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Wednesday, 14 December 2011

Book of the week - A home for Sam & Susie by Roz and Haz

Our book of the week this week is;

A home for Sam & Susie published by Raphael Tuck & Sons c1938 written by Roz and illustrated by Haz..
Samuel Squirrel finds a simply lovely site on which to build a new house for himself and his wife Susie. Susie is delighted and claps her paws and pulls Samuel's whiskers in a most loving way.  Then she stops… and she thinks… and she says, "Dear, it's a perfect place; but how will you build a house with no money?"
Samuel smiles and produces a large placard on which is printed...
To all my friends, please help to build our house, bring what you can on full-moon night, all welcome!
So begins this lovely story about friendship.
Mole sets to work digging the foundations; the water-rat stands by to give advice! He will be back later to fit the coconut-shell bath he found on a dump. (Note the hot and cold water pipes in the above illustration!)
Susie finds a lovely piece of bark for the front door, the woodpecker pecks' holes in three acorns to be used as chimneys and the spider spins silk for the windows. It's a little difficult putting it all together until the hedgehog offers some of his spines, after which the work goes merrily.
Sam and Susie throw a house warming party to say thank you to all their friends.
"Good luck to you, and your home, and all of us!" say Sam's friends, as they drink up their moon-dew and say good-bye.

This book is now sold thank you for your interest.


I've been unable to find out anything at all about Roz or Haz. Did they write/illustrator under any other names? What are Roz and Haz short for?  If you know I would love to hear from you. Or maybe you had this book as a child or know someone who did. 
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12 comments:

  1. Joanne Clancy14 December 2011 at 13:30

    Wow! My niece would love this story. She's two years old and obsessed with books :-)

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  2. barbaraannefisher14 December 2011 at 13:48

    I think most little girls and boys would love it - I know I would have done.

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  3. Jean Vogler14 December 2011 at 20:12

    The illustrations look so similar to Beatrix Potter's style, and very colorful

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  4. DM15 December 2011 at 02:06

    Look at these wonderful pictures! I love this story - just so cute.

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  5. Jess15 December 2011 at 02:13

    What a delightful story with lovely illustrations. I wish I had some information for you- but I don't. I hope somone sees this that can fill you in on some details about the authors!

    ~Jess
    http://thesecretdmsfilesoffairdaymorrow.blogspot.com/

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  6. barbaraannefisher15 December 2011 at 10:04

    Hi Jess, I hope so too but no luck yet. I tweeted about it yesterday so am hoping someone knows something!

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  7. barbaraannefisher15 December 2011 at 10:07

    Jean, I hadn’t given any thought to Beatrix Potter - but now you mention it I can see the likeness.

    Donna, cute really does sum up this lovely little book.
    Thank you both for calling in and leaving comments.

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  8. C. Lee McKenzie15 December 2011 at 16:38

    Wish I did know more about these writers/illustrators. What beautiful pictures and what a sweet story.

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  9. barbaraannefisher16 December 2011 at 11:01

    I was hopeful that someone would know something – but nothing so far. It’s odd how such an amazing illustrator can pass more or less unnoticed.

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  10. barbaraannefisher16 December 2011 at 11:02

    Very cute and pretty, glad you liked them.

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  11. Sue24 May 2012 at 19:41

    Haz was an artist Mrs Stanford who lived in Sandwich Kent. My mother was her housekeeper and my sister was given the first of the books as they were published. She illustrated a book called The Timbertoes also published by Raphel Tuck about the same time. She also illustrated greeting cards of which I still have a small collection.I believe she also illustrated other books but unfortunately have never been able to trace them.

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  12. barbaraannefisher25 May 2012 at 07:22

    Hello Sue, thank you for sharing so much interesting and useful information. I will keep a look out for a copy of Timbertoes and the greetings cards. I wonder why/how the name Haz came about – maybe it was a nickname or something. Mrs. Stanford is a surprise, I was convinced Haz was a man! Barbara

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I really appreciate your comment. Thank you!
Barbara xx