Rummage sale morning

The annual fill-a-bag sale at a local church. Probably the last rummage sale in town until January.

No, I don't have little kids. Yes, I still pick up vintage Scholastic books when I find them.

I have been looking and looking for these. I borrowed The Winds of War from the library, but the sequel never seems to be in when I want it.

Historical fiction.

A small cake pan and a woven throw. The throw might become a Christmas tree skirt, because we need one. Last year we used a blanket.

Two No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books.

A game-in-a-book.

Saturday Rummage Sale

Every September, the weekend after school starts, one nearby church has a rummage sale.  We've gone nearly every year that I can remember, including six years ago when Mr. Fixit had just gotten out of the hospital.  It's almost always worthwhile, and this year's was even better: they had a whole room just for books.  Somebody, I'm guessing either a retired teacher or just a history nut, had donated boxes of mid-century textbooks, teachers' guides, and other books of about the same vintage..  I would have liked to spend more time there, but we had to get groceries too.

So this is what came home:

Two big books of mostly pictures, one about the Renaissance and one with a variety of history pictures (the sort that Alan Grant might have liked?). A vintage school copy of The Merchant of Venice, a bit marked up with student notes.  And  a Sunday School prize book which is kind of neat because not only does it have a 1932 inscription on the flyleaf, it still has a sticker inside from a bookstore that was here in town at that time.

Two books for the Scholastic shelf; an older hardcover of Treasures of the Snow; and Roland Bainton's biography, fairly beat-up, of Martin Luther.

Ponytails picked these out for herself: Shakespeare's comedies, and a vintage copy of The 39 Steps.

We also found a pie plate, a little casserole dish, and a made-in-Japan bowl that I liked for its floral design (it's the colours of our kitchen), even though it has a chip in it.  Lydia found a coin sorter.

Saturday rummage sale stuff, and a nature-study booklist bonus

You get the bonus first this time!  The photo above was found on this website, where (along with other nice photos), there's a 1955 list of then-recent "science books for children," taken from the Kansas School Naturalist.  And if you back up on the website, there are other issues of the magazine, some as early as that one, some much later.  They can be read online or downloaded in PDF format.

We went to the annual end-of-October rummage sale, in the last hour when you get to fill a bag.  So if these finds seem somewhat eclectic, miscellaneous, weird, it's because I just put in anything that looked like it had potential.  Very unusually for this sale, and especially in the last hour, they had LOTS of books, so that's mostly what I got.  Dollygirl dropped in some dolly stuff too.

Four paperback Grace Livingston Hill novels

A very nice Dayrunner Collegiate Organizer, something I needed (I am between planners at the moment)

Word Mastermind

The World is Flat, by Thomas L. Friedman

Penny, by Hal Borland (about his basset hound)

Hymns for Schools, With Supplement, selected by G. Roy Fenwick, undated older softcover

A Book of Country Things, Told by Walter Needham, Recorded by Barrows Mussey

A Nature Book: Activities and Projects For Children, by Helen Jill Fletcher, 1954 (the inside title page calls it just The Nature Book)

Pattern Poetry, Part IV: Poems of Yesterday and Today, compiled by Richard Wilson; 1939 printing

Yet another copy of Poems and Prayers for the Very Young

Extra copy of The Daughter of Time

My First History of Canada, by Donalda Dickie (OOP classic)

An issue of Cross Stitch Crazy magazine

And a few Scholastic books:
What Do They Do When It Rains?, by Norman Bridwell, TW 1487
Georgie and the Robbers, by Robert Bright, TJ 1511
Little House in the Big Woods, TX 1983 (did you know the Little House books were done in older Scholastic versions? I didn't.)

(All this, plus Dollygirl's stuff, came to $4 plus another 50 cents for the bag.  I think it was money well spent.)

Saturday rummage sale finds (mostly books)

We went to a couple of rummage sales this morning, and this is what came home:

A Jackdaw "Tower of London" folder of facsimile documents

Pioneering in North York, which is of special interest because it mentions some family members.  North York, for those of you not in Ontario, is part of Toronto.

A Book of Comfort, by Elizabeth Goudge. Kind of like her commonplace book.

The Saracen Blade, by Frank Yerby.  A historical novel set in the thirteenth century. (Oh--this one turned out to be a bit too graphic.)

The Bible Through the Ages, published by Reader's Digest.  Lots of medieval illumination!

The Snare of the Hunter, by Helen MacInnes

Britannia Mews, by Margery Sharp.  A hardcover edition, probably from the 1940's.

