Wednesday, May 7, 2008

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!

10 comments:

The Sparkling Thought.... said...

Good morning. Nice reading.

§ωατι §ετhι said...

Oh wow!!
I am really excited hearing about these books.. Wil surely try getting hold of them!

I still can't get over my Enid Blyton's.. :)

§ωατι §ετhι said...

Btw..an aside question..
How old are your daughters??
And where do you teach? What subject?

Don't mind my questions.. Im an extremely inquisitive n curious individual.. ;)
How about another ques to the list.. I quite like your name..What does it mean..?
(Dun kill me please :))

Sayani said...

hi ,
while i was going thru ur post consciously but my sub conscious mind was searching "Nancy drew" "Agatha Christie "and sherlock Holmes .....it was such an enjoy able moments....

jyotsana said...

hi enjoying summer vacations with kidz.

Ice Cream said...

I will have to look for this one. I also love the older golden books.

§ωατι §ετhι said...

Hi Sucharita!!
Thanks for answering my questions!! :)
About me.. well!! I am not yet an I banker, rather aspiring to be one. I did my postgrad in economics..wanted to shift to finance..so took up this international course (CFA)..got my last level exam in June. Its not specifically for I banking but it opens up any n every field in finance.
Other than that..have lived in Delhi all my life with my parents.
Anything else u wanna know..you can shoot a question at me..:)
My best wishes to you and your lovely daughters :)

Unknown said...

Back again :) No need to thank me for revisiting - we're just popping across to each other's spaces thru blogs and Im coming back again. About the riddles they were part of a babyshower for some mothers to be -thrown by mommybloggers !Cryptic to someone who wasnt in the know I guess ! Anyway the next post is up.

Paul Bernard Baker said...

I'm not sure of the message. Is it that the little boy is going to visit his grandma? Or some tickets for her to come and see him?

The Good Humor Man - that's a film. Here's the trailer: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AG3RKZRh7jw

It's also a song by classic 60s psych group, Love: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UV73PqvZnHk

Sucharita Sarkar said...

Hi Paul,

Spot on. The message is that he is going to visit his grandma that weekend. In children's storybooks, letters always brought cheering news, didn't they?