The Raft You Cannot See

"The Raft You Cannot See" by David Pippenger.

Someone related this account ten-plus years ago. It taught me an important lessom about letting go of a challenge we can't yet face and being patient while waiting for the actual solution to our "unsolvable problems".

I vaguely remembered David's account (below) but it had blended into a similar story--also involving someone stranded after losing a battle against rapids. Which details belonged to which? I decided not to post either until I had at least one of the accounts sorted out.

Here at last is David's complete account,

The Raft We Cannot See by David Pippenger 

"This is a true story, albeit the short version.

A man found himself floating down the rapids in a river at the bottom of a canyon, miles from anywhere, in the middle of a wilderness area with his ankle broken in half.

Having been trained on how to get out of the rapids, he determined that he would get to the shore, and he did.

Not having been trained in what to do with a broken ankle in the bottom of a canyon...he determined that he would walk out of the canyon and up the steep, rocky path just as he had come down.

He did not.

You see, his ankle had the deciding vote, and it had decided that walking up a rocky slope was not in its best interest.

So, in an effort to appease the broken ankle, the man tried to walk using a crutch made from a tree.

Which was a brilliant idea...

If he had been walking on a smooth sidewalk going downhill for a short distance.

But he wasn’t.

He was next to a river at the bottom of a canyon, miles from anywhere, in the middle of a wilderness area with his ankle broken in half.

So he decided to think of every possible solution and to choose the best one.

From helicopters to climbing teams, he imagined every possible means to get out of the canyon that was miles from anywhere, in the middle of a wilderness area—with his ankle broken in half.

But while he was thinking, a raft came around the corner.

Which was interesting, because even though he had tried to think of every possible solution he had never thought of a raft.

But that wasn’t all.

Because in the raft was a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician.

Which was particularly interesting, because the man with the broken ankle didn’t know there was such a thing as a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician and he certainly didn’t expect one to be on a raft that he hadn’t even thought of.

Well, the Wilderness EMT made a splint with duct tape and branches from a tree and put the man in his raft, and later that night they camped at a beautiful spot on the river and ate chicken fajitas and strawberry shortcake.

Which was interesting, because the man with the broken ankle thought that he would be eating the dehydrated eggs that he had in his backpack.

Then he realized that a lot of things he hadn’t thought of and a lot of things that he had thought of had turned out in ways that he never thought out. 

Which is why I am telling you this story.

I was the man with the broken ankle.

And that day next to the river at the bottom of a canyon, miles from anywhere in the middle of a wilderness area with my ankle broken in half...

I learned that I could not possible imagine all of the amazing things that were in store for me in my life.

Proust says that we shouldn’t look for new vistas, but instead look with fresh eyes.

He’s right.

No matter what life is throwing at us, there is a raft around the corner that we cannot see.

Don’t look for it; it cannot be seen.

Don’t predict when it will appear; it’s not on your timetable.

Don’t doubt that it exists, for doubts will cloud your eyes and cause you to give up before it arrives.

Don’t give up; give in.

Give in to the idea that positive events are in your future, even if you can’t see them.

Give in to the idea that positive events are in your future, even if you can’t imagine what they could possibly be.

There’s a raft around the corner.

Lania's Tree

Lania's Tree

Here's an extract from Narentan Tumults 2.0, "Earthbow" 

plus its "Lania's Tree" picture-puzzle named after the Young One character, Lania*

This small Earthbow extract introduces the picture-puzzle. Or the other way around.

"Lania, what does Harone mean by the ways of the Wildfolk?"

"Better to ask what do the Young Ones mean by the ways of the Wildfolk...

"So tell me what've I got to learn. And... How long's it going to take? I guess time's kind'a short, with Cenoc and the Stones and all.

The Young One shook her head. "Impatience will just slow you!"

The Outworlder groaned. "You sound like Harone.

Lania studied the expression on his face, She smiled."He's a wise man for an Elder. Perceptive anyway."

Struggling to sit back up, she asked, "Would you like your first lesson now?"

Sandy gasped, "Hey, wait! You don't need to... All right, let me help you then."

Lania shook her head. "Nothing too strenuous. Don't worry. Here..."

She grasped Sandy's hand and placed its palm to the teintree trunk against which she was leaning.