A "complete drawing kit for beginners," by Gene Franks.  I got it mostly for the pencils and other stuff still in the box--art supplies are often one of the best rummage sale deals!

A candy box full of knitting needles, for The Apprentice.

Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy: The Footprints of a Gigantic Mind

A pocket guide to rocks and minerals

Mystery at Deer Hill, by Virginia Frances Voight.  In terrible shape, but it is one of the oldest Scholastic novels, T 197.

An extra copy of The Secret Language, by Ursula Nordstrom.  TX 395.

Wild Horse Running, yet one more Scholastic book.

How they found Pluto, not to mention Neptune (Book Review)

The Search for Planet X*, by Tony Simon.  Basic Books, 1962.  Issued in paperback by Scholastic, #TX 691.

This is a long-lost treasure for homeschooled students!  "My favorite book as a kid," says one Amazon reviewer.  Another says, "I remember reading this fascinating book, a selection of Scholastic Book Services, when I was hospitalized at age 9. I still remember the nurse coming into the room way after midnight to demand that I turn off the light. I couldn't do it. Planet X had me."

"Planet X" isn't science fiction, but true science writing for kids (roughly upper elementary through middle school).  It's about, first, the search for Neptune; because something was throwing the orbit of Uranus out of whack, and the odds were that the something was a planet.  But after confirming Neptune's existence, astronomers thought there must be something more dragging it out of its normal pattern.  And after years of searching...there was our ninth planet.

Or our ninth planet-that-was.

How did they do it?  Why did they do it?  Who were the key "space detectives?"  (I should be writing copy for the backs of Scholastic books.)  Clyde Tombaugh, of course, gets quite a bit of the story, since he was the astronomer who located Pluto.  (You do know, don't you, that an eleven-year-old Parent's Union School student came up with the name?)  Clyde Tombaugh becomes more than just a name, or the photograph of an old man peering into a telescope that's included in another of our solar system books; in this story, he's a curious, slightly geeky kid who can't get enough of stars and telescopes but can't afford college, but who then lucks into the job of official Planet X-searcher.  One of the reviews says that we don't know what Tombaugh thought of Simon's book, but actually there's a letter from him included as an epilogue.  It starts, "Your saga of the discovery of Pluto is told interestingly and with understanding in this book.  You have caught the spirit of the search for the elusive ninth planet..."  I think that was commendation enough.

Tony Simon pulls out the entire bag of non-fiction writing techniques here:  using images of planet-searching such as looking down at a ballroom floor full of beads, only one of which is moving; making use of fiction techniques such as dialogue; using short paragraphs, but not dumbed-down language.  Those who would like to write children's non-fiction could find this book instructive.

But I think its primary appeal would be to children who can still appreciate the romance of star-searching.  Yes, "Planet X" has been demoted to a dwarf planet; but that doesn't diminish the story of its discovery.  (And the Neptune story is interesting too.)

This would be a great addition to a study of astronomy.  The book is long out of print, but inexpensive copies are still available through online sources.

*The scientists in my family want me to mention that Pluto is no longer "Planet X," first of all because it has a name, but second because it lost its planet status.  So the search for "Planet X" goes on.

Thrift store Wednesdays: poems and dinosaurs

Found at the thrift store:

One ball of red-and-other-colours heavy yarn that I think might work for Jo Doll's hair

One kid's denim outfit from the clearance corner, to make a skirt and vest for Jo Doll.

Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle...And Other Modern Verse.  Scholastic TX868.  A classic of my schooldays.

Cavalcade of Poems, Scholastic TX577

The Educated Imagination, by Northrop Frye.  I loaned mine out and I'm not sure if or when I'll see it again, so I picked up another fifty cent copy.

Time as History: CBC Massey Lectures 1969, by George Grant (the Canadian George Grant). The Educated Imagination is part of the Massey lectures series too.

The Science Class You Wish You Had...by David Eliot Brody & Arnold R. Brody.

The Dinosaur Hunters, by Deborah Cadbury. This is the same book as Terrible Lizard, just a different title.
Most expensive thing I priced today: a book of Annie Leibowitz's photos for $10. I figure somebody will buy it. Most out-of-place thing I found: a book of daily affirmations called Seeds of Change, sorted with the gardening books.  Coolest thing I priced last week but it's gone now:  a biography of Edward Gorey.

Thrift store Wednesdays: purple, pink, peach, and P&P

Found at the thrift store today:

One purple t-shirt for Mama Squirrel

One peach pillowcase to make a Jo Doll (I was serious about making one!)

