Children's Books discussion

In June, we will pick up where we left off in January and explore picture books of the 1920s. The hope is that we will be able to find many of these online so that those of us without easy access to library materials during the COVID-19 situation will still be able to participate using such sources as Open Library, International Children's Digital Library, Library of Congress (any others I'm not aware of?)

There's no "required reading list" so members are free to read whatever PBs from the 1920s strike their fancy and share their reviews here. I know at least one of our members (QNPoohBear) has already begun compiling an excellent list of books and it's my hope we can all add what we find so we have a robust list by the end of the month (and beyond). By focusing on online sources it's my hope we will be able to read many of the same books and get up a lively discussion.

I'm going to copy over a post Michael made in our 1910s thread that has helped shape my own search for PBs of the 1920s.

"Others from the 1920s and before that come to mind: Elsa Beskow, Lois Lenski, Maginel Wright (Enright) Barney, Wanda Gag, Palmer Cox, Walter Crane, Leslie Brooke, Willy Pogany, Helen Sewell, Maud & Miska Petersham, Boris Artzybasheff, (and Randolph Caldecott, himself). Great illustrators like Maxfield Parrish, Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, Edmund Dulac, Harry Clark, Kay Nielsen, A. B. Frost did pictures for non-picture books (you know, books where you have to go 10 page-turns or more to get to the next glorious picture). Probably need to mention W.W. Denslow if only for the Oz books, which were hugely popular, though he did more.

U.S. copyright law being what it is, the 1920s are a period where we get some public domain materials available. So the Library of Congress and others have useful digital copies: https://www.loc.gov/free-to-use/class....

I'll add Cicely Mary Barker as her first Flower Fairies book was published in 1923.

So to start with I will say that even though Wanda Gag's 1928 Millions of Cats has probably been already covered in the Newbery Club, I do think the book should be included here. I do not consider it my favourite picture book from Wanda Gag (and I actually have enjoyed her Brothers Grimm translations more than most of her picture books), but Millions of Cats is from the 1920s and actually offers up some interesting topics for discussion.

While I did enjoy the story (the narrative) itself, I did not find the accompanying illustrations of Wanda Gág's Millions of Cats all that visually appealing. I have never really liked black and white illustrations all that much, and the many, many cats together kind of remind me of masses of lemmings, rodents or locusts, faceless swarms of animals with no personalities or individual features (the only personable cat, in my opinion, is the little kitten left at the end, all the others are just a big mass of "catdom").

Now after having read some of the more negative and critical reviews from GR friends regarding Millions of Cats, I was actually at first rather reluctant to read it, as I assumed that it would describe in detail the cats eating each other and fighting amongst themselves. However, as others have indeed previously stated, the violence (or rather, the implied and supposed violence, as we only have the assumption of the old couple that the cats might have eaten each other) happens off-screen and thus is not ever really visible or even described. And furthermore, because there is an element of disbelief present (the old man brings home not just too many cats, but millions of them) this probably renders the author's, Wanda Gág's presented text much less problematic for children, who often seem able to accept the often grotesque violence in fairy and folk tales, simply because it is unbelievable, or just too overly exaggerated.

For me, Millions of Cats is not only an entertaining and intriguing story (albeit one with illustrations that I personally do not find all that aesthetically attractive), but also presents a cautionary tale about human responsibility, or more to the point, the lack of human responsibility. It was the old man's responsibility to find one cat to bring home, but he brought home millions. And later, when it becomes obvious that there are simply too many cats, the old couple again does not face their responsibility or accountability; they simply force the cats to fight it out amongst themselves. Furthermore, the fact that the original hill the old man sees is literally covered with domestic feral cats might also be seen as a lack of pan-human responsibility to both domesticated animals (including pets) and the environment in general (humans abandoning domestic cats in the wild and not realising or caring that there are likely not enough natural spaces available for all of them, that the feral cats will also need to eat and drink, and that the cats' presence will obviously also affect the environment, their surroundings). I know that many people regard Millions of Cats as an allegory against vanity, but I think that it could and really should also be interpreted as an allegory against irresponsibility (and perhaps even with more justification than this story being a cautionary tale against vanity). You might even say that Wanda Gág's Milliosn of Cats could easily present one of the first picture books (one of the first books for younger children) to somewhat promote environmental responsibility, by showing that we cannot simply allow domestic animals to overrun nature.

