A Haven for Vee

Monday, June 23, 2008

I Remember Laura Week 4

Week four will be about sharing books and music. Laura had a great love of books and music. Books were a rare treat in Laura's young life and she devoured them when she could get them. Music was a part of her every day life be it Ma humming as she worked, Pa's fiddle playing in the evenings, the family singing together, or Mary's organ music. What songs and books are special to you. Do you have a favorite memory that you associate with a book or song? Link up this week and share it. Also, tell why you love the Little House books and any memories you have associated with them.

First of all, I can not believe that this is the final week of "I Remember Laura." This has been so much fun and I have learned so much and I don't want it to end! I may have to get out my tissues and bon-bons after this posting and have myself a moment.

Like most folks, I have collections of books. You may be surprised to see what they are. I have all of my mother's Nancy Drew and Bobbsey Twins books, but I also have my grandmother's collection of Ruth Fielding. Ruth was the Nancy of my grandmother's day. It isn't a complete collection, but these were wonderful fun for me to read when I was a girl partly because the language was a bit more challenging and I enjoyed that aspect and all the adventures.



You can see that by the time Ruth was headed for college and living at Cameron Hall, the book covers had been updated.

Here are a few illustrations...










The series began in 1913...



The last book in my collection is dated 1928, which means that my grandmother was reading them until she was at least 19 years old. Interesting...

I also collect basal readers. When I was learning to read, I loved them. Of course, they have fallen way out of favor now, but there was nothing more charming to me than Tuffy, Boots, oh Dick and Jane, too. Perfect homes, perfect families, perfect pets, perfect clothes, perfect, perfect, perfect. :D



I've saved the best for last. This Laura Ingalls Wilder book was given to the school library by a former teacher who was especially fond of the series. I rescued it when it was about to be culled. (I'll have more to say about this in a few weeks. ;>)







Music? Miss Sandy included music in this week's assignment? I am certain that I've discussed this before somewhere...

Some of my earliest and fondest memories were of falling asleep listening to my grandparents play all the old music. My grandmother is a skilled, trained, pianist having studied for 12 years and my grandfather was a self-taught fiddler. She learned how to chord so that she could accompany his many tunes from "Turkey in the Straw" to "Down in the Valley." It was always magical to drift off that way. I am certain that Laura and her sisters found it so when Pa played his fiddle so long ago.

Thanks for reading today...please join the tour at Quill Cottage!

26 comments:

  1. How wonderful to have these well-treasured books. I wonder if young girls still read these books today. Or maybe they have their own updated heroines to read about.

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  2. What wonderful book collections you have! My readers from elementary school were Alice, Jerry, and Jip (Gip?). I love all of the Little House books and during my stint as a school 'librarian' I managed to interest the children in the Box Car series. We are constantly weeding books from our shelves at work...it makes me a little sad that some of these treasures will no longer be readily available to the public.

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  3. You have some really nice book collections.

    As a kid I loved all the Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew books and read all of them.
    I read the books from the library and only had a couple of my own.
    I have collected them over the years and now I have 54 Bobbsey Twins and 52 of Nancy Drew.

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  4. Oh lovely, lovely post, Vee! I love old books, especially children's books and your collection is so wonderful! Look at all the craftmanship that went into a book from the Ruth Fielding series era. I'm excited to hear that the protagonist went to college -- so unusual in that day!

    I know what you mean about "culled" books! So much history is being thown away.

    Hugs, Pat

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  5. Wow! I love your collection of old books. My daughter has read some of the Nancy Drew books from the library. You probably can't get the Ruth Fielding books from the library any more. That's too bad. It looks like a good series. My niece plays the fiddle and has played Turkey in the Straw. I love it. :o)

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  6. Thanks for sharing your wonderful book collection. I adore old children's books too, but most of mine are from thrift or antique shops. How very special to have books from your Mom and Grandma.

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  7. You really do have some treasures there! I wish I could reclaim all my favorites of by-gone years...books are meant to be kept.

    And I like your memories of dozing off to the familiar sounds of your grandparents playing "Down in the Valley".

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  8. Oh, Vee, what a scrumptuous post! I love old books (actually I love books in general)... but I have my mother's Nancy Drews, Trixie Beldens, and Bobbsey Twins ...and now my daughter is reading them. This just thrills my mother's heart, of course!! But you have really tickled the artist in me showing those fabulous illustrations. Aren't they just amazing! Thanks for sharing all those lovely pics. Have a blessed day...

    Love ya,
    Christi

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  9. I don't know how I missed them, but somehow I never got into Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey twins! I'll have to check them out some time. I have enjoyed catching up on other children's classics as an adult. And I see we both loved Dick and Jane!

