Just Like Mommy / Just Like Daddy

 

          A Two-in-One Wonder Book

 

          By Patti Simon

          Pictures by Alison Cummings

 

          Copyright 1952

This little vintage picture book depicts a young girl who all day long follows her Mommy around, helping her with all the household chores.  Most of their time is apparently spent cleaning the house and going grocery shopping, except for the occasional hair washing day.  Then, after picking flowers and reading, just like Mommy the little girl stands and waits for Daddy to come home.

Meanwhile, a little boy spends a weekend day following Daddy around.  Together, they do yard work, fish, hammer and paint, wash the car, and when Mommy tells them it’s time for lunch, they both come running.

Written over sixty years ago, this book portrays some strong gender stereotypes that for most families are no longer accurate.  My first thought when reading this book was “How ridiculous. Can’t Daddy do the dishes?  Can’t Mommy wash the car?”  After thinking about it, though, there is an important lesson here for adults.  Children are always watching us and will mimic what we do.  We are setting an example that will be followed – so be careful how you spend your time!

My Life and Hard Times

By James Thurber

1933

 

I like reading memoirs and autobiographies, usually either of well-known entrepreneurs and leaders, or average people who have gone through an extraordinary event.  When I recently picked up Thurber’s My Life and Hard Times, I had no idea what to expect.  Would I be inspired by the life story of someone who has endured unusual hardships and overcome obstacles?  Would I hear a tale of a man who became a great leader – a mover and shaker?  I didn’t get either of those.  What I got was a really good laugh.  Fortunately, I was reading it in the privacy of my own home.  Otherwise, I would have gotten strange looks from my uncontrollable giggling. 

Thurber tells a few stories of his life growing up in Columbus, Ohio.  He has a way of making fun of himself and his family members in a way that is still respectful.  I can tell he really cares for his family, but he doesn’t hesitate to talk about some of the ridiculous things that they have done.  

Reading this book is like being at one of my crazy family’s parties.  There, the same mishaps and adventures from previous years are told over and over again, but they still provoke as much laughter.  I will always laugh when we recount the adult jelly bean hunt from several Easters ago.  My sister fell down (or was she pushed?) so hard that she ended up in the emergency room with stitches in her head.  The best part about it is that she lay on the floor bleeding and the rest of us kept right on looking for jellybeans.  She was still conscious after all.  The competition can't stop for a little blood.

What makes up a life?  It’s not just the goals met, hardships overcome, or awards won.  It’s the collection of little moments – little stories – that bring smiles to our faces.   

The Mother Market (formerly The Mummy Market)

By Nancy Brelis

Copyright 1966

 

If you had asked me, when I was in about third through sixth grades, what one of my favorite books was, I would have mentioned The Mother Market.  I bought it one summer at the bookstore in the mall with some of my birthday money ($1.50) and proceeded to read it countless times over the next several years.  

 

Three children, Elizabeth, Jenny, and Harry were in an unfortunate situation.  They didn’t have a mother - not that they remembered anyway.  Instead, they had an awful housekeeper they called The Gloom.  During a visit to their next-door neighbor, Mrs. Cavour, they learned of the Mother Market where they would be able to choose a mother to replace The Gloom.   

The children followed Mrs. Cavour’s directions to the market where they found rows of booths, each with a mother they could interview and choose to take home, if they wish. Each woman has props and decorations in her booth, advertising the type of mother she would be. 

The children make a couple of mistakes at first, choosing first a too sweet, too cautious mother; then a too tough, too competitive mother.  Eventually, when they finally decide to talk to the lonely looking woman sitting in a plain booth, they have found their match – their real mother.

I remember my own mother asking me one time why I liked the book so much.  At the time I wasn’t sure.  I certainly never longed to try out a different mother!  Looking back, I think the reason is the idea that children could have so much control over their life that they could make such huge decisions on their own.  

I recently re-read this book for the first time as an adult.  I found some humor in it that I didn’t catch as a child.  When speaking to the boy at the information booth during their first trip to the Mother Market, the children find out that there is also a Daddy Market.  They are warned, however, to just pick one.  

“You can go there instead,” said the boy, “but our most important rule is that no one can go to both at once.  It’s always disastrous.”

That went completely over my head as a child and now it makes me laugh out loud!

I happen to still have my childhood copy of The Mother Market, but out of curiosity, I researched used copies online.   They seem to be going for no less than $60.  In my research, I came across a 1994 movie based on this book that I was able to watch for free on Hulu.  So, if you’d like to know more about this charming story and don’t want to spend $60.00 on the book, try watching the movie Trading Mom.  

Nature’s Secrets

Edited by G. Clyde Fisher

1927

Today was a day that I had to set aside my “to do” list and sit for a while by the garden.  I can just see the lettuce and spinach sprouting up through the soil.  The trees and bushes are budding.  The mourning dove is up in her nest with her two newly hatched babies.  Since I live in the suburbs, I can hear a train in the distance, cars on the street, and a plane overhead.  In my garden, though, I can also hear the birds talking to each other.  I am a naturalist at heart, though not in mind.  I love the outdoors, but have little knowledge of bird names and calls.  Walking in the woods is one of my favorite things to do, although there are just a handful of trees I can name.

 

Perhaps this book I found recently can help me grow more knowledgeable in these areas.  Nature’s Secrets is a wonderfully illustrated comprehensive gathering of information on many areas of nature, both flora and fauna, with each section written by a specialist in the field.  Besides written information, there are over 700 illustrations to aid in identification.  

 

I brought Nature's Secrets outside with me today as I took in the finally warm, fresh air.   As I was paging through the book, I came across this little pressed specimen. It looks to me like a four-leaf clover!  I wonder how long it has been pressed between these pages.  I wish I knew who put it there.  This is what I love about old books.  The year is 2013, and I’m reading and enjoying a book published almost ninety years ago.  Many years ago, another nature lover browsed the pages of this book.  I wonder if that person felt the same way as I do about the opening quote by John Burroughs, 

To understand nature is to gain one of the greatest resources of life.