A couple months back Suzy wrote about Little Golden Books and I commented that I had already picked up a couple for goma-chan but was still looking for more- especially ones that I had read when I was younger. I had so many as a kid and while I can not remember them all I have managed to pick up a couple that I had when I was younger like “The little red caboose” and “The poky little puppy” among others…
The ownership rights to these books have changed several times over the years but basically the books have stayed the same- very little has changed from the originals- the first of which was released in the 1940s.
I loved books growing up and I still do and we already have quite a collection of English (and a smaller collection of Japanese) books going for goma-chan when he arrives. I know he is not going to be at all interested for at least a year but that will not stop me reading to him all the time- he will just have to get used to it 
What were your favourite Little Golden Books?
While we have picked up quite a few books- the Little Golden Books are definitely my favourites (along with Possum Magic!)- I think it is the detail in the images that makes them so great.
Of course, as I said- it is not just Little Golden Books that we have.
The bottom two in this photo are the books goma-chan will be able to play with first- soft material books that if needed I can chuck in the wash!
Some old favourites… It is amazing that some of the books I read as a child are still around and going strong. Possum Magic and Dear Zoo as well as the Spot books were all favourites of mine growing up. Would be interesting to hear what others liked when they were younger.
Goma-chan also got a package in the mail last week from his grandmother (which also included something from his Aunt Gem & Uncle Paul)
Spot Dog from Paul & Gem- He is already in the cot.
And to help him sleep- this beautiful sleeper bag from mum. It is adjustable too and it is reversable but I didn`t realize that until later. Inside is mainly green with cartoon nursery rhyme type pictures.
I think goma-chan might already be a spoiled baby…
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I am just a twenty something Aussie girl living in Chiba, Japan with my Japanese husband trying to make sense of the crazy Japanese world we live in! We welcomed our first son in December 2009 (Noah) and a second son in January 2011, 2 months premature (Shion). I am working hard at raising them to be confident, bilingual, happy kids!
Wow. Lucky Goma-chan, he’ll have to start a library! I love the Steve Parish books too and we have quite a few Mem Fox, I love the illustrations in them- and the fact they’re Aussie! My favourite Golden Book was the little engine that could and I still say ‘I think I can I think I can’ to myself when I’m lugging stuff up the stairs. We have a lot of Maisy as it’s bilingual and also Hooray for fish for the fabulous drawings and bilingualness. (think I made that word up…) The girls love all the repetitive books too- No Davey, Five little monkeys, Are you my mother? etc. In Japanese if you don’t know it already check out the Nontan series. Cute, addictive and with lots of moral lessons on sharing and teasing and lifestyle stuff like bathing and brushing your teeth and wetting the bed but not overly preachy.
Looove the Spot teddy. I think I need one for me!
Oh, and think I need to go to sleep- I saw the hole in the sleeping bag and thought it was for peeing out of…. it’s for a seat belt right?
hehe – hole for peeing out of.
We had all the Mr. Men books and Hariy McClarey (??) and Spot. Books are great – you can never have too many. Well, not when kids are young anyway and they get thrashed over and over again – and cuddled when slept, dropped down the toilet, left at the doctors …
Heather- Will have to check out the Nontan series and the others you mentioned. I love Maisy myself but it might be a bit girly, no? I suppose it wouldn`t really matter…
I think it is for the seatbelt- as it is an Aussie one and of course EVERYONE DRIVES. We don`t have a car so not much need for it but I guess it would work the same way for the pram if needed. I suppose if baby is bathed and in PJS and sleeping sack then there is no need to put more clothes on them when they do get home if they are out and about earlier. hehe, had to laugh at the hole for peeing out of.
Gaijinwife- I will cry when books get destroyed but suppose I better get used to it. But down the toilet? Oh no! I loved the Mr Men books to- my favourite was Mr Bump. Will have to get some of those next time I am back in Australia. They are great because they are so small and light too I guess. Is Hairy Mclarey the dog? I think I know those!
OMG I totally had all those golden books when I was a kid! I also really liked the Three Little Kittens who lost their mittens one too! The very hungry Caterpillar and Where the Wild things are, are still my favs and I actually bought a new copy of each recently!!
How cool! When my parents came to visit last July they brought over a bunch of my old books from childhood, including some of the Golden Books, also the Bernstein Bears books (did they have those in Australia?). I haven’t let DS at them yet because he still isn’t at the stage where he can leaf through books nicely without destroying them. When we read to him we read from his board books because he likes to be very hands on with them, turning the pages himself and so on, and I just can’t bear to see those old books torn up! I give him my old magazines to look through if he wants something that he can read AND destroy, as is often the case with toddlers. DS loves books but English language kids books are mighty expensive here, sadly.
Lucky Goma-chan!
His favourite Golden Books are the Fire Engine one and the Red Caboose, so it will be interesting to see if Goma-chan likes those too.
I was surprised how early Ali got into books – he loved looking at the pictures from when he was maybe 6 months old. And now reading stories is his favourite thing, which I’m so happy about – he’s a pretty active toddler so it’s a nice chance to cuddle him on my lap
You are truly thinking ahead– good on you Lulu, I have very fond memories of my mother buying those books for me, and have kept them, and looked forward to each collection– you’ll be creating the same memories for your little one as well..
