Childcraft: Storytelling and Other Poems
For me this was the Childcraft book. This is where I found the best poems to memorize. This volume was the reason I bought an old set of the encyclopedias. To me these first two volumes were nourishing and homey, like a good spaghetti casserole. (Substitute tater tot hotdish if you live in Minnesota.)
Poems for Everyday
Isn’t it great to think that there are everyday poems, like Melmac dishes, that you can recite or read at almost any time? No special occasion necessary.
The illustrations above and below are by Meg Wohberg who illustrated advertisements for baby-care products in the 1930′s and then worked on over 70 children’s books in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. So her work might look familiar to people of a certain age and even younger.
I read these poems without concern for their messages. I’d read “When Young Melissa Sweeps” and want to go grab a broom. I don’t think I ever did it though, being a rather lazy child. But I’m sure some of my understanding of what it meant to be a girl came from these poems.
Yet Gentle Will the Griffin Be
(What Grandpa Told the Children)The moon? It is a griffin’s egg,
Hatching tomorrow night.
And how the little boys will watch
With shouting and delight
To see him break the shell and stretch
And creep across the sky.
The boys will laugh. The little girls,
I fear, may hide and cry.
Yet gentle will the griffin be,
Most decorous and fat,
And walk up to the Milky Way
And lap it like a cat.- Vichel Lindsay
So I learned how the world saw little girls but I learned a few vocabulary words, too.
Poems introduced me to elements of culture I never experienced myself. There were poems about the circus, the popcorn man, streetcars, and the sea. There was even one about telegraphs — a little outdated for the 1961 edition of Childcraft — but I knew what telegraphs were because I watched Westerns on TV.
I think everyone my age remembers a bit of such poems as “When the Frost Is on the Pumpkin.” Many of us probably wondered what a shock of corn was when we’d read the poem in school in the fall. I’m sure that there’s something more contemporary that has replaced these poems. I know that I never read or heard most of the poems that my father learned in school and would recite to me on long drives. Classic poems like James Whitcomb Riley’s provide a shared experience with other Americans my age.
Humorous Poems
This was the section where I found the best poems for memorizing. These are the poems I can still recite. I was disappointed that one of my favorite poems had no author noted. It must be a “traditional” poem, although I’ve never heard anyone but my sister or me recite it. I love the romanticism and surprise ending.
A Farmer’s Boy
They strolled down the lane together,
The sky was studded with stars.
They reached the gate in silence,
And he lifted down the bars.
She neither smiled or thanked him
Because she knew not how;
For he was just a farmer’s boy
And she was a Jersey cow!
I remember my father bringing home a reel-to-reel tape deck and recording that poem on it. Mom recorded the poem “Eletelephony” which I thought was hilarious. Both the poem and Mom’s voice coming out of a machine sent me into fits of giggles.
The famous “Purple Cow” poem is also in this collection. I’m so sorry it caused Gelett Burgess, the author, so much grief.
Storytelling and Ballads
Sometimes the illustrations really made the poem. That was the case for “The Potatoes Dance,” I thought. The illustrator’s taters were so much better than dull old Mr. Potato Head. Samuel Armstrong gave those spuds life. I had dreams about those potatoes. The burnt matchstick legs scared me.
In my previous post I told you that my sister and I had competitions for who could memorize more poems. Since she was eight years older, I had a real challenge. I have a fond memory of sitting in the back of the neighbor’s station wagon waiting for fireworks to begin and my sister telling us a story she made up about Squidgicum-Squees. She got the idea from “The Raggedy Man” which was too long for me to memorize. It took up two entire pages!
I was talking with my younger husband about how exciting it’s been to re-read all these poems. I then discovered that he had never heard of The Song of Hiawatha. How can a man who frequently drives Hiawatha Avenue, has been to both Gitche Gumee and Nokomis lakes, has probably walked past the Longfellow House at Minnehaha Park, not know this poem? I thought all native Minnesotans would have been forced to read it at some time or other. I guess not. Or not any more.
