StoryWorth question #5:  What is your favorite children’s story.

Cinderella was the first thing that popped into my brain.  Then Where the Wild Things Are,followed by Horton Hatches the Egg. It took me a while to get there, after all, who doesn’t love a story in which the underdog prevails or a story about forgiveness.  In the end, though, I realized that my almost-life-long  admiration for a creature who kept his word in spite of personal hardship — no matter what — made this inspiring Seuss tale my all-time favorite.

Have I mentioned that my curiosity leads me to pull on a thread until the entire scarf is nothing more than a pile of curly yarn?  Well, as regards Horton, I decided to “wiki” his creator, Theodor Suess Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Suess.

Suess Geisel started out as an illustrator and had a very successful career in advertising before entering the world of children’s literature.  Between advertising and Horton (his fourth children’s book published in 1940,) he drew political cartoons during WWII and illustrated a series of books based on amusing  things children wrote or said – today we might call them bloopers – but back in the day they were called “boners,” hence, a series of very popular books, Boners: Seriously Misguided Facts- According to Schoolkids and More Boners. From what I can tell, the books are a cross between Art Linkletter’s show, Kids Say the Darnedest Things,  and the results of the Washington Post neologism contest.    

One last thing about the good doctor:  he once said, “Kids can see a moral coming a mile off.”  And I see that in his work.  Right.  Suess Geisel was not a sermonizer, but he did impart a good measure of his political ideals through his children’s stories. 

I cannot talk about books without mentioning Jeanette Burch and the Cannon Falls Library.  In the first place, Cannon Falls didn’t have a library until the year I was born.  That year it was a wall of books in the Girl Scout Leaders’ meeting  room.  Not long after, it was moved to the old Fire Hall, which is a skinny two-story stone building on Mill Street, just east of where the library is now situated.  That is the library of my childhood, and that is where Jeanette Burch presided with her neat script, checking out books at her desk right by the door in the dim and dusty light filtering through the tall wavy-glass windows.

Both the library and Mrs.  Burch were characters in their own right, and both seemed to have harkened from quieter times.  Mrs. Burch was ‘intellectual,’ which was evident even to my seven-year-old self.  As with the library, she was quiet, unassuming  and, maybe, just a bit unapproachable.  At least to a child.   She wore gabardine suits with a starched white blouse, thick nylon stockings and brown lace shoes with block heels. 

What was also evident, though, was that she loved providing reading materials for the denizens of Cannon Falls.  I’m sure she knew that my first stop in the library would be the Dr. Suess books, followed by Nancy Drew, all of the Oz stories and Lord knows what else.  The only time I remember bypassing her advice was when at age 13 I wanted to check out Gone with the Wind.  For some reason she didn’t think that was appropriate for me, but she could not censor my choices.  And, of course, I read it with great interest, completely missing  any R-rated overtones.  Mrs. Burch really had nothing to worry about.

Here is a snippet from her obituary (March 14, 2009, age 89) :

Jeannette was a lifetime member of the Congregational Church of Cannon Falls, where she was the Church organist for more than 35 years. She sang in and directed the choir, taught Sunday school, served as Sunday school superintendent, and Church historian. She was a member of various church organizations, the Tuesday Club, The Daughters of the American Revolution and served on the Goodhue County Historical Society Board.

(She and her husband) had two children and sponsored the first foreign exchange student in Cannon Falls. They also were foster parents for a boy and two girls. 

Jeannette was not very outgoing, but the friends she made, she made for life. She had a good sense of humor and enjoyed making puns.

R.I.P. Mrs. Burch, and thank you for the Cannon Falls Library.

*Free Dr. Seuss Clipart #1323726 (License: Personal Use)