    Thank you so much for searching for the book about Merry from England that I had mentioned!! That was so thoughtful. I am not sure if that book is it or not -- it sounds like it very well could be! I marked it on Amazon but I am going to check the library first. That would be so neat if it is! Thanks again!

    I can't believe this blogathon has come to an end, either. I have enjoyed it so much. It makes me want to read Little House all over again! I have enjoyed meeting you.

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  10. "Books were a rare treat in Laura's young life and she devoured them when she could get them."

    -Oh sigh- We really need to remember something like this. We {of all ages} who have books at our finger tips almost, all the time. We can purchase favorites. And always, there is the public Library System, to use.

    I wish I could needlepoint when I see something like that first sentence. It's one of those things which deserves to be kept front-and-center, for us.

    When a T-storm takes out our electricity, we pay attention to all it does for us, every day. And say, we will remember to more appreciate out lights, our internet, our tv, etc.

    But how often are we reminded about our ease of gaining reading material? Not enough, methinks...

    Thank you for reminding me...

    And you old books are precious! If books can 'feel' anything, I'm sure they are very happy, to be taken care of by you and loved. :-)

    Mari-Nanci
    'Smilnsigh' blog

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  11. Mmmm, I see I did not proof-read my comment. -sigh- Please be so kind as to add 'R' and etc., here and there, which I left out. :-(


    Mari-Nanci
    'Smilnsigh' blog

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  12. I love that you have such wonderful book collections, but I would expect no less from you dear friend! How great to have one of the early Little House books. I like the early illustrations better than the newer ones.

    Just to let you know, we will have one more link up post this coming Monday to share family heirlooms and to announce the give away winner. Be sure and drop by on Friday to sign up!

    I'll be in touch about that recipe idea. Have a great day!

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  13. What a wonderful collection of books Vee! I love old books, they are like friends ~ I love the look and feel of them...xxoo, Dawn

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  14. Those are some lovely books you have there! Thank you so much for sharing them with us!

    Hugs...
    Jan

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  15. What a wonderful collection of books you have. Gosh I remember Dick and Jane. You brought back lovely memories for me! Wasn't it great growing up with music? The I-Pod generation has missed out on so much.

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  16. Great collection, V! I'm not familiar with Ruth Fielding - I'll have to keep my eye out for it in my junking... Vickie

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  17. I love your collection of books...we used to have the Bobbsey Twins books...Lord knows what happened to them. I have the Little House collection although its a newer set I bought from Scholastic..I should actually start reading them...

    I hope you had a great weekend...did you??
    Hugs,
    Robin

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  18. I've just come from Sandy's. This is a lovely post. Nancy Drew is one of my very favorites. I also loved the Betsy Tacy series. The music is exquisite.

    Nancy

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  19. Thanks for dropping by. I love your books. I remember sitting by a pond reading Little House books while my parents fished. Aren't books such wonderful friends? They have been with me through thick and thin and I get to go all over the world with them. Thanks for sharing yours. I always enjoy your blog.

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  20. What a treasure trove of books...how blessed you are....

    Thank you for visiting with me...I do love our country and I am very concerned for our nation....I want my grandchildren to have the sweet privilege of freedom of worship, safety and all the blessings I've enjoyed.....I fear for our country.

    I pray that our Lord will have mercy on us and not give us the leader we deserve....Betty

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  21. wonderful memories and such well preserved books. My goodness I feel my age as I see some of those books in my shelf...but then of course, they were my parent's primers etc. HA HA

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  22. I still have my Bobbsey Twins books. And honey Bunch and Norman too. Not to mention Enid Blyton. Sigh. Those were good days!

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  23. What a wonderful collections. I have never before heard of Ruth Fielding but I will seek her out.
    Thanks for a great post.

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  24. Oh you have some real precious treasures here....

    Laura Ingalls is a heroine and role model for any young lady of today.....far better than any of today's crop, I'd say...

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  25. One of my favorite old books is called "The Luckiest Girl" by Beverly Cleary. It was published in 1958. I read it about 30 or so years ago and still own it today. I also read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, etc. I tried to get my daughter to read these books, too. I couldn't (and still can't) understand why she wouldn't get into them. These books helped to teach me the joys of reading when I was young.

    I love seeing your collections. I can feel the history and the hours of pleasure you got from them and I positively love hearing that your grandma read some of the same books you later enjoyed. How cool is that?

    Kari

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  26. What a lovely collection!
    I LOVE your top banner as well. Very nice!

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