SAGE. ROSEMARY. And TIME.
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Time. But in an herb garden, oughtn't it to be spelled t-h-y-m-e? For it was, of course, simply an herb garden. Other stones, some so overgrown with moss that they looked like fat, green cushions, marked once-upon a-time patches of catnip, lavender, camomile, basil, and chives. While the rosemary and sage had grown lank and woody and the chives had thrived, spreading out into the grass, the others-all but one -had died away.
The exception was the flourishing green mat around the TIME Stone. It grew thickly, about six inches high, and its leaves were darkly, glossily green and shaped like tiny crows' feet."
Rosemary's adventures include time travel (to New England three or four decades after the witch trials), a cat named Parsley, a good witch, a magic garden, and she learns there is more to being human than just the facts. She learns to appreciate mystery.
It's a sweet, fun little book for kids who are just getting comfortable with chapter books but it's a fun read aloud, too.
Here is an excerpt:
"The first two moss-lettered stones read PARSLEY and SAGE. "Oh!" gasped Rosemary. And then, with a nervous giggle: "How funny."
Parsley twitched a disdainful car and moved on. Rosemary, alarmed but determined, followed. Parsley's third stone read ROSEMARY. The letters of the fourth spelled out TIME.
The cat stepped back to PARSLEY and began calmly to groom himself.
PARSLEY SAGE. ROSEMARY. And TIME.
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Time. But in an herb garden, oughtn't it to be spelled t-h-y-m-e? For it was, of course, simply an herb garden. Other stones, some so overgrown with moss that they looked like fat, green cushions, marked once-upon a-time patches of catnip, lavender, camomile, basil, and chives. While the rosemary and sage had grown lank and woody and the chives had thrived, spreading out into the grass, the others-all but one -had died away.
The exception was the flourishing green mat around the TIME Stone. It grew thickly, about six inches high, and its leaves were darkly, glossily green and shaped like tiny crows' feet."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 28, 2024
Ah, the magic in children’s (juvenile, as libraries categorize) books that is just up in the attic, in the nighttime dollhouse, in the mysterious woods, or in this case, in the garden beyond the overgrown hedge. Sometimes that magic is in the wholesomeness of nature and friends, as in Hodgson’s The Secret Garden, but sometimes it’s actually magic, as in this story, specifically time travel magic a la Tom’s Midnight Garden and To Nowhere and Back.
This story also has a few aspects I’ve never seen in a time travel story that yields a satisfying ending and even more magic that yields a sequel. We even get some growth in the main character. So glad I stumbled upon this author.
This story also has a few aspects I’ve never seen in a time travel story that yields a satisfying ending and even more magic that yields a sequel. We even get some growth in the main character. So glad I stumbled upon this author.
June 22, 2019
My all-time favorite childhood read. And that’s saying a lot.
August 2, 2020
Liked this, but I wish Curry had referenced Edward Eager's The Time Garden that included a sundial, a magical guardian, and the use of thyme to go to different times. It even takes place in NE USA.
February 23, 2025
One of my top five favorite childhood books! Love reading childhood favorites as an adult and not feeling disappointed reading it from an adult perspective!! For me, a timeless classic.
February 1, 2015
Rosemary Walpole 10 is praised for "prim and proper" p 34 precision by parents. Aunt Sibby 30ish "half-expecting a cod-faced priss" praises red hair "lucky" p 5, asks "embarrassing questions" of "sobersides" p 6 at Wychwood manor, near Bennickport Maine. When old cat Parsley Sage leads Rosemary over patch labelled "Time", not herb thyme, in secluded corner of the garden, the girl must stretch her imagination from June 1975 to October 1722.
Puritan Goodwife "Goody" Cakebread unwillingly finds clothes in her cupboard also for other visitors who overstay (hint, not like adults who soon quietly vanish) - toddler Wim 18 months, Baba 8 years, who slept with the pigs to keep warm (should be very very very stinky - whole school bus can smell kids from pig farm).