Do you remember when they came with the record as well.
Heather- I thought the hole in the bag was to let air in…you know so baby doesn’t overheat? maybe I am wrong!
Lulu- Loved this post! I think we’ve already established that I am also a big fan of kids books and have a collection going for my yet to be conceived kids! The Golden Books are great! They were also a big part of my childhood!
I think babies are never too young to have stories read to them! You could even start now
Jess- Where the Wild Things Are is a favourite of mine too- have not picked it up yet though as I thought it might be a bit scary until goma-chan is a little older. What do you think?
Since working at a kindy I discovered lots of other great children`s books- like the Clifford series (we didn`t have this in Australia I don`t think) and others that are more recent- I love books about sea creatures and hope to pick up a few for goma-chan soon. Kids at the kindy loved Rainbow Fish and also a story (which name is escaping me) about an octopus.
Jessica- Lucky you and little D! All those lovely books. Yes, I know the Bernstein Bears- we had just a couple when we were younger- one about a scary tree that Melanie and I could not find at the book shop last week. The other was about cleaning bedrooms- I liked those stories.
The English books are pretty expensive here too- but since a lot of the books in Australia are imported the cost is not that different. I like amazon.co.jp though since it is free shipping and often they are cheaper than the stores here that stock books. Of course the selection is not as good as normal amazon.com.
I can understand you not wanting Dylan to be able to rip up those old books- maybe when he is a little older and gentler he can read them. I have some soft material books and some board books to use with goma-chan first.
Suzy- Is Ali gentle with the books? How did you reinforce this? It will be interesting to see if goma-chan likes the same ones that Ali does. Hopefully one day in the near future if you are ever in Japan or again or I am in Sydney the boys will be able to pay together. Bit of an age gap but in about a year and a half that won`t matter so much maybe?
April Marie Claire- We got rid of a lot of our childhood books and gave them to the hospitals near our house- we had so many! It was a hard thing to do but I remember going through them all with mum- we kept a few favourites but most of them are in Australia. A lot of the favourites that we kept are for older children too like Anne of Green Gables. I do have a set of Pooh books given to me when I was about 5 by my aunt that also contains two volumes of poetry. The other two contain Pooh stories- these are definitely something I want to bring back to Japan with me in the next couple of years for goma-chan.
Katie M- Best to start early! I had some also before I conceived! hehe. I read “goodnight moon” to goma-chan occasionly at the moment. I find he responds more to singing though- I guess he can`t differentiate yet between when I am reading and just talking to someone where as if I am singing he knows it is different. He likes “Puff the Magic Dragon” among other songs!
Any Dr. Seuss books were favorites of mine, still are. You can never go wrong with “Green Eggs and Ham”! I get so excited when my kids fall in love with the stories I loved as a kid! We love Maisy too, for the bilingual factor, the hard pages and E really likes it when we have books with characters he knows from TV.
Oh my god!!! I love little golden books. I had so many, we gave them to the local doctors office when we were in primary school. Now i wish I had kept them!
I’ll have to start buying more books… Sakurako LOVES books… her favourite at the moment is “Time for bed” by mem fox.
My favourite golden books were the saggy baggy elephant, good night little bear, bambi and the little red hen. I think I had all the Spot books… brings back so many memories. I guess I better get onto ebay for some books… or better yet…. get on the phone to mum!
Just about to read Sakurako possum magic to get her to speak more english.. she’s only speaking Japanese this week and it’s a little frustrating.
Brenda- I have gotten more into Dr Seuss in recent years- they might not have been as popular in Australia back when I was a little tyke but they definitely are now. We used them at the kindy and I also have a couple that I use for simple reading with children learning to read. I have two or so at the moment but that will definitely grow
I am going to need to check out Maisy I think?! It has been mentioned a couple of times. We have some plain Japanese books already and I have told Shun to pick out some more that he likes but he hasn`t yet. I also have a couple Japanese books that my friend Hiro gave me. When I was a student in Japan, and studying Japanese, he gave me a couple of kids story books that he remembered from when he was little that he liked to “practice” with and I still have them. So they will be passed onto goma-chan!
Sophie- You and I were the same era in Australia and only a couple years apart so I bet a lot of our favourites are the same!!! I got most of the golden books in Australia at Borders- they seem to be making a comeback (and oh how I love borders!) and then a couple of the “packs” off Amazon but I could not get them off amazon.co.jp so I had to pay the shipping
But hey, it was worth it.
Spot is a great one too- plus now I have the spot toy for goma-chan I am sure it will become a favourite. There are definitely more books I want to pick up in Australia. Next time I go back I am going to have like $200 saved just for kids book buying I think. haha- might need to ship them though since quite heavy in the suitcases. LOL
I am sure it is just a stage with Sakurako using only Japanese- in Australia she would of used mainly English I suppose (although I suppse when you first arrived back there she wasn`t talking much yet) and so now she is just testing out her Japanese. hehe. Everything will balance out there eventually. Does Riki speak to her in Japanese or English?? Possom Magic is a great book, DEFINITELY one of my favourites!
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