Back in the early 1980s my mother enrolled me in the Disney book club. I remember being so over-the-moon excited when a new book would come in. They were all brief renditions of all the classic stories. Like my Berenstain Bear collection, I kept all of these Disney books and now I share them with my boys. They are all still in excellent condition, yeah I was anal like that as a child as well.
Among some of their favorites that we must read over and over, Little Hiawatha, Goofy the Gardner, Lambert the Sheepish Lion, Sleeping Beauty (they love seeing the dragon get slayed), and Tod and Copper. Finnegan is absolute loving Tod and Copper these past two weeks. He’s been sleeping with the book every night.
It’s great going back in time to the stories I enjoyed as a child. One thing I have noticed with these old stories is a different regard for what is safe to share with children. You won’t really see many current books out there where the mom fox is killed by a hunter in the first two pages, and Amos Slade is holding a gun in every illustration he’s in. I thought of sheltering my boys from this, but then realized that these things didn’t really affect me negatively as a child. Yes, the thought of mother fox being shot was sad but I don’t feel I really needed to be sheltered to the reality. Maybe it will make my boys want to save all the animals of the world. Who knows. All I know is that they love these stories and I love sharing them with them.
I have a ton of these from that same program. I should break them out of the dead drawer and try them on my nephew. He loves the Jungle Book, but not the movie (too scared). Love your blog by the way.
Hi Cassie, thanks for reading. I have a bunch of them. I love that my boys are enjoying them. My 4-year old loves the Jungle Book story, “Runaway Wolf Cub”
You’ve gotta love the Disney classics. My daughter took most of our copies with her when she moved out and now has a son of her own to introduce to them.
I read the original Fox & The Hound and got a kick out of the Disney rendition when the cartoon movie came out. The same with Bambi. I still cry when Bambi’s mom dies, just like the dog in Old Yeller, and the mom in Fox & the Hound. Hunters exist, death exists, and sometimes the lessons are learned early, but I don’t think it will harm the kids in any way. Those examples are far less harmful than some of the video games and movies that are bombarding the kids today!
My mom recently brought over many of my Disney books and Golden books. It was like Christmas with my dudes! I love having them enjoy what I read as a kid. 🙂
That is really fun Sheri! I was obsessed with Snow White as a little girl (well into the later years of elementary actually) and so is Ava! I love that we get to share that <3
How awesome that you got the books in the mail like that. My kids get a couple of magazines but books would send them over the moon!
Thanks for the reminder that sometimes it is okay to allow our children to see things that "now-days" people deem as "bad" or "inappropriate". I think it is wise to think back to what we were exposed to and remember that we are (for the most part) pretty okay none the less!