"Pinafore Pocket Story Book"(1922)
leno...@yahoo.com
It's full of short stories (some are only a page and a half) and poems.
Very often sticky-sweet, but very imaginative just as often and ideal
to read to preschoolers. It's illustrated by Sophia T. Balcom, whose
other work can be seen here:
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=sophia+balcom
The sections in PPSB are called "Make-Believe & Fancy," "People &
Things," "Four Feet & Fur," "Wings & Fins," & "Fairies & Dreams."
Some of the best stories, IMHO, are in the first section. They are:
1. "The Day There Were No Mothers." A giantess on a rainy day feels
sorry for cheerful mothers stuck with crabby kids and gets her servant
to bring the mothers to her castle in the clouds for cake and peace and
quiet. The servant does so by sending out magic strings with glue on
them, and when we's collected the mothers, he puts them in a basket for
transportation.
4. "The Man Who Made Time." A baker bakes pies that look like clocks,
but his assistants are careless in distributing them, so some people
have too much time and some have none.
7. "Mr. E & the Spelling Man." E resents having to work more than any
letter in the English language, so he goes on strike until the Spelling
Man shows he can write a longish sentence without him - and an
uncomplimentary one at that.
12. "Bobby Balloonfoot." A baby is born with a balloon for a foot. His
parents ask the wise owl for advice. He says: "Let him outside and (let
him go, and like all balloons, he'll come down again)." "But he might
hurt himself!" "Tie him on a featherbed; give him a lunch." The ending
is priceless.
(section 2)
1. "Pretty Miss Perkins." A little girl, Rosemary Blue, keeps hearing
from older kids and adults how pretty the new lady next door is, so she
goes to look. "Under a tree, very near, in a white rocking chair, sat
the pretty Miss Perkins. She had on a black dress. Her hair was gold,
and it was piled high on her head. Her eyes were dark, when she lifted
them from her book. Her nose was a very pointed little nose; her mouth
was as small as a baby's.
"Why, she didn't even have a freckle! She wasn't nearly as
beautiful as mother, who had a great many. And her hair wasn't nearly
as bright as mother's, which was the color of soft red clay. Mother had
a beautiful round nose, and a mouth that could open and laugh easily.
But it was really the freckles that counted. No lady could be really
beautiful without at least a few of those. She turned away from the
hedge in great disappointment."
Other favorite stories of mine from PPSB:
Hungry Mr. Mailbox
The Barnyard Duck
Lady Brown Owl
Who Rang the Doorbell?
The Butterfirefly
Prince of Pancake Island
The Witch's Waste Basket
Three Knocks on the Door (about how the dessert Brown Betty was
invented)
Little Green Field
The Girl Who Fell Splash in a Wash Tub
King of Candy Castle
leno...@yahoo.com
Whoops, I forgot. It's by Miriam Clark Potter, author of the "Mrs.
Goose" series and others. See here.
1. Just Mrs. Goose
2. Mrs. Goose and her funny friends
3. The mouse who liked to read in bed
4. The golden book of little verses (A Big golden book)
5. Little Rabbit's bath; (A Rand McNally book)
6. Twilight tales, ("A Rand McNally book-elf book,")
7. Sally Gabble and the fairies
8. Easter bunny's breakfast. (short story) :
9. Three jumpy kittens, and other tales
10. Queer, dear Mrs. Goose
11. Mrs. Goose of Animaltown
12. Our friend Mrs Goose
13. Mrs. Goose and three-ducks
14. Bedtime stories,
15. No, no, Mrs. Goose!
16. The gigglequicks (Volland sunny book series)
17. Goofy Mrs. Goose
18. Nine rabbits and another
19. 10 rabbits (Wonder books)
20. Mrs. Goose's green trailer (Wonder books)
21. Here comes Mrs. Goose
22. Goodness, Mrs. Goose!
23. Sleepy Kitten,
24. Rhymes of a child's world: A book of verse for children
25. The pinafore pocket story book
26. Captain Sandman, his book of tales and rhymes for children,
27. The Littlebits
There are more than 300 copies of her titles for sale in abebooks.com!
Lenona.