One of the books I picked up on Saturday was Toby Twirl Tales No.5, which was a strange coincidence, as I had already decided to share my Toby Twirl memories with you in this blog. I don't think he's a very well-known character, but I have such strong memories of the pictures in the book I had as a child - Toby Twirl Tales No. 4. The illustrations (by E. Jeffrey) are lovely - with beautiful soft colours. Toby is a pig, but humanised like Rupert the Bear, and the stories are very similar to Rupert stories.
The first story in this book is about a sea wizard, and I was always struck by the long staircase leading into the sea.
Greedy child as I was, I was even more drawn to the second story, as Toby and his friend Pete the penguin visit Candytown!
The pictures of the candy houses and street furniture are wonderful - I could eat that treacle pump! Unfortunately, Pete the penguin has the same idea and eats a bit of chocolate from a door. The sugary residents of Candytown are horrified, as "If he eats sweets, he might eat us", and they put Pete in jail.
Toby, and his friend the Marzipan Man, sneak in to the jail and rescue Pete, who was actually quite happy, eating the walls of his cell. They make their escape, but are pursued, and the liquorice soldiers fire at them from the town walls.
Such sweet memories!
5 comments:
wow, seems very inspiring! i had never heard of the character before. Great artwork!
This is pure magic! I do remember these books also with great affection and have managed to collect a few Toby Twirl editions inc and annual. I was also a great fan of Nicholas Thomas the delinquent cat... and have managed to find my favourite story of his from the 1950's.. when he fell in to a vat of toffee and ended up being carried home from the sweetshop wrapped in brown paper and string!!
Great books.. great memories.
Michele x
Oh I didn't have that one! We had one a bout a flood caused by a crying dragon.
The comment about Nicholas Thomas reminds me that I have a really wrecked book with torn pages and scribbled all over, of NT.
I loved Rupert bear too. I wonder if TT was a copy of Rupert?
Glad there are some of you out there who love Toby Twirl too ... I have Tale No.5 - The Jumbo Giant and The Toy Soldier. The graphics are so haunting and nostalgic for me!
For everything you ever wanted to know or find out about Toby Twirl visit www.tobytwirl.co.uk
See you there!
Toby Twirl
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