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By: Sara Ruffin,
on 10/4/2013
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Georgie The Ghost Halloween Cookies |
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What better way to celebrate Halloween than with this yummy sugar cookie recipe and Georgie the Ghost!
This recipe is from my aunt's recipe box.
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Cream butter and sugar. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour sifted with baking powder and salt. Mix well. Chill. Roll 1/2 " thick and cut into Georgie shapes. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 400 degrees F for 8-10 minutes. Frost
Frosting:
2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons milk
I applied the frosting with a knife. The frosting will dry smooth and harden.
I painted Georgie's face and buttons with black chocolate frosting, using a paintbrush.

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The Travels of Ching by Robert Bright Receives Honorbale Mention at The 2013 Paris Book Festival as of 5/5/2013 12:29:00 AM
Here are a few photos of old China that I found. These pictures depict the same China that Robert Bright illustrates in his 1943 children's book, The Travels of Ching.
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An illustration from The Travels of Ching along side photos of coolies, a Mandarin man and a rickshaw. |
Susan Blumberg-Kason was kind enough to write this nice bit about the Travels of Ching.
Thank you Susan!
Thank you mommy blogger for your nice write up on The Travels of Ching by Robert Bright.
http://missalygators.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-travels-of-ching.html
Here is a blog post I would like to share which shows some great illustrations by the brilliant Edward Gorey.
By: Sara Ruffin,
on 2/9/2013
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By: Sara Ruffin,
on 2/9/2013
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“What I have tried to do in my (children’s) books is to present fantasy in the way of good stories with interesting characters and lots of humor and fun but with no silliness.” — Robert Bright.
By: Sara Ruffin,
on 2/9/2013
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“What I have tried to do in my (children’s) books is to present fantasy in the way of good stories with interesting characters and lots of humor and fun but with no silliness.” — Robert Bright.
By: Sara Ruffin,
on 1/30/2013
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The Travels of Ching is hot off the press. This beautiful little book, which was originally written, illustrated by Robert Bright and published in 1943 has been republished after more than 40 years.
By: Sara Ruffin,
on 1/30/2013
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The Travels of Ching is hot off the press. This beautiful little book, which was originally written, illustrated by Robert Bright and published in 1943 has been republished after more than 40 years. This is a limited edition, 2090 copies.
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www.deniopress.com |
"An array of worthwhile volumes invites our attention."
An excerpt by Frieda M. Heller ACSD
"In Robert Bright's The Travels of Ching (William R. Scott) a small doll was sent from China to a little girl in America. This little girl had so many toys that none seemed to please her and so the little doll was neglected. Fortunately for Ching he is sent back to China to become the property of a child who loved him dearly. The bright red coat and the happy smile of the little toy are present in the illustrations of this story of a doll's journey, which contrasts Chinese and American life and customs."-Frieda M. Heller
By: Sara Ruffin,
on 1/27/2013
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"An array of worthwhile volumes invites our attention."
An excerpt by Frieda M. Heller ACSD
"In Robert Bright's The Travels of Ching (William R. Scott) a small doll was sent from China to a little girl in America. This little girl had so many toys that none seemed to please her and so the little doll was neglected. Fortunately for Ching he is sent back to China to become the property of a child who loved him dearly. The bright red coat and the happy smile of the little toy are present in the illustrations of this story of a doll's journey, which contrasts Chinese and American life and customs."-Frieda M. Heller
About a year ago, I was scanning over my father’s bookcases searching for that one special book that wouldn’t make me think too hard. His bookcases lined each wall of our living room as well as lining the walls of the hallway and the bedrooms. The books with a lighter tone usually resided on the very bottom shelves of these bookcases, most often containing loads of photographs or drawings. These were the books filled with pictures of paintings, sometimes books on dog breeds, occasionally books depicting the English countryside with photos of gardens and men in caps surrounded by a luxuriant green countryside.
