tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59555948923241715132012-02-16T08:05:36.910-08:00jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comBlogger221100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-91983114544071537372012-02-16T08:05:00.000-08:002012-02-16T08:05:36.924-08:00

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 realized we

jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-71120153308011497872011-12-23T16:10:00.000-08:002011-12-23T16:10:02.534-08:00

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-79150776183414403582011-10-14T11:34:00.000-07:002011-10-14T11:39:55.647-07:00

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-83925453656227942112011-09-23T12:55:00.000-07:002011-09-23T13:50:59.359-07:00

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-34249635974924559722011-08-26T09:03:00.000-07:002011-08-26T09:03:27.638-07:00

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-80284139112519594532011-07-19T05:57:00.000-07:002011-07-19T05:57:47.545-07:00

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-25623612508880211492011-07-04T10:13:00.000-07:002011-07-04T10:13:52.504-07:00

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.  Still, I

jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-43350320722987370712011-05-24T10:46:00.000-07:002011-05-24T18:43:49.660-07:00

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-29320474663113955952011-05-10T11:42:00.000-07:002011-05-10T11:42:30.947-07:00

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 farm

jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-73923223676113667852011-04-13T09:32:00.000-07:002011-04-13T09:32:17.689-07:00

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-8603130316342496592011-04-06T11:26:00.000-07:002011-04-06T11:26:59.887-07:00

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-44553741134708570442011-03-21T09:21:00.000-07:002011-03-21T09:21:44.423-07:00

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-67804195789484510112011-03-11T07:46:00.000-08:002011-03-11T07:52:06.769-08:00

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 sharing

jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-80957113281565123562011-03-07T11:15:00.000-08:002011-03-11T07:54:34.654-08:00

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-52616361458733469312011-02-23T01:53:00.000-08:002011-03-11T07:54:34.654-08:00

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 this

jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-51963946269281410432011-02-09T12:09:00.000-08:002011-03-11T07:52:18.215-08:00

It's a real treat to share one of our absolute favorite picture books today: Natalie Norton's A Little Old Man. It's been out of print for almost half a century, but it sure can entertain a couple of 21st century kids. I would say it's one of those rare books where the story is not overshadowed by the illustrations, and vice versa. I highly recommend picking it up for those dirt cheap used

jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-66290341578160929182011-01-25T11:09:00.000-08:002011-03-11T07:53:08.576-08:00

This is a wonderful little book that is sadly long out of print. I am a sucker for books intended for urban kids to help explain their environment, and this is an amazing set of images that most folks never get to see: the night markets that operate in most big cities in order to keep the citizens fed. I have always been fascinated with the unacknowledged and invisible (yet incredibly important)

jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-5562205020091979482011-01-19T16:30:00.000-08:002011-03-11T07:54:24.778-08:00

I've come across plenty of weird old books trying to explain sexuality to kids, but this is probably the most happy and colorful. It was published by the Board of Parish Education of the Lutheran Church and intended for boys and girls in Grades 4-6. I don't really know what's going on with the the whole horseback riding thing. I'm sure it's supposed to be an analogy for. . .well, you know. .

jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-52002978628243795302011-01-05T08:13:00.000-08:002011-03-11T07:54:16.080-08:00

 I'm sharing this one today to continue with winter-themed books but also because I enjoy both the irrelevancy of the topic with the atypically-modern portrayal of a female doctor. George Overlie's fantastic mid-century illustrations accompany the text by Dr. Marguerite Lerner, the sister-in-law of the founder of Lerner Books, which initially published medical books to explain various ailments

jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-74237950131339113542010-12-20T12:24:00.000-08:002010-12-20T12:24:14.690-08:00

Known best as an illustrator of New Yorker cartoons and James Thurber's classic 1943 children's book Many Moons, Caldecott-award winner Louis Slobodkin collaborated with his wife to tell this charming personal story based on their twin grandsons. The illustrations have a great midcentury quality, and I love how the font for the book's title is made up of mittens: The book tells the story of

jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-38319101786408003552010-12-08T09:29:00.000-08:002010-12-08T09:34:38.671-08:00

I am a huge fan of Eleanor Schick's book City in Summer. There's something about her style of illustration that represents her era so well (the characters are often racially ambiguous). For obvious reasons, I collect any book I can find about kids growing up in a city, and Schick's books display such simple, warmhearted moments of city life I wish there were a dozen more of them (we do have

jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5955594892324171513.post-63011045385563023212010-11-30T19:42:00.000-08:002011-03-11T07:54:01.560-08:00

One my most treasured books is an autographed first edition of Thomas Minehan's Boy and Girl Tramps in America (1934), in which I found a letter from the author to the book's original owner about their shared interest in hobo culture. Minehan was a depression-era educator and ethnographer who actually traveled with hobos, taking particular interest in the lives of young tramps. This book,

jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.com