the Magic Pudding

Looking Close... on Friday: Part of a Christmas Bauble

"‘The Magic Pudding’ is Norman Lindsay’s best known children’s book. He wrote it in 1917, partly to settle an argument with his friend Bertram Stevens of The Bulletin and Art in Australia, who maintained that children liked to read about fairies, whereas Lindsay said they liked to read about food.

 

So, Norman Lindsay cooked up a whimsical children’s book that is still loved around the world.

 

For over 100 years ‘The Magic Pudding’ has amused generations of children and their parents with the fun and harrowing adventures of Bunyip Bluegum, Bill Barnacle, Sam Sawnoff, the Puddin’ thieves, and Albert, the cantankerous, ‘never-ending’ pudding.

 

Discovered in strange circumstances, Albert is a magic pudding who changes from steak and kidney to jam roll and apple dumpling in seconds. Gravy-voiced and gruff, Albert is constantly being nibbled at by his owners but never shows the damage. ‘The Magic Pudding’ features members of the Noble Society of Pudding Owners trying to protect their pudding from Puddin’ thieves. Albert is cranky, rude and gets his owners into all kinds of trouble.

 

And it loves, just loves, to be eaten."

(National Trust: Norman Lindsay’s former home, the Norman Lindsay Gallery in Faulconbridge is listed by the National Trust.)

 

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