Vintage Children's Books!

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Oh how I love a good book, it's a passion that seemed to hit me when I was a child and has continued throughout my life.

I would sit for hours, just reading, and then re-reading my favorite books.  I would also take blank sheets of paper and trace the images I liked the most, then color them in.

 Suffice it to say that it kept me occupied for long periods of time.

I remember one such time, I was about 11 years old and I was in the living room.  I had taken about a dozen of my loved books and spread them out on the carpet.  I can still see their covers, the bright vivid colors, the innocent looking children going about their days.......I was so engrossed in the tracing of a particular picture that I didn't even notice that a bee was circling around me.

Don't ask me how that bee got in the house, I have no idea.  But there I was, on my knees with my little butt up in the air, coloring away and next thing I know the bee stung me right on the butt cheek.  Yowza!  LOL

I never forgot that moment.  And soon after my grandmother dealt with the stinger, I was right back in the same spot, as if nothing happened.

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But what I loved the most about these books, aside from the cutesy stories, were the illustrations.

So very different from today's children's books.  I much prefer the antique drawings, the families, the flowers, and even the text.  Everything about those books screamed cozy and joy to me.

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 These were the images that etched into my mind.  I always wanted to be the girls in the pictures with the cute flowing dresses, they seemed to have the best of times and go on the greatest adventures.

I probably won't shock you when I tell you that some of my most beloved stories involved little girls doing housework, helping their moms in the kitchen, or in the garden, always with a big smile on their faces.

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 Sometimes I sit and think about the books I read and I get such a strong yearning to re-read them, but unfortunately I no longer have any of those, they were given away over the years as my brothers and I grew up.  But if only I could go back in time, grab those and safely stash them, keep them forever.

Oh I wish!

 

For now I'll just be content in reminiscing about those days, looking online and finding hidden gems that I had forgotten about.

I think I'll start keeping an eye out for these when I'm at Goodwill and used books stores, you just never know what you may come across :)

So tell me, is there a specific book from your childhood that you remember fondly?