I have been thinking about this book a lot lately. No idea of the title.
The story (fiction) was about a young child (girl? boy?) who went on a train ride with someone? something? else, and was offered some jam — or marmalade — to try. However, the young child did not have any utensil to use to dip into the marmalade. This is the part that has stuck with me to this day: the companion gave the advice to the child “…always keep a spoon with you, because you never know when someone will offer you something to try” — or words to that effect.
This advice made a major impression on my young mind, and to this day I always carry a metal spoon with me.
I would love to read this story again. Would you help me find it?
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
Maybe Beyond the PawPaw Trees, by Palmer Brown? Anna Lavinia is on a train, and a woman offers her (I think) strawberry jam. I don’t remember the spoon, but it’s interesting how people remember different things from their favorite books!
I managed to obtain a copy of “Beyond the Pawpaw Trees” through Inter-library loan today, and read it straight through this afternoon. Unfortunately, no, this is not the story of which I am thinking — although, curiously, the drawings seem very familiar to me, so I must have read it as a child anyway. However, the woman in the train does not offer jam to the child to try. “Strawberry” in the story is the girl’s cat.
So, I am still looking….still open for suggestions. Thank you so much, Kelly W., for your suggestion.