"You must learn to feel as the plants and trees do. To sense them growing, their delight in rain and good earth and the sun upon their leaves. The pleasure and challenge of unfurling a tightly curled leaf. The gentle touch of the footfall of bee or ant or butterfly upon stem or flower. The opening of your branches like arms to gather in your foster children: bird and squirrel, ragos and stoah."

I recommend you enlarge the "Lania's Tree" thumbnail below as much as you're able.

"Lania's Tree" is a picture-puzzle which will eventually appear in "Earthbow", 2nd edition. The tree's shape was inspired by a 30+ year old newspaper clipping celebrating the oldest tree ... somewhere.

How many 'creatures' can you find? Don't look to me for an answer! I have no idea how many there are. Someone new to us may not be new to Lania's Tree. You or I may once have known them from some other tale but have forgotten even the tale itself years ago. They come back to remind us of our memories. Once in a while a bored walkabout slips away from its tale and settles on Lania's Tree for a nap. Those are the most challenging to find and the easiest to forget between visits. I'm sure that I've forgotten many residents that I've forgotten.  Lania's Tree has a bit of a sense of humor that way.

Lania paused to smile down at the stoah. Khiva wrapped her tail about the Young One's wrist and pulled her hand back down for more patting.

"Then, too, you must learn how the bokhorn and stag delight in their gracefulness and speed, and how..."

Khiva yawned and added,  "...how stoahs don't like people who are slippery-slidy and who call stoahs 'what's' instead of 'who's'. 

                                          ---an extract from "Earthbow" (part 2 of 5 parts)

What I Wrote When

Before the 'really almost completed, really' Marooned (Narenta Tumults #1.5) and 

before my (published) Tree House Tales collection of short works, I wrote a 120,000+ word fantasy saga titled, Earthbow (Narenta Tumults #2.0) which is currently out-of-print.

* Fania from "Marooned" is not the same person as Lania from Earthbow. This is just a coincidence--the novels were written decades apart.

Smatterings, plus a "The Gryphon & the Basilisk" extract

          Smatterings, plus an extract from Narenta 3: 
                 The Gryphon & the Basilisk, volume 2

Smatterings

The Mica Keyhole
This story fragment was inspired by the artistry of Amy Brener (Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts; Art and Science Journal (circa Dec 15 2013)

Amy uses “cast resin, concrete and pieces of trash...” plus “...glass and fresnel lens to create light sensitive sculptures”. I found a photo of one of her pieces in A&SJ which inspired the following story snippet. 

"We straggle to a stop within the last sheltering trees & study the cliffside blocking our way.

The slanted crease we thought a passageway is lichen & plants none of us recognize. What now? 

Slivers of winter sun peek down through high branches & wander over our barrier. 

First one and then another of us cries out, 

"Look!" 

"There!" 

"Did you see?" 

We rush toward the fugitive sparkle. 

"A keyhole?" 

"Impossible!" 

"Why here?" 

"Does it matter? We have no key." 

"Wait! Look through it!"

(If you have any idea about what happens next, go for it!)

A Children's Story in cognito

I've been trying to find the title of a YA book I read decades ago. Not remembering it is still driving me crazy! (Now you know how I got this way.)

Here's what I remember:

Gargoyles(?) take over a town. The adults, including the mayor, don't notice so it's up to the children to save everyone. 

The gargoyles are either pretending to be the mayor and the other adults or they're controlling them.

One of the children gets counsel from a sage-like person or animal, who tells the child to "Call a spade a spade."

Which may mean if you use the real name of the gargoyle --or its captive adult(?)--the humans become their normal selves. The gargoyles's lose their power and their true appearances are revealed, making it easy for everyone to chase them out of the village.

Lipstick Shoes

Once upon a time, I dreamed that I was going somewhere fancy in a lacy dress. Someone suggested some shoes but I said I had a kit for making them. 

Evidently, a company sent me a free trial offer where you drew the shape of the shoes that you wanted to wear on your feet. When satisfied with the design, you did something or other and the drawn pattern became actual shoes. 

The drawing material was very much like a tube of lipstick --in an obnoxious pink like fake strawberry whip. I wanted to create elegant sandles but produced worn loafers. I wanted to "erase" part of the stuff but had no idea how to do it.

Which seems a good segue into the Gryphon and the Basilisk extract.

Narenta 3: 
                 The Gryphon & the Basilisk, volume 2

Have you read fantasies where a woman resists wearing a dress? I read comments to a blog entry once where that was being discussed at length.

