Children's Stories

I remember two books from my early childhood, my preschool years, before I knew how to read. One was The Bingity Bangity School Bus, which was a favorite of my brother's when he was two or three... (My parents read it to him so often that we all knew it by heart!)

The other was a book of bedtime stories... I don't remember its title or any of the stories in it. All I remember was the picture on the cover and how it frightened me! It showed a little girl in a nightgown sitting on her bed - which was floating down a river. Strange animals stood looking at her from the shore. I remember being frightened by the idea of being alone on a bed surrounded by water. And I felt sad for the little girl, so alone. How was she going to get back to land? Did she know how to swim? Only much later did I realize that the illustration was meant to be symbolic of the imaginary world the stories take us to... (Do children see symbolism? I certainly didn't! I must have been a very practical child!)

I was reminded of these books - and my childhood reaction to them - when I recently read the story a three-year-old narrated to her mother, who wrote it down and illustrated it... (The mother is an artist friend of my daughter's.)

Hmmmm. On first read, I was surprised! Interesting logic (and balance) here!