Quickie Update Post

What we're working on and what's working for us (or not) right now:

• Preschool Prep Meet the Sight Words: He doesn't voluntarily ask for these videos, but he does now point out these words in print and on placemats and stuff. "Mom, look, 'of!' That's a sight word."
• Jacqui and Colin Hawkins phonics books: These are basically flip books, but they have cute stories to go with the rhymes and they make a nice break when J won't look at the next BOB Book.
• Kumon Workbooks: We love these but J's writing skills need a great deal of, uh, development, so we'll probably slow down and practice writing letters and numbers with other materials before continuing too far.
• Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder: We've started doing one longer read-aloud in addition to shorter picture books. After Googling just enough to find this paper "Kansas Settlers on the Osage Diminished Reserve: A Study of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie," I have chosen to censor out all mention of Native Americans from this particular book. (For the record, there was one branch of my family that were very much "pioneers," always the first settlers in a newly opened land, and after while I realized, oh, they were just always early to capitalize on the federal government's regular displacement of Indians. Sigh.) The first Little House book was a better read-aloud match for us than this one, which has so far included a great deal of somewhat technical construction descriptions. I think we'll pause this series after Prairie and work on something else. Possible next titles: Mr. Popper's Penguins or Finn Family Moomintroll (Common Core selections), or James Herriot's Treasury for Children.
• Montessori school seems to be a big hit. It's been about 10 weeks since the transition and J likes everything but nap. He has a little gang of guy friends, but he seems to get along OK with everyone, despite having become very sexist at the ripe old age of three. ("I only play with boys. I'm only friends with boys.") There's endless preschool psychology I could share with you (both peer relations and academic), but for now I'll just report that he seems to be a very proper Montessorian. Every morning, he gives us a perfunctory kiss and then walks off to his "work" without a backward glance; handshake with eye contact for teacher, and then busy for hours, including a near-daily bracelet-beading exercise. (We have quite a collection by now!)

Platt & Munk's 1970s "A Child Guidance Book" Series

Sometime deep in the 1970s, Platt & Munk put out a series of oversize children's books that seemed very inspired by Richard Scarry's Busytown books and/or the general output of Golden Books. (They borrowed several illustrators from the Golden stable for the project as well.) There are lots of animals wearing clothes (moles toil underground, beavers handle all woodwork), and there is a ton of interesting vocabulary and information. I kind of love these books because, as a rule, they are very readable (not too much text, not too little), they are fun, and they are perfect for pulling out as a reference when a particular topic comes in conversation. Up top I have some scans, and down at the bottom of the post I have a clumsy bibliography. Kudos to whichever groovy editrix put this series together back in the 1970s. You done good.

How Do They Build It? - Tim and Greg Hildebrandt - Platt & Munk, 1974 - ISBN 0-8228-7610-8.

Topics: Houses, boats, cars, furniture, roads, skyscrapers, dams, bridges, planes, oil wells. 

Where Everyday Things Come From - Aldren Watson - Platt & Munk, 1974 - ISBN 0-8228-7611-6,

The technical watercolors in this book are extraordinary. This is an image from the section on steel. Other featured topics: Rubber, paper, books, coal, electricity, glass, steel, soap, plastic, paint, cotton, clothing, wool, fruits and vegetables, honey, sugar, chocolate, salt and breads.

Who Invented It and What Makes It Work? - Sarah Leslie, illustrated by Tom O'Sullivan - Platt & Munk, 1976. ISBN 0-8228-7612-4. For the record, I've seen a few things from O'Sullivan lately, and I think he was an absolutely unrated star illustrator with a very unique and lovely style!

Each two-page spread is split into a historical survey of the invention, and then a description of the technical workings of the item in question. Above, an easy-riding cat shows off the parts of a motorcycle. Other topics in the book: balloon, clock, dynamo, lightning rod, piano, telescope, airplane, camera, printing press, bifocals, electric light bulb, phonograph, motion pictures, animated cartoon movies, telegraph, typewriter, telephone, elevator, thermometer, motorcycle, zipper, escalator, matches, radio, refrigerator, sewing machine, television, cotton gin, vacuum cleaner.

The Big Farm Book - Annie Ingle, illustrated by Aurelius Battaglia - Platt & Munk, 1976 - ISBN 0-8228-7617-5. 

Whee, pesticides! By and large, The Big Farm Book depicts an idealized vision of rural American life that probably didn't even exist when this book was written, but this one page about crop dusting is (a) startling to the modern eye, and (b) charming on its own terms. (As my dad has pointed out, for most of the 20th century, there was no such thing as organic farming; everyone used chemicals.)

