James Flora Goldmine on eBay

VKBMKLs reader Michael just clued me into some serious finds on eBay. A bunch of James Flora first edition books have gone up in mint condition with the listing...

THIS COPY HAS NEVER BEEN READ AND IS IN MINT CONDITION. IT COMES FROM THE WIDOW OF JAMES FLORA'S PRIVATE COLLECTION. WE WILL BE SELLING SEVERAL ITEMS FROM HER COLLECTION IN THE WEEKS TO COME. FEEL FREE TO ASK QUESTIONS.

Astounding!

Stewed Goose

Pishtosh, Bullwash and Whimple

Grandpa's Ghost Stories

Fishing with Dad

Leopold the Crumbpicker

Grandpa's Farm

The Day the Cow Sneezed

The Joking Man

My Friend Charlie

With a starting bid of $50 bucks, some of these are pretty steep but others are a deal in this condition. Hey, Christmas is right around the corner! If these are really from the widow's collection, I wonder what else they have coming down the pipe.

Pishtosh Bullwash and Wimple

Pishtosh Bullwash & Wimple
story & pictures by James Flora/ published 1972 by Atheneum

I know I just did a Flora, but I pulled this from the back of my son's bookshelf and read it to him last night for the first time in a while and all I can say is WOW. What a crazy book. Somehow, this didn't scare my son and rather enchanted him actually. Even with all the talk of growling trees and leaking gravity and falling off the world. This book twists my brain up... can't imagine what it is doing to the fragile eggshell mind of the boy. What starts out innocent enough....

Pishtosh, Bullwash and Wimple are my very best friends.
Everyday I meet them by the swings and we play together.
We don't just play kid stuff either.
We go places and do things.
Pishtosh, Bullwash and Wimple know how to get to special
places -- places that even moms and dads don't know about.

And somewhere along the way, it turns bad....

"Something terrible has happened," panted Bullwash.
"Last night somebody stole the North Pole."
"And all of the gravity is leaking out," Pishtosh said.
"What's gravity?" I asked.
"That's what holds you on the earth, Wimple explained.
"If it all leaks out, everything will float into the sky and fall
off the world."

Even the stars and moon in this book understand how utterly horrible the above scenario would be. It is up to the boy and his three bizarre little friends to put things right before it is too late. Will they save the day, or will we all end up living on Mars? You'll just have to read it yourself and see.

Also by:
Kangaroo for Christmas
Grandpa's Farm
Stewed Goose
Great Green Turkey Creek Monster
Leopold the See-Through Crumbpicker
The Day the Cow Sneezed
Little Hatchy Hen
Grandpa's Witched Up Christmas
My Friend Charlie
Sherwood Walks Home
The Fabulous Firework Family
Grandpa's Ghost Stories by James Flora

The Great Green Turkey Creek Monster

Great Green Turkey Creek Monster
James Flora ~ Atheneum, 1976

(Excuse the scans. Our copy is severely browning, so I did the best I could.)

Looks like it is gonna be all about Jim Flora this week and next here at VKBMKL. Grandpa's Farm was rediscovered under the boy's bed when I pulled it out in search of his pet mouse, Speedy ~ don't ask ~ so I decided to track down all the Floras on our shelves that I haven't yet written up and give them props. Starting with this one... one of his later (and therefore still affordable) books about a "creature" the Great Green Hooligan Vine.

"There is just no way to stop a Hooligan Vine. Once they start growing they never stop until they decide they are big enough. Then they stop. It generally takes about six days."

Kooky. Zany. Whacky. All words that come to mind when reading this aloud to the boy. A great chance ~ parents and story-time readers ~ to use those outstanding vocal skills making funny voices and obnoxious sound effects.

Soooooo, there's this crazy vine, see. He wreaks havoc on an innocent town, and it is not until a little boy toots his trombone that the vine is conquered. Classic Flora, and though it might not be his most famous or innovative work, the two-tone drawings are cool and set a slightly eerie tone that is delightfully sinister.

I love how Flora always talks out of the pages to his readers, like here, in the closing lines...

The town of Turkey Creek is going to let the Great Green Hooligan Vine out of its box next Fourth of July. It's going to be a grand celebration. You are invited, if you want to come. You know where Turkey Creek is, don't you? Well, you go past Indianapolis about three miles and then turn left. It's the first road after you pass Alabama. And don't forget to bring your trombone.

