Love is Walking Hand in Hand

Love is Walking Hand In Hand
Charles M. Schulz ~ United Feature Syndicate, Determined Productions, 1965
Project Director: Connie Boucher ~ Book Design: Jim Young

Not that I come here to whine about my body parts... BUT MY NOSE!!!!!! Ugh.

Now that that's out of the way, let's welcome the love, why don't we?

In a matter of days, people everywhere will be shelling out all sorts of denominations on flowers and candy and gifts and valentines of various shapes and sizes. In honor of that most glorious consumer holiday, I'd like to take this opportunity to highlight the wee book. The sort you buy at the Hallmark shop and inscribe to your dearest, starting with the most awesome merchandiser of all time (I remember reading somewhere that he was making a million dollars a day at the time of his death).... the king of cartoons... and his little ditty on what it means to be head over heals. Because, love is loaning your best comic magazines... Love is tickling... Love is sharing your popcorn... Love is getting someone a glass of water in the middle of the night... Love is...

Love is a Charles Schultz cartoon... I've always dug these square little Peanuts titles, even before VHS footage of me singing the part of Lucy in my high school production of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown came into existence. (I know of at least one copy, but I'm staying mum on who has it.) These tiny tomes were always floating around my childhood home, and in the 2000s, the whole series was reprinted by Cedar Mill Press. Whether gifting goods of adoration is your thing or not, one can not deny the awesomeness of a technicolored Snoopy. The groovy design and bright colors will melt even the most jaded heart.

Also by:
Christmas is Together Time

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Great Monday Give: Who Took the Farmer's Hat?

I'm almost too sick to type today, but I didn't want another day to go by without at least staying hi. So, hi! Sinuses? A cold? Who knows. What I do know is that this week for the Great Monday Give, I'll be gifting a very nice hardcover, ex-library copy of Who Took the Farmer's Hat? Cute, cute book. All you have to do to be entered to win is comment on this most before 11:59 PM on Sunday, February 13. A winner will be selected at random and announced the next day.

In case you were wondering... The winner of Fredrick from last week's give is Cory. Congrats and e-mail me at webe(at)soon(dot)com with your info. That's it for now. See you tomorrow if I make it that long...

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A Child's Garden of Verses

A Child's Garden of Verses
Robert Louis Stevenson ~ Gyo Fujikawa
Grosset & Dunlap, 1957

Hope all you kids out there are staying warm this frosty February afternoon. Let me help you get toasty by stepping up on the soap box for a moment regarding poetry and children. Whether or not you, personally, are a fan of the genre, introducing it into the lives of your children is an absolute necessity. It can help them so much in understanding the rhythms of language, and, in turn, rhyming and reading. Not to mention, it acts as a window to feelings and emotions, something so important to the young emotional lives of wee ones. That said, if you buy no other book of poetry for your child, let it be Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses.... any edition. I've waxed poetic, myself, a few times on this blog of the importance of this piece of literature, and with each read I fall more and more in love with it. (My first post - on the Duvoisin version - is here.) It is perfect.

Wintertime

Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,
A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;
Blinks but an hour or two; and then,
A blood-red orange, sets again.

Before the stars have left the skies,
At morning in the dark I rise;
And shivering in my nakedness,
By the cold candle, bathe and dress.

Close by the jolly fire I sit
To warm my frozen bones a bit;
Or with a reindeer-sled, explore
The colder countries round the door.

When to go out, my nurse doth wrap
Me in my comforter and cap;
The cold wind burns my face, and blows
Its frosty pepper up my nose.

Black are my steps on silver sod;
Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;
And tree and house, and hill and lake,
Are frosted like a wedding cake.

Now that I've had my say on poetry and winter, feel free to bask in the awesome glow that is Gyo Fujikawa. Perhaps if we stare long enough into her youthful faces, we'll be able to forget about the storms and ice and cold raging outside and be heated by the glow within.

Here's hoping!

(Still available new via a Sterling reprint.)

Also by:
A Child's Garden of Verses - Ruhman edition
A Child's Garden of Verses - Wildsmith edition
A Child's Garden of Verses - Duvoisin edition
A Child's Garden of Verses - Provensen edition
A Child's Book of Poems
Let's Grow a Garden
Baby Animals
Oh, What a Busy Day!
Our Best Friends
Come Follow me
Fairy Tales and Fables

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The Golden Book of Zoo Animals

The Golden Book of Zoo Animals
William Bridges ~ Scott Johnston
Golden Press, 1962

Regardless of your views on zoos -- politically, environmentally or ethically -- one has to admit they are mired in the collective consciousness of us all. And this post is not a debate on whether or not zoos should or should not exist in the world, so please, take it for what it is... a look at a children's book from the 60s on the subject.

That said, this one doesn't include the hard core Hatari images of wild animal capture that How the Animals Get to the Zoo does. It tends to focus more on true animal rescue stories and human/animal interaction with these fabulous paintings by Scott Johnson. (Anyone know anything about this guy?) The top picture from a story entitled "Robbery in the Snake House" strikes me as particularly awesome in its composition.

