How God Gives us Chocolate

 I think I had this book as a child.  I'm about to send it away as a gift for a friend of mine but I thought I'd post it here first since it reminded me of Chocolate World at Hershey Park.  There's a ride there that takes you through the process of how chocolate is made, starting with the harvesting of cocoa beans and all the roasting and sugar and milk involved.   These "A Happy Day" books from Standard Publishing were a Christian version of Little Golden Books and are the same size and format, even with a similar metallic spine. 

How God Gives Us Chocolate

Henrietta D. Gambill

illustrated by Kathryn Hutton 1982

Doctor Squash the Doll Doctor

Recently I went to the Allentown Paper and Book Show which was a treasure trove!  I picked up a few things, one of which was this adorable book.  I had no idea just how cute it was until I got home and read it cover to cover.

Doctor Squash

The Doll Doctor

Margaret Wise Brown

illustrated by J.P. Miller 1952

The dedication makes me think that it was some little girl, who in her playtime with her dolls, came up with Dr. Squash, the doll doctor.  And the story reads very much like the way a child would play.

The dolls have all sorts of ailments,  (the teddy bear gets a nose bleed, the fireman doll needs a splint, the Indian doll fell off his horse into poison ivy, and the poor clown doll has 4 contagious diseases!).   Each time he's called, Doctor Squash comes running and gives them the appropriate treatment.  Then when Doctor Squash himself falls ill, the dolls all do their best to take care of him.

We just love sweet and winsome books like this!  (No surprise it's by Margaret Wise Brown).  If J.P. Miller's illustrations look familiar, it's because he worked for Disney and illustrated many Little Golden Books.  Here's a really interesting bit about him!

The New Baby

 We too have a new baby in our family!  (Not mine, but my sister's, and we are all loving on her!).   I recently found this Eloise Wilkin Golden Book to add to our collection.  Written in the days when mom went off to the hospital and grandma came to stay (in this case it's "Aunt Pat"), it's fun to see all the outdated supplies needed for the baby.  While Wilkin's pictures are always so charming, there's some comical caricatures amongst the adults in this story!  And interestingly, not a single picture of a pregnant looking mom! 

The New Baby

Ruth and Harold Shane

illustrated by Eloise Wilkin

Vintage Cars and Trucks and Machines

 This is a fun collection of vintage books (mostly Little Golden Books) about cars and trucks and other machines.  Published between 1950 and 1973,  you can see the progression of vehicles and even the jobs that have changed over the years (like the coal truck, delivering coal to heat people's homes).  I always find it neat to think that the little children reading these books back then would have recognized those jobs and trucks.  While reading them now, they become partly a history lesson and isn't that fun?! 

 

Wheels and Noises

Mary Elting

pictures by Elizabeth Dauber 1950

Machines

William Dugan 1961

 Go, Trucks!

David L. Harrison

illustrated by Bill Dugan 1973

Cars and Trucks 

Richard Scarry 1959

I find this picture humorously annoying.  Notice how the text is about a family vacation and the mom is in the trailer washing dishes while the dad is relaxing with a book!  

How about these great endpages?!