I Went in for an Iron . . .

And as we were locating a cart, the cheerful worker handed us a paper bag and said (the magic words),"Fill it up with any books you want and it's only FIVE dollars!" There was no thinking about it. I snatched that bag up and began giving instructions to the girls with me to start looking. After we had piled an enormous amount of books in the cart, we sat down and sorted through them. P3(girl's beginning initial + birth order) became very concerned that ALL the books were going to fit in that one paper bag. Never fear, super-book-packer to the rescue. We carefully packed and repacked the books (can we count this for math in some way?)until they ALL fit. We located standard favorites, such as Hank the Cowdog, Madlibs (unused,YAHOO!), Amelia Bedelia and quite a bit more. I found a real gem.



It is not in pristine condition but it really doesn't matter because I would never sell it. I love old children's' books. There is something very special about the stories.I can't quite put my finger on what it is though.



They are simpler than the stories told today but the language is not dumbed down. The children are children. They play games, imagine things and get into all kinds of crazy situations that would never be allowed in modern books. They also all teach something but are less pushy about it. It seems that a lesson is shared quite by accident.


Unlike the story we read from the library tonight. The children in the book went to the beach, then they put on sunscreen, they only went into the water after they had paired up. One of the friends went too far and almost got hurt . . . blah,blah,blah,blah! There was no story, just a long list of rules about going to the beach with cute pictures. It made me shudder. It also makes me shudder to find the true treasures discarded. Many of them come with discard stamps from the public libraries. Arghhhh . . . what are they thinking???



Well, it is my personal duty to collect as many as I can for my children and grandchildren. Hey, who knows maybe I will open my own private children's library one day! What is your favorite oldie but goodie?