Millions of Cats
I like the story, and more specifically, the cadence of the story, but like Manybooks, I do not care for the illustrations as much. But I have always loved the recurring refrain:
Cats here,
cats there,
cats and kittens everywhere;
Hundreds of cats,
thousands of cats,
millions, and billions, and trillions of cats.
While Manybooks made some good points about responsibility, I just enjoyed the story for the story itself, and never read very much into it, other than the comic scene of millions of cats gathered at the couple's domicile. So, I guess, I just read it as a comic story of exaggeration.

Beverly wrote: "Millions of Cats
I like the story, and more specifically, the cadence of the story, but like Manybooks, I do not care for the illustrations as much. But I have always loved the recurring refrain:
C..."

I think the great part about Millions of Cats is that it can be read on multiple levels.

Die Häschenschule. Ein lustiges Bilderbuch

Now the German original is from 1924 albeit that the English language translation did not occur until 2009. But still, I do consider this a 1920s picture book and because it is indeed a classic German picture book that even many contemporary German children still have read to them, I will of course add it and my review (and no, I have not had the opportunity to read the English translation).

Even though I mildly enjoyed Albert Sixtus' Die Häschenschule (and did indeed very much like Fritz Koch-Gotha's realistic but still magical and fantastical accompanying illustrations) when my maternal grandmother read this classic German language picture book to me in 1970 (when I was four years old), especially the textual and visual representations of the strict male teacher who brooked absolutely no dissent or tolerated much individuality amongst his little anthropomorphic rabbit pupils actually made me seriously and lastingly dread the first day of school (and considering that my first day of school was in 1973, I now realise that for three years, every time I thought of Die Häschenschule, and every time the book was read to me, I dreaded school, I was terrified of the possibility or perhaps even the probability of a strict and in all ways draconian teacher). Of course, school ended up not being all that horrible at all for me (except perhaps for mathematics and physical education), but the anticipation of perhaps encountering a very strict teacher who would immediately and even seemingly gleefully punish any and all supposedly misbehaving students, any and all perceived mistakes certainly was not at ALL pleasant in any way (and when I tried to ask my grandmother about that very possibility, her comments that she hoped my teachers would indeed be strict disciplinarians and that she herself had much thrived under such tutelage really did not help things except to teach me to shut up, to keep silence and many of my thoughts more and more, and increasingly to myself).

Now I would in NO WAY go so far as to ever claim that Die Häschenschule (or its English language translation Rabbit School) should not be read by and to children, but I do feel and find it necessary to point out that some of the more traditional, dated and old-fashioned "authority figures like teachers are always supposedly right" viewpoints and philosophies featured and feted might need to be (and actually really should be) both discussed with and explained to children (and personally, I also do not really AT ALL now enjoy or appreciate the depiction, both textually and visually, of the fox as a villain, as simply and utterly a dangerous and nasty monster par excellence, as I am in fact getting rather sick and tired of the many many big bad wolf and/or sly, evil fox type of classical children's stories). Two and a half stars, rounded up to three stars, as Die Häschenschule is considered a classic and as it was published, as it was penned in 1924, is of course and also by necessity of its time.

I just listened to a U-Tube reading of Wanda Gag's 1929 longer picture book The Funny Thing (which is also considered a follow-up to Millions of Cats).

It tells the strange but entertaining story of a curious dragon-like, massively vain and full of itself "aminal" which only and very much deliberately so consumes children's dolls (so yes The Funny Thing might be a bit freaky for a very sensitive child who really loves his or her dolls, especially since the "aminal" is also very descriptive about how much it loves eating dolls and how very delicious they happen to be). A kindly old man named Bobo cannot stand by and allow the Funny Thing to steal dolls from children and eat them (especially since the "aminal" also says that it mostly steals and eats the dolls of well-behaved, of good children, as they supposedly taste so much better). Bobo entices the "aminal" to eat "jum-jills” which are concoction he makes up himself from seven nut cakes, five seed puddings, two cabbage salads, and fifteen little cheeses, all rolled into little balls (catering to the dragon like creature's vanity by saying that the "jun-jills" will make its tail grow and its colour more brilliant). A happy ending is assured when the Funny Thing discovers that he in fact really loves those concocted jum-jills and is also convinced that they are indeed making its tail grow longer and its blue points more visually striking. The Funny Thing returns each day for the treats and never eats another doll.

I enjoyed listening to the story, but the illustrations were not that easy to make out when the reader showed them. But they do look like Wanda Gag's signature black and white drawings but are also from what I could see a bit small (and with no colour at all, also kind of blurry, but that might well be because I was listening to The Funny Thing on U-Tube and the reader did not really focus all that much on the artwork itself and more on reading the story aloud).