After I read him the poem tonight I might try to memorize The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes. It should be a task made easier by Loreena McKennitt’s rendition as a song, although she leaves out several verses. Her song makes me cry. The poem is just lyrically satisfying and a good Gothic tale.
I’ll end with another favorite from the humorous poems section.
A New Song to Sing about Jonathan Bing
O jonathan Bing, O Bingathon Jon
Forgets where he’s going an thinks he has gone.
He wears his false teeth on the top of his head,
And always stands up when he’s sleeping in bed.O Jonathon Bing has a curious way
Of trying to walk into yesterday.
“If I end with my breakfast and start with my tea,
I ought to be able to do it,” says he.O Jonathan Bing is a miser, they say,
For he likes to save trouble and put it away.
“If I never get up in the morning,” he said,
“I shall save all the trouble of going to bed!”“O Jonathan Bing! What a way to behave!
And what do you do with the trouble you save?”"
“I wrap it up neatly and send it by post
To my friend and relations who need it the most.”- Beatrice Curtis Brown
I always found it interesting that Jonathan Bing and Old Father William looked like the same man. They were drawn by someone with the initials of RL. For some reason Childcraft didn’t give credits for illustrations.
Thank you for letting me share these with you. It’s been so much fun for me. Although, It does make me feel really old. And I’ve gone a little bit crazy trying to decide which poems are epic enough to warrant italics instead of quotes for their titles.
Monday, September 14 9:13 pm
Thanks, T. J. H., for this wonderful post. I, too, dreamed about those matchstick-limbed potatoes. Cherished books, images resonant for half a century!
Thursday, October 1 12:06 pm
[...] on the Childcraft collection: Poems of Early Childhood Storytelling and Other Poems Folk and Fairy Tales Animal Friends and Adventures Life in Many Lands Great Men and Famous Deeds [...]
Thursday, October 1 12:09 pm
[...] on the Childcraft collection: Poems of Early Childhood Storytelling and Other Poems Folk and Fairy Tales Animal Friends and Adventures Life in Many Lands Great Men and Famous Deeds [...]
Friday, October 2 5:59 pm
[...] doors, and the Roomba vacuum. MORE on the Childcraft collection: Poems of Early Childhood Storytelling and Other Poems Folk and Fairy Tales Animal Friends and Adventures Life in Many Lands Great Men and Famous Deeds [...]
Thursday, October 15 12:39 pm
[...] made me feel like a lazy dullard. MORE on the Childcraft collection: Poems of Early Childhood Storytelling and Other Poems Folk and Fairy Tales Animal Friends and Adventures Life in Many Lands Great Men and Famous Deeds [...]
Thursday, October 15 12:40 pm
[...] on the Childcraft collection: Poems of Early Childhood Storytelling and Other Poems Folk and Fairy Tales Animal Friends and Adventures Life in Many Lands Great Men and Famous Deeds [...]
Thursday, October 15 12:41 pm
[...] we age unless we actively engage it. MORE on the Childcraft collection: Poems of Early Childhood Storytelling and Other Poems Folk and Fairy Tales Animal Friends and Adventures Life in Many Lands Great Men and Famous Deeds [...]
Sunday, June 6 6:32 pm
I’m looking for the poem about the little goblin that lost his “silver penny’ just as he crossed the street. “I met a little goblin a semperin’ and a soblin’ along the public way. Said I: Your spirits seem to fail you if I can aught avail you command me sir I pray. Said He: I have lost my penny, my shiny silver penny. For very joy I tost it just as the street I crossed it and now I’ve gone a lost it and oh my heart duth ache. Which Childcraft book is this poem in? 1939 or 1942?
Monday, August 2 7:35 pm
Looking for the story of Aunt Jemima and the ChinaberryTree. a story my dad read to me as a child in the 1950′s
Monday, November 29 6:41 am
i am looking for the story “A Ballad of China”
from the Childcraft books. The story of Darling Dilika Dolika Dinah..
I can remember only parts. My sister would read it to me when I was sick. We use to have to Childcraft books, but, they have been lost over the years. I would appreciate any copy of this particular story if it is possible.
Thank you.
