tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59555948923241715132024-02-19T08:28:02.927-08:00Sweet Juniper's Vintage Kids Booksjdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-83165077911182452502013-10-18T07:11:00.000-07:002013-10-18T07:11:20.782-07:00My Daddy Don't Go to Work, by Madeena Spray Nolan (1978)
This one jumped out at me right away, not from some abandoned library here in Detroit but from the shelf of a tiny used bookstore in tiny Northport, Michigan. This book is clearly intended for children dealing with a parent's unemployment, but I can't help out but enjoy and appreciate its positive portrayal of fatherhood and the difficulty of dealing with the challenges to masculinity that arejdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-2424254827557822792013-05-02T10:55:00.000-07:002013-05-02T10:55:00.226-07:00Terrifying Nixon-Era Children's Books: The House Biter by William D. Sheldon (ill. Dan Dickas) (1966)
Published in 1966, just as Johnson's Great Society was really getting started, The House Biter seems to have been inspired by the (probably understandable) fear children might have of the giant construction equipment then dotting the urban landscape, particularly those huge excavators with giant grapples for tearing down historic architecture so that cheap, modern, and totally disposable jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-26907763877108434672013-02-07T11:23:00.001-08:002013-02-07T11:23:39.396-08:00Pitschi (the kitten who always wanted to be something else. A sad story, but one which ends well) by Hans Fischer (1953)
Like the heroes and heroines of so many stories, the hero of this one is unsatisfied with his station in life and dreams of something greater. Pitschi is the smallest kitten in his litter. He doesn't want to play with his parents Mauli and Ruli. He doesn't want to goof around with his brothers and sisters Grigri, Groggi, Patschi, and Mitzi. Pitschi wants something bigger, something more. It jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-2860520109258244472013-01-09T10:01:00.001-08:002013-01-09T10:01:36.399-08:00Mountain People, Mountain Crafts by Elinor Lander Horwitz (1974)
In 1974, I'll bet there wasn't a middle or high school in America where kids weren't making Deliverance jokes to one another. While I doubt the damage that film did to our cultural perception of Appalachian people will ever be undone by books or documentaries, I've long appreciated the work done by Appalshop and Foxfire Magazine to preserve and paint a more complex understanding of jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-89148809154919233552012-11-27T10:08:00.000-08:002012-11-27T10:08:03.622-08:00Daniel Boone, by Esther Averill (ill. Ferdor Rojankovsk) (1931)
After a year full of stories of adventures on the frontier, from Paul Bunyan to Johnny Appleseed and a hundred Indian stories and voyageur tales, this book about the legend of Daniel Boone has been one of our favorites of 2012. The detailed text was written by Esther Averill, a children's author and illustrator who studied photography and printing in Paris and started a press to publish jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-61864251004433366822012-09-24T17:40:00.000-07:002012-09-24T17:40:56.113-07:00The Great Green Turkey Creek Monster, written and illustrated by James Flora (1976)
This is another abandoned abandoned Detroit public school library rescued treasure my children love (along with the three other first edition James Flora books I found in the same snow-filled library). It's also kind of terrifying.
