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Written in 1948 but never published during the author’s lifetime, Mister Deedle’s Tree House by Margaret Morrison Roeth is an almost-lost treasure. It is incredibly charming and would be an excellent companion to stories like Twig by Elizabeth Orton Jones, Philomena by Kate Seredy, or The Blueberry Pie Elf by Jane Thayer. This timeless story is gentle, creative, imaginative, and reveals a certain magic in the everyday rhythms of childhood, blending sweetness and delight with whimsy. I am astounded that this book was passed over by publishing houses in the 1950’s, and I cannot believe it was almost lost forever.
Award winning artist, Margaret Morrison Roeth, studied at the California School of Arts & Crafts and the Art Institute in San Francisco. These lovely stories were inspired by the tender and innocent life of her own two children, Chuck and Betsy. It’s the kind of book that feels like it was written during a golden afternoon where anything is possible and everything is interesting if you’re creative enough to let your imagination whisk you away.
Peggy and Pete, tired of playing regular games, decide to imagine the world as if they were only a few inches tall. In this collection of five short stories, the ordinary becomes extraordinary. In their pretending, the pine tree is the home of a grumpy old man named Mr. Deedle who charges rent to the Robin family and who hires Carpenter Christopher Woodpecker to install windows in his tree. When mother asks them to bring in the laundry from the line, the children decide that the stair railing is a mountain and that by pushing their basket up the rail, they are able to meet the kindly “Aunt Kate” and her llama at the top of the Andes Mountains. Each little adventure is just a few pages long, but each is rich with imaginative detail. Roeth’s anthropomorphized animals and whimsical characters feel like they’ve stepped right out of a child’s daydream.
Roeth’s illustrations perfectly represent the era in which the stories were written. They communicate a nostalgic, postwar innocence that lovingly sets the stage for childish fancy. The drawings, the marginalia, and the sweet scalloped page edging are perfectly suited to draw a child in and make them loved.
What’s especially authentic is how true to life the children are. Their thoughts, their conversation, their sweet, peculiar logic are adorable and very funny. Readers young and old are likely to giggle their way through the stories.
That this book was never published during Roeth’s life is confusing to me. This is an excellent sample of the kinds of books that were published during The Golden Age of children’s literature. And I am convinced that lovers of living books will want this one for their collections.
In the 1950’s, Chuck Roeth was serving in the U.S. Navy, stationed in Hawaii. When his mother was unable to secure a publisher for her secret story, she tucked it away in her attic thinking it would be forgotten. It wasn’t until 2009, when visiting his sister Betsy, that Roeth learned of the story and the 52 pages of illustrations. Betsy gave him the manuscript and art hoping that he might be able to do something with it. In 2013, she died. For years, Roeth, his wife and his daughters tried to bring Margaret’s story to life. Without any real progress, the family feared that the story would never be published.
Then, in 2023, Chuck’s wife Janet sat next to Carrie Pierce at a ladies’ group meeting. As the women chatted about their lives and their interests, Morgan explained her work in publishing. Janet had found a publisher for her mother in law’s story!
Earlier this year, I was interviewed by Jeff Minick from the Epoch Times about my work with living books lending libraries. Because of that interview, Carrie Pierce found me and noted that I mentioned how much we love books written during the 1940s and 1950s. She sent me a link to an interview that the Epoch Times did with her about this this book in 2024.
Without knowing the backstory, it would be easy to assume that this warm, thoughtful, and well-crafted little volume has always been nestled among the shelves of classic children’s literature. How sad it would have been if this had been permanently lost!
Mister Deedle’s Tree House is a beautiful invitation to remember that sometimes the most enchanting adventures begin not with dragons or distant lands, but with a simple idea, a big imagination, and the willingness to think of yourself as just a few inches tall.