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The Bumper Book
Includes the following stories and - Winken, Blynken and Nod - Eugene Field - The Wee Kitten Who Sucked Her Thumb - Mary L.T. Tufts - We Won't Tell - William D. Robertson - Animal Crackers - Christopher Morely - Christopher Robin Is Saying His Prayers - A.A. Milne - The Easter Rabbit - Carolyn Sherwin Bailey - The Jolly Jingle of Numbers - Jo McMahon - A Nonsense Alphabet - Edward Lear - The Cupboard - Walter De La Mare - The Tug that Lost Her Temper - Anne Elizabeth Allen - The Week's Calendar - Frances Heilprin - The Swing - Robert Louis Stevenson - The Lame Squirrel's Thanksgiving - Carolyn Sherwin Bailey - The Rich Goose - Leora Robinson - The Owl and the Pussy Cat - Edward Lear - Grandfather's Penny - Carolyn Sherwin Bailey - The Garden Year - Sara Coleridge - The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat - Eugene Field - The World - Matthew Browne
- GenresChildrensPicture Books
63 pages
First published January 1, 1946
52 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 14, 2017
The Bumper Book, a collection of poems, songs and fables, is a wonderful treasury of mid-20th-century Americana. (Our copy was printed in 1961, and by then it was already touted as a “classic.”) I remember enjoying these stories as a child, and not thinking that anything was unusual about them, but as a 21st-century adult, I find the anachronisms more entertaining than the vignettes themselves.
The first thing a modern reader will notice, to quote Mystery Science Theater 3000, is that “America sure was a lot whiter back then.” Dozens of all-American boys and girls are pictured here, and they all look like they’ve just hopped off a boat from Sweden. (They dress like they’re from Sweden, too.) Nothing but rosy cheeks and transparent skin as far as they eye can see. Good thing all the scenes are set in the Midwest—the Arizona sun would have burnt these youngsters to a crisp in about thirty sizzling seconds.
In “We Won’t Tell,” we read how a budding farmer fails to get the message that if you plant a cabbage patch next door to a huge rabbit colony, you’d better set a 24-hour guard on that thing.
We can watch Edward Lear rhyme himself into a corner in “A Nonsense Alphabet”. The verse structure for each letter is like this:
Next, we listen to Christopher Robin saying his prayers, blessing his family, the servants and himself—because, it goes without saying, all Good Little American Boys and Girls are also Christian (real Christians, and not those idolatrous Papists). And rich enough to bestow their second-tier blessings on “the help.”
But the story that made the biggest impression on “grownup” me told the valuable lesson of “Little-Boy-Who-Was-Too-Thin.” This poor, sticklike child was “ten pounds underweight,” and so lacked the essential fat reserves all kids need to climb trees and “throw a ball fast and high.” You see, in those days, it was believed that muscle couldn’t work properly unless it was sheathed within a two-inch layer of Crisco.
Ostracized by the school nurse and all his classmates, LBWWTT takes a straw poll of all the animals in the farmyard to find out how he can fatten up and once again be accepted into polite society. Bunny Rabbit and Pudgy Pig and Dumpy Duck all provide a grocery list of their favorite meals, provided early and often by their benefactor, Farmer Brown (yes, that’s really his name). Alas, neither LBWWTT nor his plump advisors ever think to wonder why Farmer Brown was so generous with the slops.
LBWWTT has one more interview, with Dimply Dot, the girl next door. “How did you get so delectably obese?”, he asks. Inexplicably, instead of slapping LBWWTT hard enough to send him into orbit,
Armed with a literal cornucopia of nutritional advice, LBWWTT (we never learn his real name) marches home and goes on a binge that would land any modern child in a program for eating disorders. A few days later—behold! Little-Boy-Who-Was-Too-Thin is not only was the heftiest kid in class, but somehow also the strongest and fastest. Take-home message: Fat is simply a more easily acquired form of muscle.*
In summary, I have an odd fondness for products that show off the innocence of ages past, and this one’s a beaut. I’m giving The Bumper Book a mere three stars because I don’t recommend it for modern-day children; my actual enjoyment of the work measures closer to four stars.
______________________
*I suspect the real subtext here was that obesity was still considered a status symbol—a holdover from the bad old days when being rich meant having enough to eat. Perhaps extreme slenderness was also shunned because really skinny children were particularly apt to die off of tuberculosis and heart defects and other nasty diseases.
The great irony here is that according to the pictures, even the properly “fat” children are all of perfectly healthy weight. Compared to today’s corpulent youngsters, they would look like the stick men LBWWTT was accused of resembling. But those poor, backwards 20th-century folk knew nothing about how to properly pack on the pounds. Since the nearest McDonald’s was probably four counties away, the best that Little-Boy-Who-Was-Too-Thin could manage was milk and cocoa, bread and butter, cornmeal mush, fruit and vegetables, and playing in the sunshine. "Playing in the sunshine," indeed. Where's the PlayStation 3 when you need one?
