Monday, July 9, 2007

Yesterday's Classics

For many favorite books from the past, their continued availability is dependent on the devotion of inspired small publishers. Anyone that keeps past favorites in print deserves recognition and we will be periodically profiling some of the publishers (and their books) who maintain our connection to the past, ensuring that we do not forget or overlook those cultural building blocks that got us to where we are.

Yesterday's Classics is one such publisher. Headed by Lisa Ripperton and based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, they focus on returning to print children's books from the 1880's to the 1920's. Yesterday's Classics at this point has some 100 titles in print from just over thirty authors. They cover primarily History, Myths and Legends, and Science. Beyond the books they keep in print, they also have a couple of hundred other similar books available as on-line texts.

I first became acquainted with James Baldwin as a child. Growing up, my father's career was in the oil industry and we lived in a number of third world countries with limited access to the US. At some point my parents acquired a ten volume set of The Bookshelf for Boys and Girls. Each volume had a theme: Fairy Tales, Stories and Legends from Many Lands, Famous Events, etc. and was composed of various short stories or extracts from longer books. They were a library unto themselves and were exceptionally well read over the years.

Just as I had to admit a couple of weeks ago to not just ignorance but incorrect knowledge about Wanda Gag, similarly I have to fess up here. Among the authors of numerous short stories in the Bookshelf for Boys and Girls was James Baldwin. Each of these stories was only two or three pages and they were primarily either a famous person or event. I consumed these stories eagerly and loved to read and re-read them.

In later years, I was exposed to Go Tell It on the Mountain and Notes of a Native Son - also by James Baldwin - and lazily made the mental note as to how impressively versatile James Baldwin was as a writer given the children's stories I recalled. It was only a couple of years ago that I investigated this versatile James Baldwin and discovered that in fact we are blessed with two James Baldwins, each a gifted writer in his own way, but neither quite as versatile as when you assume they each wrote the stories of the other.

The James Baldwin of the children's stories was of an earlier generation (1841-1925) than the James Baldwin of Go Tell It on the Mountain. His is a remarkable All-American story. He was born and raised in a relatively isolated Quaker colony called New Settlement, Indiana. His early and deep attachment to reading was the cause of some comment and concern among the neighbors. A substantial portion of his isolated and substantially self-directed education came from the limit of the books on his father's two bookshelves. Read about this first library at In My Youth, (see Chapter 3 "This is My Library!").

He became a teacher at twenty-four, founded a school at twenty-nine, and established a municipal public school system at thirty-two, founded a library, and in 1883, at forty-two became the superintendent of the Rush County Schools. After this very substantial career in education, Baldwin then switched gears at the age of forty-six, moved east and entered publishing as an editor of education books, eventually rising to become Editor-in-Chief of the American Book Company where he also authored a number of text books.

In his roles as author and editor, James Baldwin was a deeply influential presence in the educational textbook market at the turn of the century. In addition to all these professional and commercial accomplishments, he had a parallel life as an author of children's books starting with his first book The Story of Siegfried, which appeared in 1882. The selection of this topic reflected a guiding light in Baldwin's choices of subjects. He tended to focus on heroes, myths, and legends, re-telling classic stories in very readable prose. He published some fifty books in his life, the great majority being children's books. Virtually all of these books are collections of ancient and modern stories of events, heroes, myths and legends told in a simple but memorable way. While his range of material was substantially based in Europe, many of his collections of stories included tales from the Middle East and Asia.

It is interesting to note that in the educational circles of the time, with migration from Europe (particularly Southern and Eastern Europe) reaching what seemed to be flood-like levels, there was great concern about how to educate students so that there was a common culture. Baldwin's books seem to serve that purpose of laying a foundation of common heritage for all.

Given that these stories are nearly a hundred years old, it is surprising how modern they sound. So modern in fact that there are very occasional moments when you are brought up short. The other day I was reading the story of Francis Drake's activities in the Panamanian Isthmus to my youngest son and was startled by Baldwin's reference to Drake standing on a cliff near "where the famous Panama Canal is now being built."

While all his available books are good, if you are new to Baldwin, I would particularly recommend Fifty Famous People , Fifty Famous Stories Retold, and Thirty More Famous Stories Retold . There are three particular reasons for drawing attention to them beyond the fact that kids (5-10 years) love them. First they are nearly all very short; read aloud, the longest story is not more than ten or fifteen minutes and many are two to five minutes. This makes them a great filler for those small moments in busy days. You can read a complete story to one sibling while waiting in the car pool line for the other. Ten minutes before dinner is ready? Enough time for a story. Waiting after the sports game? Squeeze in a couple of stories.

The second reason is that virtually all of these stories are iconic; they are about events, ideas and people that helped form the warp and weft of our culture. Yet, unfortunately, they often seem to be omitted in our education process. For example (and you can sample on-line with the hot-links) you have amongst these books: King Alfred and the Cakes, King Canute and the Seashore, The Story of William Tell, The Story of Cincinnatus, Androcles and the Lion, The Sword of Damocles, Diogenes the Wise Man, The Blind Men and the Elephant, Columbus and the Egg, Galileo and the Lamps, Sir Isaac Newton and the Apple, James Watt and the Teakettle, King John and the Magna Charta, The Fall of Troy, How Rome was Founded, Crossing the Rubicon, The Caliph and the Poet, The Landlord's Mistake, The Horseshoe Nails, etc. These books are basically a treasure chest of the old jewels from our past.

The third reason that I particularly recommend these three books is that virtually every one of these stories is a miniature morality play. They are not as 'in your face' as an Aesop's Fable and the moral never overwhelms the story but it is none-the-less obvious to the attentive listener. It is great way to decant a lot of the little lessons into open ears in a fashion that is not nagging or doctrinaire; King Canute (maintain perspective and don't be distracted by flatterers), The Blind Men (get the whole picture, don't leap to conclusions), Columbus and the Egg (obvious depends on your perspective), Cincinnatus (service to community and don't take advantage of a situation), etc.

Anyway, try all the James Baldwin and the other books offered by Yesterday's Classics listed below. The James Baldwin books mentioned above and many other old classics can be purchased directly from Yesterday's Classics . And many thanks to Lisa Ripperton and her team for keeping these in-print and available.

If you are interested in other collections of engaging and uplifting tales from the past, consider some of William Bennett's collections. His have the advantage of being written to several reading levels ranging across picture books for the quite young up to young adult and adult. You might also want to consider Ingri & Edgar Parin d'Aulaire who have two great collections, Norse Myths and Greek Myths.

All the hotlinks above take you directly to Yesterday's Classics' site where you can purchase the James Baldwin books directly from them.

Picture Books








D'Aulaires Book of Norse Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire








D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire




Independent Readers








The Book of Virtues for Young People by William Bennett








The Children's Book of Heroes by William Bennett and illustrated by Michael Hague








The Children's Book of Virtues by William Bennett and illustrated by Michael Hague








The Children's Treasury of Virtues by William Bennett and illustrated by Michael Hague


Young Adult








The Moral Compass by William Bennett



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