Several times over the past decade, we have checked this book out of the library. It is recommended on a number of home school book lists, and I can see why: it has all in one book what the editors consider the best picture books of the 20th century. Most of their selections I agree with: We love the Tale of Little Babaji, Owen, Swimmy, Miss Nelson is Missing, Whose Mouse Are You, Caps for Sale, Petunia, the silly goose who thinks “He who owns books and loves them is wise” until she learns “it was not enough to carry wisdom under my wing. I must put it in my mind anad in my heart.”
But I’d leave out The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss. I just can’t get myself to like Dr. Seuss, except for the Grinch. We usually skip over a couple of the longer stories we don’t love: Stellaluna,The Cat Club, the D. W. story. And there’s no, say Professor Wormbog and the Search for the Zipperump-a-zoo by Mercer Mayer, which was a favorite of my family and my husband’s family, and now of my kids, since my mother-in-law kept their taped up and scribbled upon copy. (Which is a good thing because it is inexplicably out of print and expensive used - a whopping $227.95 in hardback at Amazon. Is it too expensive to print – oversized high quality paper in full color?)
Even so, the Treasury is a great buy for about $20.
Only I’ve never bought it. One, because it has been stocked by nearly every library we’ve patronized; two, because we already own maybe a third to a half of the stories in it; and three, because really, if you want to read a picture book, you want to look at the pictures. And this anthology has edited out or has shrunk these books’ illustrations. If you were a grandma with extremely limited shelf space for children’s books, or if you didn’t have a good library where you could check these books out in their entirety, or if you were a student of children’s literature and were using this as a text, I could justify buying it. And it’s handy to take along on a car trip.
But it just doesn’t measure up to the real thing.
2 comments:
I've learned from experience that omnibus/treasury books aren't really worth it. I've got a Beatrix Potter one and a Madeleine one ad a poetry one. I don't like the size which is just too unwieldy to actually hold on my lap with a squirming toddler. I don't like the fact that it becomes a deadly weapon in the hands of said toddler. I don't like what happens to the quality of the illustrations. On the whole buying the individual books just makes more sense.
This book was given to us as a gift and I have given it as a gift! I agree that the condensed illustrations are frustrating. What I like, however, is that we were introduced to many books that became favorites. We checked them out of the library, and ended up buying some of the original books. I also like to grab it for a quick story, because there are so many choices.
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