Friday, July 30, 2010

Kim's Place and Other Poems

I'll leave you this week with a quick poem from Kim's Place and Other Poems by Lee Bennett Hopkins ~ drawings by Lawrence Di Fiori ~ Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1974.

GREEN

Green sky.
Green kitten.
Green pie.
Green mitten.
Green here.
Green there.
Green, green everywhere!
But...Ha! Ha!
The color green quickly passes
When I take off
My green sunglasses.


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Thursday, July 29, 2010

How Joe the Bear and Sam the Mouse Got Together

How Joe the Bear and Sam the Mouse Got Together
Beatrice Schenk De Regniers ~ Brinton Turkle
Parents' Magazine Press, 1965


Too cute. Too cute. Too cute!!! The perfect tale of how opposites attract and how all friends can find a common ground. A great first reader with wonderful illustrations, it has a funny storyline that's easy to follow. Plus, the dapper, 1920s garb these two are sporting just kills me.

And soooo, the bear and the mouse meet and agree to do something together but they find all sorts of obstacles get in the way...

One wants to live in a big house, the other wants to live in a small house... one likes to go fast, the other likes to go slow...one likes to play drums while the other prefers the violin... until at last they find something they can agree on...

You will live in a big house.
I will live in a little house.
You will play football and ride slow.
I will play baseball and ride fast.
You will play violin music.
I will play drum music.
But everyday at three o'clock...
Yes, everyday at three o'clock...
We will eat ice cream together.


You scream, I scream, no?

Also by:
The Snow Party
Cats Cats Cats Cats Cats
The Giant Story

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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Update Wednesday: One Monster After Another

Wednesday again, and yet another book from the archives has floated to the top of the heap in need of some new scans and an update. Please enjoy a two-year-old post, made brand spanking new with loads of purdy pictures.... One Monster After Another by Mercer Mayer. Enjoy!

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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The Mysterious Tadpole

The Mysterious Tadpole
Steven Kellogg ~ Dial, 1977


While I still have a love/hate relationship with all things Kellogg, my son absolutely adores him. His current Kellogg-drawn favorite is The Day the Goose Got Loose (that dream sequence with the geese flying through the sky sends the boy into convulsions of delight) though I'm partial to this sweet story of the Loch Ness variety... when Louis is gifted a tadpole for his birthday from his uncle who lives in Scotland, he takes it to show-and-tell..."Class, this is a tadpole," said Mrs. Shelbert. She asked Louis to bring it back often so they could all watch it become a frog. Louis named the tadpole Alphonse. Every day Alphonse ate several cheeseburgers. Louis found that he was eager to learn. When Alphonse became too big for his jar, Louise moved him to the sink. After Alphonse outgrew the sink, Louis's parents agreed to let him use the bathtub. One day Mrs. Shelbert decided that Alphonse was not turning into an ordinary frog. She asked Louis to stop bringing him to school.Not unlike A Fish Out of Water, soon Alphonse is in dire need of someplace to live. Louis enlists the help of (who else!?!) the local librarian who guesses the creature's true origin, and together they hatch a plan to score some sunken pirate booty to pay for a private swimming pool for Alphonse. To say that the creature is beyond cute is an understatement, and the well of love the little boy shows toward it is heartwarming to say the least. Magic, adventure and sweetness, the perfect combination for wee little reader who wants it all.(I thrifted this autographed copy, but apparently you can get your own personalized Kellogg doodle through The Essex Inn Bookstore.)

Also by:
You Ought To See Herbert's House

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Monday, July 26, 2010

Great Monday Give: A Hole Is To Dig

Oh my goodness, we got a new puppy, and I'd forgotten how much like a new baby that is, so I'll make this quick!

The Great Monday Give is here once again... meaning I'm giving away a book from our collection. If you wanna chance to win a new-ish, paperback copy of the Sendak/Krauss classic, A Hole Is To Dig, simply leave a comment on this post before 11:59 PM - Sunday - August 1st. (I can't believe the summer is almost over. ACK!) A winner will be selected at random and announced the next day.

The winner of last week's give... Plenty of Fish... is Joy! Congrats and send me your mailing info to webe(at)soon(dot)com, and I'll try and get it out sooner rather than later. So long for now gang!