Strange. I’ve commited a millions words to p/a/p/e/r/ back-up disk, but I don't remember  writing a scene where a strong female character rejected wearing an elaborate dress as long as it was in keeping with the situation. Earthen visitors are champions of the Narentan people against the Shadow during their brief visits to the other planet. Since a few of my characters come from Earth, they usually arrive in jeans. Some of the "Outworlders" wear chain or hardened leather "on the job".

There are exceptions.

Here are two connected scenes drawn from "The Gryphon and the Basilisk 2", chapter 40, which together shows such an exception. The character names have been changed from those I used in G&B. Hey, you never know! The Gryphon & the Basilisk may be published some day. All three/four volumes of it. By which time maybe the covers should feature flying pigs?

These extracts take place on Narenta. (duh)

The two Earth women mentioned here were captives of the "bad guys" for several weeks and were freed by some Narentans just a bit over a week ago.

They and their rescuers are now in a "safe house"--or so they believe--and an evening of celebration has been planned by their host.


“Good! You’ll go if it will help Boris.” Waros grinned. “And Angela will go if I borrow a gown for her from the archon’s daughter.”

Angela nodded. “I hope he has one. I’ll go anyway, Waros. You two are up to something and I want to be in on it this time.”

Laurie laughed. “Nothing mysterious.”

“Ooh! That means it is mysterious!”

Laurie followed Waros to the door of their room. Before the fighter could open the door, she stopped him. 

With a glance behind her at Angela, she whispered, “Do you really think this will force his hand? Won’t he just stay up here?”

***

(Later)
Her arms uplifted, Angela spun around in a circle.

“How’s this? Is this in style? I thought the skirt would be all puffed up and full like Cinderella’s.”

Her gown was nearly form-fitting to the waist and only slightly flared below that, the dark blue satin gored in flaming red.

Laurie mused, “You don’t think Cregic will find that a little overwhelming?”

Anglea asked in perplexity. “Cregic? Oh, that kid.” She smiled. “Yeah, I suppose he will.” The smile became a rather silly grin.

Laurie whispered, “Whoa! Angela the vamp? Remember, we have a job to do! Don't get distracted!

"Someone’s at the door. Can you get it? I can't find my shoes.”

Angela opened the door.

“Wow! Lord Boris, so glad you decided to go down after all! Is that what the best-dressed enchanters are wearing this year? You look great in navy. That’s a neat lion around your neck, too.”

She winked over her shoulder, then turned back to him. 

“Why Boris, we match! Navy and navy! It must be a sign.”

She stretched her arms toward him, and sighed in a seductive accent, “Darling, come with me to the Casbah and we’ll make beautiful music together.”

Boris gaped at her in astonishment.

Angela shrugged and pointed. “Oh, don’t worry about Laurie! We’ll just tell her it was bigger than the both of us.”

She reached up and gave the perplexed enchanter a peck on the cheek. Lifting her weapon, she slipped past him into the hallway and out of sight.

Boris stared after her a moment and then turned to Laurie. He whispered, “Do you think it wise to let her go downstairs like that?”

“Oh, she’s not drunk! It’s stuff from old movies. She’s just horsing around.”

“Horsing?”

“Teasing.”

Melwood Forest in The Provence of The Two Rivers, Tethra, Narenta

I Steal Only From the Best

I Steal Only From the Best

aka

A Salute to All Who NaNo

aka

My Live Journal "Scribblings" entry, Nov 1 2012

stolen in turn from

My November 2008 "Scribblings" entry

Waste not, want not.

(NaNo is short for National Novel Writing Month, which just happens to run Nov 1 to 30 each year. To "NaNo” is also a verb which can be defined as "to write and/or perform writing-related activities by participants in NaNoWriMo between Nov 1 & 30 of any given year followed by a 30 days group nap.”

I haven't participated in a NaNoWriMo for about three years now, since I already have several files filled with manuscripts waiting to be completed. "The Gryphon & the Basilisk" made a huge jump forward, thanks to a NaNoWriMo. Four other manuscripts began as NaNo projects which are currently just a whisker away from completion--namely, "Marooned"***, "Da Boid, da Tree-Rat, 'n' da Loser", and my family memoir. The fourth not-quite-finished NaNo manuscript, "The Peace Bride", made it past the traditional 50,000 word goal but it still lacks something like 2/5 of its story. (I really -love- PB's beginning & would so love to finish it some day!)

