Children's Classics Back in Print

The Wall Street Journal ran a couple nice articles last week about favorite children's books which are back in print.

The first article (click the title of this post) was an overview particularly calling attention to the reissue of more books in Miroslav Sasek's THIS IS... series, THIS IS AUSTRALIA and THIS IS THE WAY TO THE MOON (formerly published under the titles THIS IS CAPE KENNEDY and THIS IS CAPE CANAVERAL).

My youngest son loves the Sasek books, and we've collected over a dozen so far. (I noticed that we also need to pick up THIS IS GREECE which was republished earlier this year!) They are filled with interesting historical facts and trivia along with whimsical illustrations.

One of the things my son particularly enjoys is that the publisher puts an asterisk by any fact which has changed since the time of each book's original publication decades ago and then provides a page with a list explaining all the changes. It's fun to see which things have stayed the same and which things are long gone.

These books combine entertaining reading with broadening a child's understanding of geography and history -- a win-win!

The referenced WSJ article also briefly mentioned the reissuing of Maud Hart Lovelace's BETSY-TACY series, which have been republished in lovely new editions.

The BETSY-TACY books follow Betsy and her friends, including Tacy and Tib, from early childhood to adulthood. Like Laura Ingalls Wilder's LITTLE HOUSE books, the reading level becomes more difficult as the characters grow older, and also like the LITTLE HOUSE books, many of the characters and incidents were inspired by real life. You can read more about that in my friend Sharla Scannell Whalen's marvelous BETSY-TACY COMPANION, a meticulously researched and highly enjoyable read which was a labor of love for the author. Excerpts from the COMPANION also appear as supplemental material in the back of some editions of the books, including the new reprints.

PRINCESS DIARIES author Meg Cabot wrote a very nice article in the WSJ last Saturday explaining her love for the BETSY-TACY books. Cabot also contributed a forward to the new copy of BETSY WAS A JUNIOR and BETSY AND JOE. Anna Quindlen and Laura Lippman wrote forwards for other books in the series.

I highly recommend keeping all these titles in mind for upcoming Christmas shopping.