moving molly

this was one of my favourites as a child so i was super pleased to find a copy in a charity shop. i love the moment when she writes a 'M' for molly under a flap of wallpaper and then sticks it down with spit. as a tiddler i longed to find a hidden doorway or tunnel which would lead to adventures like molly's in a secret overgrown garden.

kids these days don't get much of a chance to have their own adventures it's all so structured and safe and supervised. my mum and auntie g describe spending long days building fires in the woods, jumping over the brook and playing with potentially hazardous found items on waste ground, only returning home when they were hungry. seems like with each generation children's lives are more restricted. in the story molly wanders off to explore the jungle-y garden next door while her mum's 'busy painting and wall-papering and getting things in order' in their new house. no one even notices she's gone, no one panics, she's free!