My eyes scanned the rows of glossy spines and hefty tomes lining the bottom shelves. Lodged between Pharaohs and Their Cats and A Pictorial History of the Bagpipe I spotted what appeared to be a thick slab of cardboard. The coarse quality caught my eye as a withered leaf on a gleaming verdant shrub might. I pried it free from its surrounding walls and beheld a small, ancient looking book with a deep brown cloth cover and faded gold lettering. The title was The Travels of Ching, by Robert Bright. Upon opening the book, I glimpsed intricate black drawings of an old China punctuated with a spot of red. The pages, as I turned them, were soft and tanned with age and handling. The inside bore the markings from The Carnegie Public Library in Sparta, Michigan. Black stamps indicated that the last checkout date was September 21, 1990. I guessed my father had found this edition on one of his hunts in old bookstores. I wondered how many young hands turned those pages and how many young minds read those words and how many eyes envisaged those drawings. Yes, this was light reading, but not what I initially intended to settle upon as an afternoon pastime. Still, the book struck me, not only because Robert Bright was my grandfather, but for its beautifully depicted light-hearted drawings and for the sweetness of the recurring character of Ching in his bright red Chinese robe. Why had I never known this book?
Frankly, I don’t think anyone knows this book. Why should they? It was originally written in 1943 and published in 1945 by William R. Scott, Inc. and in 1946 by William Collins Sons & Co. LTD. As far as I know, those were the last publications. It is the story of a beautiful doll from China who was sent to America as a gift to a little girl. Ching travels via donkeys, boats and trains only to arrive at the little girl’s penthouse and be brushed aside with indifference. Poor Ching! But his expression always seems to convey happy optimism as he bounces from place to place only to be discarded again and again. Of course, the book wraps up with a happy ending and Ching is at last appreciated and finds someone who really wants him. I couldn’t help but think that this little book represented Ching himself; discarded yet charming and loveable.
I don’t know the first thing about publishing. All I knew was that reviving this book became a mild obsession. I called a literary agent I knew who was familiar with the works of Robert Bright. I asked her why The Travels of Ching slipped away into oblivion. She responded that publishers won’t touch books with red in it as they remind people of Communism. A laugh escaped me, released in a sharp burst. There was silence on the other end of the line. The absurdity of her statement confounded me. I don’t doubt that publishers know what sells. But was the color red really a problem? My mind reeled back to all the children’s books containing red. There must be thousands of children’s books reeking with Communistic undertones EVEYWHERE! Was Little Red Riding a Leninist spy holding collectivist secret meetings with Maoist woodland creatures? (Did I mention Ching is a Chinese doll?)
I was undaunted. The story of discarded toys and our throwaway society is still relevant, especially with a dash of red! A good example is the movie Toy Story. (Is that not a red hat on Jessie, the cowgirl in Toy Story 2?). I still believed The Travels of Chingwas a meaningful story with beautiful illustrations and so I set about on my own to dust this book off and put it in the hands of children and adults to see for themselves.
But how? I could try to push it through to book publishers and hope the editors were born after 1989. Or I could just do it myself.” Self-publish!” How many times I heard this, I can no longer count. After about one hour of research on the subject, I ruled it out. I wanted Ching to be special. I wanted the drawings to be on beautiful paper and offset printed. I wanted to line the inside of the book with a special illustration. I wanted a cloth binding and a striking dust jacket. I wanted a lot for Ching. I was preserving the legacy of my grandfather’s art work and his stories. Suddenly I felt awfully important.
As I said before, I knew nothing about publishing so I decided to start a publishing company. I could not wait for some progressive publisher who wasn’t scared of Communism to accept the book. Starting your own publishing company involves a few steps: filing with the state, business license applications, EIN # applications, sales permit applications. Basically it involves a lot of applications. And some nominal application fees. The hardest part was coming up a name for my company. I thought I was being so clever when I thought up a brilliant name, only to find out some OTHER publishing company was clever before I was and had thought of the very same name already. It was exasperating. You would also be amazed at how many publishing companies are out there. It was madness. Still resolute, I forged ahead and came up with a name. I took my mother’s middle name, Denio (pronounced duh-nye-oh) and added “press”, and so named my new publishing company Denio Press.
