A few weeks back, my friend Beth were working together as volunteers at the Desert Botanical Garden. As we both sweated in the Yucca Forest with the intense heat of the summer, Beth nonchalantly told me that she had just swallowed a fly. Naturally I had to reply, “perhaps, you’ll die.” Thankfully she knew exactly what I was talking about, or I was going to sound like a real jerk. If you don’t know, I was referring to the children’s song written by Alan Mills, with lyrics by Rose Bonne, “I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly”. I actually thought it was a book first, as that is how I remembered it. Anyway, we got to talking about our favorite childhood books, and the books that her children read. We had a lot in common, as did her children. A good book is a good book, I guess. Here are five books that I loved dearly as a young boy.
“Ferdinand The Bull” written by Munro Leaf and illustrated by Robert Lawson. I always had the itch to see the world, and I remember distinctly, as a six or seven year old boy, dreaming of going to Spain after reading this book Back in the 1960’s, Ferdinand’s life seemed like a wise choice for me as the evening news had only bad reports from the Vietnam war.
The Story of Babar (the Elephant) by Jean de Brunhoff still thrills kids today, and sure thrilled me back in the day. More wanderlust drove me to books like this series. I loved to imagine going to exotic and unimaginable places to see kings, queens and elephants. Today, Babar might be a controversial character (the Africans in the book were sometimes portrayed as savages) , but I was oblivious when I read them as a young boy. And, I still loved the drawings of the exotic locales.
I know that I am not alone in loving“Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak. This wasn’t just one of my favorite books as a boy, but it stands up as one of my all time favorite books, children, or otherwise.
Who doesn’t love Green Eggs and Ham? Who doesn’t love Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel)? As kids, my family belonged to a kids book of the month club, and we were happiest when we got a Dr. Seuss book, and fought to be the first to read the newest arrival. This book is a surrealist and visual pleasure, and think I need to look at it again.
Curious George written by Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey is really just a simple story about a monkey in the world. No real plot. No brilliant lessons to teach. Just some misadventures. Things happen. So, why did I like this? Well, because the illustrations are simply lovely. The plot is perfect for a kid who likes to be surprised, and because things happen! Just like life. Oh yeah… there is a monkey! What kid doesn’t love to read about a monkey?
Above: Spread from the book, “I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” that I remember very well, with illustrations by Abner Graboff.
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