Even though I am no longer an official NaNoWriMo participant these days, I continue to support NaNoWriMo's objectives & philanthropy each year. More on this later, including links to entries describing what The Office of Letters and Light people do behind the scenes, and how you can help . As you'll see, you can help out even if you don't write or else can't devote all of a November to writing,   **additional NaNo links

(Hmm... Still not November 1, 2017)

For now, the extract below was snatched from my 

November 1 2012 blog entry

Keep in mind that to officially "win" NaNoWriMo, you need to write 50,000 words by November 30, or approximately 1,667 words a day. Keep something firmly in mind from the instant you begin: Editing is for afterwards! 

One of NaNoWriMo's chief purposes is to help authors ignore their Inner Editor, open themselves to inspiration, -and- -just- WRITE- !  December through however months afterwards is reserved for going back to the beginning and editing.*

Yes, you'll have a lot still to do but in many ways editing can be easier than trying to decide how best to get from Point A to Point B in the plot (or maybe geographically), or how to have Millicent meet Daulphrey, which one of them is attracted to the other one first, what they choose do about it, how they distracted the servants and --oh yeah, the biggie--when does the countess suspect and what/who tipped her off? Aren't you glad your inspiration was at fever pitch (courtesy of no Inner Editor) so you were able to blow through those snarls in a day and a half?

                On an average NaNo day, I could write those 1667 words without needing to be in 

"Author Anguish" by virtue of thinking of little else but pushing full steam ahead. If gripped totally by my "muse" I could write as much as 5000 in one day. (Well, okay, not often. ;-P  )  

If one scene wasn't working, I would type in a brief synopsis of what that scene needed to accomplish, and then shift to a more welcoming scene. It may sound totally random & anxiety-producing--And some days, it is.--but it can also be totally fun! The strangest bits of inspiration can pop into your head when that tiresome Inner Editor is locked away in the highest turret in the old manse. Of course on those very rare occasions when I cranked out 4-5000 words in one day, virtually nothing else got done. Okay. Yeah. I did some breathing, etc.

The one thing to keep in mind: No matter if you write 500, 5000, or 50,000 words by the end of the month, that's 500, 5000, or 50,000 words you didn't have 30 days earlier! As soon as you write anything with your "Inner Editor" locked away, you're already "won NaNo". And more importantly, you've just strengthened your creativity. Trust me--there's no downside.

But onward to my whimsical entry from NaNoWriMo 2008.

November 21 2008 blog entry

Are you desperate to extend your NaNoWriMo word count?

May I suggest:

A long and heartfelt dedication to everyone you have ever known, with the reasons why they are included on the multi-page list. Think acceptance speeches at the Oscars;

A Table of Contents (Make up names for your chapters like the descriptive ones they used for book titles in the 19th century. examples: "Chapter the Third, in which Alice sees a White Rabbit Running by and Follows Him Down a Rabbit Hole;
Chapter the Fourth in Which Darth Vader Cuts off Luke's Hand, Announces That He is the Youth's Father and Actually Expects Luke to join Forces --if you'll excuse the expression-- With Him on the Spot...)

An Author Biography, some of which may be accurate;

Unnecessary Footnotes that can be written without much thought.
* The song Ruthie was humming to her baby was of course "American Pie", in the arrangement used by Don McLean on the such-and-such date album, the words of which refer to the plane crash in which....yada yada.

**NaNo-related footnotes

Maps don't count toward NaNo, unless you care to make a list of the names of cities, rivers and interstate routes which would be printed on them, or else make a list of the furniture in the locked room in which the body was found. However, you can write up a  thorough description of the map that will be included in your book in the hardback edition. Don't forget to describe the background colors and any decorations or borders.

Transcribe dialogue of whatever TV show you are watching when you are supposed to be writing. (A-hem!) If your story takes place on 21st century Earth, one or more of your characters can be watching the show. If two of your characters are watching the show, you can interpolate lines of their dialogue with lines of dialogue from the show. Since this will be confusing to the reader, be sure to use attributions for all of the dialogue.

Hint: the proper attribution for the overheard dialogue from a TV show should always include the name of the show, the date, the screenwriter and the name of the actor who delivered the lines, for maximum word-padding and so that it is clear that you are not plagiarizing. This additional information can be placed in a footnote if you like. (See Footnotes, above).

