Books for the kids
Where is Daddy?
The Story of a Divorce
Goff
1969
I will be honest in saying that these types of books (I will call them “fix your problems with a story”) are a bit problematic for me. Yes, I understand that many of these books have therapeutic value. However, they need to be updated and revised to reflect the changes in society. I also want these books to stand on their own as good stories, not just a vehicle to send a message.
Danger!
A Child’s book about handling fear, dangerous things, places, and situations
Wilt
1979
We have featured this author in the past, and I had not run across one of these in ages. She is nowhere near the weirdness of Doris, but all of hers could be weeded because they are just dated. Like Doris, these books are supposed to address children’s problems and fears. This time it is danger. (Too bad this book didn’t cover global pandemics.) She has also written on gender, money management, and health. (Be sure to see the page on Dad throwing up!) I know there are a lot of these books floating around.
Be Cool, Going to School
Hickle Pickle Books #3
Smith
1994
Okay, this is a weird one. Evidently an alien pickle shows up and heads to school. I am not sure of the origin story, perhaps that is in the earlier part of this 6 part series. His name is Hickle. Hilarious, right? For reasons that are not quite clear, he is interested in where dill pickles came from. (Genealogy project?)
The Babysitter’s Handbook
Greene
1995
Submitter: I didn’t realize how old this book is until I pulled it off the shelf and flipped through it. This kind of material needs to be updated due to new technology, such as doorbells and wearable medical devices, and things like basic first aid/CPR.
Holly: For sure! Not to mention its spiral binding. Anything spiral bound and 25 years old should be in much worse condition than this, which means it probably didn’t get much use.
My First Book of
Sign Language
Holub
2004
Submitter: The daycare I work at actually has a library! And the last time this collection was weeded was… never. So there were a lot of cases of books hanging on by a hope and a prayer but there were also books like this one. Good books teaching sign language can be hard to come by and this one is ok. Its pictures aren’t bad, the signs are ok for young kids but it was published in 1996. For hearing young children, it’s not that big of a deal that it’s out of date, but with modern technology being as it is and the fact that this isn’t a book you can really read to a kid, it went in the get rid of pile.
Holly: Maybe you would read it with the sibling of a hearing impaired child, to teach them sign language? I like the format with the pictures, and the words seem relevant to a child’s home and family life. It makes me wonder if more modern sign language books for kids do have technology words, like “C is for cell phone” and “I is for Internet”? Lol!
Star Wars
20th Century-Fox Film Corp.
1979
In honor Star Wars Day, here are a couple of picture books. (One with an ACTUAL RECORD!) As a fan of the original trilogy, I do reject the second book, since Jar Jar Binks is the worst (and then I quit paying attention to the rest of the series.)
Break out your light sabers and become one with the force,
Mary
Bunnies
Peter Rabbit
Peek Through Board Books
1995
The bunnies are having a pretty good time in this little board book. Note the wine making and the smoking of “rabbit tobacco”. Perhaps this is Peter Rabbit’s marijuana dispensary and wine bar.
Sketchy bunny activities not withstanding, I think it worth making a comment about a board book being this old and still hanging around. Board books are tiny germ factories and really shouldn’t be hanging around for over a year or so. I am going to guess that board books are chewed upon regularly by tiny patrons. Recycling these books often is a good strategy for keeping the germs under reasonable control.
Internet
Koehler
1995
When I plucked this out of a library collection, I started to laugh because the average little kid would have no idea what this book was about. This book was written for their parents.
The Internet was still a novelty to most people at the time of publication. Services like AOL, Prodigy, and Compuserve were the players in making the Internet accessible to the general public.
This is a nice snapshot of the early days of the Internet, but today’s kids aren’t really interested in digging into the Gopher servers.
I wonder whatever happened to my Compuserve address?
Mary
