Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Welcome to our house

Pull up a chair, get comfortable with a mug of hot chocolate and let's talk about books. My name is Jill, republishing books is what I do – the ones worth reading and sharing with our children, even if they are fifty years old! Favorite books are like old friends, having them in hand again brings back times from our youth spent buried in books.

In future posts I'll bring news of upcoming books and special items we'll be adding to our Purple House editions, such as notes from the authors, extra drawings from the illustrators, and possibly interviews with them. If there's something you want to see here, ask! It might be possible to bring here for you :–)

Suggest books. Let's discuss them. What did you read as a child? Is it hard to find now? Who read to you, how old were you? Please share what you remember from those days, I'd love to hear about them.

I'll get us started, when I was little my favorite was Mr. Pine's Purple House. I remember sitting on my dad's lap when I was three, looking for the picture which showed fifty white houses all in a line on Vine Street. I loved knowing Mr. Pine wanted his house to be different from everyone else's.

As I grew older I adored the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She enjoyed so many simple things in life, no phones or tvs for her! I imagined myself growing up as Laura in her dugout on Plum Creek.

What about you? What books were important to you?

19 comments:

Tricia said...

Hello, I'm Tricia O from the FIAR board. I love your blog, and my favorite book that I remember from my childhood is Miss Suzy, so I am so pleased I was able to order it from you! Thank you so much for all that you do. Have a happy Thanksgiving and a joyous holiday season!

Bonnie said...

One of my students asked if I could find a book his family reads every Christmas Eve entitled THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE SPRINKLE SNITCHER. When I checked Amazon.com I saw that used copies sell for $200 and up. I thought I would see if you had plans to reprint it. Imagine my surprise when I found that MY favorite out of print book is now available: THE BLUEBERRY PIE ELF! Thank you! - an elementary school librarian

Jill said...

Bonnie you're not the first person to ask for this one and I will look into it :) Glad to hear you like Elmer, I love his story too!

trinabambina said...

We just read Mr. Pine and my kids really liked it! I too, loved Laura and reading about her life. I also loved Black Beauty and all those "horse" books. My mom used to take us to the library every Monday. I read so fast that I usually got to read my books twice, before Monday came again! Thanks for all of your work!!

barbie ann said...

Wow amazing what you do to revive books from long ago.I am in awe.I have a dream to write a children book a dream I have had for a while but after My mom recently passed,I realize I need to fullfill that dream just as you have.Wow how did you start a business like that?If you dont mind me asking.I was wondering do you just recopy the story? I saw your article in new paper.I was so thrilled about it.I live in Cleburne,Tx south of Fort Worth,Tx.
Keep on making the world a better place with your work.God has blessed you & I am looking for something worth while like that.

Diane said...

I was reading the comments and smiled. I have a very old discarded copy of the Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snatcher that I use with my first graders every year. We then decorate sugar cookies too. A book I have been looking for is Mousekin's Golden House. I found copies, but they are too expensive. I would love to see that one returned to print.

ma P said...

Hi Jill,
My 2 favorite books from elementary school age in the 50's were Make Way for Ducklings, which is still in print, and an obscure little book that I'm not even sure about the title. I remember it as Red Hot, the little red horse (or pony), but it could be something else. If I remember correctly, the red horse was part of a merry-go-round, and Red Hot wished he could run free. The years have rusted the details, but I do remember that book and how much I loved it. I didn't own it, but had checked it out of the school library. I searched for it a few years ago, but came up empty.
May God Bless your work!
Phyllis Winn

Jill said...

Thanks everyone for the nice comments!! :-) It's so good hearing what books you enjoyed. A few other people have also asked for Mousekin. The Red Hot book sounds fun, I'm not familiar with it.

Unknown said...