Nika Tapia
Thursday, December 9 9:01 am
Nika:
I haven’t compared the poem as given at this link against my Childcraft, but on a quick reading it sounds as if it is correctly given:
http: //www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19482
[I put in a space after http: so that it won't turn into a live link--dunno how the proprietor here feels about those in her blog comments--so you'll need to take it back out when you cut and paste the address]
And–I grew up with an earlier edition of the Childcraft, but that poetry volume was much the same (probably identical, in fact, but with a different cover). I also loved the stories books. . .you could keep all the non-fiction stuff!
Sunday, December 12 7:13 am
Can you help me locate Little Joe Tunney from the child craft collection?
Monday, December 13 7:12 am
The illustrator whose initials are R.L. was Robert Lawson. All illustrators’ names are listed in the first volume, “Poems of Early Childhood.” If you don’t have it, and would like the list, I can scan it for you.
Monday, December 13 10:18 am
Thanks for providing me with the illustrator’s name. My 1961 edition provides a list of acknowledgments, but I can’t find a list of illustrators. I’d love to have the list for “Poem” and “Storytelling.”
Monday, December 13 10:34 am
“Little Joe Tunney” is by Rebecca McCann and appears on page 98 in my edition. I never read the poem because the illustration of Joe being held up by an elephant scared me. I figured that he was a bad boy and I knew enough about bad boys.
There was a little boy
And his name was Joe Tunney,
He had but one failing:
He tried to be funny.
He made himself noticed
IN all public places
By making load noises
And terrible faces.
One day at the circus
He wouldn’t sit down.
He stood up and tried
To perform like a clown.
The clown said, “All right,
If you must jump and sing,
Come out with the show
And perform in the ring.”
So out ran young Joe,
Acting foolish and wild,
And everyone watched him
But nobody smiled.
The actors all watched him
The band loudly blared,
In dignified silence
The animals stared.
Thought poor little Joe,
Standing lonely and small,
“Oh, what shall I do?
I’m no funny at all!”
Then the elephant spoke
In the elephant tongue,
“I’ll help that boy out –
After all, he’s so young.”
And he lifted Joe up
With his trunk in the air
And with one mighty sweep
Put him back in his chair.
The people all clapped
And the clowns sheered for Joe,
And he kept very still
For the rest of the show.
Monday, January 17 8:52 am
I also remember “Little Joe Tunney” from my childhood. The poem is so descriptive of the typical class show-off.
Wednesday, January 19 12:02 pm
Oh, geez, how did I not notice your response! I’ll scan them this week! Apologies!
Thursday, January 20 1:29 pm
OK, I’ve scanned it, but I don’t have a place to upload it to–can I e-mail it to you somewhere?
Thursday, January 20 1:35 pm
Can’t hark my cry,
Please send to xteenb at gmail.com. And thank you!
Thursday, January 20 5:38 pm
should be on its way–if it doesn’t show up reasonably soon, lemme know and I’ll try again!
Tuesday, August 16 4:56 am
An illustration of Maid Marian dressed as a boy in a ChildCraft story of Robin Hood changed my life, the one where he spars with her thinking she is a hooligan. Even at 5 yrs old I found this story to be romantic and dare I say “sexy.” I lost the books but wish I could see the picture again of Marian striding through the forest. Also Balder, King Arthur, and all the beautiful horses in ‘Art for Children.’
Tuesday, August 16 4:59 am
Thank you so much for ‘The Highwayman.’ Thank you for ALL the ChildCraft pix that were my friends when I was an only child. Very cool!
Monday, September 12 7:40 pm
Can someone please supply the name of the illustrator for “Loveliest of Trees”? Probably my favorite artist but many of the others are neck-and-neck for second and even first place. In fact, if someone has a list of Childcraft illustrators I’d be keen to see it.
I have a set of Childcraft books cuz me dad sold encyclopedias door-to-door back in the before-time. The encyclopedias are gone but I still have the best of the Childcraft books.
Tuesday, March 13 6:08 am
I loved these books as a child.. and have most of the volumes still the volume 1 Poems of Early Childhood is my favorite! I still use it often as an early childhood educator and the illustrations are timeless!
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