Favorite children's books

Never heard of this one Josiah. It's an American book but that's all I can tell.My favourite childrens books were;
Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson-Burnett and Black Beauty by Anna Sewell.
 
The book I remember reading is The Plump Pig, and I remembered liking it very much, don't know how old I was at the time, but I was pretty young. It made me happy and sad, can't really remember the story or how it ended. I haven't read it since, but I did look for it in the library once. Here's something online that mentioned it.



What A Mom Wants: The Plump Pig



From time to time I get bent out of shape because my mother refuses (Books! How boring can you get?) to read my "blob" as she calls it. Hmph. If she had a blog, I'd read it every day. Even if it was all about her QVC obsession or her potholder collection, I'd be right there, leaving sunny comments, posting links from my blog to hers and running up the stats on her "Visitors To My Blog" counter.

Looking on the bright side, sometimes this admittedly ultra-mild version of parental neglect comes in handy. I can write movingly about my rampant alcoholism and recent sex change and...oh wait -- I haven't done any of that. Well, I can drop a few f-bombs now and then and she's none the wiser. And what about now?! I can openly discuss her birthday gift with the world at large and she'll never know. Nyah, nyah!

A few nights ago, Mom and I were on the phone and somehow, we got on the subject of her favorite childhood book, The Plump Pig. This picture book was around the house while I was growing up, but neither of us have seen it in years. With all the moving over the years, we're guessing that it's lost forever.
"Do you think that maybe there's a new copy in a bookstore somewhere?" Mom asked. She was thinking of how her other childhood favorite, The Boxcar Children had had a resurgence of popularity.

"I've only ever heard of The Plump Pig because of you," I said, but while I was talking, my fingers were on the laptop keyboard, flying to Amazon. Bingo! It was there: The Plump Pig by Alf and Helen Evers. Several copies. No images were available, but the descriptions listed copyrights of 1938, 1942, 1944, 1956 and 1960.

"Well, 1938, that's got to be the same book," Mom said. "That's the year I was born, but I think I got my copy in 1942 for my birthday from my grandmother and grandfather. They were big on giving books for birthdays."
I checked out Abebooks and found a description that contained the first line: Although the Plump Pig was the youngest pig on the farm...
"That's IT!" we both screamed.
Since we still had no pictures, we argued about the cover and the plot: "Wasn't the cover green?"
"No, it was white."
"And the pig was there."
"Yes, he was standing in flowers."
"He was eating an apple."
"Wasn't he running with the apple?"
"How did he get from the skinny farmer's place to the fat farmer's place?"
"They weren't farmers -- they were out for a ride and saw the Plump Pig and just had to have him."
"They took him home and let him run around in their yard with the dog and cat."
"No, they made a little garden for him and fed him delicious treats."

Mom sighed. "I'd love to read The Plump Pig again."
"Me too." As far as picture books went, The Plump Pig lacked the interpersonal conflict and drama of my own personal preschool favorite, Nurse Nancy, but it was pretty damn good.

You probably already know how this ends. I pulled out the plastic today and bought a first edition, very good condition of The Plump Pig. How much? Quite a bit more than the 1938 price of twenty-five cents, but you know how it is: It's a book. It's my mom. Check out the map of my psyche and you'll see that I'm at the four-way intersection of Sentiment, Obsession, Nostalgia and Compulsion.
I can't wait to see this book. I can't wait to see my mom's face when she opens her package next month. Happy Birthday, Mom!




 
oakapple said:
Never heard of this one Josiah. It's an American book but that's all I can tell.My favourite childrens books were;
Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson-Burnett and Black Beauty by Anna Sewell.
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I saw The Secret Garden as a free kindle book, so downloaded it. Enjoyed it!

I've got Wind and the Willows on my kindle as well but haven't read it yet.
 
I remember having a big book of classic fairy tales when I was 7 and loved it. Can't remember the titles of any other favourites until Nancy Drew at age 12 or so.
 
In a different context Phil commented that he remembers the book well.

It was published in 1941 so its hey day might be too early for many of our younger members. On the other had you're right Mrs. R. it is a classic and the book has never been out of print. The story is commemorated by a statue(s) in Boston Garden.

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The book won the Caldecott Medal for best children's book illustration awarded in 1942 and the first printing is exceedingly rare. A nice copy with a dust jacket would command perhaps $40,000
 
My wife and I specialized in children's literature and as antiquarian booksellers we use to exhibit at about 25 antiquarian book fairs a year in cities from coast to coast. I can distinctly remember on at least two occasions seeing grown men break down in tears upon encountering a little golden book from their childhood. Early childhood memories of a favorite children's book are extremely powerful.
 
One of the more lasting visual memories I have of my early childhood was my bookcase stuffed with Little Golden Books and Dr. Seuss pieces. I remember the sense of - what? - completion, I suppose, upon finishing reading one of these books yet another time.

When I began to graduate to comic books and primary-school textbooks I rarely had the same feelings.

I suppose that's an age-dependent thing, that young children need that closure in their world and are not interested in going beyond their comfort zones as an older child would be ...
 
SifuPhil said:
Dr. Seuss was always my childhood favorite and set me on my path of lifelong learning ...

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I was in Victoria, just before Christmas and while in the library I picked up a information sheet with a list BANNED books and amongst the banned books was three Dr Seuss books one being black beauty,Fried green tomatoes.dont remember the other title, Where I was staying in Mildura. ( Victoria) they had a library and just happened to have the two books mentioned, I browered them and read them to try to work out WHY ??? I never seen any reason in the book to ban them?? Can anyone answer Why??
 
Book-banners aren't always the brightest bulbs in the chandelier. :rolleyes:

Hop on Pop - last year in Toronto a patron of the library demanded that the book be banned because it encouraged children to perform violence on their parents, i.e. - hopping on Pop. :cower:

The Lorax was banned in many locales because it concerned environmental matters.

Green Eggs and Ham was banned in China because it was too reminiscent of early Marxist theory. :confused:

And it goes on and on ...
 
Well I guess it gives them a job looking at books and deciding which ones to ban, but what about children's cartoons on TV like bugs bunny?? And road runner ?? I like them but aren't they violent ?? And yet thay are still on TV
We could go on and on .....
 
Seeing an old children's book can bring back so many memories. What an interesting business you and your wife had Josiah,for anyone who loves books, it must have been marvellous.
 
My sister used to read to me from a large hard cover book Grimm's Fairy Tales, with color illustrations. I don't know if this was the book, it's from 1947, so it might have been. It was a bit spooky to me at the time.

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