~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
April 2, 2014

 ★~Today’s Quote: Life becomes easier when you learn to accept an apology you never got. ~Robert Brault

★~ Children’s Book Day:

International Children’s Book Day (ICBD) is celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children’s books.

Denmark’s most famous author, Hans Christian Andersen, was born on this day in 1805. His life was a true tale of the boy who went from rags to riches. He was born to a poor family; his father, a shoemaker, died when Hans was 11 years old. When he was just 14, Hans left his hometown of Odense, Denmark and traveled to Copenhagen where he, literally, became a starving artist (actor, singer, dancer). It was there that he met the man who became his lifelong friend and benefactor, Jonas Collin. With Collin’s help, Andersen received a royal scholarship and completed his education. By his 25th birthday, Hans was on his way to a writing career that would make him one of the most widely-read authors in the world. His first recognition came for his many plays and novels. Five years later, he penned his first of 168 fairy tales.

★~ Reconciliation Day:

Reconciliation Day was suggested by Ann Landers who wrote, “Since 1989, I have suggested that April 2nd be set aside to write that letter or make that phone call and mend a broken relationship. Life is too short to hold grudges. To forgive can be enormously life-enhancing.”

★~ Peanut Butter and Jelly Day:

The average American consumes 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by the age of 18.  The combination of sweet jelly and salty peanut butter has been a staple in school lunch boxes for over fifty years.

According to one story, American soldiers invented the peanut butter and jelly sandwich during World War II. They decided to combine their bread, jelly, and peanut butter rations into a fabulous new treat. When the soldiers returned home after the war, peanut butter and jelly sales soared.

Celebrate Peanut Butter and Jelly Day, by making this iconic American sandwich for lunch! Or if you would rather here is a recipe for PB&J Pancakes 

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1956 – Two very successful daytime dramas premiered. The Edge of Night and As the World Turns were seen for the first time on CBS-TV.

♥~ 1968 – The science-fiction film “2001: A Space Odyssey” had its world premiere in Washington, D.C.

♥~ 1992 – Mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1725 – Giacomo Casanova writer: History of My Life; Italy’s most famous lover-philanderer. In honor of Casanova birthday: Top 10 romantic movie quotes. 

♥~ 1805 – Hans Christian Andersen author of fairy tales: The Tinder Box, The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor’s New Clothes;

♥~ 1942 – Leon Russell singer: Tight Rope, Lady Blue; songwriter: Superstar [Carpenters], This Masquerade [George Benson]

♥~ 1945 – Linda Hunt Academy Award-winning actress: The Year of Living Dangerously [1983]; NCIS: Los Angeles, Silverado, Dune, Popeye, Kindergarten Cop, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Flying Nun

♥~ 1947 – Emmylou Harris singer: Grammy Award-winning singer

♥~ 1949 –  Ron Palillo,  Welcome Back, Kotter, Laverne & Shirley in the Army, Wind, Snake Eater II: The Drug Buster, Hellgate, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, Surf II, The Invisible Woman

♥~ 1949 – Pamela Reed,  Junior, Kindergarten Cop, The Clan of the Cave Bear, The Right Stuff, The Best of Times, The Goodbye People, The Long Riders, Bob Roberts, Grand, Family Album, The Andros Targets, Getting Out

♥~ 1953 – David Robinson musician: drums: group: The Cars: Drive, Just What I Needed, My Best Friend’s Girl, Good Times Roll, You’re All I’ve Got Tonight, Bye Bye Love, Moving in Stereo

♥~ 1961 –  Keren Woodward singer: group: Bananarama: Cruel Summer, Venus, I Heard a Rumor

♥~  Adam Rodriguez actor: CSI: Miami, Thanks to Gravity, Category 7: The End of the World, Kim Possible, Six Feet Under, Ugly Betty, The Goodwin Games

♥~ 1977 – Michael Fassbender,  actor: Inglourious Basterds, X-Men: First Class, Prometheus, 300, Fish Tank, Jane Eyre [2011], A Dangerous Method, Hunger, Shame

★~ Good to Know:

♥~ Before the introduction of Little Golden Books in 1942, children’s books were not really made for children. They were usually large volumes that were too difficult for young readers to handle or comprehend, and were expensive at $2 to $3 each (about $28 – $42 today). But George Duplaix of the Artist’s and Writer’s Guild, in partnership with Simon & Schuster Publications and Western Printing, wanted to change all that.