In full-page grey-shaded sketches, mean Parson Goudge towers appropriately over Rose p 70, her hair too short for "two fat plaits" p 71, slave Carolana looks too square stern old, relieving drunken jailers of key ring p 79. Faces in foreground clear, background blur, but overall add help make real. Disappointed no sequel as end promises. Try others by same author.
Puritan Goodwife "Goody" Cakebread unwillingly finds clothes in her cupboard also for other visitors who overstay (hint, not like adults who soon quietly vanish) - toddler Wim 18 months, Baba 8 years, who slept with the pigs to keep warm (should be very very very stinky - whole school bus can smell kids from pig farm).
In full-page grey-shaded sketches, mean Parson Goudge towers appropriately over Rose p 70, her hair too short for "two fat plaits" p 71, slave Carolana looks too square stern old, relieving drunken jailers of key ring p 79. Faces in foreground clear, background blur, but overall add help make real. Disappointed no sequel as end promises. Try others by same author.
April 22, 2016
This is a fun children's book from 1975. Young Rosemary, the daughter of uptight parents, stays with her eccentric Aunt Sibby in Maine. While exploring the overgrown garden at Aunt Sibby's house she discovers a curiosity which transports her back to early 18th century Maine. Adventures soon follow...
I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next installment, The Magical Cupboard. Some words are unique to the time it was written/for American audiences, but otherwise the author has a nice style of writing. It transports you into another world and there are some lovely black and white illustrations to accompany the text.
I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next installment, The Magical Cupboard. Some words are unique to the time it was written/for American audiences, but otherwise the author has a nice style of writing. It transports you into another world and there are some lovely black and white illustrations to accompany the text.
December 13, 2014
Such an amazing story! At first when I was reading it, it seemed like too big a story to get through in just over 100 pages. I'm impressed Jane Louise Curry pulled it off beautifully. I have to read more of her books!
Rosemary goes to her aunts for the summer and travels back in time! There she meets two more unknowing time travelers and they try to find their way home and save an innocent lady from being condemned as a witch!
The ending is amazing!! love it!
Rosemary goes to her aunts for the summer and travels back in time! There she meets two more unknowing time travelers and they try to find their way home and save an innocent lady from being condemned as a witch!
The ending is amazing!! love it!
November 21, 2008
Re-reading this kiddie book which was popular when I was at my first librarian job (Children's Librarian, Mercer Co. Library). Cute time-travel, Maine setting with hints of witchcraft.
Funnest part is the old house (Wychwood) with the overgrown garden and the tortoiseshell cat, Parsley Sage, and the magic herb (Time) in the garden.
Funnest part is the old house (Wychwood) with the overgrown garden and the tortoiseshell cat, Parsley Sage, and the magic herb (Time) in the garden.
October 25, 2010
This was a pleasant children's book -- it didn't do a lot for me (I think because I found the unimaginative heroine dull), but I'm definitely going to hold onto it for my daughter. And look for some other books by the same author!
August 11, 2016
Rosemary goes to stay with her strange Aunt on an old farm. While exploring in an old herb garden, she discovers a time portal to early 1700's New England. How does she get home? How does she escape being labeled a witch? A wonderfully classic tale and an easy read.
February 2, 2012
A nice old-fashioned time travel book, with an emphasis on the characters. I called one of the major twists about 20 pages before the characters did, but it was still fun, and I liked Rosemary’s journey from prim to wild. [Jan 2011]
November 11, 2007
I seem to recall that the only good thing about this book was the title, and even that was sort of forced. I mean, yeah, sure, someone is going to name her cat "Parsley Sage."
August 13, 2008
I found this on a bookshelf at my parents house.It is a very clever story for young readers.
November 14, 2014
I enjoyed the concept of three children from different times ending up back in the same time, not too long after the first Thanksgiving.
September 8, 2016
Loved this book as a kid. Still love it.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews