Recommended title: Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep

Elsie Piddock skips in her sleep / illustrated by Charlotte Voake.
by Farjeon, Eleanor, 1881-1965

Candlewick, 2000.

Subjects Rope skipping -- Fiction ; Fairies -- Fiction ; England -- Fiction

ISBN: 0763601330 ; 0763607908

This simply and beautifully illustrated skipping story lays plain the history of the oligarchy's corruption of the natural world while remaining an exceptionally fun, albeit long, read. Try it! And, if you are a Canadian who has ever heard Alan Maitland read the Gift of the Magi or the Shepherd on CBC radio tell me, can you read it in your own voice? I simply seem to automatically channel the storytelling spirit of Fireside Al as my own version of a Sussexian accent.

ANdy SPANdy
Sugary CANdy
French Almond ROCK
Bread and buttER for your suppER's
All your mother's got.

-- for Elsie, a born skipper.