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PENNY Story and pictures by Marjorie Torrey (Howell, Soskin, Publishers, 1944) The books you read when you’re a child and the world is vivid and fresh make a lasting impression (as do the films; I never recovered from seeing “Titanic” – the 1953 version which was amazingly good, although there were no spectacular special effects.) When I was three or four, I had a picture book about a princess with pink high heels and I never forgot that shade of pink.  Even now when I see that particular hue, I think of the princess with the pink high heels. Like hundreds of other kids, I wanted to go to OZ; I wanted a closely-knit family like Betsy in the Betsy-Tacy books; I wanted to find a penny that would grant my wishes – even half a wish, like the kids in Edward Eager’s Half Magic. In 1972, when I was a young adult, my house burned down and I lost … Read on