Love it.

Also by:
Kangaroo for Christmas
Grandpa's Farm
Pishtosh Bullwash and Wimple
Stewed Goose
Leopold the See-Through Crumbpicker
The Day the Cow Sneezed
Little Hatchy Hen
Grandpa's Witched Up Christmas
My Friend Charlie
Sherwood Walks Home
The Fabulous Firework Family

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The Great Holiday Give Day Five: Mud Pies and Other Recipes

Before I wrap up this week's give I just wanted to say a little something. My son's childhood means the world to me. Years from now, when I'm a hundred years old and wondering what's next, if someone asks me what was my favorite part, the answer will be easy. Those moments, minutes, hours I spent close to my child. Reading him a story, his arms around me, snuggled in with a book. They are priceless. Every memory, every word I've ever read to that child is more precious to me than anything. Just last week, my son and I read Knufflebunny Free together at our local bookstore, and both cried like babies at the end, holding each other and rocking on the floor. Even at five years old, my son understands that childhood is fleeting and that fact moves him in ways I never thought possible. The world was alive around us, but for that small moment we were able to share being a parent and child together... transported into each other... and we got there through a book. I will never be able to repay the hundreds of artists who make these moments in my life possible. The only way I have to say thanks is here.

For today's Great Holiday Give, I am personally buying one reader a copy of this reprint, Mud Pies and Other Recipes, brand-spanking new. I've not actually seen the updated edition myself, but everything NYR Children's Collection touches is gold, as far as I'm concerned. I wanted to share this book in particular because it was one of my favorites from my own childhood. Believe me when I tell you, this was a book that was not just read over and over again, but was used, over and over again. I've updated my original post from 2008 to include a few full-spreads of the mud stained pages I "cooked" with making Marigold Madness and Hot Dogwoods. Finding this book in my mother's attic brought back so many wonderful memories of being young, my sisters and summer. It's amazing to think that 25 little pieces of paper stapled together can be so full of wisdom and life and the keeper of so many splendid things from the past.

Books are magic.

So, thank you Marjorie Winslow and Erik Blegvad. Thank you Mo Willems. Thank you Ruth Stiles Gannett and JK Rowling. Thank you James Flora and Roy McKie and William Steig and Tomi Ungerer. Thank you Tasha Tudor and Mercer Mayer. Thank you Richard Scarry and David Wiesner. Thank you Shel and Maurice and William Joyce and Margaret Wise Brown. Thank you for all the minutes, hours, moments, lifetimes well spent.

To be entered to win a copy of this book, simply comment on this post by 11:59 PM Sunday, November 9. The winner will be announced (along with all the other winners from the week) on Monday, November 10. If you haven't thrown your hat in for the others, make sure you do so before Sunday night.

Have fun and good luck!

The Great Holiday Give Day One: The Day the Cow Sneezed by James Flora

The Great Holiday Give Day Two: One More Acorn by Don and Roy Freeman

The Great Holiday Give Day Three: The Christmas Cookie Sprinkler Snitcher by Robert Kraus and Vip

The Great Holiday Give Day Four: A Long Piece of String by William Wondriska

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Read along on Facebook, tumblr, Twitter and Etsy!

Grandpa's Witched-Up Christmas

Grandpa's Witched-up Christmas
James Flora ~ Atheneum, 1982

Grandpa's at it again. Flora's last book just might be his freakiest, perfect for my three-year-old son and self-proclaimed "bad dude." (Preschool playground lingo I assure you, not a word found in the nomenclature of home.) I mean, what other book will you literally see Santa Claus kick booty (another delightful playground euphemism)... giving a firm strangle hold to the witch who almost makes a wee Grandpa miss Christmas? The person Flora fashioned this "Grandpa" after must have been a fellow as freaky as his stories... one can only hope this wonderful creature was real.

Again, much like the Halloween version, I find the illustrations vaguely horrifying and offensive, but my son sits on the edge of his chair from the beginning right to the end. Boys dig this stuff.

So, again, the "I" in our story gets an earful from his tall-tale Gramps about the time he was getting home for Christmas and ~ like so many Little Red Riding Hoods before him ~ took a shortcut through the woods (always a storybook BAD IDEA). Only this time he gets spooked and transformed by a gaggle of creepy witches... Check these chicks out.

