LITTLE GOLDEN DISCOVERIES

I have recently discovered the Little Golden Book stories for children. My daughters and I have read together half-a-dozen of these classic reprints by Random House. Most of the books were first published in the 1940s/50s/60s and, charmingly, retain the original illustrations and the original delightfulness.

We have sailed down the stream (almost into the sea) with Scuffy the Tugboat, gone for a walk up and down hills with The Poky Little Puppy, felt happy-sad-happy like The Saggy Baggy Elephant, got our bruises bandaged by Doctor Dan, the Bandage Man and slurped over the ice-creams delivered by The Good Humor Man. So many decades later, the stories remain as enjoyable, truly golden in their unchanged appeal.

But my particular favourite (my elder one liked the ice-cream story best, while the younger one loved the doggy book) is the Seven Little Postmen, written by the reassuringly-named Margaret Wise Brown. This lovely little book took us along the journey (for me a rediscovery, for my daughters a slice of history) of a letter-with-a-secret-message written by a little boy to his lonely-waiting-for-his-visit grandma. This red-wax-sealed letter travels through the hands of the seven postmen, from the mailbox to the BIG Post Office (where it is franked and sorted into a brown mail bag), travelling in mail vans and airplanes and trains, down country lanes and through the tiny village post office and is finally, at last, delivered to the waiting hands and eager eyes of his granny. CAN YOU GUESS THE SECRET MESSAGE IT CONTAINS?

Such a wonderful way of sharing with my daughters the almost-lost process of letter-writing-posting-delivering-receiving!