When I read that it was
Patricia Coombs' birthday I had yearnings for some new copies of her books about
Dorrie the Little Witch. It is such a shame that they are out of print and unavailable in Australia. Recently I reluctantly threw out the three that the library still had. They were in such disrepair and so stained that no one would borrow them when there are so many newer, more attractive witch books. But, they certainly are not better stories. One year I had a class of third grade girls who couldn't get enough of Dorrie and Mildred, Jill Murphy's
The Worst Witch. They
devoured them. I never had all twenty titles but enough to endear Dorrie to my class. The fact that her hat was always crooked and her stockings didn't match meant she was 'a role model' they could aspire to.
The 23rd July is Patricia Coombs' birthday and in an earlier blog on her birthday I was bemoaning the fact that her Dorrie stories were no longer in print, but now that she has turned 90 there are four titles back in print in lovely little hardbacks. The print is still small, the illustrations as they were in the originals but for my fussy readers they look new, the paper is white not yellowed and they feel good to hold. Now to try them out on a new audience. I wonder if the publishers will do any more titles?