The Big City Book - Annie Ingle, illustrated by Tim and Greg Hildebrandt - Platt & Munk, 1975 - ISBN 0-8228-7616-7.

A sample page, on the topic of the police department. I will leave it to you to ponder the imagery of perhaps the perv cat and the innocent mouse-child, but overall this is a good example of what you'll see inside. Lots of useful details in here, using what is probably New York City or another major East Coast metropolis, as the source. (This is likely the only children's book in history to include the words "commissioner of weights and measures.") This and the Farm book have a slightly more "narrative" style than the other Child Guidance books I've looked at, which tend to take a survey approach.

How Come...? Easy Answers to Hard Questions - Joyce Richards, illustrated by Susan Perl - Platt & Munk, 1975 - ISBN 0-448-13031-9. I think I remember this book from when I was little, or at least I think I remember Susan Perl's spacey, uniquely-haired children from another one of her books.

"Why Is the Ocean Salty?" - This book is quite a mish-mash of topics. I think in both this and the Body book below, Perl's illustrations either overwhelm the weaker text or at least fail to show something the text can't tell. The illustrations are very interesting, but somehow these two don't feel as successful to me as the other Child Guidance books I've seen.

You: How Your Body Works - by Leslie McGuire, illustrated by Susan Perl - Platt & Munk, 1974 - ISBN 0-8228-7320-6. My copy of this book is smaller than the other volumes appearing under the Child Guidance imprint.

"Where do you do all your thinking?"

Baby brainiacs in Susan Perl's imagination, circa 1974.

How Come...? Easy Answers to Hard Questions
Joyce Richards & Susan Perl

More Easy Answers
Joyce Richards & Susan Perl

Who Invented It and What Makes It Work?
Sarah Leslie & Tom O’Sullivan

Where Everyday Things Come From
Aldren Watson

Letters, Sounds and Words: A Phonic Dictionary
Linda Hayward & Carol Nicklaus

Numbers, Signs and Pictures: A First Number Book
Shari Robinson & Sal Murdocca

The Big Farm Book
Annie Ingle & Aurelius Battaglia

The Big City Book
Annie Ingle & the Hildebrandts

The Curiosity Book: Answers to Questions That Every Child Is Most Curious About
Selma G. Lanes & Robert J. Lee

The Bible Story Picture Book: Stories from the Old and New Testaments

Louisa Britton & Victor Ramon Mojica

Mabel and the Rainbow
Carol Nicklaus

The Great Big Funny BookSue Lundgren

The Almost Anything You Might Ask Almanac {I didn't like this one at all and eventually left it at a Little Free Library.}

Pappy Klima 

Marvelous Creatures: A First Book About Animals

Bernard Garfinkle & Meryl Joseph

Are there other Child Guidance titles out there that I haven't found? I'd love to know about them if there are. Please post in the comments if you find any that aren't listed here, or if you'd like to see more scans from any of the titles above.

The Big Golden Book of Poetry: 85 Childhood Favorites

I have been very much out of commission on this blog for months--blame the baby--but I'm trying to get back to this and other writing. I wanted to start with this treasure because it's the vintage Golden Book that I use the most, partly because it works for both the big kid and the baby (and me!). There's something about the illustrations and the layout of this book that just lures in the reader, and it's given me a new appreciation for poetry in general and children's poetry in particular. Some scans of the Gertrude Elliott illustrations are posted below.

The Golden Book of Poetry
Edited by Jane Werner
Illustrated by Gertrude Elliott
(c) 1947 Golden Press

"Moon Song" by Mildred Plew Meigs: "Zoon, zoon, cuddle and croon--over the crinkling sea..."

"Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" by Eugene Field: "Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes, And Nod is a little head..."

"General Store" by Rachel Field

"The Sugar-Plum Tree" by Eugene Field

"Custard the Dragon" by Odgen Nash: "Belinda lived in a little white house, With a little black kitten and a little gray mouse, and A little yellow dog and a little red wagon, And a realio, trulio, little pet dragon."

"The Duel" by Eugene Field

"Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley: "An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you Ef you Don't Watch Out!"

"If I Were a One-Legged Pirate" by Mildred Plew Meigs: "Plying the lane Of the Spanish Main for Gold! Gold! Gold!"

"Jill Came From the Fair" by Eleanor Farjeon

"Jill Came From the Fair" by Eleanor Farjeon

"The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear

"The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear

CHILDREN'S CHOICE BOOK CLUB

Originally published on Associated Content; going forward I will only update the list of titles at this location.