Those witches were a fearsome lot. They wore ragged black capes and carried greasy sacks slung over their shoulders. I know what was in those sacks -- children's finger bones, dead cats, dried bats and hop toads. Those are the sorts of things witches use to make magic. The first witch was fat and dumpy, with sharp teeth and hair like an unmowed lawn. The second witch was old and shrunken, she looked like a skeleton. She didn't have any feet. That's why she rode a broom. The third witch was tall and warty. She wore a real pointed witch's hat. Her eyes would make a polecat shiver.

Only Santa could go medieval enough on these nasty witches and save Christmas. Good fun! There are lots of Flora fans out there, but I would be interested to hear from somebody who actually had these books when they are young (I know Samy had at least one), just so I can be assured I'm not scarring my boy for life by sharing. Chime in folks.

Also by:
Pishtosh Bullwash and Wimple
Kangaroo for Christmas
Stewed Goose
Great Green Turkey Creek Monster
Grandpa's Farm
Leopold the See-Through Crumbpicker
The Day the Cow Sneezed
Little Hatchy Hen
Grandpa's Ghost Stories
My Friend Charlie
Sherwood Walks Home
The Fabulous Firework Family

The Fabulous Firework Family

The Fabulous Firework Family
James Flora ~ Harcourt, Brace & World, INC., 1955

With The Day the Cow Sneezed on the cusp of a reprint (it releases September 1) and all the amazing prints that are being shilled on his estate's Etsy page, I figured I'd better keep digging to make sure I'd covered all the Flora backlist in our collection. That said, meet one of my husband's favorite children's books. He grew up in San Antonio, where Mexican culture thrives north of the border, so the book has a special place in his heart. Utilizing loads of words in Spanish, it's the story of a family of firework makers who are commissioned to make the "very tallest, the every widest, and the very finest firework castle ever made by mortal man."

It must make more noise than thunder; more smoke than a volcano; and throw off more sparks than there are stars in heaven, to celebrate the birthday of Santiago our beloved patron saint.

An old Mexican tradition, I saw one of these castillos in San Miguel a few years back, but it wasn't quite as spectacular as the one depicted on these pages. Here, we follow Pepito, the small son in the family as he learns the trade... making the paper mache animals and skeletons, constructing the bamboo structure, and tying the fuses. But it would not be a true Flora without some flaming mishap and a botched robbery. In the end, Pepito comes of age and saves the day, in a book that is as spiritedly illustrated as it is fun to read. Flora was a madman and a genius. Any of his books I'd trade my left arm for. (Notice I said, left, not right. A girl's gotta have some shame.)

If you feel like getting a copy for your family, stay away from the 1994 reprint. Some of the original character gets lost in translation. And to see some full page spreads, head on over to the Curious Pages.

Also by:
Kangaroo for Christmas
Grandpa's Farm
Pishtosh Bullwash and Wimple
Great Green Turkey Creek Monster
Leopold the See-Through Crumbpicker
The Day the Cow Sneezed
Little Hatchy Hen
Grandpa's Witched Up Christmas
My Friend Charlie
Sherwood Walks Home
Stewed Goose

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Read along on Facebook, Twitter and Etsy!

Update: Kangaroo for Christmas

I usually reserve updates for Fridays, but seeing as this little reprint arrived in the mail yesterday, I was too excited to wait. As promised, more James Flora titles are arriving from Enchanted Lion Books, with this one set for release in October. I know everyone is mired in back to school and not interested in the holidays yet, but just in case you were wondering what to get the little people in your life this year, buy a case of these and you're set. We LOVE LOVE LOVE Flora in this house, and what better way to spread the love this season than through a bouncy, pocketed friend.

So just in time to help get your mind off the US drought, here's my updated post for Kangaroo for Christmas, originally posted on Christmas Eve of 2007. I updated it using scans from the new reprint rather than pulling my vintage copy out of the Christmas boxes in the attic, but as far as I can tell, Enchanted Lion (once again) has stayed genuine to the original. Lovely matte finish, gorgeous color. A dream boat of a book. Just as awesome as their other Flora reprint, The Day the Cow Sneezed.

Enchanted Lion totally rules! They are planning 1 or 2 Flora reprints a year which makes them sort of miracle workers. Support these guys, cause if we don't buy these resurrected marvels, people will stop bringing them back to life. Pretty please!