If you are writing an historic novel or a fantasy novel, you can have the character dream all of the events in the TV episode. Don't forget to have them wonder for hours after awakening about the meaning of their dream and how it applies to fighting for Napoleon and/or releasing the captured unicorn.

If you fall asleep at your keyboard and type gibberish, do not delete it. Wrap a scene around it in which the protagonist discovers a mysterious message written in code and tries to translate it.

What is not allowed: Scanning in a page of your favorite novel using OCR software, then using Replace All to change all of the character names and locations to people and places in your own story. Cutting and pasting the result into your NaNo manuscript.

(Seriously, someone created a writing exercise in which you are instructed to do something like this with the first couple of paragraphs of a favorite book. You also need to change the verbs, if I remember correctly. Then you use that as the nucleus for a completely different story. I've always wanted to try this but I've never had the time. Or the minimum quorum of brain cells.

------

P.S. Goodreads Quote of the Day
Write what you know. That should leave you with a lot of free time. 
Howard Nemerov

Tags: chris baty founder, da boid da tree-rat n da loser, free your muse!, inner editor, marooned (narenta novel 1.5), nanowrimo, national novel writing month, november, office of letters & light, the peace bride (wip)

* ...which explains why "Marooned" still isn't out


**
About NaNo
NaNoWriMo Donation Station
Impact (Your Story Matters!)
NaNo on FB

Visit Lazette Gifford's Website for secret information on 

"NaNo For the New and Insane"

*** "Marooned" still isn't published but here's its table of contents

Marooned Chapter Titles

01)          Marooned

02)          Rude Awakening

03)          Name-Calling

04)          Breakfast and a Bath

05)          Checking the Inventory and Being Checked

06)          Two paths to the labyrinth

07)          The labyrinth Transformed

08)          Monsters and Memories

09)          Sleeping with One Eye Open

10)          The Inner Eye

11)          Care-taker

12)          Ressi’s Tale

13)          Silence, Scrabbling and Gabbling

14)          Fania’s Tale

15)          Time to Leave

16)          Discoveries

17)          The Falls and the Village

18)          Deft Work

19)          Who is the Real Akasta?

20)          The Bait

21)          Show-down and a Parting

22)          The Stream in the Midst of the Sea

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````

"81 percent of Americans feel they have a book in them."

WHAT?  OUCH!   GET OUT OF ME!  I THOUGHT YOU WERE INDIGESTION!

My Childhood Readers & Favorite Books

Originally posted at YAAYNHO   http://obscurekidlitauthors.blogspot.com/2011/03

Sunday, March 13, 2011

My Childhood Readers and Favorite Books

My Childhood Readers and Favorite Books

Be prepared! There's a quiz at the end. What were your favorite books?

We were very poor when I was growing up. Because of this, I rarely received new books until I reached my early teens and began asking for them for my birthday.

I’m not claiming I was never given any books. One of my earliest was a tiny collection of fairy tales—each its own book, and once all housed in their own cardboard box. Published by Birn Brothers of London, each book was only about 3 by 3 inches, each cover a drawing of the story inside & colored mostly in royal blue, orange-red and yellow. Every other page within—they have about 80 pages each—was a rather intricate ink-drawn illustration of that part of the plot. I still have some of them: The Three Bears, Jack the Giant Killer, Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots, Hop O’ My Thumb, & Beauty and the Beast.

I tried to find these on the web but the closest I could come was at:

http://www.kidzbooks.net/kidzbooks/articles.aspx?id=16

They were my first introductions to fairy stories and fables. Once I knew them practically by heart, I always looked for more. But it would be many years before I had copies of Grimm, Andersen and Lang. When I was a preteen, I asked for someone to give me Grimm and Andersen for my birthday. I bought the Lang four volume set as an adult, along with the complete Grimm.
I love Winnie-the-Pooh! Disney, I guess, did a Winnie-the-Poo special a couple of times a year back in the day. Always something to anticipate!  Each show was a faithful retelling of a Pooh chapter. They even included the line which goes ...like this?  "...all the way from the bottom of page 2 to the top of page 4..." Piglet is my favorite WtP character. Even though he's small and vulnerable he sticks it out in the most "dangerous" 100 Acre Wood situations! Okay, so there maybe a bit of calling for help involved but he doesn't go hide until it's over. 
I named my laptop before this laptop "Piglet" chiefly because it's so small compared to the laptop it replaced. Once upon a time, a Geek Squad tech had trouble with this. I don't remember why. Maybe he had spent the previous day with Eeyore? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My parents gave me some Golden Books. Who here remembers those from their childhood? Most of these contained one story each: shortened versions of Little Women or Little Men or early spin-offs from TV shows like Rin-Tin-Tin or Spin & Marty from the late afternoon Disney show.

