Back in November, I did a feature I called “Share Your Nostalgia.” I asked some of my blogger friends to write up a piece that focused on their favorite toy from childhood. The response was positive and it was suggested to do another round. So this time around, I asked for them to tell us about their Favorite Childhood Book.
Their book could be something that was read to them by their parents or grandparents. It could also be a book that was read to them in school at story time. I also suggested that their book might be one that they read to their own children. I wanted each of them to have as much freedom as necessary.
My next guest blogger is my friend Randy from Mostly Music Covers. I loved his site from the moment I discovered it. He appreciates a good (and bad) cover song like I do. So, which book was Randy’s favorite? Looks like a classic!
My Favorite Book – Dr Suess’s A B C
When Keith asked us to “Think about your favorite book from childhood”. This one was easy for me because this is the first book that I owned myself. Any other book in the family would be a hand me down from my three older siblings or maybe some cousins. I seem to recall not sharing this one with my younger siblings, however I think they probably did use it.
I was given this when I was six years old and would soon be going into Grade One. We called it Public School that went from kindergarten up to Grade 8. I don’t remember using the word elementary in those days though it may have been on the sign outside. And no such thing as Middle School or Junior High.
The expectations for learning at a young age were different in 1965 than they are today. So while this may seem a little late for such a book, we were still learning to connect the words with the letters of the alphabet in the first classes in Grade One. Now I read this book to my four-year-old daughter in the early 90s, as she had learned the whole alphabet in short order. And then started to read, almost two years before I did.
Many of you who are Dyslexic will understand, but I gave the appearance that I was a bit ‘slow’ compared to most of my classmates. Hmm, come to think of it, maybe I was a bit slow through all my days of formal education. Now that explains a lot!
Not sure what kids get taught and at what age now. At age two my grandson was counting to 10, possibly with two 11’s or 18’s on his way to 20 before his third birthday last September. He already seems good and ready for a book like this.
Well before and into the 60s what we were using to learn to read is the Dick and Jane series of books. Those books contained lines like “Oh, Mother, Oh, Father. Jane can play. Sally Can play.” With the accompanying illustrations, in colour no less. Riveting stuff that some of you will no doubt remember.
Dr. Seuss books were a big deal as I recall. And How the Grinch Stole Christmas! came out the following year. So having a Dr. Seuss alphabet book was pretty cool I thought. Inside the book would be pictures of some of the Seuss characters. For the letter ‘A’ the question was “what begins with little ‘a’ and what begins with big ‘A’”. The following page was a picture of long Alligator with Aunt Annie riding on it’s back. “Aunt Annie’s Alligator A…a…A”.
At the time this seemed like a fun way to learn to match the letters and put them into a sentence. I really coveted this book. While I only used Dr Seuss’s A B C for a short while (ok maybe up to grade 9;), I don’t think I could say another one was more important to me for a long while. Not that I actually used the book, but I just don’t remember another one being that important.
The next book of significance would be when I got The Lord of the Rings as a Christmas gift from my oldest brother as a teen. I still the have those paperbacks. And, I have Dr Seuss’s A B C in storage (somewhere) so I will have to dig it out before the grandson’s next visit. Though he’ll probably be on to The Hobbit already. Just kidding.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 
Thanks for writing, Randy! I had hoped someone would pick Dr Seuss. It seems like every child had a vast collection. As a matter of fact I remember my mom had this thing where for $10 a month or whatever they delivered two Dr Seuss books a month for us to read.
The funny thing about Dr Seuss is that there are those people who love him, and those who absolutely hate him. My ex was one who hated him because she hated the rhymes.
We had a country artist come in, it may have been an American Idol finalist, and it was Dr Seuss’s birthday and we made him read Mr Brown Can Moo on the air….
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You’re welcome Keith. Yes I think on balance the good doctor is more liked than not but I have one daughter who likes and the other doesn’t.
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i remember the alphabet book!
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We gotta get you to guest post ….
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I may take you up on that
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I would love that!
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great writeup! And pick. I mention Dr Seuss in my column (later this week) but didn’t pick him , as you’ll see partly because I thought everyone might! And why not? He was amazingly clever in his wordplay and his illustrations and I’ve yet to find a kid who doesn’t like his books.
When I went to school, also in Ontario, we went to public school through grade 6, then we went to ‘Junior high’ for grade 7 & 8 ( a much longer walk but we felt cool, we’d move from class to class and have lockers like high school kids did) then high school for grades 9 through 13. Yes, non-Onatrians, there was a grade 13 up there at the time! I did well in school , read well but a bit like your dyslexia, what I discovered most of the way through high school was that I was all but blind for distances; a lot of times I couldn’t read the board at front at all. I somehow assumed everyone was the same! When I hit 16, went for a drivers license and found my close-up sight was A1 but I was like 20-200 for distance, got glasses, it made a big difference!
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Wow that was quite a shocking discovery no doubt! My wife has a similar experience with her hearing. It wasn’t until university in a lecture theatre that she realized she could hardly hear! Both she and our youngest daughter wear aids. Good old grade 13, best three years of my life! Just kidding I loved that final year and we really had a blast.
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Grade 13 was actually kind of fun because it was designed clearly to prep you for college or university and thus they gave everyone a lot more freedom than younger grades… didn’t even take attendance generally and some classes a teacher would say ‘you can stay here and work on a report, you can go to the library, you can go home if you want’.
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Sounds like you had more freedom than we did! Mind you at 18 you could right your own absence notes!
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I’m not familiar with “Dr Suess’s A B C” but it sounds like a great book to learn the alphabet. It’s safe to assume we didn’t use it in German elementary school. That said, sadly, I have no specific recollection how I learned the alphabet – evidently, I did! :-)
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Fun! My favorite Dr Suess is Go, Dog, Go!
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He had so many great books. Would you ever consider doing a guest piece here, Dana?
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Yes, I would love to, thank you!
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Awesome. Drop me an email: nostalgicitalian@yahoo.com and I will add you to my next feature, or we can talk about something you might want to write on :-) Keith
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This is such a great book that I read to my kids many times. I think my first and favourite Dr. Seuss book for Thidwick, the Big Hearted Moose. It had two other stories in the book with it, Yertle the Turtle and The Sneeches. I loved them all.
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