My father's daughter

I had a few minutes to myself between running errands the other day, and stopped in at Deseret Industries, intending to find a pair of pants for my boys.  Instead, I found treasures.

From top to bottom:

Story Hour Readers Revised Primer, Coe and Christie, American Book Company, 1913 ($4)
Upon first glance I thought it was just nursery rhymes, but after getting home, it's nursery rhymes all put together into one big fabulous story!  The one below is my particular favorite.  My dad and Grandma Crandall used to sing it, and this is exactly what I pictured, a baby dressed like a bunny!

Whitefoot the Wood Mouse, Thronton W. Burgess, Grosset & Dunlap, 1922 ($2)

"It was early in the winter that Whitefoot found a little hole in ta corner of Farmer Brown's sugar-house."  

I can't wait to find out what kind of adventures Whitefoot has!  With only three pictures in the entire book, we'll really have to use our imagination!  (My personal favorite way to read a book, or at least listen to one.)



New Plane Geometry revised edition, Virgil S. Mallory, Benj. H. Sanborn & Co., 1943 ($1)

Boy, the price of text books sure has gone up!  I bought this book for one reason, and for one reason only:

I couldn't stop giggling!  If you can't read it, it says, "In case of fire, throw this in.  In case of flood, stand on this; it's dry."  On the opposite page, Larry Milligan's contact information is scribed.  Telephone number 264-J.  He's from North Cache...wonder if he know's what a good laugh I got from his text book!    


In the preface, the text reads:  "Well graded original exercises lead to theorems in such fashion that most are first solved as original exercises not more difficult than those that have been solved previously.  Thus:  (1) Each new unit of work is based on concepts and knowledge which are familiar to the student; (2) only one difficulty is introduced at a time; (3) adequate practice is given to make the student thoroughly familiar with each new development; (4) the student is led to make discoveries for himself; (5) statements of these discoveries are tentatively made, subject to verification by proof.  Thus observation and critical analysis make the subject vital and interesting."


Wow.  If only we could teach like this now-a-days, instead of teaching to cram to make the students pass tests for funding. 

The New Down the River Road, Mabel O'Donnell, Row, Peterson and Company, 1949 ($4)

Don't the illustrations just pull you in and you want to read this right away?  Well, we did!  I read a chapter each night for four nights, at bedtime.  I sat in the boys' room with my back to the light in the hallway, and told them they needed to imagine the pictures in their minds.  Tanner was pretty excited the second night when he had discovered that there were actual pictures in the book, and loved looking at them the next morning. 

For many years during my youth (I remember particularly from the time I was about 9-14), my dad would read to us in the hallway.  At the top of our stairs was a landing, with our bedrooms off to each side.  He would sit on the floor while we were tucked snugly in our beds and read from the classics; Black Beauty, Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson, Little Women and others.  I remember letting my mind wander so much with the images and 'pictures' that I would often get lost in my own thoughts and have to ask my dad what had happened when I came to...I can still hear him say, "Just listen!"  Pretty soon my brothers would say the same thing from their room.  Guess they got tired of me interrupting.  

The Pony That Ran Away, Elisabeth Hubbard Lansing, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1951 ($2)

This beauty is next on my list of reads for bedtime.  I love the pictures in this one, as well.  So simple! I can hardly wait to see how the pony ran away and if Ted and Sue and baby Robby ever get him back. 

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It took me an entire day to tell my husband that my treasures cost me $13, but what can I say?  I love a good read, and thumbing through crusty, yellowed pages of something wonderful.

{I am my father's daughter.}