If you're looking to build a great home library for your child, keep an eye out for CHILDREN'S CHOICE BOOK CLUB editions of classic storybooks. These books, part of a subscription series sold during the 1970s and '80s, were part of a carefully curated list of classic children's titles, beginning with books as early as 1928's Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag and carrying forward to include recently published titles from the 1980s. 

Authors and titles featured by the book club include children's literature legends like Margaret Wise Brown, Paul Galdone, Harry Allard, Russell Hoban, Ruth Krauss, Virginia Lee Burton, H.A. Rey, Alvin Tresselt, Munro Leaf, Rosemary Wells, Don Freeman, Marjorie Flack, Bernard Waber, Margaret Bloy Graham, Maurice Sendak, Mercer Mayer, Taro Gomi, Ludwig Bemelmans, Ezra Jack Keats, Louise Fatio, Steven Kellogg, Judith Viorst, Kevin Henkes, Harry Zion, Alice and Martin Provensen and Brian Wildsmith. 

The books were intended for an audience of children in the two to seven year old age range. 

These cardboard-cover books are easily identifiable by their rainbow-spectrum spines, most also have a solid-color rectangular "mat" frame around the cover illustration. The spine, back cover and "bookplate" of each Children Choice's Book Club edition features a of a mysteriously mustachioed monster. On the spine and the back cover of the books, he is tipping his hat. He appears in black and white on the spine, and in various colors on the back cover. He also appears on an inside page of the book reading a book in a hot-air balloon. CCBC editions were all originally issued without dustjackets. 

Children's Choice was owned by Educational Products Inc. from the 1960s through 1986, when it was acquired by Macmillan Book Clubs Inc. Scholastic Inc. was also a distributor of the Club books for a time. The Club ceased to exist by approximately 1990. 

Children's Choice Book Club editions remain widely available on the used book market and are generally available at "garage sale prices" of .25-$1 per copy. However, there are a few of these books that are unique to the series or otherwise out of print that go for more. 

Two of the most valuable Children's Choice Book Club books are Albert Lamorisse's The Red Balloon (adapted from the short film) and Louise Matthews' Gator Pie (a book about fractions that is popular with homeschooling families). Rex Parkin's The Red Carpet is out-of-print and is a part of the Before Five in a Row reading list so it sells at a premium as well. 

