Do You Remember Little Golden Books?

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Little Golden Books and I arrived in the United States about the same time. I think they preceded me by one year. The first ten were published in 1942 and many of them are still in print today. Some of my favorites were among those first ten: The Three Little Kittens, The Little Red Hen, and The Poky Little Puppy - now the bestselling children's book in American history. (Please forgive me for not italicizing the titles. I'm lazy.) The adults in my life read me these books so often I had them almost memorized. They all had animal characters and they all had repeated refrains. Later others I really liked were published: The Taxi the Hurried, Noises and Mr. Flibberty Jib, Dumbo, The Saggy Baggy Elephant, Scuffy the TugBoat, and the now controversial Little Black Sambo. (I never really thought about race when reading this -- for me it was more about vanity of the tigers and how that saved Sambo.) I happened to think about this because I was commenting on a friend's Virily post and used the example of how the Poky Little Puppy behaved. That made me think about these books which were among the first children's books many of us read. Many of us got our first instruction in the work ethic from the Little Red Hen. Have you read any of the books in this series? More are still being published today, but I think the ones I mentioned, except for the controversial Little Black Sambo, are still around. Even that one was revised with some new characters and artwork to become The Boy and the Tigers, because the storyline was entertaining. If these books were part of your childhood, which were your favorites? You can find the complete list at If you were raised outside the United States, have you heard of any of these books for children? Originally they were very cheap so that any family could afford them. Does your country have a similar series of picture books for young children that is much-loved? I wish I had photos, but they are copyrighted and I can't share them here.