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Read along on Facebook, tumblr, Twitter and Etsy

Sherwood Walks Home

Sherwood Walks Home
James Flora ~ Harcourt, Brace & World, 1966

It is so gorgeous outside that I decided to fling open the doors of my office and flip open a copy of another Flora and dream of taking a walk myself... only without the fish attached to my butt.

Let us imagine for a moment that you are a wind-up bear in love with a certain boy... and that certain boy accidentally abandons you in the park during a rain storm and all you want to do is walk home to said boy except that there is nobody there to wind you up. Well then, you would be in the exact same predicament as our hero, Sherwood.

All night long Sherwood sat in the park. It was cold and lonely. Once, in the middle of the night, he saw two eyes staring at him. "Please come and wind me so I can walk home," Sherwood begged. But the eyes just blinked and disappeared. Sherwood never did see who owned them. In the morning the rain stopped and the sun peeked through the trees. Sherwood felt much better. "It won't be long until someone will come and wind me up," he said to himself. And sure enough someone did.

With his wind-up wind flowing, Sherwood makes a mad dash for home. Along the way he gets snuggled by a big momma bear, half eaten by an angry fish, and starts a conga line of madness that doesn't end until at last he is reunited with his certain boy. I will admit, on the first page we see the fish, the thing is sporting some evil eyes, and they scare the willies out of my dear boy.... Still, he loves this book. As do I. I'm only missing four Flora kids' books at this point. I'm just hoping the copies that were meant for me don't end up in a garbage dump somewhere. Poo.

Also by:
Pishtosh Bullwash and Wimple
Kangaroo for Christmas
Stewed Goose
Great Green Turkey Creek Monster
Grandpa's Farm
Leopold the See-Through Crumbpicker
The Day the Cow Sneezed
Grandpa's Ghost Stories
Grandpa's Witched Up Christmas
Little Hatchy Hen
My Friend Charlie
The Fabulous Firework Family

My Friend Charlie

My Friend Charlie
James Flora ~ Harcourt, Brace & World, 1964

Someday I'll get through all the Jim Flora books and won't that be a sad, sad day!?! My son loves this book because his uncle is named Charlie and the fact that one of his favorite folks shares names with the hero of our story tickles him to no end. And, really, shouldn't everyone have a friend like Charlie?

My friend Charlie is a pretty good old friend. I couldn't like him any better than I do, even if he owned a pony and an air rifle. There are lots of reasons why I like Charlie. Here are some:

1. He gives me half of whatever he is eating.
2. Sometimes he lets me be the pitcher in the ball game, even though he owns the ball.
3. Charlie never laughs at my nose.
4. Sometimes when I am about to be eaten by dragons, Charlie saves me.
5. Once when I cut my hand, Charlie cried too.

The whole book is utterly adorable like this and funny and sweet. Honestly, of all the Flora books I own, this one is the most children's-book-ish. The voice is so true to the way children talk and act... really, it's a joy to read aloud. And even though some outlandish stuff occurs (of course), it is all reality-based... just two little boy having a blast together. A million thumbs up!
Also by:
Pishtosh Bullwash and Wimple
Kangaroo for Christmas
Stewed Goose
Great Green Turkey Creek Monster
Grandpa's Farm
Leopold the See-Through Crumbpicker
The Day the Cow Sneezed
Grandpa's Ghost Stories
Grandpa's Witched Up Christmas
Little Hatchy Hen
Sherwood Walks Home
The Fabulous Firework Family

Little Hatchy Hen

Little Hatchy Hen
James Flora ~ Harcourt, Brace & World, 1969

Again, Flora heads back to the farm, but this time it is Grandma who is spinning the tall tale. As with all my Flora books, even though this is a largely crappy copy culled from a library in Oregon, I adore it and so does my boy. As with the crossover that occurs in so many of his books, the bird is question is previously mentioned in Grandpa's Farm and has a very magical ability indeed.

Did you ever hear about Grandma's Little Hatchy Hen? She was such a good hatcher that she could hatch anything you put in her nest. She hatched chickens, ducks, geese, turtles, bluebirds, and ostriches. When Grandma needed new clothes or a piano or a bicycle, Little Hatchy Hen would hatch them for her. When Grandpa's barn caught on fire, he didn't have enough hose to reach the barn. Little Hatchy Hen hatched a box of spaghetti into two hundred feet of fire hose.