Children's Choice Book Club Titles, Partial List 

• Allard, Harry, Miss Nelson Is Back 
• Allard, Harry, Miss Nelson Is Missing!
• Allard, Harry, The Stupids Step Out 
• Allen, Jeffrey, Mary Alice, Operator Number 9 
• Aarderna, Verna, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears
• Armour, Richard Willard, A Dozen Dinosaurs 
• Bemelmans, Ludwig, Madeline's Rescue
• Bennett, Jill, Days Are Where We Live, and Other Poems
• Berenstain, Stan and Jan, The Bears' Nature Guide 
• Blos, Joan W., Martin's Hats 
• Bornstein, Ruth, Little Gorilla
• Bright, Robert, Georgie and the Robbers 
• Brown, Marc, Arthur's Nose
• Brown, Marcia, Stone Soup 
• Brown, Margaret Wise, Little Chicken 
• Brown, Margaret Wise, Little Fur Family 
• Brown, Margaret Wise, The Indoor Noisy Book
• Brown, Margaret Wise, The Runaway Bunny 
• Brown, Margaret Wise, Wait Till The Moon Is Full 
• Burningham, John, Mr. Grumpy's Outing 
• Burton, Virginia Lee, Katy and the Big Snow 
• Burton, Virginia Lee, The Little House
• Burton, Virginia Lee, Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel 
• Cauley, Lorinda Bryan, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse 
• Chalmers, Mary, Come To the Doctor, Harry 
• Chalmers, Mary, Throw a Kiss, Harry 
• Chess, Victoria, Alfred's Alphabet Walk 
• Coats, Laura Jane, Marcella and the Moon 
• Cole, Joanna, My Puppy Is Born
• Dauer, Rosamund, Bullfrog Grows Up 
• de Brunhoff, Laurent, Babar and Father Christmas 
• de Brunhoff, Laurent, Story of Babar 
• De Regniers, Beatrice Schenk, May I Bring a Friend?
• Dee, Ruby, Two Ways to Count to Ten
• Dubanevich, Arlene, Calico Cows 
• Dubanevich, Arlene, Pig William
• Ericsson, Jennifer A., No Milk! 
• Ets, Marie Hall, In the Forest 
• Ewing , Carolyn, Wake Up, City! 
• Fatio, Louise, The Happy Lion 
• Flack, Marjorie, Angus and the Cat 
• Flack, Marjorie, Angus and the Ducks 
• Flack, Marjorie, Angus Lost 
• Flack, Marjorie, The Story About Ping 
• Freeman, Don, A Pocket for Corduroy 
• Freeman, Don, Beady Bear 
• Freeman, Don, Dandelion 
• Freeman, Don, Norman the Doorman 
• G'ag, Wanda, Millions of Cats 
• Galdone, Paul, Rumpelstiltskin 
• Galdone, Paul, The Elves and the Shoemaker 
• Galdone, Paul, The Frog Prince
• Galdone, Paul, The Monkey and the Crocodile 
• Galdone, Paul, The Little Red Hen 
• Galdone, Paul, Puss-in-Boots
• Garelick, May, What Makes a Bird a Bird?
• Gibbons, Gail, Check It Out! 
• Ginsburg, Mirra, How the Sun Was Brought Back to the Sky 
• Gomi, Taro, Bus Stops 
• Graham, Margaret Bloy, Be Nice to Spiders 
• Graham, Margaret Bloy, Benjy and His Friend Fifi 
• Graham, Margaret Bloy, Benjy and the Barking Bird 
• Graham, Margaret Bloy, Benjy's Boat Trip 
• Graham, Margaret Bloy, Benjy's Dog House 
• Gundersheimer, Karen, Happy Winter 
• Hall, Donald, The Ox-Cart Man
• Hazen, Barbara Shook, Fang 
• Henkes, Kevin, Jessica 
• Hennessy, B.G., The Missing Tarts 
• Hennessy, B.G., The Dinosaur Who Lived in My Backyard
• Hoban, Russell, A Baby Sister for Frances 
• Hoban, Russell, Bedtime for Frances 
• Hoban, Russell, Best Friends for Frances 
• Hoban, Russell, Bread and Jam for Frances 
• Holl, Adelaide, The Rain Puddle 
• Hurd, Thacher, The Pea Patch Jig
• Joerns, Consuelo, The Lost and Found House
• Johnson, Crockett, Harold and the Purple Crayon
• Johnson, Crockett, Harold's Circus 
• Jonas, Ann, The Trek 
• Karlin, Barbara, Cinderella 
• Keats, Ezra Jack, A Letter to Amy
• Keats, Ezra Jack, Pet Show! 
• Keats, Ezra Jack, The Snowy Day 
• Keats, Ezra Jack, Whistle for Willie 
• Keller, Holly, Geraldine's Big Snow 
• Keller, Holly, Geraldine's Blanket 
• Kellogg, Steven, Much Bigger Than Martin 
• Kellogg, Steven, The Mysterious Tadpole
• Kent, Jack, Round Robin 
• Krasilovsky, Phyllis, The Cow Who Fell in the Canal 
• Kraus, Robert, Leo the Late Bloomer 
• Krauss, Ruth, The Carrot Seed
• LaMorisse, Albert, The Red Balloon 
• Lasker, Joe, The Do-Something Day 
• Leaf, Munro, The Story of Ferdinand 
• Lewis, Shari , One Minute Animal Stories
• Livermore, Elaine, Looking for Henry
• Lobel, Arnold, Ming Lo Moves the Mountain
• Lobel, Arnold, A Treeful of Pigs 
• Low, Alice, The Witch Who Was Afraid of Witches
• Maestro, Betsy, Big City Port 
• Marshall, James, George and Martha Back In Town 
• Marshall, James, George and Martha Encore 
• Marshall, James, George and Martha One Fine Day 
• Marshall , James, Goldilocks and the Three Bears 
• Marshall, James, The Three Little Pigs
• Matthews, Louise, Gator Pie 
• Mayer, Mercer, There's a Nightmare In My Closet
• McCloskey, Robert, Blueberries for Sal
• McCloskey, Robert, Lentil
• McCloskey, Robert, Make Way for Ducklings 
• McGovern, Ann, Little Whale
• McGovern, Ann, Too Much Noise
• McNaughton, Colin, If Dinosaurs Were Dogs and Cats
• McPhail, David, Pig Pig Grows Up
• Morgan, Pierr, The Turnip
• Most, Bernard, If the Dinosaurs Came Back 
• Most, Bernard, My Very Own Octopus
• Murphy, Jill, Five Minutes' Peace
• Newman, Shirlee P., T ell Me, Grandma Tell Me, Grandpa 
• Parkin, Rex, The Red Carpet 
• Parrish, Peggy, Amelia Bedelia 
• Payne, Emmy, Katy No-Pocket 
• Peet, Bill, Randy Dandy's Lions
• Pinkwater, Daniel, Aunt Lulu
• Piper, Watty, The Little Engine That Could 
• Provensen, Alice and Martin, The Year at Maple Hill Farm 
• Rey, H.A., Curious George Gets a Medal
• Rey, H.A., Curious George Rides a Bike
• Rey, H.A., Curious George Gets a Job
• Roy, Ron, Three Ducks Went Wandering 
• Rylant, Cynthia, The Relatives Came 
• Samton, Sheila White, Tilly and the Rhinoceros 
• Samuels, Barbara, Duncan & Dolores 
• Schultz, Charles M., Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown
• Schultz, Charles M., It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown 
• Segal, Lore, Tell Me a Trudy
• Selsam, Millicent, Sea Monsters of Long Ago 
• Sendak, Maurice, Chicken Soup With Rice
• Sendak, Maurice, Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue 
• Shulevitz, Uri, One Monday Morning
• Slobodkina, Esphyr, Caps for Sale 
• Small, David, Imogene's Antlers
• Spier, Peter, Erie Canal
• Steig, William, The Amazing Bone
• Steig, William, Roland, the Minstrel Pig
• Steig, William, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble 
• Stevenson, James, Could Be Worse 
• Stevenson, James, If I Owned a Candy Factory
• Stevenson, James, Quick! Turn the Page!
• Stevenson, James, There's Nothing To Do 
• Stevenson, James, We Can't Sleep
• Stevenson, James, We Hate Rain! 
• Taylor, Mark, Henry the Explorer 
• Thayer, Jane, Quiet on Account of Dinosaur 
• Titus, Eve, Anatole
• Titus, Eve, Anatole and the Piano 
• Tompert, Ann, Little Fox Goes to the End of the World 
• Tresselt, Alvin R., The Mitten 
• Tresselt, Alvin, White Snow, Bright Snow 
• Tyler , Linda Wagner, The Sick-in-Bed Birthday 
• Viorst, Judith, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day 
• Waber, Bernard, An Anteater Named Arthur 
• Waber, Bernard, Ira Sleeps Over 
• Waber, Bernard, Lovable Lyle 
• Waber, Bernard, Lyle and the Birthday Party 
• Waber, Bernard, Lyle Finds His Mother 
• Waber, Bernard, The House on East 88th Street 
• Wells, Rosemary, Benjamin and Tulip
• Wells, Rosemary, Noisy Nora 
• Wells, Rosemary, Timothy Goes to School 
• Westcott, Nadine Bernard, The Emperor's New Clothes 
• Wildsmith, Brian, Professor Noah's Spaceship 
• Wolf, Pearl, Gorilla Baby: The Story of Patty Cake
• Yashima, Taro, Crow Boy 
• Zion , Harry, Harry by the Sea 
• Zion , Harry, No Roses for Harry
• Zolotow, Charlotte, Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present
• Author Unknown, The Teddy Bear Book

