Hold on, sarameg. It's Thursday morning here already, and I wish I could trade time zones with you today.
Mal: Does she understand that? River: She understands. She doesn't comprehend.
'Objects In Space'
Natter 59: Dominate Your Face!
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Shir - Jun 25, 2008 7:42:43 pm PDT #4909 of 10003
"And that's why God Almighty gave us fire insurance and the public defender".
Kathy A - Jun 25, 2008 7:50:48 pm PDT #4910 of 10003
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
(It was an odd series. Generally about 90% of the book was about the person's life as a kid, and then a few pages about what they did as adults. Also, every one was exactly 200 pages. If the text itself didn't get to 200, then there would be timelines or lists of places they lived or other stuff like that thrown onto the end to make it to 200.)
This sounds like the series at my grade 3-5 school that I zipped through back in the mid-70s. They even had a "biography" for Virginia Dare, in which they made up an entire life for her after the Lost Colony disappeared, complete with an explanation for "CROATAN" carved on the tree.
§ ita § - Jun 25, 2008 7:52:40 pm PDT #4911 of 10003
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
The ones on the East Coast aren't populous/seen a lot in popular culture, necessarily.
I had had no idea.
Hil R. - Jun 25, 2008 7:52:49 pm PDT #4912 of 10003
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
My library had these, too! For some reasons the ones about Robert E. Lee, Sitting Bull, and Tecumseh are the ones that stuck in my head, but I must've read at least a dozen of them.
The ones that I remember most are Helen Keller (because I was obsessed with her anyway), Herbert Hoover, and Mary Mapes Dodge. Also Abe Lincoln. I think I read all the ones that the library had, which was probably at least 40 or so.
Amy - Jun 25, 2008 7:53:39 pm PDT #4913 of 10003
Because books.
Are these the little orange cloth-bound books, with silhouettes as illustrations? I had my mom's (including a Virginia Dare one!) and loved them. I think she had Jane Addams, Dolley Madison, Mary Todd, and Clara Barton.
Shir - Jun 25, 2008 7:54:07 pm PDT #4914 of 10003
"And that's why God Almighty gave us fire insurance and the public defender".
Dear Universe,
Please make sure I'll get a ride to the show I'm about to see tonight with my friend. It will make everything better, and much more important, easier.
Sincerely,
She Who Doesn't Even Want To Start Looking At The Maps And Schedules Of The Buses And Taxi She'll Need To Get To The Venue And Back, And Would Love To Wear The New Crush Dress
javachik - Jun 25, 2008 7:54:27 pm PDT #4915 of 10003
Our wings are not tired.
I think I read those same books! Did they have a religious bent by any chance? I remember one on Teddy Roosevelt.
Kathy A - Jun 25, 2008 7:57:51 pm PDT #4916 of 10003
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
I don't remember a lot of religion in them, but it's been a while (almost 35 years!), so I could be mistaken.
Hil R. - Jun 25, 2008 8:00:37 pm PDT #4917 of 10003
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
I don't remember a religious bent, but I might have just kind of put that under "old-fashioned book." I don't recall what color the covers were.
I definitely remember that, in the Hebert Hoover one, his aunt and uncle spoke with "thee" and "thou" and so on.
But the 200 pages thing was consistent. Every single one, they somehow made it to exactly 200 pages.
Hil R. - Jun 25, 2008 8:02:04 pm PDT #4918 of 10003
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
I'm trying to figure out a way to google this series to find out if it had a name. So far, no luck.