The Travels of Ching with all my “wants” is off to print. I spent literally a gazillion hours cleaning the drawings, formatting the book, designing the cover, annoying the printer and learning a lot about copyrights. In the search for a book in my father’s bookcase that wouldn’t make me think too hard, I managed to find the one book which, indeed, made me think an awful lot. And through this little worn and tattered 70 year old book, I discovered a new passion and a new drive; reviving old and forgotten books with an emphasis on gorgeous illustration.
By: Sara Ruffin,
on 1/27/2013
Blog:
Robert Bright
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About a year ago, I was scanning over my father’s bookcases searching for that one special book that wouldn’t make me think too hard. His bookcases lined each wall of our living room as well as lining the walls of the hallway and the bedrooms. The books with a lighter tone usually resided on the very bottom shelves of these bookcases, most often containing loads of photographs or drawings. These were the books filled with pictures of paintings, sometimes books on dog breeds, occasionally books depicting the English countryside with photos of gardens and men in caps surrounded by a luxuriant green countryside.
My eyes scanned the rows of glossy spines and hefty tomes lining the bottom shelves. Lodged between Pharaohs and Their Cats and A Pictorial History of the Bagpipe I spotted what appeared to be a thick slab of cardboard. The coarse quality caught my eye as a withered leaf on a gleaming verdant shrub might. I pried it free from its surrounding walls and beheld a small, ancient looking book with a deep brown cloth cover and faded gold lettering. The title was The Travels of Ching, by Robert Bright. Upon opening the book, I glimpsed intricate black drawings of an old China punctuated with a spot of red. The pages, as I turned them, were soft and tanned with age and handling. The inside bore the markings from The Carnegie Public Library in Sparta, Michigan. Black stamps indicated that the last checkout date was September 21, 1990. I guessed my father had found this edition on one of his hunts in old bookstores. I wondered how many young hands turned those pages and how many young minds read those words and how many eyes envisaged those drawings. Yes, this was light reading, but not what I initially intended to settle upon as an afternoon pastime. Still, the book struck me, not only because Robert Bright was my grandfather, but for its beautifully depicted light-hearted drawings and for the sweetness of the recurring character of Ching in his bright red Chinese robe. Why had I never known this book?
Frankly, I don’t think anyone knows this book. Why should they? It was originally written in 1943 and published in 1945 by William R. Scott, Inc. and in 1946 by William Collins Sons & Co. LTD. As far as I know, those were the last publications. It is the story of a beautiful doll from China who was sent to America as a gift to a little girl. Ching travels via donkeys, boats and trains only to arrive at the little girl’s penthouse and be brushed aside with indifference. Poor Ching! But his expression always seems to convey happy optimism as he bounces from place to place only to be discarded again and again. Of course, the book wraps up with a happy ending and Ching is at last appreciated and finds someone who really wants him. I couldn’t help but think that this little book represented Ching himself; discarded yet charming and loveable.
I don’t know the first thing about publishing. All I knew was that reviving this book became a mild obsession. I called a literary agent I knew who was familiar with the works of Robert Bright. I asked her why The Travels of Ching slipped away into oblivion. She responded that publishers won’t touch books with red in it as they remind people of Communism. A laugh escaped me, released in a sharp burst. There was silence on the other end of the line. The absurdity of her statement confounded me. I don’t doubt that publishers know what sells. But was the color red really a problem? My mind reeled back to all the children’s books containing red. There must be thousands of children’s books reeking with Communistic undertones EVEYWHERE! Was Little Red Riding a Leninist spy holding collectivist secret meetings with Maoist woodland creatures? (Did I mention Ching is a Chinese doll?)
I was undaunted. The story of discarded toys and our throwaway society is still relevant, especially with a dash of red! A good example is the movie Toy Story. (Is that not a red hat on Jessie, the cowgirl in Toy Story 2?). I still believed The Travels of Chingwas a meaningful story with beautiful illustrations and so I set about on my own to dust this book off and put it in the hands of children and adults to see for themselves.
