The Hinky Pink

I was felled! It wasn't flu, but it sure felt like flu. For three days, I either shivered while burrowed under blankets and wearing a hat, or sweated something fierce. Bede had the same thing four days before I got it. What was it? I think it might have been the dreaded lurgy.

In the meantime, The Hinky Pink, by Megan McDonald arrived from the library! Read Fuse #8's review here, and be glad that even though Jeanne Hardendorf's The Bed Just So is out of print, you may read a new version that takes place in Florence and features a seamstress.

"What is a Hinky Pink?" you might ask.
"A hudgin!" I'd answer.
"What is a hudgin?" you'd retort.
"A hobbledy-gob," I'd reply.

I hope that clears up any confusion.

I enjoy telling "The Bed Just So," but even though this version is a bit long to tell in its entirety, at least for my preschool crowds, I like The Hinky Pink very much indeed. Brian Floca's illustrations are so evocative of Florence that I found myself searching for the Hotel Martelli, where Bede and I spent part of our honeymoon (though not in any of the fancy rooms pictured in the website's slideshow). As to Fuse's question about how Mag, nursemaid to Princess Isabella Caramella Gorgonzola, knows Anabel is a magnificent seamstress, even up to the very end--Anabel's skills are legendary! When I was in Florence, I asked Anabel to make me a dress that would fit my body shape no matter how much my weight fluctuated in my lifetime. She created a lovely dark blue-green gown that looked good on me even when I was 9 months pregnant. So, there you go.