We have lots of books. Nonfiction. Fiction. Reference. Three different unabridged dictionaries. Children's books.
Lots of the children's books are from my childhood. My mother kept EVERYTHING in response to her mother keeping nothing. (Thank you, darling mom.) Every now and then Henry will dig out my old copy of The Digginest Dog (my favorite childhood book) or my beloved Mr. Pine's Purple House. Some of these books are still in print, some not. His most recent discovery on his bookshelf was a true gem.
For starters, the book obviously belonged first to my sister, as it was published in 1964. Second, it claims to be designed and written by Eric Carle, and yet I can find it nowhere in his lists of published works on the Internet. So now you are thinking, "Wow! Sell that book and you'll have a fortune." Well, another neat treat about the book is that while its cardboard pages are in relatively good physical condition, someone has taken a ballpoint pen to most of the pages. (I say someone as it may have been me, Sonya, or Bill. Not wanting to point fingers, I will blame the extra child that lives in EVERY American house named "Someone." Someone also has a cousin named "Somebody". Somebody is largely responsible for all items misplaced. )
The book is entitled "When I'm Big." It is a board book with holes in each page that show a face of both a boy and a girl on the front and back covers. So when you turn the page, you see a girl who says something like "When I'm Big I'm going to be a nurse and help people get well" and a boy who says "When I'm big I'm going to be a cowboy and rope cattle with my lariat." Cute, right?
Henry loves this book. Poking his finger in the hole, pointing to each person's inked up face. I love this book because it is SOOOOOO politically incorrect. Listen to the various aspirations of the book and recognize that each page gives you both a girl and a boy with their career goals.
Lots of the children's books are from my childhood. My mother kept EVERYTHING in response to her mother keeping nothing. (Thank you, darling mom.) Every now and then Henry will dig out my old copy of The Digginest Dog (my favorite childhood book) or my beloved Mr. Pine's Purple House. Some of these books are still in print, some not. His most recent discovery on his bookshelf was a true gem.
For starters, the book obviously belonged first to my sister, as it was published in 1964. Second, it claims to be designed and written by Eric Carle, and yet I can find it nowhere in his lists of published works on the Internet. So now you are thinking, "Wow! Sell that book and you'll have a fortune." Well, another neat treat about the book is that while its cardboard pages are in relatively good physical condition, someone has taken a ballpoint pen to most of the pages. (I say someone as it may have been me, Sonya, or Bill. Not wanting to point fingers, I will blame the extra child that lives in EVERY American house named "Someone." Someone also has a cousin named "Somebody". Somebody is largely responsible for all items misplaced. )
The book is entitled "When I'm Big." It is a board book with holes in each page that show a face of both a boy and a girl on the front and back covers. So when you turn the page, you see a girl who says something like "When I'm Big I'm going to be a nurse and help people get well" and a boy who says "When I'm big I'm going to be a cowboy and rope cattle with my lariat." Cute, right?
Henry loves this book. Poking his finger in the hole, pointing to each person's inked up face. I love this book because it is SOOOOOO politically incorrect. Listen to the various aspirations of the book and recognize that each page gives you both a girl and a boy with their career goals.
Page One--
Girl: Nurse
Boy: Cowboy
Page Two-- (I love this one!)
Girl: Secretary (who types letters on a typewriter)
Boy: An Astronaut (who goes to the moon)
Page Three--
Girl: A Lion Tamer (what?)
Boy: A doctor
Page Four---
Girl: A teacher
Boy: A policeman (whose main job is to help children cross the street)
Page Five--
Girl: A musician
Boy: A sailor
Page Six--
Girl: An artist
Boy: A fireman
Page Seven--
Girl: A waitress (for the girl who thinks being a secretary is too lofty a goal?)
Boy: A farmer (who is smoking a corn cob pipe)
Page Eight--
Girl: An actress (who is smoking a cigarette and carrying a small dog)
Boy: A baseball player
Page Nine--(what I consider to be the book's Pièce de résistance)
Girl: A bride (and then I'll be married, just like Mommy)
Boy: A bridegroom (and then I'll be married, just like Daddy).
I'm pretty sure this wouldn't be published today. And let me say that I've been a waitress and my best friend was a secretary up until a few months ago. Those are fine jobs. But I'm not really sure they qualify as things a kid says they want to be when they grow up. I also know this book, sadly enough, would not be published because it comments on Mommy and Daddy being married. I remember when I taught PreK, they specifically told us not to read books that featured only married people, only white people, or only employed people. (Seriously. I was told to look for books that also included people who didn't work.) And I understand that it is a good thing to be inclusive to children during storytime, to not constantly berate them with images that are completely foreign to them or make them feel less about themselves. But come on people?!! It is a good thing for Mommy and Daddy to be married, specifically to be married to one another. It is not something that needs to be whispered, like its the thirties and we're talking about Aunt Muriel's (whisper) cancer.
As for now, I will simply hope that Henry does want to be just like his Daddy. (Of course, that is because his Daddy ROCKS!)
As for now, I will simply hope that Henry does want to be just like his Daddy. (Of course, that is because his Daddy ROCKS!)
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