Kathryn wrote: "I'm going to copy over a post Michael made in our 1910s thread that has helped shape my own search for PBs of the 1920s.

"Others from the 1920s and before that come to mind: Elsa Beskow, Lois Lens..."

By the way, clicking on the link just seems to give a service unavailable message.

Does my very most favorite count?
Winnie-the-Pooh
The House at Pooh Corner
When We Were Very Young
Now We Are Six

Another favorite is
The Velveteen Rabbit

Here's what I found so far
Raggedy Andy Stories (1920)
Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Camel With the Wrinkled Knees(1924)
Raggedy Andy's Number Book (1924)
Raggedy Ann's Wishing Pebble (1925)
Raggedy Ann's Alphabet Book (1925)
Beloved Belindy(1926)
The Paper Dragon: A Raggedy Ann Adventure(1926)
Raggedy Ann's Fairy Stories - Written and Illustrated by Johnny Gruelle (1928)
Raggedy Ann's magical wishes (1928)
Marcella: A Raggedy Ann Story (1929)

Hiding(1920)

Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes

Rose Fyleman was prolific. Her poems and stories were published together in a longer book

Illustrators
Jessie Wilcox Smith mostly novels by the 1920s
Elizabeth Shippen Green (magazines)

Charles Folkard

I keep coming across Honey Bunch: Just a Little Girl series in used bookstores but my grandmother insists she didn’t read them. I think she may have but didn’t like them.

That's all I can find right now. The only family heirloom books from this time I own are the A.A. Milne poetry books. I wish I could ask my grandmother but she can't hear over the phone and is just so confused and upset right now. The only other book I remember her talking about is one from my mom's childhood in the 50s.

The Adventures of Milly-Molly-Mandy

The Velveteen Rabbit

Juan Bobo: Four Folktales from Puerto Rico

This is harder than I thought. Public domain is only up to 1924 right now. I did talk to my grandmother on the phone but I didn't want to confuse her by randomly asking about books she read when she was a small child.

QNPoohBear wrote: "Does my very most favorite count?
Winnie-the-Pooh
The House at Pooh Corner
When We Were Very Young
Now We Are Six

Another favorite is
[book:T..."

Thank you for the list! That's great! :-)

QNPoohBear wrote: "This is harder than I thought. Public domain is only up to 1924 right now. I did talk to my grandmother on the phone but I didn't want to confuse her by randomly asking about books she read when sh..."

I'm finding it more challenging than expected, also. I'll keep searching but so far I've come up with only a few that are public domain online. It's especially challenging as many of them are not what we would today consider "picture books" (standard 32 page count, short read) but are often collections of short stories. I'll keep plugging away and see what else I can come up with. I'm really interested in this era, I love much of the art, and it's also when my late grandparents were children so it has a special connection for me.

(I'm so sorry your grandmother is struggling right now. What an awful time to be elderly. It's hard enough without the COVID-19 situation. It's good of you to try and talk with her, even if it challenging for her to hear you at least it is some connection for her.)

Manybooks wrote: "By the way, clicking on the link just seems to give a service unavailable message."

Michael's link to Library of Congress? Bummer. When I click it it brings up a page of about twenty children's books. Hmmm... Is anyone else having trouble? I wonder if if use is restricted to those in the US?

Kathryn wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "By the way, clicking on the link just seems to give a service unavailable message."

Michael's link to Library of Congress? Bummer. When I click it it brings up a page of about tw..."

I am wondering and if yes, that would be annoying.

Today, it is working, so maybe the service was undergoing maintenance on the weekend.

Manybooks wrote: "So to start with I will say that even though Wanda Gag's 1928 Millions of Cats has probably been already covered in the Newbery Club, I do think the book should be included here. I do..."

I really appreciate your take on the story being a cautionary tale of human responsibility from it, the dangers of over-population of domestic animals, etc. etc. I did not get that takeaway (even though the subject is dear to my heart) but I do see where it could be interpreted that way and I hope others do/did. It is, IMO, a better "moral to the story" than the vanity issue. I still do think some children would find it too disturbing (I found it disturbing as an adult) but I agree that it definitely has value and each family can judge their children's readiness for it.

Kathryn wrote: "QNPoohBear wrote: "This is harder than I thought. Public domain is only up to 1924 right now. I did talk to my grandmother on the phone but I didn't want to confuse her by randomly asking about boo..."

I am glad that I am not the only one finding actual picture books from the 1920s free online difficult. I really wanted to actually be able to read and look at the pictures for The Funny Thing but as mentioned, I could only find a U-Tube reading.

