The Other Day is Dorothy Whipple’s charming memoir of her childhood in Blackburn, starting when she was very young until she was about 12. She clearly has a vivid memory of such things as her inability to understand when someone was teasing her, the ways she misunderstood things, and her great ideas based on childish misconceptions.
Her experiences of school were especially unfortunate. She was hopeless at mathematics, and her math teacher at her first school ridiculed her mercilessly until she “cheated” by claiming to get two answers right on a quiz. Later, she was entered into a convent school and became confused about what she was told about religion.
Most of her stories, whether happy or not, reflect a happy childhood, especially when the family later takes a cottage. Her memories reflect a lot of humor even though she seems to have been a serious child.
What? Me Read? 
This sounds interesting, but I think I would prefer to read more of Whipple’s fiction first. So far I’ve only read Someone at a Distance.
I’ve read most of her books, I think, and have enjoyed them all.
I just checked her out to see if I was lying about having read most of her books. There are a few more adult books out there, but it looks like there are half a dozen children’s books that she also wrote, so I guess I have to change my comment to “most of her adult books.”
I have this but haven’t read it yet! It’s the last of her adult books I have to read, sadly, though am looking forward to re-reading.
Yes, I think it’s the last one I had, too.