Honeysuckle Sipping: The Plant Lore of Childhood

by Jeanne R. Chesanow

Honeysuckle Sipping is a book for anyone who has invented childhood games from garden and backyard plants - and that is just about everybody who grew up among the fields, suburban gardens, and vacant lots of America.

Inevitably, we grow into more "important" daily concerns, yet that childhood world is still tucked deep inside us. One passing remark can set off a long and pleasant reminiscence, as Jeanne Chesanow discovered when she published requests for children's plant lore and games. Hundreds of people wrote to share childhood diversions that were remembered with obvious joy. And it's a joy to read about them, for these gentle recollections bring back a time most of us have almost forgotten, a world where days were long, plants smelled delicious, and the mind could drift over endless possibilities.

The firsthand anecdotes Jeanne Chesanow collected, plus writings gleaned from American and European authors, make up this most unusual little volume. Whether read for its nostalgic charm or used as a source of pastimes for today's children, Honeysuckle Sipping renews one's sense of wonder and pleasure in simple things.

201 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband was given this book while on a trip. It’s a collection of sweet reminiscences from mainly the late 19th century into the early 20th century of imaginative play in gardens and forests that line the edges of yards. I was unsure what to expect from the book, but I was pleasantly surprised. I even look at some of the plants in my garden a little differently now. It reminded me a lot of my grandmother, combing through my grandmother’s peas in the summer for ripe pods, and listening to her talk about the faces she could see in the petals of pansies.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beautiful illustrations are what make it worth it.