♥~ Duplaix had the idea of creating small, sturdy, inexpensive books with fewer pages, simpler stories, and more illustrations just for children. Western was already publishing a line for kids called Golden Books, so they piggy-backed on the marketing and called this new line Little Golden Books.

♥~ The first 12 Little Golden Book  titles were released on October 1, 1942, for a quarter a piece—and they were an instant success. After five months on the market, 1.5 million copies had been sold and many titles were already in their third printing; by 1945, most were in their seventh printing. One of the keys to sales was the fact they were sold in unusual places like department stores, drug stores and supermarkets. This gave busy moms a great way to keep rambunctious kids occupied while shopping, and it was cheap enough to be tacked onto the final bill without much concern.

♥~ THE ORIGINAL 12 TITLES

Three Little Kittens
Bedtime Stories
The Alphabet A – Z
Mother Goose
Prayers for Children
The Little Red Hen
Nursery Songs
The Poky Little Puppy
The Golden Book of Fairy Tales
Baby’s Book
The Animals of Farmer Jones
This Little Piggy

The Poky Little Puppy was and still is the most popular of these original titles, helping it become the best-selling children’s book of the 20th century (14,898,341 copies sold). But Poky isn’t the only Little Golden Book with impressive sales. . Tootle (1945), about a locomotive-in-training, was third with over 8.5 million copies sold. Saggy Baggy Elephant (1947) was #7 with just under 7.5 million, and Scuffy the Tugboat (1955) came in at #8 with 7.3 million.

♥~  Two billion Little Golden Books have been sold since 1942 in nearly every country across the globe. (Though they were banned for many years in the Soviet Union for being “too capitalist.”)

Inflation hit everything and the books couldn’t stay $0.25 forever, so after 20 years the price of Golden Books jumped to $0.29. The price continued to rise over the years, but stayed under a dollar for decades, threatening that threshold in 1986 when the price reached $0.99. Currently, Little Golden Books retail for $3.99. When you consider the buying power of a quarter back in 1942 was about $3.47 in today’s money, they’re still pretty easy on the pocketbook.

♥~ In the beginning, Little Golden Books were either based on classic fairy tales or original stories and characters. But all that changed in 1944, when a licensing agreement was signed with Disney, which has been in place ever since.Along with Mickey, Pluto and the gang, there have been tie-ins with just about every kid-friendly property you can imagine, creating an interesting timeline of children’s interests. The 1940s and ’50s featured cowboy legends like Hopalong Cassidy, Annie Oakley, and Roy Rogers. The Flintstones, Lassie, and Bugs Bunny and friends were widely read throughout the 1960s. The 1970s saw the beginning of another long-standing licensing agreement—Sesame Street—and even a Donny and Marie Osmond book.

♥~ Kids of the 1980s will remember reading Rainbow Brite, Inspector Gadget, and Pound Puppies. The ’90s saw Barney, Pokemon, and Thomas the Tank Engine books, while today, kids can read everything from Dora the Explorer to Dinosaur Train to SpongeBob SquarePants.

♥~ Aside from popular kids’ shows and movies, there have been a handful of corporate tie-ins with Little Golden Books. In 1951, Doctor Dan the Bandage Man included six Johnson & Johnson Band-Aids glued to the title page—1.75 million books were printed, making it the largest first run of any Little Golden Book at the time. Shortly after, a Nurse Nancy edition also sold with Band-Aids.

