Victoria scours old homemaking mags and kiddie books and posts the most delicious images. I love the memories and inspiration.
And so, I found some books that used to belong to we, the parents, and are now residing in the son's new bookcase. Thought i'd share:
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I *loved* Spikey the Hedgehog when I was little .. I used to get lost staring at the beautiful pictures and invent more story than the words offered.
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It's such a gripping tale too, with Spikey hurting himself, making some great friends, and being seen to by a kindly old Doctor who understands little animals very well.
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This Second book used to scare me awfully, and I still hate it today ( why do I still have it ? )
Apparently Brownie Downing was some kind of expert in drawing Aboriginals and the Australian bush etc, but I just found her images nightmare-inspiring:.jpg)
This egg-painting illustration?
For some reason the "x's and o's" on that egg in the foreground terrified me.jpg)
... maybe because I knew the horrors those eggs would birth .....jpg)
Baby emus.
Not nightmare inspiring at all. Much.
Frikken horrendous.
At least my husband wasn't subjected to such horrors.
This book was a Christmas Present from his Kindergarten in 1973.
Such a lovely book, I didn't own it, but remembered having it read to me in library.
It's our current nighttime read.
Harry hates his floral jacket Grandma knitted, and does everything to try and get rid of it, with no luck. Finally a little bird unravels it and makes a floral wool nest in a tree of the local park.
Everyone is happy.
It's all illustrated in green and yellow, and I just love to read it aloud.
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Meanwhile, my son prefers Somerset Maugham. No, I did not set this up.
But he didn't 'read' it very long ;)
18 comments:
OOOh, I love the Harry books. Those colours are wonderful (not that I'd ever have them in my house mind you, but delicious all the same).
And Cakes and Ale is on my immediate To Be Read list.
Harry the Dirty Dog is my favourite. He always cracks us up at the end with that extra twist to the hidden scrubbing brush.
(must read more of dearmeagan - she looks intriguing!)
Do you know how much I wanted the norsca bathroom or was it the imperial leather one with the slide?????? OOOHHHH so good.
I loved Harry when I was four! I remember going to the library with my mother and taking it out.
I so wanted my mum to by the Norsca soap or the talcum powder. Even though the Imperial Leather ad where they're in a spa bath while flying around in an airplane was oh so glamorous, Norsca just screamed ABBA to me ;-)
I loved the Harry books too. They also bring to mind Corduroy the bear. I loved this book, but I let my daughter watch a TV version whe she was three or four and it absolutely terrified her! The book had to be banished after that.
We HAVE that Spiky book! It was my husband's when he was a kid - so, beyond precious.
I have never seen that aussie one, looks spooky, but lots of them are, arn't they? (and sort of offensive in a take-over-the-continent-and-its-inhabitants way, but fascinating)
I still want a house full of ferns and eighties potplants but can't keep any alive ever.
p.s. glad to have been of such a literary influence on you..
I had three Brownie Downing prints on my wall as a child. Was always in several minds about them as a grownup, and so they went in one of the household purges. Nowhere near as scary as yours though!
Dirty Harry rocked. And obviously still does. Do you remember Cordury the Bear? Loved him too. My favourite as a kiddie was The Pokey Little Puppy and now Monet is loving the same book (it was owned by me) along with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. (Doesn't everyone own a copy of that - new and old?) Sweet, sweet memories...
There are definately some scary ones out there... I once brought a version of Cinderella home from the op shop for my daughter. Not realising that I should have checked if it was appropriate for her, I sat her down with it to look at the pictures. She later came to me in tears showing me a picture at the end of the two evil sisters getting their eyes pecked out by pigeons because they were evil!
I love my vintage books too. (I think that means I'm vintage!) I have Harry the Dirty Dog. It is always a favorite!
I had the Harry book - and those bebe emus are indeed nightmareish. I got to read some Milly Molly Mandy to a small person last night. I'd forgotten Milly Molly Mandy but reading it brought the memories flooding back.
My little boy has my Harry and the Dirty dog. We read it quite often! It is wonderful when children share a love of reading.
Friends loved the Norsca thing so much, they named their dog Norsca.
Nice post, I love seeing old children's books.
Harry rules. I choose library books for the kids based mostly on the illustrations. Love the richness of those you shared.
That Norsca concept must have been great advertising as it has burnt deep into my psyche. I remember hankering after that pine-fresh, woodlined sauna-like bathroom too!
We love Harry the Dirty Dog around here. And Postman Pat. And Fireman Sam.
I think I just gave away my childrens' names to the internet, didn't I?
On another note but related to your post, at my job I had to put together a guide for certain VIP people on a very important committee, complete with bios and colour photos of them. One of the men sent in a head and shoulders shot of himself with a wooden wall behind him. It looks as though he's in a sauna and now every time I sit in a meeting with him I get teh giggles, imagining him naked and whipping himself with a birch stick.
Gosh it's late and I'm commenting under the influence, obviously.
Goodnight.
I've just gone through all of my children's books too. They were at my Dad's house and he is selling and moving on. It was so nice recalling those memories. I look forward to reading them to my girls but for now I have them put aside. Miss A is not so dainty with her books.
I'd love to see a pic of the Master's new bookcase. Why don't you make another post topic with that picture. Pretty please.
By the way, I've tagged you if you feel like checking back to my blog?
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