Books Forever - Firsts

Yesterday, I reminisced about the first two story books that I owned, both by Enid Blyton.

To my absolute delight, after reading the blog entry, my younger brother sent me a note, together with the images of the covers of the books (see above).

Yes, that's it - the exact edition and illustration! Thanks, brother.

I was wondering how did he manage to ferret out those covers from the archives and then it hit me - Google Image, of course, right?! So clever.

I remember, in those days, my mother would always accede to our requests to buy story books. My younger siblings and I were all book-lovers. At that time, each soft cover copy of an Enid Blyton book cost RM1.60 and we bought a lot of them from the Jaleel's Baby Centre at State (the shop is still there today but with a different mix of merchandise).

On my part, I devoured each of the books, reading them over and over again. The same can be said, I believe, for my sister and brother. My favourite was the Malory Towers series - see right for the exact edition. Vive le Google!

While I got my first story books when I was 8, it was quite different for my own children. I got my Son No 1 his first "book" when he was just a few months old. It was a soft plastic book with Disney characters and it would squeak when you press it in the middle. It is now lying somewhere around, I believe, just can't locate it now. As a baby, what Son No 1 liked to do when holding the book was to chew its edges. There were no words in the book - it's just one of those marketing successes designed to satisfy parents who wanted their children to get used to the structure of books! Ya, me a kiasu parent. But let's put on record that I never read to the boys when they were in the womb - so I do not fall under the category of a super-kiasu parent!

The first real paper book I got for Son No 1 was this Ladybird "Touch and Feel" book called "Shiny Car". It is made of hard cardboard so that the pages don't tear. As you can see (right), the book has survived rough handling by all three boys.

The rhyme in the book is familiar (see below) as I have used the same book for all three sons.

Unfortunately, I do not have any recollection of "first books" for my other two sons. The first book for Son No 1 should be the first books for them as well. Being the firstborn always has its privileges, but as I always remind Son No 1, such privileges come with responsibilities, which the firstborn cannot escape. But that's another story.

Well, I guess that's enough reminiscence for today. In my next post, I will write about my three sons' current interests in books.