The Muppet Movie

Adapted by Steven Crist

1979

Can the story of a bunch of cute and furry puppets really be inspiring?  Apparently so, especially to a 13-year-old with a thing for frogs.  I got this book shortly after the original Muppet Movie came out, and from the looks of it, I paged through it over and over again.  The pages are falling out and the binding is taped, but this is one that will not get weeded from my collection.  

The best parts for me are the songs sung by Kermit.  The story opens with him sitting on a log in his swamp home, plucking on a banjo, singing a song about rainbows. 

 

Why are there so many songs about rainbows, and what’s on the other side?

Kermit loves his home, yet sometimes feels the urge to look for something more. 

He did decide to leave the comfort of his swamp and had many adventures along the way, even narrowly escaping with his life.  He met new friends and formed new dreams.  It was tough at times, but in the end, worth it.  

The story ends like it began – with a song.   Kermit again – but this time joined by the friends he met along the way.  They followed their dreams – wrote their own ending – took some chances. 

      Rainbows are memories, sweet dream reminders --
      What is it you'd like to do?
      All of us watching and wishing we'd find it,
      I know you're watching it, too.
      Someday you'll find it, the rainbow connection,      The lovers, the dreamers, and you!

The Read-Aloud Handbook

By Jim Trelease

First published in 1982

I purchased this book brand new in 1985 when I was a student in Child Development.  Could that really have been over 30 years ago?

I have quite a collection of books on child development and best practices for education and child-rearing that range from Locke on Education, written in 1693, to several volumes from 2015.  What one is taught to be the best way to discipline, or potty train, or the best time to begin introducing solid foods changes quite a bit from one generation to the next.  Spanking, once considered a necessity for the raising of a well-developed mature person, is now taboo.  I have one book from many years ago that suggests starting infants with a good dose of honey every day.  These days, honey jars come with warning signs to never give it to infants under one year old!

It can be quite overwhelming trying to figure out what is really best and to wonder if what we are doing for our children now will one day be considering harmful.

There is one constant though, from Locke’s thoughts from 1693 to Trelease’s Read-Aloud handbook from 1982, to the books published today.  Reading to children is ALWAYS good!  Always was – always will be!  No question about it!  That’s one thing we can rest easy about!

Ned Wilding’s Disappearance

The Darewell Chums

Written by Allen Chapman (pseudonym)

Copyright 1908

This book had me hooked at the first page.  A loud thud is heard from Bart Keene’s room, followed by an explosion.  Bart’s sister Alice runs in to see what happened.  As blood drips from Bart’s hand, he recounts the story.  It seems that the gun this young teenager ordered through the mail has accidentally gone off, grazing his fingers with shot.  Never fear, Bart, for your sister Alice longs to be a nurse.  She’ll go get the first aid kit and book and learn how to patch you up!

So begins this adventure of Bart and his friends Ned, Fenn, and Frank, all growing up in the well-to-do town of Darewell at the turn of the century.   This group of young chums has lots of freedom to find adventures and trouble.  (Helicopter parenting was apparently not invented yet.)  They even get to solve a few mysteries along the way.  If this storyline sounds at all familiar, it may be because this is yet another Stratemeyer Syndicate Series – written a generation before the more popular Nancy Drew came along.

Like Nancy, the heroes in these stories never lack money.  They are all very nice, very smart, and are always helping others – even those that have been mean to them in the past.  Each of these chums gets into trouble at some point - yet they are resourceful and always manage to pull each other out.  They don’t complain.  They are always up for a challenge.  Too perfect, you say?  Yes, but still something to strive for.

Reading with a Purpose Series

Various authors

American Library Association

1925-1933

The Reading with a Purpose series of books published by the American Library Association consists of 67 titles.  Each is a guided reading course intended to support adult self-education by providing reading lists in many subjects.

Each volume contains an essay on a particular subject and a bibliography of additional books to read in order to deepen knowledge and broaden horizons.  An important goal of most public libraries now is to serve as a center for life-long learning.  These volumes, written nearly a century ago, show that this has been a consistent goal for many years.  

 I took a closer look at one of the titles, Conflicts in American Public Opinion (1925).  The essay brings up some popular issues of the time.  Should we “clean up” Mexico?  Should we exclude the Japanese?  Should we allow the “radicals” to speak and agitate freely?  No opinions are given – merely a list of books to allow the reader to become more informed about the currents events and issues.  Again, consistent with libraries today, the goal is to provide information, never to endorse a side. 

These days, libraries still provide bibliographies and reading lists, although not usually in book format.  Now, I’m more likely to see blog and Facebook posts or possibly tweets giving reading suggestions.   But the fact remains that education shouldn’t stop with a diploma or degree – and libraries are still here to help us with that!

Teeny-tiny Tale

As told by Jan Sukus

Illustrated by Terry Rose

Copyright 1969

This little picture book from my childhood recently came back into my possession.  As soon as I saw the cover, memories came flooding back.  The memories are of the bright illustrations but also of my teeny-tiny mother voicing the book’s refrain loud and clear – “GIVE ME MY BONE!”

This story is a retelling of an old English tale about a teeny-tiny woman who lived in a teeny-tiny house with her teeny-tiny cat.  The goes for a walk one day (a teeny-tiny walk, of course) and finds a teeny-tiny bone.  The book I have differs from the old folk tale in that the bone is found next to a dog house, rather than in a graveyard.  The stories are otherwise identical.  When the woman returns to her house, she puts the bone in the kitchen cupboard to save it for making soup.  After going up to her teeny-tiny bed for a teeny-tiny nap, she begins to hear a teeny voice calling, “Give me my bone.”  Ignoring the voice doesn’t work, and the demanding voice continually grows louder and louder.  Finally, the frightened woman says, in her loudest teeny-tiny voice, “TAKE IT!” 

I remember finding this story funny.  I’m sure that was in part due to the dramatic reading by my mother.  Also, since the bone was taken from a doghouse and not a graveyard, I assumed it was a dog that came back for his bone, and not a ghost.  

Lessons from this book:  First, persistence pays off.  After demanding over and over again for the bone, the disembodied voice finally gets what it wants.  Second, don’t take what isn’t yours!  I never understood why that woman took a bone that obviously already belonged to someone else.  I didn’t feel the teeny-tiniest bit sorry for the frightful nap she had.