One pair of pink pillowcases, because I wasn't sure if one pillowcase was going to be enough fabric

One Scholastic book, possibly to re-sell

One set of Pride and Prejudice videos, for Ponytails.

The big pile of books has suddenly been reduced to a few boxes of fiction, so I spent most of the afternoon just filling the store shelves from what we had ready to go in the back.  Dollygirl found a chair and some other small dolly things.

Saturday treasure hunting, re-posted with p.s.

Saturday morning was rainy, so the only yard sales were indoor ones.  We stopped at two church sales and found some cool vintage stuff:  electric scissors and a pair of '70's broadcasting-style headphones (Mr. Fixit), a '50's Snowflake-pattern casserole with an aluminum lid and some '70's craft magazines (Mama Squirrel), a Christmas-green pillowcase with hand-knitted edging, and a bunch of mid-century kids' paperbacks, mostly Puffins.

Book titles:

The Family from One End Street (we did have a copy of this, but sold it awhile back)
Bush Holiday
The Little Grey Men by 'BB'
The Fair to Middling
Snow Cloud Stallion
The Young Detectives
Auntie Robbo
The Story of the Amulet
Lad: A Dog, a fairly worn 1940's Pocket Book edition
Two Against the North, by Farley Mowat, Scholastic T145

P.S.  See the McCall's Crafts magazine, with the rag doll with glasses on the cover?  My mom had a copy of this in 1976, and I always wanted one of those dolls.  Maybe I'll collect up the materials to make myself one.  It's only been thirty-six years.

From the book sale

The pickings were a bit slim in the children's room, but the prices in there were reasonable and I did bring home a few books for the Scholastic shelf.

TX 1159 Charlie the Lonesome Cougar
TX 801 The Mad Scientists' Club
TX 1111 The Shaggy Dog
TX 945 Hans Brinker--oops, this one is abridged
TX 3330 The Magic of Oz
TJ 2904 Pigeon of Paris, by Natalie Savage Carlson (TJ's are harder to find)

I also found a French workbook...sort of a workbook...called Pourquoi? Comment?  I'm still figuring out what that's about.

In the main room I found copies of J.B., by Archibald MacLeish; Howard's End is on the Landing, by Susan Hill; a nice copy of Longfellow's Evangeline; an extra copy of Babies Need Books, probably to give away; and an Abbey Classics copy of Lorna Doone.  The cover art made it look like it's abridged, but I don't think it is--I'll check it against an online version, but it looks pretty genuine from here. (It turned out to be somewhat abridged, which surprised me since it was still full of dialect and didn't appear to be dumbed-down. Also I can't find anywhere on the book itself that says "abridged" or "adapted." But the Project Gutenberg version is definitely longer.)

So--not a bad trip!

Answers to the Antique Market

Here are the answers to last week's game:

1. Mr. Fixit:  b. really cool Bakelite radio

2. Mama Squirrel:  e. four vintage Scholastic paperbacks, found in a baby cradle full of children's books

3. The Apprentice:  d. didn't come because of university orientation weekend

4. Ponytails:  c. 1959 cosmetics ad to use as a wall decoration

5. Crayons/Dollygirl:  a. plastic bag filled with tiny dolls, doll furniture, and playdough doll food


Bonus question: which item was (reluctantly) left behind?

The radio...Mr. Fixit says that that particular model was extremely rare and collectible, and the price reflected it.  Too bad.

Book sale finds

This weekend was the big annual used book sale! We found:

Two volumes of Best in Children's Books that we didn't have

Maggie Rose: Her Birthday Christmas, by Ruth Sawyer, pictures by Maurice Sendak

The Illustrated Cider With Rosie, by Laurie Lee

Far to Go, by Noel Streatfeild (paperback in pretty rough shape)

Thomasina, by Paul Gallico

Figgs & Phantoms, by Ellen Raskin

The Dolls' House, by Rumer Godden (we have a copy but I couldn't pass it up)

The Jungle Books Vol. 2, by Rudyard Kipling

The Street of the Flower Boxes, by Peggy Mann

Aunt Charlotte's Stories of Bible History, by Charlotte M. Yonge

Gateways to Bookland (a reader)

Life of Robert Louis Stevenson for Boys and Girls, by Jacqueline Overton, with a gift inscription from 1915

Cape Breton Harbour, by Edna Staebler

Kingfishers Catch Fire, by Rumer Godden (one of her adult novels)

A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken (a nicer copy than the one we have)

The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey

The Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918, Chosen and Edited by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1948 printing)

The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language, Selected and Arranged with Notes by Francis Turner Palgrave

Two older books of poetry that Crayons picked out


For the Scholastic shelf:

Ginnie and the Mystery Doll

Ginnie and the Mystery House

Kid Sister, by Margaret Embry

Booksale finds

This weekend was the annual University Women's Booksale. Some years I never get out of the main room to look at the kids' books or anything else. This year I didn't get out of the kids' room (which was the same room as the tapes and videos, so Mr. Fixit and the Squirrelings found some multimedia stuff there as well).

