Basic Reading: 'Big Books', As It Were

 

I remember I could feel the weight of the purple 'plum cake' in his hand and always wondered what it tasted like.

Basic reading. A memory collection of books, comics, and magazines I read from elementary (McQueeney) through middle school (Briesemeister). Ranging from very simple to what I would describe as ‘cusp books’, that would lead to more adult reading. They will come in batches; some are representative parts of series. Some we had; some we saw in libraries. Most have appeared on the blog before, but I think arranged here by category and time they can be more illuminating of certain aspects of my childhood.

What I shall be calling Big Books, for want of a better term. Not necessarily long or thick, but broad and tall. There were many more Dr. Seuss ‘I Can Read Books,’ as well as ones like Put Me in The Zoo or Go, Dog Go! There were Big Golden Books, especially from Disney, huge versions of the Little Golden Books, expanded so big as to have what I always thought of as ‘Walk Along’ end papers, a sort of illustrated story map almost like a game board. I recall Uncle Remus Stories had one, though we only saw the book one night when (I think) one of Mike’s friends loaned it to him and he barely let us touch it. I haven’t seen Animal Stories since Second Grade, or Uncle Wiggily Stories since Third, where Mrs. Davenport’s class library also boasted a great line of big Disney books, including the fabled The Adventures of Mr. Toad. The Visitors from Oz was a much-coveted volume from the school library and so big that everyone knew when you had it. Of course, The Storybook Dictionary, Walt Disney's Story Land, and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea were family books. Mike had The Star Trek Concordance when that craze started up at McQueeney, but it mysteriously ‘vanished.’

Still can't 'embiggen' the pictures, which is a shame especially with these, which I think would particularly benefit from it.