♥~ In 1952, Texcel Cellophane Tape sponsored Tex and his Toys, which featured a roll of tape on the cover so kids could put together paper cut-out toys. Not to be outdone, Kleenex issued 2.25 million first editions of Little Lulu and Her Magic Tricks in 1954, with a small package of tissues on the front.

♥~  Little Golden Books have also been given away with Happy Meals, Hardee’s Kid’s Meals, Kimbies Diapers, sold with Fisher-Price pull toys, and special edition books were once sold at The Ice Capades.

♥~ Collectors: As with any beloved childhood property, there are many people who collect Little Golden Books. First editions are the most sought-after, but it’s very difficult to properly identify the age of a Little Golden Book, because the copyright date rarely changes from the original printing. So even though your copy of The Monster at the End of this Book (one of the best-selling Sesame Street Little Golden Books) has a copyright date of 1971, it may in fact have been printed in 1990. But there are ways to know if you have a first edition:

If your book has a blue spine, it was published between 1942 and 1947, and the edition number will be on the first or second page.

If there’s a letter near the spine on the lower-right corner of the last page, your book was published between 1947 and 1970. The letter “A” means first edition, “B” is second edition, and so on. If it’s “AA,” it’s the 27th edition, “BB” is the 28th, etc.

If there is a series of letters on the first few pages of the book, it was published between 1971 and 1991. Using the same letter to edition connection (A=first edition, B=second edition), the letter farthest to the left indicates the edition number.

Between 1991 and 2001, Roman numerals appeared on the title page to indicate the year the book was printed. If the number is preceded by an A, it’s a first edition; by an R, it’s a revised edition. If there is no letter, there’s no definitive way to know what edition it is.

Finally, since 2001, the now-standard print edition method has been adopted. On the copyright page you’ll see a list of numbers. The last number on the right is the edition of your book. For example, “10 9 8 7 6 5” would be a fifth edition.

If you ever come across a copy of Little Black Sambo in a stack of Little Golden Books, consider yourself lucky. The book, which retells the 1899 children’s story of a South Indian boy who outsmarts some tigers, has since become controversial due to the use of “sambo” as a racial slur. The Little Golden Book was first published in 1948 and continued to see publication into the 1960s, but has been out of print ever since. The controversy, of course, means the book is highly sought-after by collectors. While a first edition will always fetch the best price—often around $100—even later editions can be found on eBay for $50 and up.

You should also be on the lookout for first editions of the original 12 titles. They can be sold for $100 or more if the book is in exceptional condition and includes the dust jacket. Some special edition books, like the Band-Aid books, or titles that included cut-out toys, paper dolls, or a cardboard puzzle, can sell for about $75 if everything is intact.

While these rarities are high-priced, collecting Little Golden Books is a fairly affordable hobby. Most vintage first editions available for around $15. More modern books and later vintage editions in mint condition can be had for as little as $2 to $3. But if you just want to enjoy the stories, Little Golden Books are a staple at thrift stores and flea markets, where they can often be purchased for, interestingly enough, as low as $0.25.  Collecting Little Golden Books: A Collector’s Identification and Price Guide

#

Off to pick up a couple campers for their last stay at camp, they will soon be moving with their family to Washington State. Yesterday, I waved goodbye to 3 campers and their  family as they drove towards their new west coast home. We had been together through thick, thin, old dogs and puppies.  Enough already. I’ve decided on a new camp policy – no moving. Ever. I know,  that seems a bit extreme especially given this past winter which seems to have cemented a few decision to move. But I am attached to my camp families and their little dogs too.  And frankly it is never the person who calls you at 11p.m to ask if they can speak to their pup for, “just a minute” before they go to bed.  So no more moving. Once you are part of the camp family, you stay a part of the camp family. Wonder if my new policy will scary any new people off. . .

Wishing everyone a wonderful Wednesday!

Odd Loves Company