I had one Amelia Bedelia book as a kid. It was an I Can Read book, and I think it had something to do with baseball, maybe?
I like pancakes 'cause they're stackable. Ooo, and waffles 'cause you can put things in the little holes if you wanted to.
Buffy ,'Potential'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
sj - Mar 20, 2017 4:33:14 pm PDT #24427 of 28260
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
Kate P. - Mar 20, 2017 7:11:30 pm PDT #24428 of 28260
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love
Yeah, we recently read the original Amelia Bedelia book to Rose (it was in a Little Free Library -- score!), and she loved it. Dressing the chicken and drawing the drapes were her favorites. We found another one where she gets fired and goes around town trying to find a new job, which was less funny to me (or maybe it's just that the premise wears thin after a while), but I think Rose liked them both.
Amy - Mar 21, 2017 6:01:21 am PDT #24429 of 28260
Because books.
zuisa - Mar 21, 2017 7:01:06 am PDT #24430 of 28260
call me jacki; zuisa is an internet nick from ancient times =)
Got a little sidetracked by other projects, but I finished Code Name Verity last night. Sat blubbering on my couch for a bit, but dang. What a story.
Jesse - Mar 26, 2017 6:51:47 am PDT #24431 of 28260
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
On the kids' books front, I've been re-reading Nancy Drew books, and at least as far as I've gotten (part-way through the third), they are totally non-offensive! Which was kind of a relief, to be honest. As long as you don't mind that she's apparently out of high school with no plans for college, I think these are totally safe to recommend to modern kids.
Sue - Mar 26, 2017 7:35:45 am PDT #24432 of 28260
hip deep in pie
Jesse, they were edited in the 60s or 70s? So if you find early editions, there's a fair bit of casual racism in them.
Jesse - Mar 26, 2017 7:39:16 am PDT #24433 of 28260
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Now THAT does not surprise me! So, the go-ahead only applies to the edited version where all the servants are (apparently) white and half the villains are noticeable by their pale blue eyes.
Beverly - Mar 26, 2017 1:04:55 pm PDT #24434 of 28260
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
Oh gods yes. I inherited a bunch of the original edtion NDs. with the blue cloth covers and orange silhouette of Nancy on the binding. I devoured them as a child, and at some point my mom threw them all away. I mourned, and as an adult, I started putting my collection back together. Until I actually *read* one, and was both jolted and appalled by the casual racism, classism, and callous disregard of the Other in every paragraph. I sold them (I'd invested a bit in the ones I'd found), but I felt bad about it. I really wanted to shred them so nobody would read that tripe.
Sophia Brooks - Mar 26, 2017 1:46:46 pm PDT #24435 of 28260
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here
I was more appalled by The Bobbsey Twins in the Land of Cotton. It is horrible. Nancy Drew I remember being very anti German.
aurelia - Mar 26, 2017 2:09:46 pm PDT #24436 of 28260
All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story. Tell me a story.
Clearly I read the 1960's re-writes of The Bobbsey Twins.
In 1960, the Stratemeyer syndicate began to rewrite most of the older volumes, many of which became almost unrecognizable in the process. This was done concurrently with the release of a new edition of the series, with picture covers, no dust jackets, and a lavender spine and back cover (replacing the various green bindings that had been used before). Many of the cover paintings were originally dust-jacket paintings that had been added in the 1950s (before which a single common dust-jacket painting had been used throughout any given edition), but most were new with the "purple" edition. In all, 20 were completely rewritten, all but two with modernized titles, while 16 were never released in this edition, evidently having been deemed to be dated beyond repair.
Most of the rewrites were motivated by changing technology (automobiles replacing horses and buggies) or changing social standards, particularly in how Sam and Dinah, the African-American cook and handyman, were portrayed.