This past week roused my as of late rather sedentary body and mind. I was reminded of the awesome forts I used to create out of my canopy bed, of what a crazy wreck I was during the tender age range of 18 through 33 (I am now 33 ¾), and of how fun it is to be silly every now and then.
I’ve been sick with some oddball cold all week. At first I thought this was my punishment for reckless behavior involving copious amounts of tequila.
Now I realize I have this cold because it has forced me to sit down and reminisce.
Where the Wild Things Are
My sister and I headed to the theater on Tuesday night along with about fifty other “older folk” and a few 4 to 6 year old wild things. I loved this film, especially during a scene when wild thing KW is contemplating leaving the group. One of the 4 to 6 year olds in the audience protested “No, don’t go!”
I don’t currently have a copy of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are but I have a few children’s books about scary things from about that time period. Halloween is next week after all.
Hoot Hoot
Owl At Home written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel (Scholastic Book Services, 1975) was a favorite of mine as a kid so I was pleased as punch to find it for 99 cents at a thrift store. There are five short stories inside.
Strange Bumps, about those two odd mounds beneath the covers at the end of the bed when you’re tucked nice and tight under the covers, is by far the scariest story in this lot. But my favorite, Tear-Water Tea, has Owl thinking of sad things so he can cry and fill his teapot. The saddest thing?
I know exactly how Owl feels. Once upon a time I was reading a Tolkien book only two find that about two hundred pages in ten pages from a completely unrelated book were bound in instead of an extremely exciting part of the story. Sad indeed.
Crows Are Always Scary Right? 
The Crows of Pearblossom was written by Aldous Huxley and illustrated by Barbara Cooney (Random House, New York, 1967). This fun tale involves a crow’s nest, a hungry snake, and well...you can guess how it starts off.
Luckily Old Man Owl, a much brighter creature than Owl at Home, saves the day.
Witches, Naturally
The following find was a true score in my book: Suppose You Met a Witch by Ian Serraillier with illustrations by Ed Emberley, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1973, First Edition. I think my copy is signed in pencil “Ed – Ipswich Oct 1973”. Maybe by Mr. Emberley?
Check out his fascinating drawings…
And Finally, The Beasts...
The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts and More Beasts for Worse Children by Hilaire Belloc with illustrations by Harold Berson (Grosse & Dunlap, New York, 1966) is filled with the cutest illustrations that explain the pros and cons of certain pets such as Tigers, Frogs, Pythons, Welsh Muttons and Vultures.
I’ll take that advice.
