One of the dangers of working in elementary schools is the inevitably of being reminded of your own childhood. I don't know what stories other kids grew up having read to them, but there are certain things that are burned into my memory.
Patchy Pumpkin Finds Himself a Home which is out of print and is basically $50 for a used copy! Out of control. The story of a lonely pumpkin that didn't get picked for a jack-o-lantern or pie! Until he finds a use in life. The mom probably read this story to Ajax and me about a million times.
The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear. For some reason this was also a big hit in the house as a kid...I'm wondering if it was one of Ajax's favorites.
The Random House Book of Fairytales. Big hit because I always loved fairytales. Especially Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, The Frog Prince, The Princess and the Pea, the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and the Elves and the Shoemaker. The first two I demanded much more than the others, though. One winter we were at our mountain house in Plumas Pines and we got snowed in something fierce. Me, having the impeccable luck that I do, acquired an ear infection and we couldn't even leave the house. Luckily we had a godsend of a plow-man who got my medicine and delivered it! So we all curled up in the Mom's bed while I forced her to read Rumpelstiltskin for the zillionth time.
The book trio of the three little kittens, Goldilocks, and the three little pigs was another book that got lots of use. I had the three little kittens memorized very early on.
Teddy Ruxpin. Does anyone else even know who he is? Is he still a thing? He should be! He was a toy that read books to you using cassettes. His friend Grubby had a cord that connected into Teddy and they'd read their parts to you while you followed along. They were technically Ajax's, but I think I liked them way more than he did. I might be dating myself with my childhood here.
I also really liked the Minnie and Me collection. Disney put out a collection of books for girls using female versions of Mickey Mouse's gang - Minnie, Penny, Clarabel, Daisy, Fifi... Am I missing someone? Anyway- they were cute and I loved them.
And lastly Hank the Cowdog. The best dog sheriff evar. I'm not sure he's still cool anymore either.
I feel like everything my childhood was filled with isn't around anymore and that's kind of sad.
i hardly knew any of these -__- hahaha
ReplyDeletenot as in i never heard of them before, but just that i didn't grow up with them memorized.
instead I read "There's lots that I can do!" and loads upon loads of Dr. Suess books. also Beatrix Potter's Peter Cottontail and nursery rhyme book. that was gold.