Molly Mullett

by Patricia Coombs

Though everyone doubts she can do it, young Molly Mullet sets out to rid the village of a marauding ogre.

Genres: Picture Books

40 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 1975

About the author

Patricia Coombs was born on July 23, 1926 in Los Angeles, California and during her school age years lived in Hawaii, Boston, New York, and San Francisco. She was always reading books and would hide in unusual places to avoid getting caught reading instead of playing. She attended DePauw University, Michigan State University, and received her bachelor's and master's degrees in English from the University of Washington. She also studied poetry at New York University.

In 1962, Coombs wrote and illustrated Dorrie's Magic, inspired by her two daughters and their Siamese cat named Dingbat. The book was highly praised by the New York Times Book Review, and Coombs went on to create the "Dorrie the Little Witch" series. She wrote 20 stories about Dorrie and her adventures as a little witch over the next 30 years, ending with Dorrie and the Haunted Schoolhouse in 1992.

Coombs has also illustrated for other authors and contributed to Poetry Magazine.

From: Major Authors and Illustrators, pp. 562-564, courtesy of The de Grummond Children's Literature Collection at The University of Southern Mississippi and Wikipedia.org

Reviews

[Abigail]

When a greedy ogre begins stealing all the corn, pigs and gold he can carry away from her small village, young Molly Mullett decides to put a stop to it, proving once and for all that she's not the "sneezley, wheezley, sniveling girl" her father thinks her. Who cares if the king laughs at her, and no one believes she can do it? Molly just grins, setting out with a bundle packed by her mother...

Published in 1975, Molly Mullett was one of Patricia Coombs' stand-alone picture-books - in contrast to her twenty-book Dorrie the Little Witch series - and has that overt "girls can do" attitude found in so many fairy-tales of the era. Somehow, despite my sympathy for the idea that girls can do, and my long-time fondness for the author, I just didn't enjoy this one as much as I had expected. In fact, I was reminded of my unhappy experience with Coombs' Tilabel , and have begun to wonder whether I should persist in reading the author's remaining non-Dorrie books. I think I'll just content myself with my Dorrie retrospective - sixteen more to go, after all! - and leave it at that.

[Saffron Moon]

I am a long-time passionate fan of Patricia Coombs’ “Dorrie” series. I believe those particular books to be the pinnacle of Ms. Coombs career, and they continue to be sought out by ardent fans and collectors of OOP children’s fiction. However, her handful of other published children’s works, like the title of Molly Mullett here, seem to have faded into obscurity and have become mostly forgotten. Molly Mullett is the first non-Dorrie story I have read by Ms. Coombs. And although I enjoyed this little tale and would recommend it as a stand alone fairy-tale, it somewhat disappointed my expectations as it did not match the height of the previously mentioned series. However with that being said, as I continue to reflect on Molly Mullett as a stand alone story, I really do appreciate it’s time-capsule girl-power charm. I am guessing Ms. Coombs was familiar with Molly Whuppie, the English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs, and was inspired to rework it and make it her own. A strong female-hero alternative to the princess archetype would have been a scarce, and very refreshing storybook for Mothers and daughters to enjoy back in the early 70s. So although I still prefer the original folktale: Molly Whuppie and the Dorrie's Magic series by Ms. Coombs, I can also say that I truly appreciate the sincere feminist enthusiasm and the plucky girl hero that Patricia Coombs’ Molly Mullett offers here too.

Postscript: Molly Mullett also can be found in the fairy tale anthology, The Outspoken Princess and The Gentle Knight: A Treasury of Modern Fairy Tales (1994), edited by Jack Zipes.

[Beverly]

This story is told in the style of a folktale. Young Molly longs for adventure, and she is the only person in town courageous enough to steal back from the ogre the gold that he had stolen from the villagers. The king mistakenly believes that her father is the hero and rewards him instead. But when the king orders Molly's father to bring back the ogre's sword, he is much too cowardly to do it. So, once again, Molly springs into action. Coombs' signature illustrations are in blacks, whites, grays, and browns.

[Debby]

Though everyone doubts she can do it, young Molly Mullett sets out to rid the village of a marauding ogre and succeeds. She is knighted by the king for her efforts.

Different type of story. Great as a model for girls who want adventure.

Mostly black and white, delicately done pencil sketches with rust color added on Molly.

[Min]

A brave girl whose father doesn't want her and doesn't believe a girl can be brave, and helpful. She sets off, determined to rid the village of the bad Ogre. No one believes in her, because she is a girl. Best of all, she doesn't listen to them! It reads like a classic fairy tale with a blackbird helper.