Back to the Books: Elson-Gray Basic Readers Book Four

I first encountered this book on the bookcase of my childhood home. 

It was my father's fourth grade reader, and I read it cover to cover hundreds of times, starting when I was about eight or nine years old. 

I used it as reader with my six children when we home-schooled. And when, no lie, I saw this book sitting on an empty shelf after friends moved into a new home (the previous owners had left it behind), I expressed my delight and was gifted with it on the spot.

So I gave my father's copy to my sister.

What makes this book especially remarkable is that all its wonderful stories and illustrations are written and depicted in ways that children could understand and enjoy without feeling the silent condescension of adults.

From this book, I learned about animal behavior (such as a partridge pretending to be lame to lead enemies away from her young) and I learned about mythology and mythological characters, and I learned about Scrooge.

I also read poems, plays, stories about children in other lands. Some of these stories might sound racist today. But they formed a foundation for my love for other cultures, so I wouldn't discount them.

This book also introduced me to classic stories of Beowolf, Sigurd, and Song of Roland, stories which sparked an interest in great literature that remains to this day.

I liked Roland the best. Perhaps some of that liking is due to the fact that my father had a first cousin named Roland, Dr. Roland Foraste, a child psychiatrist, who died in a car accident in 2000.

While writing this blog and searching for Roland's obituary to add as a backlink, I learned he was a friend of Ethel Kennedy's brother and quoted in this story (scroll to page two).

I only met Roland once (the summer of 1986), and I thought he looked like Fred Gwynne; he certainly had his height and facial shape.

I could not find a photo of him online. But I found one of his brother Roger, who really doesn't resemble Roland.

OK, that was quite a digression. But a fascinating one, you have to admit. I just found out one of my cousins was friends with the brother of Ethel Kennedy. Seriously.

Anyway, because it's really too hard to summarize such a book and the impact it's made on my family and me, I've included photos of its table of contents and some of the wonderful artwork, so you can get a glimpse for yourself.

Needless to say, "they" don't make books like this anymore.