Palmer Brown (1) (1919–)

Nice story of a little girl who enters another world through a pond. Much of the story references a "gypsy mother" and her child, which I found to be insensitive in the way old books are. I read it out loud to the kids and talked about the problems of racist stereotypes and then also dropped the "gypsy" signifier that occurred every time the family was mentioned.

A Young girl leaves her home for the first time to pay her aunt a visit, but gets caught alone in a runaway train, which takes her to a magical land.
Meh. A product of its time and genre. Flat characters skipping along in a plot that is just one silly thing after another, clearly meant to entertain the very young with no real appeal to audiences older than, say, 8.

A lovely little piece of fantasy. I look forward to reading the rest of his books.

Rather delightful, in the dreamlike vein of Alice in Wonderland or the Phantom Tollbooth. It's one of those stories in which nothing is wasted - every little detail, however small or whimsical, comes back to be useful later on.