Elinor Benjamin
"In Memory of Joan Bodger"

I met Joan Bodger only once when she was making a presentation about the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program at an annual conference of the Canadian Library Association. She left a strong impression. It was right around the time I was beginning to think about trying to tell stories. I did my square in memory of Joan Bodger and her story "The Flower Thief" which is on the StorySave CD. In this Story, Joan confesses to having stolen some nasturtiums from a neighbour. I love that story; when I was young, my cousins and I also used to steal flowers. We would dress up in dark coloured clothing and take an old black school bag to carry back the purloined vegetation. Our secret codeword for our mission was: "Let's go snitchin" Some of the flowers were destined for goldfish funerals in which the deceased were buried in coffins made of Eddy match boxes. I also loved Joan's telling of the story of the marriage of Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady which she calls The Sun King marries the Winter Hag. It is on the StorySave CD.