old books, I love them so.
[edit: oh man, I think this entry is even more rambling and incoherent than my usual... for which I have no excuse but that I ate a lot of cookies and jello and spicy chicken curry today. I'll try to post something a little more sensible tomorrow maybe, but until then... I'll just leave this for you with my warning.]
At our church this weekend, we had our annual clothing-and-stuff-give-away event, which is kind of like a garage sale only nobody has to pay anything; we just bring stuff in that we don't want and then have a day where anyone can come and take what they'd like (including church members, friends, neighbours, etc).
So, I got there a little late on Saturday so a lot of the clothes and things were pretty picked over. But what I did find of interest were some old teen fiction books, books that were originally published in the 1910s and 30s (I do not think they are first editions, because they look considerably newer. but still old.) I haven't gotten too far reading them yet, but I'll work on that; in the mean time, I was looking for more information on the books this afternoon and, through the mysterious ways of the internet, ended up on Project Gutenberg reading entirely unrelated old children's books and falling head over heels for them. I do love Project Gutenberg.
So here's what I'm excited about! First of all, I love love love Andrew Lang's Prince Prigio, and I recommend you all read it if you have not yet (it's kinda... an early fractured fairy tale, with an exceedingly clever young prince who is in fact TOO clever for his own good). I discovered this story way back when, but it's awesome, so I'll take any opportunity to recommend it again.
Tonight's discovery was a series of little books about twins from many countries and times of the world. Now, as far as I can tell, there is not much point to the characters being twins except for the convenience of the story, to show a little boy and little girl of the same age; but they are awfully cute and silly little stories. The first one I clicked on, naturally, was "The Japanese Twins" and I was soon in fits of laughter over the "Happy Islands" (Japan) in the "Ocean of Peace" (the Pacific Ocean). But I was intrigued, because the text indicated that there were pictures, but Project Gutenberg's release of the Japanese Twins didn't show them. And of course, as I believe that every book should have lots of pictures, I REALLY wanted to see them! So after some searching online, I found a company, Yesterday's Classics, which publishes old public domain children's books, with illustrations intact whenever possible! Hurray! It appears that they only have four of the Twins books available, but I am hopeful that they've got more on the way. The other exciting thing about that discovery was that their website (scroll about halfway down that link and you should see the four books) has previews of the books, so you can actually see the pictures! And oh my goodness! They are adorable!! And there were lots of pictures, like maybe every other page or even two out of every three pages had illustrations. Aaaah, I was like, How can I not have known about this illustrator before?? And she wrote the books herself, too! Man, that's awesome.
Some of the pictures on PG do have the illustrations (but of course physical books are better), so I hope you check them out too! I just looked, Cave Twins has pictures. I mean, wow. A book about prehistoric cave-dwelling kids, written in the early 1900s. How much more awesome does it get?? (perhaps the Spartan Twins could top it.) I also had fun reading aloud bits of the Irish Twins story in my sorry attempt at an Irish accent-every other sentence of dialogue starts with "Sure and..." so I could hardly help it!
In conclusion, the theme of my day was that kids (and books for kids) are awesome. I adore all the 5th and 6th graders I've gotten to know through the sunday school class I help teach-one boy came up to me afterward today and asked what I'd done this weekend, and when I returned the question he told me he'd seen the Alice in Wonderland movie, and how he LOVED it and about some of his favourite scenes, and oooooh he was so cute and enthusiastic!!!
Oh right, I haven't seen Alice yet. I'm planning to see it on Tuesday with Brndn though. I have heard some less than satisfied opinions of it, but I think I will like it anyway. It's Alice, after all, and I don't see how that can be messed up. I reread the original book a couple days ago, but I think I'll try to reread Through the Looking Glass before Tuesday, too. Just to brush up on things. Oh, that's another thing you should all read if you never have (and it's a very short read; you might be surprised how quickly it goes). I'd forgotten about the Mock Turtle's story, but it's awesome; an essential read for anyone who enjoys puns and literal jokes. I was laughing my head off at like 2am in an otherwise dead-silent house (example: "The master was an old Turtle - we used to call him Tortoise -" "Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?" Alice asked. "We called him Tortoise because he taught us," said the Mock Turtle angrily. "Really you are very dull!" (and lys dissolves into giggles once again)). Great stuff...
