The Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbitt ~ 1969. This edition: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1969. Hardcover. 159 pages.
This book is a treasured survivor from my childhood bookshelf, and I hold it in very fond regard. It’s a short and efficiently written morality tale of sorts, and is saved from preachiness by its charm and wry humour.
Some time ago, in a small, imaginary kingdom, the Prime Minister is writing a dictionary. Everything is going swimmingly, until it suddenly isn’t.
The Prime Minister returns to his rooms after showing his progress to the King, and relates what has just happened to his twelve-year-old adopted son Gaylen.
“I went down, you see, to show the King how far I’ve gone with my dictionary. He was pleased with the first part. He liked ‘Affectionate is your dog’ and ‘Annoying is a loose boot in a muddy place’ and so on, and he smiled at ‘Bulky is a big bag of boxes.’ As a matter of fact, there was no trouble with any of the A’s or B’s and the C’s were fine too, especially ’Calamitous is saying no to the King.’ But then we got to ‘Delicious is fried fish’ and he said no, I’d have to change that. He doesn’t care for fried fish. The General of the Armies was standing there and he said that, as far as he was concerned, Delicious is a mug of beer, and the Queen said no, Delicious is a Christmas pudding, and then the King said nonsense, everyone knew the most delicious thing is an apple, and they all began quarreling. Not just the three of them – the whole court…”
This seems like a minor episode, and Gaylen laughs it off, but the Prime Minister isn’t so optimistic. And he’s right. The Court is soon in an uproar, and the ripples are spreading throughout the kingdom. There’s even talk of a civil war, boosted along by the Queen’s wicked brother, Hemlock.
One thing leads to another, as things tend to do in fairy tales, and Gaylen finds himself tasked with undertaking a survey of the entire kingdom, visiting every dweller there within to record each individual’s choice for Delicious. He sets off on his trusty steed Marrow, and it’s all a lovely adventure, until he discovers that Hemlock is out on a mission of his own, stirring up dissent and spreading false tales of the King’s motivation for asking Gaylen to record everyone’s choices.
This is a fast-moving story, and Babbitt packs a lot into it, with characters ranging from the optimistic Gaylen and his fellow human countrymen to an assortment of almost-forgotten creatures, such as the dwarfs in the mountains, woldwellers in the forests, mermaids in the lakes, and winds in the air.
Gaylen’s journey round the kingdom turns dark and dangerous, and disaster looms, but in proper fairy tale tradition, his kind and fair-minded actions and reactions are rewarded, though not without some close calls.
This is a fantastic story to read aloud to your young people, or perhaps to enjoy for yourself on days when you might need cheering up from the woes of the real world. Never mind that it’s classified as a “juvenile” – it’s a well-crafted tale, and that is always worthy of appreciation, and the adult reader will enjoy what Babbitt has done here.
My rating: a staunch 10/10. And if you do find yourself in possession of this little book, I hope it’s a version that includes all of Babbitt’s original pen-and-ink illustrations in the chapter headings. They are delightful.
This sounds just delightful, and yet I’ve never heard of it before! Another gem to discover thanks to you.