The first thing a modern reader will notice, to quote Mystery Science Theater 3000, is that “America sure was a lot whiter back then.” Dozens of all-American boys and girls are pictured here, and they all look like they’ve just hopped off a boat from Sweden. (They dress like they’re from Sweden, too.) Nothing but rosy cheeks and transparent skin as far as they eye can see. Good thing all the scenes are set in the Midwest—the Arizona sun would have burnt these youngsters to a crisp in about thirty sizzling seconds.
In “We Won’t Tell,” we read how a budding farmer fails to get the message that if you plant a cabbage patch next door to a huge rabbit colony, you’d better set a 24-hour guard on that thing.
We can watch Edward Lear rhyme himself into a corner in “A Nonsense Alphabet”. The verse structure for each letter is like this:
F was once a little fish,All goes well right up until the letter Z. (In case you’re wondering, X was once a great King Xerxes—Xerxy, Perxy, Turxy, Xerxy.) Now the obvious thing for the letter Z to have once been was a zebra; but you can’t go rhyming zebra in the same manner without sounding all Russian—and Good Little American Boys and Girls never imitiate filthy Commies. We must resort to “Z was once a piece of zinc….” Of course, it’s impossible to draw a cute piece of zinc, so the illustrator added an adorable little mouse hiding behind it—perhaps he’s using it as a lean-to. I’ll give Mr. Lear a break on this one: in those post-Sputnik days, it was never too early to begin teaching your future rocket scientists about metallurgy.
Fishy, Wishy, Swishy, Fishy,
In a dishy, Little fish!
Next, we listen to Christopher Robin saying his prayers, blessing his family, the servants and himself—because, it goes without saying, all Good Little American Boys and Girls are also Christian (real Christians, and not those idolatrous Papists). And rich enough to bestow their second-tier blessings on “the help.”
But the story that made the biggest impression on “grownup” me told the valuable lesson of “Little-Boy-Who-Was-Too-Thin.” This poor, sticklike child was “ten pounds underweight,” and so lacked the essential fat reserves all kids need to climb trees and “throw a ball fast and high.” You see, in those days, it was believed that muscle couldn’t work properly unless it was sheathed within a two-inch layer of Crisco.
Ostracized by the school nurse and all his classmates, LBWWTT takes a straw poll of all the animals in the farmyard to find out how he can fatten up and once again be accepted into polite society. Bunny Rabbit and Pudgy Pig and Dumpy Duck all provide a grocery list of their favorite meals, provided early and often by their benefactor, Farmer Brown (yes, that’s really his name). Alas, neither LBWWTT nor his plump advisors ever think to wonder why Farmer Brown was so generous with the slops.
LBWWTT has one more interview, with Dimply Dot, the girl next door. “How did you get so delectably obese?”, he asks. Inexplicably, instead of slapping LBWWTT hard enough to send him into orbit,
Dimply Dot smiled a dimply smile at him. She ran a little race with herself, and she danced a little dance with herself, and then she stopped with a hop and a jump in front of Little-Boy-Who-Was-Too-Thin. “Bread and butter and cereal, and soup, and cocoa,” said Dimply Dot, “and I run and play in the sunshine every day.”Somebody better check Dot’s cocoa—sounds like she’s spiking her hot chocolate with a quadruple shot of espresso. Or perhaps a little nose candy.
Armed with a literal cornucopia of nutritional advice, LBWWTT (we never learn his real name) marches home and goes on a binge that would land any modern child in a program for eating disorders. A few days later—behold! Little-Boy-Who-Was-Too-Thin is not only was the heftiest kid in class, but somehow also the strongest and fastest. Take-home message: Fat is simply a more easily acquired form of muscle.*
In summary, I have an odd fondness for products that show off the innocence of ages past, and this one’s a beaut. I’m giving The Bumper Book a mere three stars because I don’t recommend it for modern-day children; my actual enjoyment of the work measures closer to four stars.
______________________
*I suspect the real subtext here was that obesity was still considered a status symbol—a holdover from the bad old days when being rich meant having enough to eat. Perhaps extreme slenderness was also shunned because really skinny children were particularly apt to die off of tuberculosis and heart defects and other nasty diseases.
The great irony here is that according to the pictures, even the properly “fat” children are all of perfectly healthy weight. Compared to today’s corpulent youngsters, they would look like the stick men LBWWTT was accused of resembling. But those poor, backwards 20th-century folk knew nothing about how to properly pack on the pounds. Since the nearest McDonald’s was probably four counties away, the best that Little-Boy-Who-Was-Too-Thin could manage was milk and cocoa, bread and butter, cornmeal mush, fruit and vegetables, and playing in the sunshine. "Playing in the sunshine," indeed. Where's the PlayStation 3 when you need one?
December 28, 2022
This book is a childhood treasure. My grandma read it to my mom who read it to me. Now I read it to my children. The pictures are absolutely stunning. And the poetry takes one right back 100 years when family and social expectations were more of a conformity across society. Life is so delightful in these pages.
