May 24, 1898

I was chastened to read a review of Kathleen Hale's series of books about Orlando the Marmalade Cat. There are 18 books in which Orlando stars, and I was delighted to read about the cat, in Orlando's Invisible Pajamas (1947). Kathleen Hale, (May 24, 1898, to January 26, 2000) British artist and children's author, in this story centers the plot around a cat who drops a dead mouse into the skillet of the night watchman while he is frying sausages. And then I finished the biography of Kathleen Hale in Twentieth Century Children's Writers, (1989). Just hearing about Orlando's adventures made me smile and the biographer summarized Hale's audience as "the intelligent six-year-old," and went on, (to, I assumed, some loved by all ages cliche) " [her work is ] capable of being appreciated on some level at almost any age [...] from four to eight." Almost made me choke on my chocolate.