Lucky Mrs. Ticklefeather

Lucky Mrs. Ticklefeather
by Dorothy Kunhardt with pictures by J.P. Miller/ published 1935 by Simon and Schuster

Had never seen or heard of Mrs. Ticklefeather until I read about her on the Loganberry Books site, and as usual when serendipity strikes, it was only a matter of days before she and I would come face to face. I passed her over for what I thought was a bloated $10 price tag at an antique store in Virginia, only to have second thoughts later and send my mom back to fetch her. Glad I did as it would have cost way more to meet her online. The story of an old woman and a puffin that doesn't really look like a puffin, it is an old favorite for a ton of people making this little Golden Book highly collectible. Written by the author of Pat the Bunny and the famed Little Golden Books illustrator, I can totally see why people are hooked on or haunted by Ticklefeather's story.

So there's this lady (Ticklefeather)....

Mrs. Ticklefeather was a very thin old lady with a good sized feather in her hat, and on her feet she had tall black shoes with plenty of buttons. She lived on the top floor of a high, high, terribly high building. She lived on the top floor of a terribly high building because the top floor is the best place for getting sunshine, and, Oh, what a good thing sunshine is for thin old ladies.

And she has a pet puffin (Paul) and one day the puffin disappears while trying to make the old woman's dreams come true. Once she realizes the bird is MIA, Ticklefeather dispatches a kindly policeman to fetch her bird and so the story begins. What happens next is a little bizarre and mildly confusing, but hilarious all the same and fetchingly illustrated in that great 30s yet modern style. AWESOME. (Plus bird boy LOVES Puffins... even puffins that look more like parrots.)

(For more Little Golden Book fun, check out Meet Me At Mike's this week!)

Also by:
Little Peewee
The Little Red Hen
The Around the Year Storybook
Little Galoshes