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Hansel and Gretel

By The Brothers Grimm; Pictures by Eloise Wilkin

A Little Golden Book

I venture to guess most, if not all, of the Baby Boomers that are now grandparents, grew up reading these books.

Starting in 1942, they originally sold at the ginormous price of 25 cents! Yes, for one quarter of a dollar, your child could read the likes of “The Pokey Little Puppy”, “Tootle the Train”, “Scuffy the Tugboat”, “The Saggy Baggy Elephant”, “The Shy Little Kitten”, “The Tawney Scrawny Lion”, “The Little Red Caboose”, “Mother Goose”, “Prayers for Children”, “Three Little Children” and a slew of other initially published titles.These small books soon found their way into households, hands and eventually the hearts of young readers everywhere. And they have stood the test of time, with the authors and illustrators whose artistry created them. That is my definition of a classic picture book read and Little Golden Books are classics.

Their lure was not merely their attractive price, but their writers and illustrators were the likes of Garth Williams, illustrator of “The Little House on the Prairie” series, “Charlotte’s Web” and “Stuart Little”, Margaret Wise Brown of “Goodnight Moon” fame, Richard Scarry, Trina Schart Hyman, James Marshall, and Alice and Martin Provensen to name but a very few.

These people made artistry and great narrative available to every child that had a quarter. That, in and of itself, is a wonderful thing.

Guess the reason I keep bringing these classic books forward in the Way Back Wednesday segment of The Snuggery is that I firmly believe their artistic value needs to be brought forward again and again so a new generation can see them and hopefully love them as we Boomers did.

I had a first hand experience of the impact they had on one child now grown to be an artist that did covers for Penguin paperback books. Bill had, as a child, a well loved copy of “Scuffy the Tugboat.” It somehow was lost in the passage of time. When he spoke of this book, and its story and art, you could tell it had affected his life, AND maybe even his future profession as artist.

So I made up my mind to find an original of this Little Golden Book. It took a while, but I did it. Wish you could’ve been there when I put the book in his hands. It was really something to see him gently thumb the pages of a book he had treasured as a child and could practically recite as a adult.

Books DO affect young readers for a lifetime.

So, why not perhaps revisit YOUR journey with these wonderful Little Golden Books and launch a new discovery, via your own grandchildren, children or a young reader you know?

Please go and rediscover a Little Golden Book with your little ones. It’s way past time!

Some people lead more normal lives than others. I know, normal is relative and you never really know what challenges and stresses other people deal with and such, but, let’s face it, we all know the unspoken benchmarks and how we measure up to them. Or not. It’s been my contention for a long time that there are really only two striations of people in American society: those who can’t imagine sleeping in a bed with sheets that don’t match and all the rest of us. Not only are these categories pretty all-encompassing and descriptive, their boundaries are fairly rigid--sheet-matchers rarely end up socially or romantically linked to at-least-there-are-sheeters. It just isn’t done. Oh, sure, there are the occasional sheet-crossed lovers, but they are usually doomed. If you know the thread count of your bedding (or even know what thread count means) you’ll never be happy with someone who has slept on top of the comforter because the sheets are still in the dryer. Some differences are just too profound. I bring this up because I couldn’t help noting that Eloise Wilkin’s My Goodnight Book is a precious, heart-warming little tale about a matched-sheet family in a matched-sheet house. When it’s time for bed, the little girl in the story goes upstairs (without a tantrum) to brush her teeth (with a toothbrush that perfectly matches the perfectly matched soap dish and cup) and take a bath (in a bathroom that has a footstool…with a ruffled cover). Who are these people?!

http://www.amazon.com/Goodnight-Book-Golden-Sturdy-Shape/dp/0307122581


http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=33195