Seeking children’s picture book, pre-1999 but probably after 1980. Round brothers and sister with straw hats (maybe sailor outfits too) find a hole in a hedge. They get all dirty in a mud puddle and find a magical world with a very geometric castle on the other side of the hedge. One of them might get lost/want to stay. Found in a library in 90s. Driving me insane.
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Is it possibly The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit? Kind of a long shot, but it starts with 4 siblings finding a hole in a hedge that leads to a “castle” with a hedge maze.
“In the middle of the maze in the rose garden they find a sleeping fairy-tale princess.The “princess” tells them that the castle is full of magic, and they almost believe her. She shows them the treasures of the castle, including a magic ring she says is a ring of invisibility, but when it actually turns her invisible she panics and admits that she is the housekeeper’s niece, Mabel, and was just play-acting.The children soon discover that the ring has other magical powers.”
This sounds like one of my childhood favorites, “Rumpty Dudget’s Tower” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
This sounds exactly like one of my childhood favorites, “Rumpty Dudget’s Tower” by Julian Hawthorne and illustrated by Diane Goode. If it has a cat with absurdly large eyes, it’s definitely the right book.
Hi! I’m looking through past posts trying to find a hint of a book I’m looking for… and ran across your inquiry… is it The Tunnel by Anthony Browne? I loved that book too and it made a deep impression on me as well.
Just found this website with illustrations from Rumpty Dudget’s Tower, so you can take a quick look and see if this is right. One picture with the children on the lawn next the the hedge sounds like it matches your description perfectly.
https://www.etsy.com/hk-en/listing/702672859/rumpty-dudgets-tower-diane-good-juliana?ref=landingpage_similar_listing_bot-11