Father Brennan’s Tales for Tiny Tots

By Rev. Gerald T. Brennan

Copyright 1954

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my time blogging about lessons learned from books – many of them children’s books – it is that if the story is of good quality and engaging, there is no need to analyze the story for the children.  Rather, if there is a moral to the story, it should be subtle.  The child hearing or reading the story, if they are old enough to understand a lesson, is smart enough to figure it out for themselves.

That is where this book goes wrong.  Fr. Brennan has written a series of short stories that aim to deliver a particular lesson in Christianity.  The problem is, after the short story, Fr. Brennan goes directly into preaching a mini sermon.  The lessons to his stories are quite clear without his sermonizing, and I think his explanations are demeaning to children. 

One of the stories is titled “The Two Tears”.  Two tears went for a walk one day and got to talking.  They discovered that one tear was formed when a little boy lost a nickel.  The other tear was formed when another little boy found the nickel, bought ice cream for himself and proceeded to get sick from the ice cream.  Those little tears wandered along and wondered about that.  One little boy cried from the loss of a nickel while the other cried when he found the nickel!  A child may learn from this that sometimes people just can’t be pleased.  They think they know what they want, but when they get it, it’s just not as good as they expected, and that perhaps we don’t always know what is best for ourselves.

Fr. Brennan makes that message very clear.  He spends a page expounding the lesson by stating, “Take what God gives you and be satisfied…Learn to be satisfied with what you have, and thank God for everything…So, don’t complain!  Don’t grumble!  Don’t find fault!”

I say, give the child more credit.  Let him enjoy the story and then take from it what he is ready to learn!

The Glob

By John O’Reilly

Pictures by Walt Kelly

Copyright 1952

My favorite used book sale of the year, sponsored by the AAUW, was last weekend.  I walked away with this awesome stack of books.  I did get questioned a bit by my family as far as where this stack would go since there is supposedly no more room on my shelves.  That’s a problem I’ll tackle later.  I can either weed my collection a bit, or find room for more shelves!  

I read a couple of the books right away on the ride from Downers Grove to Champaign.  The Glob was a quick and interesting read with wonderful illustrations.  It is a children’s book about the concept of evolution.  The story begins with the Glob sadly floating to and fro in the sea.  He was sad because he had no feet and no way of getting to shore.  But oh, how he longed to romp on the shore.  For a million years, that Glob tried and tried to do something about it.  Eventually, he arranged his form to have some wobbly legs and feet and practiced and exercised until he was finally able to walk on land!  The story continues with the Glob aiming for and reaching new milestones.  Over many eons, he grew toes, arms and fingers, made a shelter and tools, used a leopard skin for warmth, discovered fire, and eventually met up with a tribe of more creatures like him.   Whenever the Glob noticed something he either wanted to do very much or had to do to live, he tries and tries until it finally happens.  If he didn’t – how could he survive? 

This loosely describes the concept of the evolution of man.  Yet doesn’t it also describe the evolution – the growth – of each individual man?  We see something we want or need, but don’t have the resources to attain it.  We either give up, or, like the Glob, we try and try until we reach our goal.  Growth must be constant if we are to successfully adapt to the situations we are in.  Hopefully our own evolution is faster than the Glob’s!

 

The Annotated Mother Goose

Introduction and notes by William S. Baring-Gould and Ceil Baring-Gould

1962

Here are 350 pages full of Mother Goose rhymes and everything you’d ever want to know about them.  Nobody really knows who wrote these rhymes or exactly how old they are  .  They are considered folk rhymes and have been handed down from generation to generation.  Who hasn’t used “Eeny Meeny Miney Mo to decide which friend is “it”? 

This book claims that the popularity of the term “Mother Goose” goes back to 1697!  And yet today, in my storytimes for babies and toddlers, we still recite such rhymes as “Hey Diddle Diddle”, “Little Miss Muffet”, and “Little Boy Blue”.  We do this not only to pass along a bit of our culture, but also to let children learn skills that will help them when they learn to read.  

In 1744 a little volume of rhymes was published, titled “Tommy Thumbs Pretty Song Book”.. It contained 38 rhymes including many old favorites   You might recognize “Sing a Song of Sixpence”, “Hickory Dickory Dock”, and “Baa Baa Black Sheep”.  There were also, however, a few that have lost favor with parents over the years.  I’ll close with one that I had never heard before and for obvious reasons I’ll keep out of the storytime repertoire!

Piss a Bed,
Piss a Bed,
Barley Butt,
Your Bum is so heavy
You can’t get up.

Frog and Toad Together

By Arnold Lobel

First published in 1971

Frog and Toad are two dear friends who star in a series of early reader books.  They sometimes have their differences, yet at the end of the day, always come together to love and support each other.  This past week, I read about Arnold Lobel, Frog’s and Toad’s creator.  Four years after the first book was published, Lobel’s daughter states that he came out to his family as gay.  While Lobel never discussed the connection between the series and his own relationships, it does seem as if he put his personal life into Frog and Toad’s deep connection.  In all of these stories, the two characters show total devotion and deep compassion for each other.

In “The List”, Toad wakes up one morning with a lot on his mind, so he decides to make a to-do list.

  

                Wake up

                Eat breakfast

                Get dressed

                Go to Frog’s House

                Take a walk with Frog

                Eat lunch

                Take a nap

                Play games with Frog

                Eat supper

                Go to Sleep

All goes well until his list blows away with the wind while Toad is taking a walk with Frog.  Poor Toad can’t remember what he is supposed to do next.  Frog tries to catch the list, but fails, so the two friends just sit together and do nothing.  When dark comes, Frog suggests that they should go to sleep.  This jogs Toad’s memory and he realizes that last on his list was “go to sleep”.  Finally, he can relax because his day is complete.

Frog and Toad are together as always – devoted and compassionate friends.