tarotgal's realm

Childhood Memories: Books

There were quite a few books that caught my eye when I was young. I used to read them over and over again (or look at the pictures). I can remember being about 5 or 6 when I felt a little silly for reading them so much and from them on, did so much more privately so my parents would not ask questions. Here is a collection of ones I remember. I've scanned in some pictures/pages from a few of them. Click the photos for larger versions.

Title & Author	Images & Thoughts
The Berenstain Bears Go to the Doctor by Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain	This was possibly my favorite book with sneezing in it from my childhood. The cubs go to the doctor for check-ups, but Papa Bear insists he never gets sick... even though he's clearly sick and lets out a tremendous sneeze. I never got up the courage to ask my parents for this book or even check it out of the library, but every time I was in a bookstore or library and happened to see a copy of this book, I'd look at it if I could manage to. Sneaking a peak at the last page or two for the very large sneeze became something of an art to me. I always longed to hear this book an audio.
Dictionaries	Perhaps what made me think it was silly was the fact that I really loved looking the word 'sneeze' up in the dictonary, as well as the related 'sneezing', 'cold', 'ill', 'flu', 'sick', 'sniff', 'sniffle', 'snuffle', and even 'cough'. I remember liking the definition of 'snuffle' quite a lot! My frist dictionary was a picture one featured to the right here. I have fond memories of sneaking the book out of the bookcase just to see the picture of the sneezing snake, or the picture of the sick man in bed. The 'Flinstones' picture dictonary was my second, with pictures of Fred looking ill and Dino sneezing. Then of course I 'graduated' to actual dictionaries.
The Animals' Tea Party	This was perhaps my first time seeing an elephant sneeze, and it made an impression. I love how she covers her mouth with a cloth, but that doesn't stop the damage, of course.
Teddy Bears Cure a Cold by Susanna Gretz, Allison Sage	I was in love with this Teddy Bear's book and always wished I could jump in there and hug William, though my favorite was the studious bear (Charles) who made the temperature chart for some reason. Can't imagine why!
The Get-Along-Gang	This was either from Meet the Get-Along-Gang or a G-A-G-themed joke book. There's no sneezing here, but poor moose-erable Montgomery!
Random House Book of Children's Poetry	The fact that there's a man tending to his nose on the cover of the book always seemed so racy to me! Sometimes, I spot a copy of this book at the library and smile knowingly.
The Berenstain Bears' Trouble at School by Stan Berenstain, et al	Both Brother and Sister sneeze from a cold in this book. It is one that I owned and read often.
"The Seven Sneezes"	This is a short story in a larger collection I had, starring a very sneezy Rag Man. Despite having a whole wagon full of rags, he doesn't cover his nose when he sneezes his "hearty" sneezes, and it causes lots of magical problems.
Jojnny Lion's Bad Day by Edith Thacher Hurd, pictures by Clement Hurd	Johnny Lion's Bad Day is another book from my past. I used to absolutely love it even before I could read and got it out of the library countless times. The plot is one of a little lion who has "a bad, bad cold" The poor thing's in bed with a red nose and tissues throughout the whole book. Afraid my scanner didn't do a good job at it so I didn't scan many in, but still a very cute book.
Arthur's Nose by Marc Brown	I came across another book I hadn't thought about in years. In fact, I didn't remember it even had sneezing in it until I saw it in a used bookstore- the cover reminded me I'd read it as a kid. Arthur's Nose is Arthur's realizing he doesn't like his nose. A realization he gets from having a cold and red nose. I bought the book of amazon.com as I didn't have the courage to buy the book in person even now. :-)