Monday, January 31, 2011


See Spot Run!
If you are of a certain age you will remember the Dick and Jane books.

Years ago when Miss Is was just a wee girl
we visited Prince Edward Island
and met a very nice mother and daughter.
The mother sang the praises of the Dick and Jane books.
I was surprised because they seemed so repetitive and frankly, boring,
and so backward...
I did not want Isabel learning all about that pre-women's lib behavior;
I am such a child of the 70's.
Long story short, this woman went on and on about how the books helped her
daughter learned to read.
So I searched used book stores and found 7 or 8 books.
We read them together but they were boring, just as I remembered.
It was fun as a flashback,
but wasn't really the thing for me or Miss Is.

So we went back to our daily ritual of reading aloud two or three
wonderful books
with interesting stories
and beautiful illustrations.
And these books sat untouched on the bookshelves
for years and years.
Until the other day.
Miss Is is always buying and selling textbooks on Amazon
What a brilliant idea.
Often I am going to the post office for her
and then the Eureka moment!
Sell those Dick and Janes.

Check out the illustrations below
and see how
Dick and Jane grow
with each revision.

Within 24 hours I had sold one
then another 5 days later
and another 5 days later
The ones that sold were the revised Dick and Janes from the sixties:
the kids are grown up and
and
the vocabulary is a bit more advanced
and
the layout of the books was different.

So I guess that is why these were the first to sell.

Check out the names - just like Madmen!
except this mother seems a little more maternal.

I have four more listed on Amazon.
Bye Bye Dick and Jane

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