The Golden Book that I remember best was huge: both thick and composed of larger pages than most Golden Books. I remember riding home from someone’s house or the store--most likely it was my Aunt Josie Mae's house--flipping through it and just staring at all of the stories and the illustrations. Treasure! Once I had worked my way through from end to end, I had consumed: Heidi, Peter Pan, Hans Brinker (The Silver Skates) and a variety of fairy tales I had never read before. My favorite involved a young man tasked to find out where three princesses went at night. (I think they went dancing.) He followed them for three nights and brought back proof of their whereabouts: a silver leaf, a gold leaf, and a diamond leaf. Of course, he was rewarded by marrying the princess of his choice.

The Golden Book that I loved best was the one on horses. I was enamored of horses at that age and I thought every color illustration a work of art. I also set about memorizing various useless but fascinating facts. Did you know that Arabian horses have one less rib than other horses? So said my Golden Book. I also had a copy of Black Beauty.

Well, by now, I’d developed the reputation for being a bookworm, so it’s no surprise that my best friends gave me books for my birthday. That’s how I acquired “Donna Parker at Cherrydale” and “Polly French & the Surprising Stranger”. This pair were my first introductions to “teen romance”, to the extent that it was mentioned or described in those days. (1950’s)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Family Cache of School Readers

Now, for a little “school reader” esoterica. You’ve been wondering when we would hit this section, right?

The core of my childhood reading collection for years were school readers which my parents had used in elementary or junior high school. Both sets of grandparents lived in the same city and parents were required to buy the readers their children used in school.
I still own my mom’s second grade reader, my dad’s 8<sup>th</sup> grade reader and the fourth grade readers of both my parents.

These are real treasures on more than one level. Obviously, there’s the connection to my parents. In addition, most of these books were filled with beautiful illustrations. The kind which required time, skill and patience to create.
The wealth of authors involved is truly astounding! So is the variety of styles and subjects in the stories and essays! Please excuse me while I don't get up on a soapbox--and fall off--but still manage to mourn for schoolchildren who will never receive the riches that were bestowed on us year after year. To be clear, the books we were lent each semester bore little resemblance to "new". I had a history text in sixth grade which was more mold than paper. I just don't understand what happened to early education in this country since the time when I was being, uh, early-educated.

Excuse me while I bore you with descriptions of these old books.

The Winston Companion Readers---Second Reader; Winston, 1923.

My favorites: Mr and Mrs Vinegar (my mom's favorite), The Wolf and the Fox, The Keg of Butter, How the Turtle Saved His Life, How the Sun the Moon and the Wind Went Out to Dinner, Tiny, Peeriefool; Ashiepattle and the King’s Hares.
Do you see a trend here? Fairy tales!
Here's a peek at the gorgeous cover at:

http://www.amazon.com/Winston-Companion-Readers-Second-Reader/dp/B001MW2260/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299957980&sr=1-4

