Newbery Books of the 1930s
Aug. 2nd, 2022 08:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWhen I realized how few of the Newbery Honor books of the 1930s the library still had, I figured that I had better get on the ones that are left before they, too, disappeared. Here is the first batch!
James Cloyd Bowman’s Pecos Bill: The Greatest Cowboy of All Time is a collection of tall tales about Pecos Bill, who is, as you can see, the greatest cowboy of all time. Does what it says on the tin! Pecos Bill created the Grand Canyon by lassoing a cyclone and so on and so forth.
Wanda Gag’s The ABC Bunny, written and illustrated by Wanda and hand-lettered by her brother Howard, is a charming ABC book. Rather than simply having a different picture for each word, it tells a continuous story about a bunny going on an adventure, finding some lettuce to nibble and meeting many other animals, including “P for prickly porcupine, Pins and needles on his spine.”
Phil Stong’s Honk the Moose is about a moose who moseys into a livery stable during a cold winter, where he is found by two Finnish-American boys (the 1930s appear to have been the high-water mark for American children’s books showcasing various European nationalities), and soon becomes the pet of the whole town. It’s based on a true story: my edition (a 2001 reprint) includes a forward by the mayor of Biwabik, Minnesota, who notes that the town now features a life-size statue of Honk.
Elizabeth Janet Gray’s Penn is a biography of William Penn, which I found absolutely charming if perhaps biased: Gray obviously adores Penn, although she has to allow that he never could seem to see the flaws in his friends, no matter how obvious they were to others: “sincere and open as the day, he could not imagine that his friend might say things which he did not mean,” and therefore didn’t realize that his BFF James II was interested in religious toleration as a back door to reintroduce Catholicism to England, not for its own sake.
But “too generous to our friends” is far from the worst flaw to have. In Gray’s telling, Penn sounds like a real sweetheart: open-hearted, earnest (but not without a sense of humor), always moving forward and looking for the best, and also (as Gray informs us many times) very handsome!
And finally, Ludwig Bemelmans’ The Golden Basket. Yes, this is that Ludwig Bemelmans, and although this is not a Madeleine book, it does mark the first literary appearance of Madeline! She appears in one of the chapters, already the smallest girl among twelve little girls who live in two straight lines. (I just discovered that Bemelmans named Madeline after his wife, which is so sweet.)
Mostly, however, The Golden Basket is a delightful account of the adventures of sisters Celeste and Melisande as they accompany their father to Bruges, where they stay in the inn of the Golden Basket. Lots of lovely detail about the town, and the hotel, and the people they meet, and the food they eat (omelets with jam!), and the games they play, including one where they take turns pretending they are captive of a submarine by hiding under a coat with a home-made periscope sticking up through the sleeve… and then complete the submarine experience by having the sister who is currently not captain pour a pitcher of water down the sleeve! Peak rainy day fun. Just really charming.
Of course Bemelmans is still well-known, and I knew Gag from Millions of Cats (the oldest American picture book still in print), but it was sobering to realize not only how few of these older Newbery books the library still had, but how few of the authors I had ever even heard of. So many award-winning books, indeed entire successful careers, washed away by the sands of time…
But it’s also sort of freeing. Posterity will forget about almost all of us, so why worry? Enjoy your projects today and let tomorrow take care of itself.
James Cloyd Bowman’s Pecos Bill: The Greatest Cowboy of All Time is a collection of tall tales about Pecos Bill, who is, as you can see, the greatest cowboy of all time. Does what it says on the tin! Pecos Bill created the Grand Canyon by lassoing a cyclone and so on and so forth.
Wanda Gag’s The ABC Bunny, written and illustrated by Wanda and hand-lettered by her brother Howard, is a charming ABC book. Rather than simply having a different picture for each word, it tells a continuous story about a bunny going on an adventure, finding some lettuce to nibble and meeting many other animals, including “P for prickly porcupine, Pins and needles on his spine.”
Phil Stong’s Honk the Moose is about a moose who moseys into a livery stable during a cold winter, where he is found by two Finnish-American boys (the 1930s appear to have been the high-water mark for American children’s books showcasing various European nationalities), and soon becomes the pet of the whole town. It’s based on a true story: my edition (a 2001 reprint) includes a forward by the mayor of Biwabik, Minnesota, who notes that the town now features a life-size statue of Honk.
Elizabeth Janet Gray’s Penn is a biography of William Penn, which I found absolutely charming if perhaps biased: Gray obviously adores Penn, although she has to allow that he never could seem to see the flaws in his friends, no matter how obvious they were to others: “sincere and open as the day, he could not imagine that his friend might say things which he did not mean,” and therefore didn’t realize that his BFF James II was interested in religious toleration as a back door to reintroduce Catholicism to England, not for its own sake.
But “too generous to our friends” is far from the worst flaw to have. In Gray’s telling, Penn sounds like a real sweetheart: open-hearted, earnest (but not without a sense of humor), always moving forward and looking for the best, and also (as Gray informs us many times) very handsome!
And finally, Ludwig Bemelmans’ The Golden Basket. Yes, this is that Ludwig Bemelmans, and although this is not a Madeleine book, it does mark the first literary appearance of Madeline! She appears in one of the chapters, already the smallest girl among twelve little girls who live in two straight lines. (I just discovered that Bemelmans named Madeline after his wife, which is so sweet.)
Mostly, however, The Golden Basket is a delightful account of the adventures of sisters Celeste and Melisande as they accompany their father to Bruges, where they stay in the inn of the Golden Basket. Lots of lovely detail about the town, and the hotel, and the people they meet, and the food they eat (omelets with jam!), and the games they play, including one where they take turns pretending they are captive of a submarine by hiding under a coat with a home-made periscope sticking up through the sleeve… and then complete the submarine experience by having the sister who is currently not captain pour a pitcher of water down the sleeve! Peak rainy day fun. Just really charming.
Of course Bemelmans is still well-known, and I knew Gag from Millions of Cats (the oldest American picture book still in print), but it was sobering to realize not only how few of these older Newbery books the library still had, but how few of the authors I had ever even heard of. So many award-winning books, indeed entire successful careers, washed away by the sands of time…
But it’s also sort of freeing. Posterity will forget about almost all of us, so why worry? Enjoy your projects today and let tomorrow take care of itself.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-03 09:57 am (UTC)Oh my gosh, a momentous occasion!
Posterity will forget about almost all of us, so why worry?
Here for a good time not necessarily an immortalised-in-history time.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-03 11:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 07:24 am (UTC)Awwwww!
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 12:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-06 06:24 pm (UTC)More alphabet books should have plots that move all the way through. I really loved the alphabet book As I Was Crossing Boston Common when my kids were young. It doesn't exactly have a plot, but it builds.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-07 11:57 pm (UTC)