As with all of god's creatures that are born with gifts, trouble soon follows when Big Bruno spirits the little hen away in the night to use for his own evil, money-making scheme. It seems Hatchy is meant to spend a life hatching other peoples dreams, until the fowl smartens up and hatches a dinosaur (of course!) who whisks her back to the farm and the loving arms of Grandma. Always a surrealist twist from this modern master of absurdity. Any and all of his books... awesome.

Also by:
Pishtosh Bullwash and Wimple
Kangaroo for Christmas
Stewed Goose
Great Green Turkey Creek Monster
Grandpa's Farm
Leopold the See-Through Crumbpicker
The Day the Cow Sneezed
Grandpa's Ghost Stories
Grandpa's Witched Up Christmas
My Friend Charlie
Sherwood Walks Home
The Fabulous Firework Family

The Day the Cow Sneezed

The Day the Cow Sneezed
James Flora ~ Harcourt, 1957

The Day the Cow Sneezed was most famously reintroduced to the internet world in a blog post by Ward Jenkins... one of my favorite bloggers and the owner of this amazing flickr Mid Century Children's Book collection. (Plus he is a pretty cool illustrator in his own right.) Really... spend a few moments reading his post on the book as he is hugely passionate about this title and his giddy excitement for the subject is infectious.

Like most people who didn't buy this book in the 50s or find it at a library sale, I paid way more for it than I want to admit, but the post-read payback as been huge. If I read it once, I must plan on at least two or three more readings back to back. It is easily one of the boy's favorites ~ incorporating animals, zaniness and sounds effects, three things my son loves. And really, you can find copies online for the price of what two new hardcover children's books would cost anyway. And if your child doesn't tear it apart, you can think of it as an investment.

So, there's this cow, see...

I'll bet your cow never sneezed a hole in the school-house wall. Our cow did. Our old cow Floss sneezed so hard that she tore down city hall, opened up the zoo, and scared the whole city of Sassafras Springs. All with one sneeze.

That sneeze sets off a series of small catastrophes that take Fletcher and his farmyard friends (plus a crop of zoo animals) on a wild ride around town, over a mountain and into the Atlantic Ocean. Spectacular, fireworks infused fun!

Of all the Flora books, The Day the Cow Sneezed seems to be the one that people flock to the most. Ours is (of course) an old library copy, but still highly readable. The first week after I finally broke down and bought it, the boy demanded to sleep with it every night. (So much for that investment.)

UPDATE: Thank goodness it is back in print, so you guys won't have to endure the torture of watching a $50 book get tucked in with your toddler.

Also by:
Pishtosh Bullwash and Wimple
Kangaroo for Christmas
Stewed Goose
Great Green Turkey Creek Monster
Grandpa's Farm
Leopold the See-Through Crumbpicker
Little Hatchy Hen
Grandpa's Witched Up Christmas
My Friend Charlie
Sherwood Walks Home
The Fabulous Firework Family

Grandpa's Farm

Grandpa's Farm
James Flora ~ Harcourt, Brace & World, 1965

Everybody loves this guy. King of 50s jazz album art and a highly collectible children's book author. Like most of his titles, this one seems so modern and vibrant, you're shocked to find that it was published decades ago. The humor is titillatingly subversive and the storytelling so completely hip, if you have just one of his books you find yourself doing anything to get the others.

Thus, I didn't have this one and was delighted to find it at a monster library sale. My son wags his tail for Grandpa's Farm in particular because... well, it has the word farm in it and all the animals that go hand in hand with that term. The storyline is delightfully kooky, a old codger spinning tall tales for his excited grandson.


When I sit on Grandpa's lap, his beard tickles the top of my head. Only he says it isn't really his beard. It's his eyebrows.

"Years ago I didn't have any hair on my chin," Grandpa said. "I just had big bushy eyebrows. Then along came the Big Wind of '34. That wind was so strong that it blew my eyebrows all the way down my chin."

Flora had such an eye for design and irony, and a wonderfully wicked spirit that just bounces off the page. His books are real treasures.

(If you like this one, the Grandpa who comes back into play here and here, and there's a chicken that turns back up here.)

Also by:
Pishtosh Bullwash and Wimple
Kangaroo for Christmas
Stewed Goose
Great Green Turkey Creek Monster
Leopold the See-Through Crumbpicker
The Day the Cow Sneezed
Little Hatchy Hen
Grandpa's Witched Up Christmas
My Friend Charlie
Sherwood Walks Home
The Fabulous Firework Family