My Big Book of What Now?

Do you remember your favorite book from childhood?

I think I’m fortunate to be a person who has always loved reading. My students may disagree, but their brains aren’t fully formed yet despite them already knowing everything.

MomBert absolutely took time for story time when we were little. I remember a serial reading of Swiss Family Robinson;it was a thick book! We also had many Little Golden books like The Poky Little Puppy. Scat! Cat! stuck with because it was about people being mean to a little white cat until it found a home. Even as a child, I could not abide that shit. It was the 70’s, man. Every other made for kids tv special was either based on Lassie, Benji, Puff the Magic Dragon, or the Black Stallion, none of which I could watch without bursting into tears because the animals got hurt or died. Imagine me reading Where the Red Fern Grows circa 4th grade. Spoiler: Old Dan and Little Ann do not make it out.

My reading was not exclusively animal trauma based. I was so into the Cowboy Sam series that my dad brought home from his school library castoffs, that I adopted the persona of Cowboy Sam. Lore has it that I renamed all the close adults in my life after characters. I had a cap gun, a mighty plastic steed, a sweet crocheted dress from my aunt, and my dad’s old felt cowboy hat. Recently, MomBert told me I inherited the hat because Skunky Cat pissed in it. Skunky had no honor and thought my dad sucked. Washing the hat ruined the shape hence it now being child friendly. Fortunately, I got an all around upgrade at Christmas. MomBert made my fringed ensemble which I can only imagine I was a brat about because I definitely went through a phase of refusing to wear pants.

Pants or no, my grandparents also believed in story time and liked to read us Pippi Longstocking and Seuss’s McElligot’s Pool was a Gpa favorite. I do not remember my conservative, teetotaling grandparents reading My big book of Pretty Pussies, but I know it came from their house. Presumably they did not see any naughty crossover, but as an adult I’m all a giggle about it.

I suspect that upon its 1965 publication in the Netherlands, something may have been lost in translation. Maybe.

From the stock photos of pretty pussies with a propensity for sitting inside objects and getting drunk to the rather stilted verses, I’m hoping that Charles A. Pemberton was pleased with the results. Amazon sellers certainly feel it’s worth more than its $2.50 selling price.

I have brainstormed some possible follow ups: My big book of Colorful Cocks (exclusively roosters), My big book of Hilarious Hooters(mostly owls, possibly some waterfowl) , My big book of Naughty Nuts (I see squirrels for days), and My big book of Delightful Dicks ( It’s all about terribly nice Richards that he has met.)