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Friday, July 23, 2010

The Amazing Mumford and His Amazing Subtracting Trick and Featuring Lovable, Furry, Old Grover

The Amazing Mumford and His Amazing Subtracting Trick
Norman Stiles (with help from Bob Oksner and Emily Perl Kaplin)
illustrated by Mike Smollin ~ Western Publishing, 1972


Once again, I'm ending the week with an old school Sesame Street book. Sorry for the jam up, I'm just realizing I still have so many to share before the point becomes moot altogether. That said, this is probably the last time I'll ever buy a Sesame Street book online, but when I saw it last week in an Etsy shop, I couldn't resist. The boy is eating it up too as The Amazing Mumford is one of his favorite characters, due to the fact that the dude is totally wacky and weird and hilarious. I'm enjoying it because I do remember having this one from childhood and Grover has always been the personal fave. Once again illustrated fantastically by the incomparable Mike Smollin (creator of the still-in-print The Monster at the End of This Book), and taken from a skit that originally aired on the show in 1971, we see Mumford attempting to make a series of pineapples disappear, one after the other, until Grover takes over the magical reigns and makes "Mumphie" go bye-bye a la peanut butter sandwiches. Classic Sesame Street shtick. Enjoy and happy Friday!

Other Old Sesame Street Titles:
Sherlock Hemlock and the Great Twiddlebug Mystery
Grover and the Everything in the Whole Wide World Museum
The In and Out and All About Sesame Street Coloring Book
The Together Book
The Many Faces of Ernie
The Great Cookie Thief
Sesame Street 1,2,3 Story Book
The Sesame Street Bedtime Storybook

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Thursday, July 22, 2010

Lafcadio, The Lion Who Shot Back

Lafcadio, The Lion Who Shot Back
Shel Silverstein ~ Harper & Row, 1963


One of his longer picture books, it (along with The Missing Piece and The Giving Tree) was one of the three Shel books I owned as a child. I read it to my son for the first time a few days ago, and he sat mesmerized. It's filled with all the things little boys love: guns, death, animals and marshmallows. (Not expressly in that order.) This is the story of a lion in the wilds of someplace that isn't afraid of hunters like the others in his feline family. When he procures a gun from one such edible annoyance, he becomes a master shot... and eventually receives an offer from a circus man..."But you can make lots of money and you can be the greatest shooter in the world and you can be famous and eat wonderful foods and wear silk shirts and yellow shoes and smoke fifty-cent cigars and go to wonderful parties and have everyone pat you on your back or scratch you behind the ears or whatever people do to lions; I don't know."

"Ears, shears, a glass of bears," said the young lion. "What do I want with all that stuff?"

"Everyone wants that stuff," said the circus man. "Come with me and be rich and famous and happy and be the greatest lion in the world."

"Well," said the young lion, "If you do come, will I get a marshmallow?"


And boy, does he get a marshmallow. He also gets rich and famous and becomes so much NOT a lion that he is hardly recognizable. One day he finds himself in the jungle, almost a man, hunting the lions he once hung with. A wonderful open-ended Shel finale leads to a great lesson on understanding that often when we seek the material, we lose ourselves.Also by:
A Giraffe and a Half
Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book

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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Update Wednesday: Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh!

Time for Update Wednesday (the day when I hit the archives and update posts from way back when I was stingy on the scans)! For your viewing pleasure is Allan Sherman's Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh! Enjoy!

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Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Bennett Cerf's Book of Laughs

Bennett Cerf's Book of Laughs
Bennett Cerf ~ Carl Rose
Random House, 1959


The 11th book published in the Random House Beginner Books series was written by the original funny man and co-founder of Random House, Bennett Cerf. What I like best about this book is that it's essentially a joke book yet told through the misadventures of a little boy named Marvin.

Marvin got a new watch. Jenny asked him, "Does your watch tell the time?"
"No it never tells the time," said Marvin. "I have to look at it."


Classic fun, right?

That night, Marvin was in bed.
His mother called up to him:
"Marvin, did you put out the light?"
Marvin said:
"How would I know? It is too dark for me to see the light."


The pictures (by New Yorker legend, Rose) are hysterical -- making Marvin sneaky, sweet and crude, often all at the same time. Soooooo 1950s.


Also by:
Bennett Cerf's Book of Animal Riddles

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Monday, July 19, 2010

Great Monday Give: Plenty of Fish

It's my birthday. (I know, me and Dooce, right?) What better way to celebrate than by giving something away. This weekend I was doing the customary bringing of the books from the back of my son's shelves forward to rotate reading stock, and I realized I had two copies of this wonderful Science I CAN READ book, Plenty of Fish. So, of course, now I'm giving one away! All you have to do to be entered to win is comment on this post before 11:59 pm on Sunday, July 25. A winner will be selected the next day at random.

As for last week's winner, that little Anno's Hat Tricks book goes to Rachel. Congrats. E-mail me at webe(at)soon.com with your info.

Now, to start my birthday off right. I know if I can just get through today, there will be a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake shaped like a rainbow waiting for me at the end of it. Yum!

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Thursday, July 15, 2010

Sesame Street 1,2,3, Storybook

Sesame Street 1, 2, 3 Storybook
by Emily Perl Kingsley, Jeffery Moss, Norman Stiles, Daniel Wilcox
pictures by Joseph Mathieu, Kelly Oechsli,
Mel Crawford, Bob Taylor
Random House, 1973


And since I'm feeling all wistful and nostalgic, let's head back down memory lane to 123 Sesame Street why don't we? How great is this book, really? When I saw it at a book shop (for the genuine bargain of $1), my brain literally exploded with memories and awesomeness. (Please excuse my penchant for SS of late. Kindergarten is looming, and I've got these heavy in the rotation while the boy's still tolerant.) Two of my favorite Sesame Street illustrators rule here, Mel Crawford and Joe Mathieu... a ton of stories -- The Count is, of course, counting -- Ernie's being ridiculous -- Sherlock is being Sherlock -- Cookie meets a genie -- everybody plays baseball with some dragons -- plus Sam the Robot! Part of a series of storybooks that were created between 1971 and 1979, I loved all of them for their vivid illustrations and busy nature. So hefty and full of fun. Enjoy!


Other Old Sesame Street Titles:
Sherlock Hemlock and the Great Twiddlebug Mystery
Grover and the Everything in the Whole Wide World Museum
The In and Out and All About Sesame Street Coloring Book
The Together Book
The Many Faces of Ernie
The Great Cookie Thief
The Amazing Mumford and His Amazing Subtracting Trick
The Sesame Street Bedtime Storybook

Also by Mel Crawford:
The Story of Harmony Lane

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Three Years of Memories

Coming up on my three year anniversary of blogging about books, and I'm getting wistful. When I started buying vintage books for my son, it was mainly as a way to save money. I'd spent his first year collecting expensive, heirloom hardcopies of classics and my wallet couldn't keep up with the demand. As I've said before, I found a copy of Why I Built the Boogle House for $2.95 and my fate was sealed. Very quickly the act of buying and sharing vintage books with my son transformed from being a financial one into one of reunion and revelation. Once you begin the search through used book shops and thrift stores, you run into all kinds of old friends you'd forgotten you'd loved. Pictures and stories bring up old memories, and the old memories become new when shared with a child.

I started this blog as a way to broadcast my building excitement for what I was discovering, and found there were others out there, too, looking for long-lost loves. Not antique dealers or sellers or collectors, but people just looking to reconnect with a wee bit of their past. I'll never forget the feelings of longing and melancholy that overtook me upon finding my childhood copy of Our Best Friends in my mother's attic. Or getting teary-eyed reading my son The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes for the first time. Or coming upon John Goodall's The Sleeping Beauty and remembering how I loved it as a girl.

As one reader commented after seeing the scans of A Rocket Trip to the Moon...

Brought tears to my eyes--because this was one of my favorites as a kid, and I completely forgot about it (and must have lost it...)

I experience this almost everyday in my travels. Sometimes it's the book cover. Sometimes just a half image from a drawing tucked deep inside its pages. Maybe it's recalling the way the book felt in my little hands or a rainy afternoon spent at the library a million years ago. That feeling of a childhood lost and remembered. Picking up these little volumes of my personal history and discovering new titles I'd never dreamed existed, all in the hopes of passing down a love of books to my son. He is five years old now. How many years do we have left? How many years before his books become truly his and his alone?

Surely, he will have his own favorites and pick his pages to remember, but for me, I guess I am creating my own new memories. For me, standing in his room... looking at a bookshelf of possible moments to snuggle in and make up silly voices and fall in love with illustrations and stories and imagine the whole world right there in our hands... if that isn't hope, I don't know what is.

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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Update Wednesday: Maggie and the Pirate

Time for another Update Wednesday, the day when I reach into the archives and update a previous post from back in the days when I was stingy with the scans. Click below and feast your eyes on this gorgeously illustrated oddity from Ezra Jack Keats, Maggie and the Pirate, updated with all new pictures and not-so-new color commentary. Enjoy!

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