I think that the story about a merry go round horse is titled something like "the run away pony" The parents book club that published Miss suzy and other books has some wonderful titles from the 70's and 80's. i believe that there are a few witch stories by Wendy ______ that are out of print that would ber amazing to restore and also "the pink motel" which was my favorite book as a child. I am interested in the republishing large books 365 stories"and a similar large book the Christmas stories. I have bookmarked this site and thank you. Susan

Unknown said...

Hi Jill -

I think what you're doing is great! I have been looking for Pierre Probst's "Caroline" series (i.e Caroline and Her Friends, etc.). Can't find any English versions for less than $300!

Christine

Stevie said...

Hi Jill,

Kudos to you and your company for bringing back out-of-print children's books. I work with elementary kids as a counselor and know that books are a great way to teach life lessons.

Have you or your bloggers ever heard of a long-ago Christmas favorite of mine called The Tiniest Angel or The Littlest Angel (not the one by Charles Tazewell) or something like that? The story is about an angel named Touslehead (blond or brown curls) who has nothing to give to the baby Jesus at his birth, so he polishes his star to be so bright that it is chosen to be the Christmas star. It may have even been a pop up. I had this book in the late 50's or early 60's. Don't know an author. If I could find more info or locate a copy, I might try to persuade you to reprint!

Stevie

Unknown said...

i have been trying t0 find a book from childhood school days called racky the runaway rocking chair it was part of a series there was one about a sofa too this was from the 1950's and i lived in virginia and kentucky

please help
anne

Jill said...

Hi Anne, Amazon has a few copies of Adventures of the Runaway Rocking Chair, from a cover photo it says it's part of the Happy Home Series. Maybe this is the book you're looking for? It's by Howard Garis. I also like to search for used books at abebooks.com

Hi Christine, I've heard of the Caroline series but have never actually seen a copy. It looks like the Golden Treasury book belongs to Random House, so it's best to ask them for a reprint.

ibpurpledragon said...

The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek
All the Mr. Bass's Plantatoid books
Tom Swift
Heinlein, Asimov
Pick of the Literate
http://bookrevues.blogspot.com/
Bill

CJ said...

Hello Jill! I found your website in Facebook while searching for "Jellybeans for Breakfast" by Miriam Young illustrated by Beverly Komoda. I owned the book as a child and LOVED it. Funny thing is, I didn't even like jellybeans! I just liked the adventure and the illustrations. Now it can't be found in good condition for under $200 and from what I can tell there are throngs of people out there who would love to find it at a more reasonable price. It would be amazing to have it re-printed so we could share it with our babies and our babies' babies. Thank you for the work you do. I think it is wonderful that you are saving memories and works of art. Kudos to you and your group!

Unknown said...

Hi Jill.
I loved the book, Noisy Nancy Norris by Lou Ann Gaeddert 1965, I remember my mom reading that book and I acting like an elephant with my mom's loaf pans on my feel & hands.
I also love the Mr. Pine books which I purchased from your website--thanks for the memories!

amgillette said...

I second the request for Miriam Young's book Jellybeans for breakfast - my favorite picture book as a kid.

Anonymous said...

I loved Maria Gripe's "The Glassblower's Children" . For picture books "What the Wind Told".

Sharon Robertson said...

We started reading the Deerfoot series of books by Edward S. Ellis to our boys when they were 4 and 6. There are 4 sets of three books each. Each set has one common character, Deerfoot - an Indian. They were written in the late 1800s and have wonderful dry humor. They are difficult to find and are expensive but a great find. Here is a list of the books:

The “Boy Pioneer” Series :
Ned in the Woods Ned on the River Ned in the Block House

The “Log Cabin” Series :
The Lost Trail Camp-Fire and Wigwam Foot-prints in the Forest

The “Deerfoot” Series :
The Hunters of the Ozark The Camp in the Market The Last War Trail

The "New Deerfoot" Series:
Deerfoot in the Forest
Deerfoot on the Prairie
Deerfoot in the Mountains

There are some sites that have reprints, or you can find them on other sites for sale.

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