Honeysuckle Sipping: The Plant Lore of Childhood

Honeysuckle Sipping: The Plant Lore of Childhood by Jeanne R. Chesanow. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780892722341.

Honeysuckle Sipping is a book for anyone who has invented childhood games from garden and backyard plants - and that is just about everybody who grew up among the fields, suburban gardens, and vacant lots of America. Inevitably, we grow into more "important" daily concerns, yet that childhood world is still tucked deep inside us. One passing remark can set off a long and pleasant reminiscence, as Jeanne Chesanow discovered when she published requests for childrens plant lore and games. Hundreds of people wrote to share childhood diversions that were remembered with obvious joy. And its a joy to read about them, for these gentle recollections bring back a time most of us have almost forgotten, a world where days were long, plants smelled delicious, and the mind could drift over endless possibilities. The firsthand anecdotes Jeanne Chesanow collected, plus writings gleaned from American and European authors, make up this most unusual little volume. Whether read for its nostalgic charm or used as a source of pastimes for todays children, Honeysuckle Sipping renews ones sense of wonder and pleasure in simple things.