A programme for children under five
Nursery rhymes, stories, and music
Each week these broadcasts for the under fives include at least one. more often two, repeats ' of stories already heard. This week they will be the Penelope stories. ' Penelope Buys Some Shoes,' by Joan E. Cass , is about the'sort of incident which happens to the children themselves, and therein lies much of its appeal. ' The Brown Bunnies with Pink Ears,' by Jean Sutcliffe , is a quite different kind of tale, a tale with funny noises and a touch of fantasy which Daddy makes up about Penelope's new bedroom slippers.
As with all the tales we repeat, these have been chosen because our young listeners have asked for them. Every week comes a flow of postcards and letters demanding the retelling of favourite stories. and describing how eagerly and hopefully the children wait to hear them again. For the under fives love to hear the things they know, and it gives them a sense of confidence and importance to anticipate the storyteller and get there first. When you are under five, as one mother put it, ' so much in life is new that familiar things are very comforting.' Elizabeth Taylor