Did you have Children's Choice Book Club books in your home as a child? What were your favorites?

Children's Illustrator Pseudonym Chain

For anyone investigating WWII-era children's book author-illustrator bibliographies, Masha of the Golden Almanac is Natasha Simkhovitch of Knopf's 1943 Merry Christmas! She is also known as Marie Stern or Marie Simchow Stern, and under those names she illustrated one of the very first group of Little Golden Books: Three Little Kittens. More later.

Happy May from the Golden Almanac (1944)

The Golden Almanac by Dorothy Bennett, pictures by Masha, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1944.

I know about Maypoles because of the Eastern Star Home/Archer School Maypole in Brentwood, and I know about May baskets because of Little Heathens, but I think these May traditions are otherwise long-lost in America. Lovely, but long-lost.

In any case, HAPPY MAY!

"The Queen of Hearts" Illustrated by Raymond Briggs

I'm never sure if nursery rhymes are the Curriculum of Toddlerhood or just pointless 18th-century doggerel (or both), but we do have a lot of Mother Goose books and they're probably worth the cost of admission just for the frequently delightful illustrations.

Tonight we were reading Fee Fi Fo Fum, illustrated by the great Raymond Briggs, and this illustration of the Queen of Hearts really jumped out at me. Raymond Briggs is a Brit known for his children's book illustrations, including quite a few fairy tale compilations (as retold by Virginia Haviland and/or Ruth Manning-Sanders). He created this little volume, published in 1964 by Coward-McCann, "with grateful acknowledgment to [noted folklorists] Iona and Peter Opie."

"The Queen of Hearts
She made some tarts,
All on a summer's day

The Knave of Hearts
He stole those tarts,
And took them clean away...

"The King of Hearts
Called for the tarts,
And beat the Knave full sore;

The Knave of Hearts
Brought back the tarts
And vowed he'd steal no more."