I was kind of going for the oddball stuff--the "maybe someday this will be worth something" or just for fun books.

I found several volumes of the Best in Children's Books that we didn't have, AND 11 volumes of a 12-volume My Bookhouse set.

Inside Music: How to Understand, Listen to, And Enjoy Good Music, by Karl Haas.
Ola, by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire.
How to Make Snop Snappers and Other Fine Things, by Robert Lopshire.
Mystery in the Night Woods, by John Peterson. Vintage Scholastic. For all the rodent/critter-story fans:
The Winter Fun Book, by the editors of OWL magazine. (One of Ponytails' favourite magazines.)

The Children Come Running.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, a souvenir book written for "young Canadians" at the time of her coronation.

Hiawatha's Childhood, illustrated by Herbert Morton Stoops. (really.) A 1941 picture book with lithographs.

The Greedy One, by Patricia Miles Martin, illustrated by Kazue Mizumura. 1964. A small hardcover story about Japan.

The Story of Grettir the Strong, by Allen French. We already have one copy of this, but I thought it was worth getting and maybe passing on to someone.

The Circus is Coming, by Noel Streatfeild. Like Ballet Shoes only about living in the circus.

Last but not least, one which I'd never heard of but thought looked interesting: The Land the Ravens Found, by Naomi Mitchison.
(And the whole lot cost under $7. That's the best part.)

Mom goes off to play, or the Thrift of it All

Mama Squirrel's idea of a fun afternoon out is taking the bus downtown to sort through the bookshelves at her favourite thrift shop. Even if it's bitter cold outside...or maybe because it's been bitter cold and it's been too hard to get out much this week, even for furry squirrels. So an afternoon of shopping was welcome...and worth it, especially because she hasn't been able to get down to this shop since before Christmas.

Mama Squirrel arrived at the thrift shop with good intentions, fueled by pretty blogs filled with vintage gingham, ladies' hats, and other imaginative decor. She dutifully trekked around the housewares but saw nothing much besides old zippers and sad-looking picture frames. The half-price deal was all on men's suits, which we don't need. So she quickly found herself in her usual back corner, happily flipping through an unusually large selection of childrens' books.

For $4.50, she brought home an armload of 18 books.  Even with bus fare, that's a pretty good deal; and it's entertainment too.

Mama Squirrel has a couple of sort-of collections going, and the Piece de Resistance of this trip was an addition to the Eleanor Farjeon/Edward Ardizzone collection: The Old Nurse's Stocking Basket (for a quarter!).  That in itself was enough to cheer up a winter day.

The other collection is strictly for fun and nostalgia: a bunch of vintage Scholastic paperbacks from the '60's and '70's. They were the staples of school libraries and classroom bookshelves, and if you follow the lost book requests at Stump the Bookseller, a lot of them are very well remembered (or not-so-well remembered). Those were the days when Scholastic Book Services published a lot of their very own semi-classic titles: everything from the Mushroom Planet books to Norman Bridwell's A Tiny Family (that's one we don't have, though) and John Peterson's The Secret Hideout, to biographies of Harriet Tubman and Marco Polo, and The Ghost of Dibble Hollow (a childhood memory of Mr. Fixit). And The Secret Language (do you remember ickenspick and leebossa?).

Anyway, we added a few to that collection today too: Casey, the Utterly Impossible Horse (do you remember that one?); The Three Dollar Mule, by Clyde Robert Bulla; and two of the above-mentioned Secret Hideout books. Oh, and a biography of Johnny Appleseed. They're fun and they can be good, non-intimidating reading practice for the eight-to-ten-year-old set.

Especially when you get them for a quarter.

And Mama Squirrel filled out the bag with a fat hardcover of the Peterkin Papers (I was pretty sure our paperback was missing some of the stories), King of the Wind, three 1950's science-made-fun books, a couple of colouring and puzzle books, Child of China, and Paddington Marches On.

Oops--no doilies today. I really did try. But I guess my lower nature just took over.