But how? I could try to push it through to book publishers and hope the editors were born after 1989. Or I could just do it myself.” Self-publish!” How many times I heard this, I can no longer count. After about one hour of research on the subject, I ruled it out. I wanted Ching to be special. I wanted the drawings to be on beautiful paper and offset printed. I wanted to line the inside of the book with a special illustration. I wanted a cloth binding and a striking dust jacket. I wanted a lot for Ching. I was preserving the legacy of my grandfather’s art work and his stories. Suddenly I felt awfully important.
As I said before, I knew nothing about publishing so I decided to start a publishing company. I could not wait for some progressive publisher who wasn’t scared of Communism to accept the book. Starting your own publishing company involves a few steps: filing with the state, business license applications, EIN # applications, sales permit applications. Basically it involves a lot of applications. And some nominal application fees. The hardest part was coming up a name for my company. I thought I was being so clever when I thought up a brilliant name, only to find out some OTHER publishing company was clever before I was and had thought of the very same name already. It was exasperating. You would also be amazed at how many publishing companies are out there. It was madness. Still resolute, I forged ahead and came up with a name. I took my mother’s middle name, Denio (pronounced duh-nye-oh) and added “press”, and so named my new publishing company Denio Press.
The Travels of Ching with all my “wants” is off to print. I spent literally a gazillion hours cleaning the drawings, formatting the book, designing the cover, annoying the printer and learning a lot about copyrights. In the search for a book in my father’s bookcase that wouldn’t make me think too hard, I managed to find the one book which, indeed, made me think an awful lot. And through this little worn and tattered 70 year old book, I discovered a new passion and a new drive; reviving old and forgotten books with an emphasis on gorgeous illustration. Limited Edition, 2090 copies.
By: Sara Ruffin,
on 12/11/2012
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Here is a photo of Robert Bright and his daughter Beatrice, which was used on the cover of The Saturday Review of Literature.
Author Robert Bright with his daughter Beatrice
Robert Bright on the cover of The Saturday Review of Literature
By: Sara Ruffin,
on 12/11/2012
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Here is a photo of Robert Bright and his daughter Beatrice, which was used on the cover of The Saturday Review of Literature.
Author Robert Bright with his daughter Beatrice
Robert Bright on the cover of The Saturday Review of Literature
By: Sara Ruffin,
on 11/19/2012
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By: Sara Ruffin,
on 11/19/2012
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By: Sara Ruffin,
on 11/19/2012
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When Sara and Tony have to spend Christmas with their gloomy old uncle, Mr. Gloam's, things look pretty bad. Mr. Gloams even goes to bed with ear muffs on to keep out all the happy cheerful sounds! But then Sara and Tony decide to take things into their own hands, and they write a letter to Santa. And to make sure Santa gets it, they give it to the cheery little snowman outside the door. And thanks to Georgie, the gentle little ghost, Miss Oliver the owl, and Herman the cat, not forgetting the harmless cow who lives in the barn, this turns out to be the best Christmas ever. Not just for Sara and Tony, but even for gloomy Mr. Gloams himself.
Georgie's Christmas Carol by Robert Bright
By: Sara Ruffin,
on 11/19/2012
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When Sara and Tony have to spend Christmas with their gloomy old uncle, Mr. Gloam's, things look pretty bad. Mr. Gloams even goes to bed with ear muffs on to keep out all the happy cheerful sounds! But then Sara and Tony decide to take things into their own hands, and they write a letter to Santa. And to make sure Santa gets it, they give it to the cheery little snowman outside the door. And thanks to Georgie, the gentle little ghost, Miss Oliver the owl, and Herman the cat, not forgetting the harmless cow who lives in the barn, this turns out to be the best Christmas ever. Not just for Sara and Tony, but even for gloomy Mr. Gloams himself.
Georgie's Christmas Carol by Robert Bright
Me and the Bears by Robert Bright
By: Sara Ruffin,
on 11/1/2012
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Me and the Bears by Robert Bright
The Travels of Ching by Robert Ching
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