Friday, August 21, 2009

The Beginning of a Love

When I was a little girl and my mother still read to me, we went to a big cream library with a children's nook. Here under the regular sized books were large-sized treasures called Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka by Sweedish author Maj Lindman. These books were about triplets and were very simple. My favorite and to become my daughter's favorite was Flicka, Ricka, Dicka Bake A Cake. The extent of the plot is that the girls are creative and bake a cake for their mother's birthday. There is usually some good deed in the stories. They are sweet and wholesome. The pictures, to me, are endearing.

So my love of reading began with these books. If they were all out, I had a fit. There were also a set of boy triplets: Snipp, Snapp, and Snurr. I'd have to settle for one of those if the others were gone.

I read quite a bit to my children as they grew to love books, too. How surprised I was to find out that my daughter, Dawn, cherished these books as much as I. Even in the '80's and early '90's we had to search around to find them. Then one day, as Dawn became a teen, I discovered that my books were no longer in our library. They had been replaced by more current works.

I was totally surprised at Christmas two years ago by a pressent from Dawn of five of the Flicka, Ricka, Dicka books gotten from E-bay. How certain pictures brought back memories. I plan on reading these and the boys' version (if I can find them) to my grandson.

Story types do change. Most of you might find them quaint and the books certainly don't follow current writing rules, but I still love them. I think there is room in a child's life for several types of stories. Perhaps some children like to visit the slowed down "Mr. Rogers" type world where things don't zip by so quickly. At any rate, I thought you would like a taste of what '50s children enjoyed. Nancy

7 comments:

  1. They sound endearing! Too bad they aren't available anymore!

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  2. Awww how cute! I grew up on those Little Golden Books, then graduated to Nancy Drew, then the little young adult romances that were popular in the early 80s. Then V.C. Andrews (Flowers in the Attic) and Judy Blume... I think I was reading Stephen King by the time I was 13!

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  3. Nancy: We loved the library, too when we were kids. I read all of Beverly Cleary's books.

    These from your childhood look great! Thanks for sharing the photos with us. You are so creative.

    Jen

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  4. I lived in the library when I was kid! I remember all the Judy Blume books, and then it was the S.E. Hinton books. I loved them all. Thanks for stopping by my blog. Come back by sometime!

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  5. I hadn't heard of some of them. I do have my own personal favorites though too.

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  6. Stephanie - I went from those books to Edward Eager, then Alcott, then Nancy Drew. Then a vast space and on to Narnia, Christian non-fiction, and Sherlock Holmes. I like many types of books.

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  7. So interesting! I'd never even heard of those books. I liked Nancy Drew and the Babysitter's Club. :-) It's wonderful that you read to your kids. I try to read to mine. Just read them their first Amelia Bedelia and they were enthralled. LOL!

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