I picked up "One Two Three: An Animal Counting Book" by Marc Brown a couple of weeks ago at a local thrift shop for 50 cents. As a great lover of books, and vintage items from the 1970s, this hardcover book is right up my ally.
My heart skipped a beat when I spotted it in the bin where it had been haphazardly tossed with dozens of other children's books. I touched the cover. It was an old library book, with that clear plastic stuff libraries put on dust jackets to protect them. You know what I'm talking about.
I love old libraries books.
This one was published in 1976. As soon as I opened that plasticy library cover, I was in love. This book is gloriously 70s. It smells like the 70s (or what I imagine the 70s must have smelled like) for goodness sakes!
Marc Brown's drawings look like they belong in an old Sesame Street sketch. There is not much for text here. Just numbers one through twenty, and the animals used to illustrate each number. Simple. To the point.
I knew better than to trust this book in the chubby little hands of my baby. But I couldn't resist. I wanted to read it too. And Charlotte is an enthusiastic page turner...
I guess I did an amazing job taping the page back together, because you can't really see it at all in this photo. But it is there. A big, ugly tear, nearly half of the page ripped off completely.
It was a sad day. I gave baby a kiss on the cheek because she is cute, fixed the page as best as I could, and put the book in her room on the bookshelf to be rediscovered at a later date.
Charlotte isn't quite ready to learn her numbers yet, anyway. Though gloriously 70s, the illustrations aren't colourful and bright, so she didn't seem especially interested. And then there's those paper pages. Clearly, this book is not for young babies.
A difficult lesson learned, but a necessary one nonetheless. Buy board books. Or at least keep them well away from enthusiastic baby hands if you find yourself unable to resist!
"One Two Three: An Animal Counting Book" on Amazon.com
I smiled at this. We want our babies to enjoy everything too quickly sometimes, and especially what books have to offer. One day she will pick up that book, when she is ready for it, and she will appreciate it as much as you do. :)
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