And with that first page, the monster grows and grows and has all kinds of hi-jinks. Fortunately he loves children and adults are the butt of his mischief. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-53928712989698513552012-07-17T10:39:00.002-07:002012-07-17T10:39:47.657-07:00Too Many Cherries, by Carl Carmer (ill. Jay Hyde Barnum) (1949)
We just returned from a relaxing week in Northern Michigan, which is responsible for about 70-80 percent of the domestic production of tart cherries. The National Cherry Festival was taking place in Traverse City, highways 31 and US131 were dotted with the usual cherry stands, but this year the festival imported many of its cherries from Washington (and as far away as Norway and Poland). An jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-19939038190893146682012-05-17T07:04:00.001-07:002012-05-17T07:04:31.562-07:00Country School, by Jerrold Beim (ill. Louis Darling) (1955)
Jerrold Beim's 1955 book Country School is more interesting from a sociological perspective than it is, say, a ripping good tale with amazing illustrations. In fact, the story doesn't really make sense unless you consider its apparent intent: to make rural children caught in the world of rampant suburban development in the 1950s comfortable with the idea of going to new modern (and jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-52749599524286932882012-04-13T08:46:00.000-07:002012-04-13T08:46:38.240-07:00Sir Kevin of Devon by Adelaide Hall (ill. Leonard Weisgard) (1963)
This book was not written by the famous jazz chanteuse Adelaide Hall, because that would have made it impossibly awesome. Instead it was written in alternating rhyme by Adelaide Holl, author of such books as One Kitten for Kim, The Rain Puddle, and (our favorite) Little Pewee The Circus Dog. It's one of the books I picked up in an abandoned school library and sadly it's not very widely availablejdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-90390653034199736672012-03-28T10:02:00.000-07:002012-03-28T10:02:44.057-07:00Alphabet World by Barry Miller (1971)
In 1993 artist Stephen T. Johnson published an acclaimed book called "Alphabet City" where each letter of the alphabet was represented by some object in the real world. Turns out back in 1971 an artist/graphic designer named Barry S. Miller published an even cooler book pioneering the same idea. Miller even photographed a police/security barrier for his A, which is also what Johnson used. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-91983114544071537372012-02-16T08:05:00.000-08:002012-02-16T08:05:36.924-08:00Miss Suzy by Miriam Young (ill. Arnold Lobel)
This is one of my son's favorite books that his teacher reads to his class. It was originally published in 1964, but was reissued in 2004 for its 40th anniversary by Purple House Press, a publisher that does a fantastic job reissuing the sort of classic (and hard to find) children's books I like to share here.
When my son showed me this book one morning at school, I got home and realizedjdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-71120153308011497872011-12-23T16:10:00.000-08:002011-12-23T16:10:02.534-08:00BAM ZAM BOOM! A Building Book by Eve Merriam (1972)
I used to think Maira Kalman's style (in books like Roarr!) was pretty original, but after finding this book it's clear her style is pretty derivative of William Lightfoot's design and Eve Merriam's text in this book, right down to the rhythm of the poetry and way the text and pictures look.
This is not a book for parents who believe in historic preservation; Jane Jacobs must have hated it. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-79150776183414403582011-10-14T11:34:00.000-07:002011-10-14T11:39:55.647-07:00City Windows, by Margaret and Gilbert Riswold (1973)
Found this at the Salvation Army last week. The "Holt Basic Reading System," was a "total language approach" curriculum for children from preschool the sixth grade. In addition to textbooks and workbooks, the system including all kinds of supplementary materials, including "lightscreens to provide a viewing device for filmwords, filmpictures and filmstories, class wordbooks with study cards and jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-83925453656227942112011-09-23T12:55:00.000-07:002011-09-23T13:50:59.359-07:00Another Selection from our Collection of Terrifying Reagan-Era Children's Books: Goodbye Rune (1986)
Here we have what is perhaps the saddest children's book we own. I pity the poor parent who buys this thinking Goodbye Rune is another stupid Goodnight Moon knockoff. It starts out pleasant enough, with two children romping across the Scandinavian fields together. . .
. . .and hold each other ever so tenderly. . .
Goodbye Rune was originally published in Norway as Farvel, Rune. In America,jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-34249635974924559722011-08-26T09:03:00.000-07:002011-08-26T09:03:27.638-07:00Miguel's Mountain by Bill Binzen (1968)
There was a time that this one might have ended up remixed and on the Terrifying Nixon-Era Children's books shelf, but I like Miguel's Mountain a bit too much to be so mean. It's a story of a group of free range kids' imaginations running wild with a makeshift play structure in a well-used city park. Author/photographer Bill Binzen was inspired by the kids he saw playing on the dirt mountain jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-80284139112519594532011-07-19T05:57:00.000-07:002011-07-19T05:57:47.545-07:00The Green Machine by Polly Cameron (1969)
Back when I stole/saved an entire picture book section from a Detroit school that was getting scrapped, I posted a picture of some of the books I found there. Every few months, I get an e-mail from someone who scanned the titles and recognized something long out of print that they remembered from childhood, asking me if I'll send it to them. I've sent away a few, but this is the one I get the jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-25623612508880211492011-07-04T10:13:00.000-07:002011-07-04T10:13:52.504-07:00Brian Wildsmith's 1,2,3's (1965)
This book wasn't nearly as successful as British children's book illustrator Brian Wildsmith's highly-lauded abcedary ABC, which remains in print today. This book was published one year later (1963 in the U.K., 1965 in the U.S.) and is widely available on Amazon or eBay, and I think it was just a little too abstract for the audience he won over with ABC's lovely figurative drawings.
jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-43350320722987370712011-05-24T10:46:00.000-07:002011-05-24T18:43:49.660-07:00Biquette the White Goat by Francoise (1953)
We really love all the books written by "Francoise" that we've been able to get our hands on (The Jeanne-Marie series; The Big Rain) but this one is far and away our favorite. My wife has even ordered extra vintage copies of it to give away as gifts. It's a simple story about a little girl who can't drink cow's milk, so the town doctor tells her to get a goat, and the goat she gets needs a coat jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-29320474663113955952011-05-10T11:42:00.000-07:002011-05-10T11:42:30.947-07:00The Busiest Boy in Holland, by Lisl Weil (1959)
It's Tulip Time in Holland. Holland, Michigan. What better week to share one of our favorite books from from our shelf of Americanized Dutch children's stories? (See previously: Kees) The Busiest Boy in Holland tells the story of Toontje, a boy from the Isle of Marken with a pet goldfish named Albert.
Toontje travels with his brothers to Amsterdam to help their Uncle Johannes on his tulip farmjdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-73923223676113667852011-04-13T09:32:00.000-07:002011-04-13T09:32:17.689-07:00Garth WIlliams and Margaret Wise Brown's Heartbreaking Forgotten Masterpiece: Three Little Animals (First Edition, 1956)
In the canon of early children's literature, very few occupy a position as that of Margaret Wise Brown, whose ubiquitous Goodnight Moon is an essential gift for all new parents. But many of her other classic works are still in print and quite popular. Our favorites are her collaborations with illustrator Garth Williams (who also drew the Little House covers, Charlotte's Web, and Stuart Little), jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-8603130316342496592011-04-06T11:26:00.000-07:002011-04-06T11:26:59.887-07:00What is it for? by Henry Humphrey (1969)
I love books written for city kids. What is it For? is photographer Henry Humphrey's effort to highlight and explain the functions of those various elements of a city's infrastructure that a kid might have questions about; he picks the sort of things most adults walk past every day without thinking about, and his explanations might even illuminate their uses to more than a few of us. He wrote jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-44553741134708570442011-03-21T09:21:00.000-07:002011-03-21T09:21:44.423-07:00Mary and Marie, by Helen Valentine (ill. Myrtle Sheldon), Grosset and Dunlap (1938)
We love this pre-WWII book about two little girls on different continents whose lives are pretty similar. In the introduction, Ms. Valentine writes, "Little girls are pretty much alike the world over in the things they do and the things they enjoy." The story is basically told twice, in English for Mary and French for Marie. My daughter hates it when I read the French side, because I use a jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-67804195789484510112011-03-11T07:46:00.000-08:002011-03-11T07:52:06.769-08:00The White Stag (original edition), by Kate Seredy (1937)
I know it's hardly a forgotten book, given that it won a Newberry in 1937 and was in print as recently as 1979 (and still available from major booksellers), but we didn't know that when we picked it up at Caliban Books in Pittsburgh a few months ago and read it as a preparation for our trip to Vienna (thinking we might get a chance to visit Budapest, which sadly didn't happen). Today I'm sharingjdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-80957113281565123562011-03-07T11:15:00.000-08:002011-03-11T07:54:34.654-08:00Another Selection from our Collection of Terrifying Nixon-Era Children's Books: Danny Goes to the Hospital (James Lincoln Collier and Yale Joel, 1970)
Poor Danny. Like Jennifer Jean, the Cross-Eyed Queen Danny's eyes need to be straightened, but he's got a such a severe strabismus he ends up looking at the ceiling when he's trying to guide a piece of toast into his mouth:
Then again, maybe those are just the demon's eyes:
See kids, the hospital ain't so bad. If you're lucky they'll strap you down and run this gigantic machine over your jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-52616361458733469312011-02-23T01:53:00.000-08:002011-03-11T07:54:34.654-08:00Another Selection from our Collection of Terrifying Nixon-Era Children's Books: Jennifer Jean, the Cross-Eyed Queen (Phyllis Naylor and Harold Lamson, 1967)I have alluded to this one in the past, but never shared it. It's not all that terrifying, once you get over the color scheme. It's the exact color of Linda Blair's pea soup puke in The Exorcist
Previous Book: The Little Old Man
This blog seeks to share excerpted content from out-of-print children's books. If you are the copyright holder of any of these books and are unhappy with jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.com