Well, if you managed to get through all that silliness and rambling, congratulations! I don't have a prize for you, though. So go amuse yourself with some classic children's literature instead :D Till next time!!
At our church this weekend, we had our annual clothing-and-stuff-give-away event, which is kind of like a garage sale only nobody has to pay anything; we just bring stuff in that we don't want and then have a day where anyone can come and take what they'd like (including church members, friends, neighbours, etc).
So, I got there a little late on Saturday so a lot of the clothes and things were pretty picked over. But what I did find of interest were some old teen fiction books, books that were originally published in the 1910s and 30s (I do not think they are first editions, because they look considerably newer. but still old.) I haven't gotten too far reading them yet, but I'll work on that; in the mean time, I was looking for more information on the books this afternoon and, through the mysterious ways of the internet, ended up on Project Gutenberg reading entirely unrelated old children's books and falling head over heels for them. I do love Project Gutenberg.
So here's what I'm excited about! First of all, I love love love Andrew Lang's Prince Prigio, and I recommend you all read it if you have not yet (it's kinda... an early fractured fairy tale, with an exceedingly clever young prince who is in fact TOO clever for his own good). I discovered this story way back when, but it's awesome, so I'll take any opportunity to recommend it again.
Tonight's discovery was a series of little books about twins from many countries and times of the world. Now, as far as I can tell, there is not much point to the characters being twins except for the convenience of the story, to show a little boy and little girl of the same age; but they are awfully cute and silly little stories. The first one I clicked on, naturally, was "The Japanese Twins" and I was soon in fits of laughter over the "Happy Islands" (Japan) in the "Ocean of Peace" (the Pacific Ocean). But I was intrigued, because the text indicated that there were pictures, but Project Gutenberg's release of the Japanese Twins didn't show them. And of course, as I believe that every book should have lots of pictures, I REALLY wanted to see them! So after some searching online, I found a company, Yesterday's Classics, which publishes old public domain children's books, with illustrations intact whenever possible! Hurray! It appears that they only have four of the Twins books available, but I am hopeful that they've got more on the way. The other exciting thing about that discovery was that their website (scroll about halfway down that link and you should see the four books) has previews of the books, so you can actually see the pictures! And oh my goodness! They are adorable!! And there were lots of pictures, like maybe every other page or even two out of every three pages had illustrations. Aaaah, I was like, How can I not have known about this illustrator before?? And she wrote the books herself, too! Man, that's awesome.
Some of the pictures on PG do have the illustrations (but of course physical books are better), so I hope you check them out too! I just looked, Cave Twins has pictures. I mean, wow. A book about prehistoric cave-dwelling kids, written in the early 1900s. How much more awesome does it get?? (perhaps the Spartan Twins could top it.) I also had fun reading aloud bits of the Irish Twins story in my sorry attempt at an Irish accent-every other sentence of dialogue starts with "Sure and..." so I could hardly help it!
In conclusion, the theme of my day was that kids (and books for kids) are awesome. I adore all the 5th and 6th graders I've gotten to know through the sunday school class I help teach-one boy came up to me afterward today and asked what I'd done this weekend, and when I returned the question he told me he'd seen the Alice in Wonderland movie, and how he LOVED it and about some of his favourite scenes, and oooooh he was so cute and enthusiastic!!!
Oh right, I haven't seen Alice yet. I'm planning to see it on Tuesday with Brndn though. I have heard some less than satisfied opinions of it, but I think I will like it anyway. It's Alice, after all, and I don't see how that can be messed up. I reread the original book a couple days ago, but I think I'll try to reread Through the Looking Glass before Tuesday, too. Just to brush up on things. Oh, that's another thing you should all read if you never have (and it's a very short read; you might be surprised how quickly it goes). I'd forgotten about the Mock Turtle's story, but it's awesome; an essential read for anyone who enjoys puns and literal jokes. I was laughing my head off at like 2am in an otherwise dead-silent house (example: "The master was an old Turtle - we used to call him Tortoise -" "Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?" Alice asked. "We called him Tortoise because he taught us," said the Mock Turtle angrily. "Really you are very dull!" (and lys dissolves into giggles once again)). Great stuff...
Well, if you managed to get through all that silliness and rambling, congratulations! I don't have a prize for you, though. So go amuse yourself with some classic children's literature instead :D Till next time!!