Many illustrations inside are nearly as intricate as the cover, especially the end papers.

 ~~~~~~~~

My mom’s fourth grade reader was my second favorite book:

Good Reading: Fourth Reader; Charles Scribner’s Sons, NY, 1927.

Favorite Stories:

The Turnip Children, The Elephant, Some Birds to Look for this Fall, Red-Riding Hood, Fables, Mice, Woodchuck Ways, David & the Giant, The Boyhood of Washington, Thor Among the Giants (loved this!); First Aid, Chip And Peep (memorized this), The Fly (memorized this), The Fairy Folk (memorized this & recited it at some kind of Brownies show for parents); A Letter from President Roosevelt, The Runaway Furniture (Intelligent and angry furniture, with a righteous cause! Very cool!).

Who are the authors? Do modern elementary school readers still try to introduce classic writers in fourth grade? Alfred, Lord Tennyson; Robert Louis Stevenson; William Shakespeare; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; Walter de la Mare; The Younger Edda; Robert Browning; Teddy Roosevelt. (Wait til you see the authors in the 8th grade book.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My dad’s fourth grade reader still amazes me because of the often serious subject matter and again for the illustrious authors.

Fact and Story Readers: Book Four; American Book Company, 1931.

Divided into the following sections:
Pt.1 Sailing the Seven Seas;
Pt.2 Boys & Girls Who Became Famous;
Pt.3 Out-of-Door Tales;
Pt.4 Doing the World’s Work;
Pt.5 In Story Land;
Pt.6 The Making of America.
Much of this was pretty stern stuff compared to my mom’s reader.

The publishers chose works from a variety of respected authors including the leaders in fairy tales: 

Thackeray’s The Bronze Door Knocker (extract from The Rose & the Ring—this story scared the bejeebers out of me!)); Charles Kingsley; Hans Christian Andersen; Emily Dickinson; Andrew Lang; Jonathan Swift; Walter de la Mare. 

You can find the cover of this one here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/58588021/1931-colored-illustrations-fact-and

What? No Shakespeare? Not in that collection or in my mom's but I did have my uncle's copy of Lamb's "Tales From Shakespeare". I didn't know what an apostrophe was so, for years, I thought the author called young readers "lambs".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And finally my dad’s eighth grade reader. Speaking of formidable books!

The Elson Readers: Book Eight; Scott, Foresman and Company (1927)

Divided into:

Pt.1 The World of Nature;
Pt.2 The World of Adventure (which includes: Masque of the Red Death; Noyes’ The Highwayman; A Christmas Carol; and the Lamb version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream;
Pt. 3 The Great American Experiment;
Pt.4 Literature and Life in the Homeland.

Authors:
William Cullen Bryant; Wm Wordsworth; P B Shelley; Wm Shakespeare; Ralph Waldo Emerson; Robt Browning; Edgar Allan Poe; Sir Walter Scott; Henry Longfellow; Ch Dickens; Lord Byron; Joyce Kilmer; Daniel Webster; George Washington; Abraham Lincoln; Woodrow Wilson; Theodore Roosevelt; Robert Burns; Rudyard Kipling; Oliver Wendell Holmes; John G Whittier; Nathaniel Hawthorne; O Henry; Mark Twain.

The illustrations are few and tiny, and the cover isn’t impressive but you can find it here:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Elson-Readers-Book-Eight/dp/B000VUM5CA/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299959953&sr=1-3

I don't know if this is clear--since I have the books and you don't--but there are very few women writers in any of these books. Principal characters in the fiction pieces also tend to be male. I never noticed this  back then, which is a blessing! I might have received a subliminal signal that “girls" don’t write.    ;-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My paternal grandfather gave me three beautiful books a couple of years before his death--which would have been when I was about fifteen. These three are still much beloved:

“Robin Hood and His Merry Men” by Rosemary Kingston and illustrated by Alice Carsey.  So there were –some- women involved in writing and illustrating books. The exquisite illustrations were some of my favorites.

A collection of Rudyard Kipling’s "Stories and Poetry", featuring a richly-colored cover of two men on horseback chasing each other across a rugged terrain. This is the illustration for the poem “East is East, and West is West”. Which I like--except for the end. But, hey, it's Kipling.

I was enthralled before I opened the book. Wow, did I have trouble with the dialectical writing, though!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The Complete Sherlock Holmes" This volume may have been published before authors began creating non-canonical stories. Does anyone know when the first Sherlock Holmes pastiche was written?
Six publishers had each printed multiple editions of Sherlock Holmes collections beginning in 1892. The volume my granddad gave me is copyright 1930, by Doubleday & Company, Inc.

Are you up for a Sherlock Holmes story challenge?

Doyle created these illustrations for five different stories. In which story can each be found?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that’s about it. I’m sure I had other books—well, like the complete run of Donald Duck comics (for the mysteries, I’ll have you know).
But these are the books that I treasured as a child and that I still treasure today. God bless all those who wrote them and who gave them to me.

What books are your treasures from your childhood or teen years? Please tell us about them!

Sherry Thompson

How's that Sherlock Holmes quiz coming along?

Marooned (Narenta Tumult 1.5). 
Read Chapter 1, here! It really is going to be published. Soon. I promise!

The Narenta Tumults: SEABIRD http://bit.ly/bKBQ7x

EARTHBOW    Vol.1 http://bit.ly/b9vDW1     Vol.2 http://amzn.to/8XXrVo   (oop)

http://tree-lady.livejournal.com/