I Think I Can.

Retold by Watty Piper
Illustrated by George & Doris Hauman
Platt and Munk, 1954

I have a great love for this book. When life gets tough I often find myself thinking... "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." If you get close enough to me you might even hear me muttering it under my breath!

According to Wikipedia, the best known incarnation of the story The Little Engine That Could is attributed to "Watty Piper", a pseudonym [a pseudonym? I had NO idea!] used by publishing house Platt & Munk. With illustrations by the esteemed Lois Lenski, this retelling of the tale The Pony Engine appeared in 1930. The first edition attributes Mabel C. Bragg as the originating author. However, Mabel C. Bragg, a school teacher in Boston, Massachusetts, never claimed to have originated the story. Indeed, The Pony Engine, which first appeared in the Kindergarten Review in 1910, was written by Mary C. Jacobs (1877-1970). Fascinating stuff.

I love the pages that describe all the good things on the train meant for the boys and girls on the other side of the mountain. Here are a couple faves:

It's not my imagination, is it?
The milk bottles have legs and eyes, right?
I do love anthromorphic food!

A Tasty Tuesday Treat

The Sugarplum Tree by Eugene Field

excerpted from The Gateway to Storyland
Favorite Nursery Stories and Poems
Edited by Watty Piper, Illustrated by Eulalie
Platt and Munk, 1925, 1961

(these pages from the 1985 edition)

I loved this storybook collection as a child, but it was lost in a fire a few years ago and so we replaced it unknowingly (darn online booksellers) with a version that looks very unlike the one I had a child. Our original one was the red cover you see here, but this 1985 one is thin, tall, and purple, of all things! The illustrations are really the most important bit and this poem on these two pages was my favorite of all of them. It's a bit along the lines of that Christmas song, "It's a Marshmallow World" and the Lesley Gore one, "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows." I wasn't familiar with "Big Rock Candy Mountain" back then, but between these happy songs and my "Penny and the Elf" story, I'm sensing a theme.

I expect I'll post more on this wonderful book and maybe even get my hands on the original red one. For now, I'll leave you with some fine poetry and fine illustrations!