April 28, 2018
I decided to revisit this book that I loved as a kid. I believe I enjoyed the illustrations more than the stories as a child. For the most part, I enjoyed most of the stories in this book and the illustrations are beautiful. I loved the nostalgia this book brought.
My favorite story as an adult was The Lame Squirrel's Thanksgiving. I also loved The Rich Goose, Grandfather's Penny, Funny Jack (aside from one part, which was just horrible as a cat lover), and The Gingham Dog & the Calico Cat.
I liked that these stories sometimes had a good moral to them and was really surprised by the Easter one--a really intelligent or suspicious kid might discover how the Easter bunny really works. I wasn't a fan of The Little Boy Who Was Too Thin as it felt to be really shaming the kid for his size and suggested that eating more would solve it. This was probably just a way to get children to eat healthy in the late 60s/early 70s as the foods suggested are for the most part healthy but probably not a great moral for children today.
Overall, enjoyed most of the stories and loved the illustrations and nostalgia. 4.5 stars since I didn't love it quite as much as I used too. Rounding down a star for the Too-Thin story as it just rubbed me the wrong way (and I am far from thin).
My favorite story as an adult was The Lame Squirrel's Thanksgiving. I also loved The Rich Goose, Grandfather's Penny, Funny Jack (aside from one part, which was just horrible as a cat lover), and The Gingham Dog & the Calico Cat.
I liked that these stories sometimes had a good moral to them and was really surprised by the Easter one--a really intelligent or suspicious kid might discover how the Easter bunny really works. I wasn't a fan of The Little Boy Who Was Too Thin as it felt to be really shaming the kid for his size and suggested that eating more would solve it. This was probably just a way to get children to eat healthy in the late 60s/early 70s as the foods suggested are for the most part healthy but probably not a great moral for children today.
Overall, enjoyed most of the stories and loved the illustrations and nostalgia. 4.5 stars since I didn't love it quite as much as I used too. Rounding down a star for the Too-Thin story as it just rubbed me the wrong way (and I am far from thin).
May 18, 2010
I don't know what made me think of this book...but I cannot believe I actually found it here! This was my absolutely favorite book as a child..."Wynken, Blynken & Nod", "The Kitten who Sucked Her Thumb", "The Swing" (Robert Louis Stevenson), "The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat", "Christopher Robins is Saying His Prayers", etc....wow! such memories!
I have no idea how many times my Mom and Dad read me these stories, or how many times I pretended to read them on my own...but I do know that this book is forever a part of my consciousnesses...representing my inner child that I hope never disappears!
...and I know that somewhere around here, without its front and back cover, the Bumper Book lives on. I have to find it! :)
I have no idea how many times my Mom and Dad read me these stories, or how many times I pretended to read them on my own...but I do know that this book is forever a part of my consciousnesses...representing my inner child that I hope never disappears!
...and I know that somewhere around here, without its front and back cover, the Bumper Book lives on. I have to find it! :)
November 1, 2011
This was a favorite of mine as a little guy. I got a copy of it at Christmas in '65 and still
have it today (It's a "little" beat up these days after MY kiddos got through with it). Eulalie's artwork is beautiful and the stories and poems are perfect for helping a little one off to bed for the night.
I'm shopping now for a nicer copy for my Granddaughter.
have it today (It's a "little" beat up these days after MY kiddos got through with it). Eulalie's artwork is beautiful and the stories and poems are perfect for helping a little one off to bed for the night.
I'm shopping now for a nicer copy for my Granddaughter.
July 18, 2008
This was my favorite childhood book, passed down from my father's childhood as well. My favorite story was "We Won't Tell" but I was read this book so often that I can still recite each story in it to this day!
July 24, 2015
My all-time favorite children's book--received a copy for Christmas when I was two years old! The artwork is breathtaking and the rhymes are sweet and lyrical. It contains some classics and some originals.
June 18, 2013
One of my most loved books from childhood. I had an old edition (2nd edition from 1946) that I adored. I remember many of the poems - Animal Crackers, the Swing, and the Calico Dog and the Gingham Cat.
October 13, 2016
I still have my ragtag copy of this book from the 1950's. It was my favorite childhood book and they should reprint it for today's children. The illustrations are wonderful and the stories and poems are classics.
March 29, 2008
Fabulous children's book. Full of classic stories and poetry. Some *I* have never heard. The artwork is fabulous and stirs the imagination. Beautiful.
June 20, 2008
One of the earliest books of my childhood.
May 5, 2009
Very first book I remember. It is the most beautifully illustrated book of children's verse I've ever seen. Nostalgic and perfect.
October 19, 2010
My mom had this book, I had this book, and now Caroline has this book... excellent stories and fabulous illustrations!
September 11, 2012
If you have kids, you HAVE to get this book. It's amazing! I still have mine that my mom gave me for my first birthday and I still love it!
October 28, 2009
I love the stories in this.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews