75th Anniversary of Little Golden Books!
As a child I was dazzled by the gold foil spine on the little hard cover books that fit just right in your hands. What I didn’t know was that this was only part of the legacy of Little Golden Books. Back in 1942 the company produced quality picture books and made them accessible and affordable. The little books had durable covers with pages that were stitched, not stapled.They were sold in everyday locations, grocery stores and news stands for 25 cents a piece, compared to the average price of a book $3 – $4 dollars, which would be almost $30 – $40 today.
In my experience as a parent I bought durable Matchbox cars at the grocery store, one at at time for under a dollar for my young son. It was an affordable treat to own these well-made colorful cars and trucks of all tyypes. He ended up with a story for each vehicle until he had an entire collection to pass on to his younger brother years later.
I have a vivid childhood memory of the Three Little Kittens who lost their mittens. But my sisters and I loved Chicken Little because our mom could not read through the whole book without laughing and laughing!
My kid’s favorite Little Golden Book was The Poky Little Puppy (the best seller of all times!), but my favorite read-a-loud was The Little Red Hen.
