Friday, May 29, 2009

10 Books A Day: #40

Matthew Looney and the Space Pirates...Jerome Beatty, Jr....Avon Camelot

A Book of Dwarfs...Ruth Manning-Sanders...Piccolo

A Book of Wizards...Ruth Manning-Sanders...Piccolo

Matilda...Roald Dahl...Viking Kestrel

Just So Stories...Rudyard Kipling...Weathervane

The Story of the Champions of the Round Table...Howard Pyle...Dover

Children's Television, 1947-1990...Jeffrey Davis...McFarland and Company, Inc.

Animated TV Specials (1962-1987)...George W. Woolery...Scarecrow Press, Inc.

Kids' TV: The First 25 Years...Stuart Fischer...Facts On File Publications

Pufnstuf & Other Stuff...David Martindale...Renaissance Books

There were three science fiction series I used to read back in grade school: there was Rivets and Sprockets, the robot boys; there was Mr. Bass, from the mushroom planet; and there was Matthew and Maria Looney, the moon children. This is the only Looney book I've ever seen since about 1975, and until I found it I never knew that they were illustrated by Gahan Wilson. The Ruth Manning-Sanders books have great line illustrations by Robin Jacques and covers by Brian Froud. Rudyard Kipling supplied the pictures for his Just So Stories, just as Hugh Lofting later did for his Dr. Doolittle books and J. R. R. Tolkien for The Hobbit. And here of course are my books on children's programming, always handy for looking up memories and pinning down dates.

Book Count:488.

2 comments:

AlanDP said...

I think the earliest "SF" I read was loaned to me by a teacher, and were some Tom Swift books. They were already dated by the time I read them, but I was too young and ignorant to realize it.

The sophistication of his gadgets was measured in "wires per inch." Long before the transistor, apparently.

P.S. I ordered that book.

Brer said...

Of course, SF at that age is more just a flavoring; all books are ADVENTURE books, with flavorings of SF, fantasy, history, or what-have-you.