I believe this was my first day of first grade (yes, I was and am tall). I think my mom is actually applauding the fact that my sister Janet and I are going back to school with our nifty new shoes, socks, and lunchboxes.

I mostly took the summer off from blogging – but definitely not from writing. I actually got a lot of that done. Now it’s back to school again and back to blogging for me. I will soon be visiting schools in L.A., San Francisco, Minneapolis and Chicago on a book tour sponsored by Humphrey’s publisher, Penguin. I have other dates coming up here in Los Angeles throughout the fall.

If you teachers, students and parents are having trouble transitioning back to school, check out Humphrey’s latest adventure: School Days According to Humphrey. Our hamster hero, Humphrey, is SHOCKED-SHOCKED-SHOCKED at the changes he finds in Room 26 as a new school year begins.

 Pooh Corner friends … and me (pregnant)!

It’s still strange to me to think of how much of my life has been intertwined with Winnie the Pooh. While I always had an awareness of Pooh, I don’t recall reading the books when I was a child. By the time the Disney films (and the first ones were charming) came out, I was way too old for them.

Still, why was the first book I wrote at age seven called “Teddy Bear in the Woods?” And the sequel, “Teddy Bear and Tallulah?”I was inspired to write the books on my own, gave them to my parents and told them “I’m going to be a writer.” 

I didn’t think about Pooh or bears for many years … until I was working at the Disney Studios in advertising. There was something new going on at the studio back then:  a little thing called The Disney Channel. I had moved from Disneyland to L.A. with the thought that I might like writing for TV. And I knew the people involved with developing shows for the channel.  I had been mentored by a much older, experienced writer/director/producer named Frank Brandt, who was freelancing at Disney. He managed to get the job of producing the first children’s show on The Disney Channel: Welcome to Pooh Corner. Not only did I know Frank, I knew the executive developing the show because we were both in a yoga class together on the lot.  So when Frank ran my name by her as a potential writer for the series, she was open to it, even though I had no credit I wrote some sample scripts. They were fun … and they were well-received.  Voila, I ended up writing 90 episodes, was associate producer, and my TV career was launched. Thanks to Frank Brandt and Caroline Hay!

After that, I wrote over 200 episodes of children’s TV shows and won a bunch of awards, including an Emmy.  And I also wrote books about Winnie the Pooh for Western Publishing. Three different series!

When I was planning my trip to see friends in Caterham (Surrey) after World Book Day, I was pretty excited when Min suggested an outing to the original Pooh Corner. Pooh Corner? That’s where it all started for me! And so on a sunny March morning, we set out for Hartfield, Sussex and the beautiful Ashdown Forest.  TO BE CONTINUED ….

Like many readers, my long love affair with books may have started with a Golden Book! How great to write my name in it … even if I still had trouble with my Ys. What Golden Book stands out in your memory? I know there’s at least one.

No, these three books haven’t been banned. They’re just old and out of print. They weren’t classics, like many of the books I loved as a child. But as the worn and taped edges of these books show, they were well-loved. If you want to read them, you’ll have to come to my house!

But the point of including them in my children’s book-blogging is that, though most of my favorites from childhood are classics, there are many less-than-classic books that provide comfort, life lessons and just pure pleasure – and that’s okay, too. (As long as the books aren’t junk.)

I was a bit inaccurate a few posts ago when I said our family didn’t own many books. I have quite a nice collection of inexpensive Golden Books and their predecessors – Wonder Books from Albert Whitman Publishing in Racine, WI, and Bonnie Books from John Martin’s House, part of the James and Jonathan Company in Kenosha, WI. Was Wisconsin once the heart of U.S. publishing? (I don’t think so.) They are mass market books, but like the more well-known children’s favorites I’ve written about so far, they made my imagination soar. I studied the illustrations until my eyeballs ached.

I loved Hucklebones, the clumsy horse who wanted to learn to dance so he could go to the Steeplechase Ball. An encounter with a huge family of bunnies eventually helps him conquer his problem. I especially liked the ribbons in his tail as he went to the dance. The book was published in 1949 by Whitman Publishing. It was written by Mickey Klar Marks and illustrated by Irma Wilde.

(Note the red taped edges.)

The other two battered books I remember well have an interesting cultural connection. They are both Television Books, published by John Martin’s House, also in 1949. (I read these in the 50s – but I have an older sister.) Our family didn’t own a television until about 1950 and they were pretty rare in 1949. We weren’t the first or the last in our neighborhood to have one. The “television” aspect of these books was a piece of plastic over a little window on the cover and a little wheel on the side of the book to move it. The wheels are long gone and only a vestige of plastic remains and I’ve kind of forgotten what it did. There are little lines on the plastic. Was it supposed to simulate a blurry black-and-white TV with squiggly lines?

Forget TV – what I loved about these books were the illustrations. I wish I could put up all the spreads from The Choo-Choo Train (illustrations by Oscar Fabres). They capture the glory days of train travel and a very different America. Of course, it was that 1950s- fictional-idealized America. Still it makes me look forward to our 10 day train trip through the Scottish Highlands coming up in early September.

Hesperus really tickled my fancy. Most publishers today shun characters which aren’t humans or animals. However, Hesperus (a wreck of car) was as vividly alive as any character I remember. I loved Lily Lamppost and the very large Bumpkin family. Hesperus gets cleaned up in the end and has a whole new life ahead of him.  

These three books really grabbed me and got my imagination going in a big way.  Thanks, Wisconsin!

(The lamppost says “Turn Slowly” – that’s where the wheel was. I guess we didn’t pay attention to the sign! Note the TV Screen on the garage.)

How could anyone who grew up in the 50s (or earlier) fail to list Ferdinand the Bull as a favorite book? Everyone loved Ferdinand. The tale of a peace-loving bull who loves smelling the flowers more than fighting in the bullring, The Story of Ferdinand was a popular book for many years and was made into an animated short by Disney. You can see it here.  (Warning – it doesn’t capture the look of the book.)

The story was by Munro Leaf and the illustrations by Robert Lawson. Lawson will definitely be coming up again in my list of favorites. I remember Leaf for something besides Ferdinand. (By the way, as a young reader, I thought Munro Leaf was a thrilling name!) He wrote a children’s feature in the Ladies’ Home Journal about the watchbird. It became part of our family lexicon – I can still hear my mother saying “This is a watchbird watching you.” The watchbird phrase stayed in our family so long, it still comes to mind when I see a child misbehaving. Reading Mother’s McCall’s and Ladies’ Home Journal was a big  part of my childhood. I especially loved the paper doll, Betsy McCall, from McCall’s – I thought Betsy and I were so much alike. Or maybe I just wanted to be like her. After all, our names were similar and we both had dark hair. Another book Betsy figured prominently in my reading life – I will get to her in a bit.

Back to Ferdinand – aren’t Lawson’s pen and ink drawings gorgeous? And how he skewers the bullfighters and bandoleros! Still, for today’s generation, I’m thinking Ferdinand may not sit so well. Parents wouldn’t want to have to explain bullfighting to children, whereas we were raised knowing it was a part of Spanish and Mexican culture.  During my childhood, books about different cultures were very popular (see the previous post). And pre-globalization, the changes between cultures were much greater.

Still, the story of a peace-loving bull who bucks the system and frustrates the status quo of bullfighting delighted me. Hey, I’m a Taurus! Last weekend, my husband casually mentioned loving Ferdinand when he was a child. It’s a common bond I didn’t know about.