A lonely 10-year-old girl,
a missing street vendor,
body snatchers,
the famous nursery song—
Listen to them come
together in the thronging streets of Victorian London in this enchanting
original story from award-winning Minstrel Storyteller Mary Jo Maichack
Ages 8 to adult, 36.38 minutes- CD $12.00
Enter
the Noisy Streets of Dickens-era London
Squeeze through crowded lanes,
smell herring and strawberries, hear the street cries of the vendors with
the story’s young heroine, Ginny, as she seeks a missing friend in
dangerous Victorian London through this enchanting short story of historical
fiction that makes the past palpable and entertaining.
Meticulously researched using the eye-witness accounts of Victorian author Henry Mayhew and other sources, this engaging, original story brings together real British history with a clever proposal for the origins of the famous folksong. Listeners young and old will enjoy the entertaining trip through perilous streets by Drury Lane.
| Ginny Wright is lonely, but the daily visits from an itinerant muffin man, one of 19th century London’s thousands of street vendors, called costermongers, cheer her. So when the muffin man goes missing—in a world of unjust laws, rampant poverty, in which some even turn to body snatching to earn their keep—what’s a 10-year-old girl to do but grab her terrier, Pike, and run, pell-mell, right into the heart of the Covent Garden marketplace to find him? |
Mary Jo Maichack, veteran minstrel storyteller of some 3,000 stages from San Francisco to Venice, Italy, and 1999 NAPPA gold award winner, wrote and narrated the story. Her expressive voice and musicality bring the piece a special charm; her love of character and dialect beautifully bring forth the elements of this rare take on old times.
“The (muffin man’s)...bell still tinkles along the streets, and is rung vigorously in the suburbs,...where the gents that’s in banks goes home to their teas, and the missuses has muffins to welcome them....” Henry Mayhew, 1861
Do you know the Muffin Man—the real muffin man? Within the beautiful CD package, (original pastel art by Gregory John Maichack) you will even find an easy recipe for the English muffins of his time. So have a muffin, give a listen. You’re in for a delicious time.
| From a review in the School Library Journal: "This short story, created around the traditional children's song about the Muffin Man, is based on historical fact. Maichack, a professional stroyteller and musician, wonderfully provides all the voices of the characters, except a few male street vendors. She gives life to snippets of songs performed by street vendors and music hall singers within the context of the story. Listeners will enjoy this introduction to the street life of Dickens-era London." — Teresa Wittmann, Westgate Elementary School, Edmonds, WA |