A Small Pinch of Weather

by Joan Aiken

Anything is magically possible in these twelve short stories by gifted storyteller, Joan Aiken. Imagine ordering a sunny day from the local weather witch, asking an appletree to answer the telephone and making a beautiful garden out of old cereal boxes. What would you do if you inherited a real hair loom, or found three ugly old ladies and a dragon on your doorstep and would you need a bicycle if you had a unicorn to ride?

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Childrens, Anthologies, Fiction, Fairy Tales, Magic

239 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Joan Aiken was a much loved English writer who received the MBE for services to Children's Literature. She was known as a writer of wild fantasy, Gothic novels and short stories.

She was born in Rye, East Sussex, into a family of writers, including her father, Conrad Aiken (who won a Pulitzer Prize for his poetry), and her sister, Jane Aiken Hodge. She worked for the United Nations Information Office during the second world war, and then as an editor and freelance on Argosy magazine before she started writing full time, mainly children's books and thrillers. For her books she received the Guardian Award (1969) and the Edgar Allan Poe Award (1972).

Her most popular series, the "Wolves Chronicles" which began with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, was set in an elaborate alternate period of history in a Britain in which James II was never deposed in the Glorious Revolution,and so supporters of the House of Hanover continually plot to overthrow the Stuart Kings. These books also feature cockney urchin heroine Dido Twite and her adventures and travels all over the world.

Another series of children's books about Arabel and her raven Mortimer are illustrated by Quentin Blake, and have been shown on the BBC as Jackanory and drama series. Others including the much loved Necklace of Raindrops and award winning Kingdom Under the Sea are illustrated by Jan Pieńkowski.

Her many novels for adults include several that continue or complement novels by Jane Austen. These include Mansfield Revisited and Jane Fairfax.

Aiken was a lifelong fan of ghost stories. She set her adult supernatural novel The Haunting of Lamb House at Lamb House in Rye (now a National Trust property). This ghost story recounts in fictional form an alleged haunting experienced by two former residents of the house, Henry James and E. F. Benson, both of whom also wrote ghost stories. Aiken's father, Conrad Aiken, also authored a small number of notable ghost stories.

Reviews

[Judith Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was entering my teens when this was published, and have only just come across it. Now I'm a grandmother I scan the second-hand bookshelves for children's books to supplement the ones we kept from the past! These stories are deeply original and imaginative, and, as an aficionado of CS Lewis, E.Nesbit, Tolkien, etc, I reckon I would have loved them even more if I'd read them as a child, but I've been delighted by them at 60+! Bruno Bettelheim wrote of the importance of children having scary stories to read, and The Apple of Trouble is a breathtaking example of this - Joan Aiken writes of a very old and dark subject against a background of Harriet and Mark's (albeit eccentric!) family home life. Brilliant!

[Thandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magic realism in a cute way

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I liked some of these short stories better than others, they all have a regional British feel - I particularly like renaming Strathclyde as Strathcloud and adding a weather witch. Others feel English village or Welsh.

All the tales have children or young adults who are involved with witches or magic in some way. Often a Greek myth is tossed in such as the three Furies. Good attention is paid to nature, with the theft of a quince tree or natural ingredients for potions and spells. Have fun.

[Nikola · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5⭐️
Opowiadania w porządku, aczkolwiek nie wywołały we mnie większych emocji. Po skończeniu już połowy z nich nie pamiętałam.

[Julie Vellacott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been re-reading Joan Aiken's books which I loved as a child. They are just as magical and wonderful now. I have the proof copy of this book and it's a treasure.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joan Aiken is always wonderfully inventive and playful in her short fiction. Disregarding any notion of genre boundaries she segues between comedy, whimsy, fantasy, magic realism, social commentary, and, in her adult stories, horror and SF, sometimes having a go at all of them in one tale. It doesn't always work, but even in misfiring stories (which can end up taking the fairy story into silliness and terrible puns), she is always testing out new ideas. There's more originality and vivacity in the best stories here than you'll find in the work of many more lauded authors.
This collection is uneven, but it's uneven because of Aiken's refusal to take the easy option. Like any good witch, she's always willing to drop something else into the cauldron and her risks usually pay off. Aspects of the stories have dated (inevitably - the collection came out in 1969), and for good or ill, we tend to treat children very differently now. That aside, I like this book very much though and hope I'll soon be reading it aloud to the sea while Morwenna thrashes about in a nearby thorn-bush.

[Liberty · Rating 4 out of 5]

It wasn't until I go tot he last story in this excellent collection of short stories; The Serial Garden, that I realised I had read it before as a child.
The Serial Garden is a story that has stuck in my head without the recollection of the details or where I heard the story. A magical story made doubly magical by the vague recollection of having read it before - which is just how Joan Aiken's folkloric stories seems anyway.
A boy cuts out and makes a cardboard garden from the back of a cereal box. He is magically transported inside the cardboard garden.
Just brilliant!

[Łukasz Zieliński · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lubię opowiadania, ale z tego zbioru zaledwie kilka wzbudziło moje zainteresowanie! Tytułowe bardzo ciekawe i przyjemne w czytaniu! Reszta, jak dla mnie - przeciętna, początek rzadko którego zachęcał do dalszego czytania, wątki fantastyczne mało ciekawe! I często zakończenie dość rozczarowujące. Oczywiście to tylko moje wrażenia, wierzę, że zbiór ten może się podobać!

[Susanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

12 lovely magical stories for children

[Clarissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange and delightful stories. Very funny and British. Whimsical.

[Jennifer Plested · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found it super hard going and stories miserable - really had to fight to actually finish it

[Maria Turnau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wspomnienie z dzieciństwa - lubiłam takie „dziwno-straszne” historie. Po latach czytane z synem - wciąż ma to coś. Świetna literatura, nie zestarzało się bardzo.

[Ushashi Sarkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

stunning

[Zackman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore Joan Aiken's short stories.

[Belinda Mellor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another almost 5 stars. My only issue with this was the order of the stories. The first is okay and the second is the weakest in the collection. After those I thought of not reading on, but when I picked it up again I enjoyed story number three, and then four... I was still half-expecting to be disappointed again but that was not the case. The final story was especially good.
The author has some simple yet brilliant turns of phrase, and throws in the oddest details that make the stories come to life.
This collection is written in quite an old-fashioned style but I enjoyed that aspect too.
Highly recommended for readers of all ages. I imagine it would be great fun to read aloud.

[Kellynn Wee · Rating 5 out of 5]

As delightful as the first time I read it -- or the second or third or fourth. I've been reading this book since before I fully understood what it was saying. I really love it.

[Adam Stevenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light, breezy and fun stories that generally following the pattern of something magical or extraordinary being grounded in a mundane world.

The brilliant Armitage family feature in a great many of these, the dad being the funniest (and least magical) member of the family.

There are trees answering telephones, riding unicorns, weather from a witch and people nicking quince trees.

It’s fun, easy and a lovely little breather.

[Inga · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good, could have just gone on reading. Just another story after another after another.. #myentitlement

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A NSSSS book from a BookCrosser. A nice selection of Joan Aiken's stories for children, amusing, original and some quite poignant - I hope the promised sequel to The Serial Garden got written.

[Jezier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesujące, trochę staroświeckie.

[Reika · Rating 5 out of 5]

some stories are very good, some are a bit boring, but over all its good.

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I forgot how sad the Serial Garden is!

[Gordon MacLellan · Rating 4 out of 5]

a wander down memory lane and moments of real treasure here - especially with the Armitages and their adventures