We recently went to the 2019 Baltimore Art, Antique & Jewelry Show which is in its 39th year. The show features glass, jewelry, paintings, and other major works of art for sale. If you love art in different forms, this was the place to be.
As much as I admired all the beautiful works there, what excited me the most was of course the rare books. There was a good selection of prints and writings from ages ago. While browsing through some old children’s books, I came across a more recent and affordable publication tucked in between the antiques: Everything I Need to Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book, by Diane Muldrow
The message on the back of the book was so on point:
Several people have shared the same message of adults reading children’s books as of late, such as Jeopardy winner James Holzhauer and English author Katherine Rundell.
Little Golden Books have been around for over 75 years now. You can easily recognize them by their gold and black colored spine. Back in the 1940’s there were a limited number of high quality, affordable books. When Little Golden Books was first published, the average cost was 25 cents, which allowed more people to bring children’s books into their homes. The list of authors included well-known writers such as Margaret Wise Brown (author of Goodnight Moon) and Richard Scarry. Today, the average cost of a Little Golden Book is $4.99, making it still affordable. In 2001 Random House acquired Little Golden Books for $85 million. Some of the popular titles since its inception include The Poky Little Puppy and Scuffy the Tugboat. I remember my favorite as a child being Bambi. My son’s current favorite is Robots, Robots Everywhere! What was yours?
If you have young children that enjoy reading Little Golden Books, their website offers some printable activities for some of the many popular books on the Little Golden Books website.
Lastly, to sign off this post with a piece of art, take a look at this “Golden Book Gown“, created by Italian-American designer Ryan Jude Novelline, which is made up of recycled Golden Books pages. So beautiful!