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Mary Stolz
Dec. 20th, 2022 03:43 pmToday I returned to the Purdue Library to continue my quest for Newbery Honor books, including Mary Stolz's The Noonday Friends. Now you may recall Stolz as the author of the delightful Belling the Tiger, in which two brave mice named Bob and Ozzie set out to bell a cat and through a series of misadventures cross an ocean and bell a tiger instead.
Purdue had the original 1960s edition, with pen and ink illustrations by Beni Montresor, so of course I took it out for a look.
In short order I discovered:
1. In the original edition, the mice were named Asa and Rambo. (Also, the cat July was originally named Siri.)
2. There is apparently a Belling the Tiger extended universe, as I discovered upon removing the book Maximilian's World from the shelf. (Maximilian is a chihuahua puppy. "The fact is, I keep forgetting you are a dog," [Siri] said in a complimentary fashion. "I look upon you as my son."
Maximilian, who looked upon Siri as his father but still thought of himself as a dog, was so confused that he didn't know what to think. He decided to work it out later. After he'd eaten perhaps.)
3. The Belling the Tiger extended universe contains two more books, The Great Rebellion and Siri the Conquistador! These two stories plus Maximilian's World (though oddly not Belling the Tiger, the first book in the sequence) have been published as Tales at the Mousehole... which one of the schools connected to my library owns... but does not lend out.
4. Mary Stolz also wrote Casebook of a Private (Cat's) Eye, which is about a lady private investigator in Victorian world populated by cats! This book was serialized in Cricket, or perhaps only one chapter was excerpted in Cricket?, anyway I read it in my youth and loved it and it is where I learned that "receipt" is a ye olde timey word for "recipe," a fact which so delighted me that I deployed it years later in The Threefold Tie.
5. ANYWAY. Obviously I will be reading the rest of the Belling the Tiger books, and of course The Noonday Friends for Newbery reasons. I would like to explore Stolz's oeuvre further, but she wrote MANY books, so I thought I would throw it open to see if anyone has recommendations for a favorite Mary Stolz book they have read?
Purdue had the original 1960s edition, with pen and ink illustrations by Beni Montresor, so of course I took it out for a look.
In short order I discovered:
1. In the original edition, the mice were named Asa and Rambo. (Also, the cat July was originally named Siri.)
2. There is apparently a Belling the Tiger extended universe, as I discovered upon removing the book Maximilian's World from the shelf. (Maximilian is a chihuahua puppy. "The fact is, I keep forgetting you are a dog," [Siri] said in a complimentary fashion. "I look upon you as my son."
Maximilian, who looked upon Siri as his father but still thought of himself as a dog, was so confused that he didn't know what to think. He decided to work it out later. After he'd eaten perhaps.)
3. The Belling the Tiger extended universe contains two more books, The Great Rebellion and Siri the Conquistador! These two stories plus Maximilian's World (though oddly not Belling the Tiger, the first book in the sequence) have been published as Tales at the Mousehole... which one of the schools connected to my library owns... but does not lend out.
4. Mary Stolz also wrote Casebook of a Private (Cat's) Eye, which is about a lady private investigator in Victorian world populated by cats! This book was serialized in Cricket, or perhaps only one chapter was excerpted in Cricket?, anyway I read it in my youth and loved it and it is where I learned that "receipt" is a ye olde timey word for "recipe," a fact which so delighted me that I deployed it years later in The Threefold Tie.
5. ANYWAY. Obviously I will be reading the rest of the Belling the Tiger books, and of course The Noonday Friends for Newbery reasons. I would like to explore Stolz's oeuvre further, but she wrote MANY books, so I thought I would throw it open to see if anyone has recommendations for a favorite Mary Stolz book they have read?
