Nibbles and Me
“Nibbles and Me came to us written in a school copybook in the penciled handwriting of a thirteen-year-old girl. The young girl is Elizabeth Taylor, a charming and unusual actress, who has already been starred in a number of moving pictures. She played Velvet in National Velvet and at the time of this book she was acting in Blue Sierra [working title for Courage of Lassie]. Elizabeth started to write about the life of her chipmunk, Nibbles, simply out of affection for him—as she wrote a book developed, and here it is.” [From the Publisher’s Note]
In 1946, thirteen-year-old Elizabeth wrote Nibbles and Me, a chronicle of her real-life adventures with a chipmunk named Nibbles. “Nibbles and Me sprang from a school assignment,” Elizabeth explained. “Each week we had to do an essay on any subject we chose, and Nibbles was my favorite subject. I kept a diary of our experiences together. I think it was the teacher’s suggestion that I write it with a sense of continuity, as if it were a book.”
The manuscript, still in Elizabeth’s handwriting, was submitted to publisher Duell, Sloan and Pearce, who paid her $1,000 for the rights to publish her adventures with Nibbles. In this charming book, Elizabeth shares with her readers how Nibbles first entered her life while on location for Courage of Lassie in Lake Chelan, Washington, as well as a series of other important “firsts” for Nibbles, including his first bath (after a swim in the toilet), his one and only time in the movies (his scene was ultimately left on the cutting room floor), his first train ride, his first Christmas, his first encounter with formidable MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer, and even a few close brushes with his mortality! Nibbles and Me also features illustrations by the teenage star, as well as stills from her upcoming film, Courage of Lassie (referred to as Blue Sierra, its working title).
This charming book—with original illustrations by its young author, as well as additional drawings not included in the 1946 edition—was reissued by Simon & Schuster in 2002 to coincide with the publication of My Love Affair with Jewelry. As Elizabeth wrote in the note to the new edition, “What it has are the growing-up observations of a thirteen-year-old girl, perhaps leaving childhood behind, but never, never forsaking her love of animals and the countryside. My hope for any of you young readers is that my little story, and the drawings I made, will make you smile and believe in the magic that a friendship with animals can bring, no matter how old you are. Over the years, animals have remained my sweetest and most cherished friends.”