But yes, if you go to internet archive, you can actually read The Funny Thing online. And I do like the story and how Bobo makes the “aminal” no longer interested in eating dolls, but the illustrations are too small, too busy and too black and white for my tastes.

Cheryl wrote: "The Adventures of Milly-Molly-Mandy"

I read this years ago and thought it was adorable. (There are sequels, too, though I don't know off hand the publication years). It is more of an "early chapter book" than what I would consider a "picture book" but it is definitely worth reading and, as I noted earlier, true "picture books" as we know them today were not very common in the 20s.

QNPoohBear wrote: "I keep coming across Honey Bunch: Just a Little Girl series in used bookstores but my grandmother insists she didn’t read them. I think she may have but didn’t like them. ."

I've seen these pop up frequently, too, but I've not read them.

Kathryn wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "So to start with I will say that even though Wanda Gag's 1928 Millions of Cats has probably been already covered in the Newbery Club, I do think the book should be i..."

I liked but did not love the story but it is actually the illustrations of the millions of cats like hordes of faceless entities that I have always found a bit visually off putting.

Kathryn wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "The Adventures of Milly-Molly-Mandy"

I read this years ago and thought it was adorable. (There are sequels, too, though I don't know off hand the publication years). I..."

Even The Velveteen Rabbit is more a chapter book than a traditional picture book.

I am actually wondering if we might consider expanding the topic to also include picture books from the 1930s, as I seem to be finding more traditional picture books from the 1930s than from the 1920s.

I, too, found more from the 1930s. Here's a tip for non public-domain books. Search for antiquarian/rare booksellers that feature lots of photos in their listings. You can sometimes get a good look at a book that way. The other thing to do is find a famous author like A.A. Milne and see if their books have been reprinted. I found A Gallery of Children reprinted in 1994 and available used from Amazon resellers.

I'm pretty sure that if I asked my grandmother about her childhood books, all she would mention is the A.A. Milne books and then I'd have to tell her again whatever happened to them is that they're on my special shelf away from little hands! My own personal copies are available for reading.

QNPoohBear wrote: "Here's a tip for non public-domain books. Search for antiquarian/rare booksellers that feature lots of photos in their listings. You can sometimes get a good look at a book that way..."

Good tip. I've found a lot on Etsy that way, too.

Manybooks wrote: "I am actually wondering if we might consider expanding the topic to also include picture books from the 1930s, as I seem to be finding more traditional picture books from the 1930s than from the 19..."

I was planning to do 1930s next month :-)

I was thinking of keeping the focus on the 1920s for the whole month because I don't mind expanding a little beyond the usual picture book format for that decade since it's a historical study of what children of the picture book age would have been reading in the 1920s. I figure since many of the illustrated "picture" books from the 1920s are longer that gives us more time to read them even though they are fewer in number? Unless none of you want to read the longer type books and just read those few short PBs that came out in the 20s? In which case I can expand the thread to include the 30s also. I just wouldn't have time to read both the longer books of the 20s and the picture books of the 30s.

Kathryn wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "I am actually wondering if we might consider expanding the topic to also include picture books from the 1930s, as I seem to be finding more traditional picture books from the 1930..."

Sure, that is fine.

Manybooks wrote: "Sure, that is fine"

To do 1930s as a separate month?

Kathryn wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "Sure, that is fine"

To do 1930s as a separate month?"

Yes, sorry for being unclear.

I agree. Let's include short illustrated chapter books (and anthologies when they fit the spirit of the quest) from the 1920s this month, and reserve the 1930s for next month.

Manybooks wrote: "Kathryn wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "Sure, that is fine"

To do 1930s as a separate month?"

Yes, sorry for being unclear."

No problem, thanks for clarifying.

Cheryl wrote: "I agree. Let's include short illustrated chapter books (and anthologies when they fit the spirit of the quest) from the 1920s this month, and reserve the 1930s for next month."

Great! :-)

I'm really looking forward to The Poppy Seed Cakes. It's been on my radar for awhile and I found it on Open Library. It's 128 pages but filled with illustrations and few lines of text per page so I think it was for the youngest audience. Hoping to get to that later this week.

Kathryn wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "I agree. Let's include short illustrated chapter books (and anthologies when they fit the spirit of the quest) from the 1920s this month, and reserve the 1930s for next month."

Grea..."

I also want to try The Poppy Seed Cakes as well as Rootabaga Stories and Rootabaga Pigeons (written by Carl Sandburg and illustrated by the Petershams).

And also, Nursery Friends from France (again the Petershams are illustrators)

Oh! I have two volumes of Rootabaga Stories collecting dust on my shelves! Yay!

