The stories Julian tells Book

Much to love here! Beautifully told, just feels so alive, so warm, so true. Illustrations are wonderful (I have the original edition and hope that the original illustrations are still inside the books with the updated covers). The book is full of the everyday magic of childhood, the ups and downs that feel so momentous when you're a kid. My favorite chapters were about the catalog cats, the fig tree, and when Julian makes a new friend. The family is warm and loving. HOWEVER, the first chapter does keep this from being a five star book for me because of the part where the father tells the children they will get a beating and a whipping for sneaking the pudding. Now, it turns out that they are going to have to make the pudding over again and that the beating and whipping will happen to the recipe and not to themselves. I know this book is somewhat "dated" and it is clear at other times that the father is very loving and involved... , but the children seem genuinely fearful of him and his anger and I just don't think it's right to threaten with something like that even if it's ultimately in jest -- I'm not sure if we are to assume the father uses these methods at other times, hence why the children are so fearful, because otherwise I'm not sure why they would be so genuinely scared that he is in earnest? If this is not something you want to share with your children you could easily just skip that first chapter as it really has nothing to do with anything else in the book, each chapter is a fairly self-contained little episode. Otherwise, I highly recommend the book and wish our library had one of the many sequels!