Everyone who reads this blog regularly knows I'm a weeper. My son's memoirs will, I'm sure, include an entire chapter called "She Weeps When She Reads Aloud". In "The Alligator That Ate Hamburgers" we meet an old man at the end of his life who wanders into a zoo reptile house...

For a long time he stood in front of the Alligator Pool and watched one of the keepers feeding the Alligators with bits of fish. The keeper would pick up a piece of fish with a long pairs of tongs and hold it near the Alligator's jaws and the fish would disappear. When the feeding was over, the old man walked slowly up to the keeper and unbuttoned his coat. Underneath, nestled up against the old man's shirt, was a two-foot-long Alligator.

"Hey!" said the keeper. "Watch out! That Alligator's big enough to take your finger off."

"Maybe he is," said the old man. "But he won't. He's my friend. I raised him since he was a little thing. What I want to know is, if I gave him to you, will you give him hamburger to eat everyday. He likes hamburger."

The story unfolds and we learn that the old man had rescued the gator from a gutter in the city where a pack of wild boys was throwing rocks at it. He adopted it, and the gator become his only companion. The gator ate what he ate, and it slept in bed with him... UNDER THE COVERS! The old man had to undergo some operations and returned only once to the zoo when he tells the keeper he won't be able to return again.

"But that's all right," he said. "I can see you're taking good care of my friend. That's all I wanted to be sure of."

Needless to say, some tears were shed. I'm a sucker, right? One day the boy will thank me for passing down the sentiment.

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Rand McNally Book of Nations

Rand McNally Book of Nations
Rand McNally ~ 1960

When I first bought this book at an estate sale way back when, I was curious to find out who did the illustrations. An artist isn't credited, and the answer was not to be found on the online. So, today, I bring this to you all. Can any of you visual historians take a gander and see if you recognize the artist? It seems Charlie Harperish to me, but so many drew in that style, it is hard to tell. Anyone, anyone?

In particular, the animal illustrations are divine...

But anyways... completely outdated and irrelevant at this point, I love looking at these vintage world history-type children's books. The maps and the antiquated historical data...

The population of the U.S. in 1960 (178,781,000) versus today (311,991,487). New York 1960 (15,350,000) versus today (19,541,453) -- where did they put all those people!?! The complete obliteration on the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The visual split of an East Germany and a West Germany.

Oh, the times they are a changin'. One can't stop the evolution of the world markets, but with an old charmer like this, one can get a little glimpse into the way things were. Plus, anything with world flags in it floats my boat. Enjoy!


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The Animal Fair

The Animal Fair
Alice and Martin Provensen
Merrigold Press, 1952

Another long overdue shoutout. Criminal, really, that I've never posted on it before, so here goes. We all know the love professed for the Provensen's on this blog and throughout the Internet. Quite possibly the most awesome husband and wife children's book team of all time.

The latter part of their careers have focused on books with historical content, but for me, it's their early work that gets me jazzed. Happy animals and children come utterly alive in their drawings -- with this one especially being a big hit in my animal-loving son's life.

The bird page alone... jeez. Magic.

One day a hummingbird sat all by himself on a pole. A sparrow fluttered down and perched beside him. Then a chickadee, a titmouse, a finch, a pippit and other small birds joined them.

"Is something going to happen?" asked a wren.

A little owl looked wise. "I think there's going to be a parade," he said.

A parade, indeed. An animal parade! When my son was little, I always worried he was underweight, so I'd bribe him to eat by reading to him at mealtimes. Sound great, right? Well, five years later, and now my son still has the annoying habit of (almost) always refusing to eat unless someone is reading to him. Needless to say, this collection of short tales, wordless stories, poems and gags, comes in handy at restaurants, allowing my husband and me to eat our dinners between stories! Sad, I know, and a horrible habit that we've spent years trying to break, but hey, at this point, it's for his future wife to worry about. There are worse things in life that having to read to your son at mealtimes. But anywho, I digress. The Animal Fair is bright and funny and a must-have for all wee libraries. It was reprinted several times, and Golden Gems has full scans of the reprint, here.

Oh, in case you were wondering how to tell a big, bad wolf, from a run of the mill grey one...

Also by:
A Child's Garden of Verses
Roses are Red. Are Violets Blue??
Funny Bunny
Fireside Book of Folk Songs
The Mother Goose Book
My Little Hen
Our Friends at Maple Hill Farm

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Great Monday Give: Frederick

Monday? Again!?! Could time move any faster? The Great Monday Give for today isn't really rare, but still a sweet little book if you don't own it already. Up for grabs is a nice, already-been-loved paperback of Frederick by Leo Lionni. A classic. To be entered to win, all you must do is comment on this post before February 6 - Sunday - at 11:59 PM. A winner will be selected at random and announced the next morning.

The winner of last week's give of Just Only John by Jack Kent is... dun dun dun dun...

Juniper Sage!

Congrats and please e-mail me your shipping info to webe(at)soon(dot)com.

(& Mrs. McNichols, your winning copy of Sam & Emma went out today. Sorry for the wait!)

Have a great one!