Cheryl wrote: "Oh! I have two volumes of Rootabaga Stories collecting dust on my shelves! Yay!"

I'll try to read those, too!

Public domain
Uncle Wiggily and The Pirates How the Enemy Craft of Pirate Fox was Sunk (plus many others)
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/61695...
Howard R. Garis

The pirate story is a fun one!

I found a few more on wiki

Child Whispers (published in 1922) is the first published work of the English children's author Enid Blyton, illustrated by her childhood friend and collaborator Phyllis Chase. It is a collection of 28 poems, and one of Blyton's most popular and best-known poetry books. There are reprints available.

Just William is the first book of children's short stories about the young school boy William Brown, written by Richmal Crompton, and published in 1922. The book was the first in the series of William Brown books

Found on Etsy

My Book of Favorite Stories

Little Folks from Etiquette Town

The Peter Pan Twins are Glad to Help

Gertrude Alice Kay illustrated some books that look like longer picture books. The Friends of Jimmy

Most stories we would consider picture books were included in primers, magazines and anthologies

In 1919 Olive Beaupré Miller established a company, The Book House for Children, to publish popular children’s literature edited by herself to meet her standards. Earlier versions of The Book House contained some short stories such as Little Black Sambo and The Tar Baby, now considered racist. There were several volumes published in the 1920s and reprinted/revised later on.

(wikipedia)

Nursery Friends from France looks charming. I found one on Etsy

Mathilde C. Gecks was prolific in primers :
Friends to Make
Trips to Take
The Treasure Box
Far and Near

My grandmother MUST have had primers. Her father was an educator.

reprints available
The Funny Thing

QNPoohBear wrote: "Public domain
Uncle Wiggily and The Pirates How the Enemy Craft of Pirate Fox was Sunk (plus many others)
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/61695...
Howard R. Garis

..."

Wow, great list! Thank you!!!

I found this 1927 fairy tale fantasy on Internet Archive and it looked interesting enough for me to borrow it. It is not yet included in the Goodreads database, but yes, I do look forward to reading Cinderella’s Garden, written by William Macneile Dixon and illustrated by George Morrow (seems to be a story about a group of children entering an enchanted garden and meeting Cinderella and other fairy characters).

"The Little Wooden Doll" by Bianco was magical to me around age 8. My grandmother picked it up for me at a library book sale. I have no idea if you might be able to find a reading of it online or a copy at your local library. It's a gem.

"Little Black Sambo" by Bannerman was another favorite of mine that my grandma introduced me to. Loved the pics! And the story of the heroic little boy.

By the way, do not necessarily take publication dates listed online for granted. On Open Library, it is claimed that Robert Bright’s picture book Georgie was originally published in the 1920s, but when I checked further (and on multiple sites, including Goodreads) it turns out that the original publication date was 1944.

Manybooks wrote: "By the way, do not necessarily take publication dates listed online for granted."

I've been checking Wikipedia or other author biography pages to check dates.

QNPoohBear wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "By the way, do not necessarily take publication dates listed online for granted."

I've been checking Wikipedia or other author biography pages to check dates."

That's what I ended up doing as well, but it sure is annoying.

Yes, I was just noticing that with Open Library, too. Bummer.

Kathryn wrote: "Yes, I was just noticing that with Open Library, too. Bummer."

And very misleading!

Emily wrote: ""Little Black Sambo" by Bannerman was another favorite of mine that my grandma introduced me to. Loved the pics! And the story of the heroic little boy."

Of course the original illustrations are now known to be offensive, but Story of Little Babaji is almost exactly the same story, just as magical, and with much more respectful art.

The Little Wooden Doll and Cinderella's Garden do intrigue!

Emily wrote: ""Little Black Sambo" by Bannerman was another favorite of mine that my grandma introduced me to. Loved the pics! And the story of the heroic little boy."

Thank you, Emily. This one came up in our January discussion, also. I posted this link which has a bit about its history of being banned in the US and some fairly recent popularity in Japan which you may find interesting:
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-x...

There's also a retelling by Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney Sam and the Tigers: A Retelling of 'Little Black Sambo'.

Cheryl wrote: "The Little Wooden Doll and Cinderella's Garden do intrigue!"

Yes, I will try to read those!

Kathryn wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "The Little Wooden Doll and Cinderella's Garden do intrigue!"

Yes, I will try to read those!"

I have started with Cinderella's Garden, and so far it reads quite nicely, not substantially but sweetly and with a delightful air of independent exploration.