When I was a kid, my mom read to us from a picture book version of Kipling's "The Just So Stories". I still remember "the great grey-green greasy Limpopo river all set about with fever trees" and "the cat who walked by himself and all places were alike to him". I think those were as close to children's books as she could bear to read out loud on a regular basis.

Fish Eyes and Feathers for Lunch were popular in our house. Those graphics made K's eyes go wide.

We ended every reading session with the same book (Goodnight Moon, sorry) so she knew it was over.

Where the Wild Things Are. Also second goodnight construction site and steam train dream train. Those would make good "end the reading session" kind of books. Also second any and all Sandra Boynton.

There was a radio program that read aloud the Just So Stories about 30 years ago, and I can still remember the sound of Jack Nicholson saying "the great green greasy Limpopo River".

Orson Welles did VO for a 1975 cartoon Rikki Tikki Tavi--nobody says "the great grey-green greasy Limpopo River" like Orson Welles. June Foray did about half the rest of the voices.

To be honest, I thought it was all fiction, and when watching a tv documentary and the narrator mentioned the "Limpopo river" I realized there IS an actual Limpopo river. But it doesn't seem real unless you add the "great grey-green greasy" part.

There was a radio program that read aloud the Just So Stories about 30 years ago, and I can still remember the sound of Jack Nicholson saying "the great green greasy Limpopo River".

This was available as an album. It's Jack Nicholson and Bobby McFerrin and it's so great. The rest of the album is Bobby McFerrin doing his thing IIRC.

ETA: You Tube has everything [link]

We had this on cassette tape! I listened to it a lot.

I just finished a YA book called Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott that I really enjoyed and found hard to put down, not because it was suspenseful, just enjoyable. For those that enjoy an easy to read, female driven, YA book.

So, Hec's posts about Heidi made me want to revisit two other books I liked as I kid, but I can't remember much about them

Clues: 1. I read a lot of books that were published between 1999 and and 1960 in their original bindings. They were not necessarily classics, but more like a Henry Artemis type thing . 2. I think one was called Adventures in 4-H. I am guessing set in the 1940 or 50s It was about a brother and sister make preparations all year to go to the fair, and then they win and also get to go to the State Fair. The boy raised "baby beeves", which I didn't quite understand were just beef cattle.

3. I think the other was called Elaine of the Mountains. It was a lot like the part of Heidi where she goes to the city. There was more detail about peasants dress. I am pretty sure she got glasses.

Anyone?

Ive been listening to Sherlock Holmes narrated by Stephen Fry whenever an audiobook has been suitable to my situation for a while now. I'm halfway through The Blue Carbuncle at this point and I think it's my favorite so far. Don't get me wrong, Fry is great from the jump, I regularly have to remind myself that he is playing all the characters, as it were, but I didn't enjoy the first ... [counts]...8 near as much as this.

It's weird how little actual Doyle I have read. I may have read more pastiches and homages. I didn't mean to.