I love a feel-good story out there in the book world, and this one is sure to give you the warm fuzzies. It takes place here on Vancouver Island, where you’ll find AbeBooks headquarters nestled just a hop, skip and jump away from downtown.

Fans may know that Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, developed a reputation for sending signed copies of his books to children’s hospitals, for sick children to enjoy. Over 50 years ago in 1957, Seuss sent a signed, first edition copy of his now iconic book The Cat in the Hat to a children’s hospital here in Victoria. Then called the Solarium, and now known as the Queen Alexandra Centre for Children’s Health, the centre provides a variety of short and long-term specialized health care services to children and youth with The Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver Island.

When Seuss sent The Cat in the Hat to the centre, he dedicated it to all the children, present and future, who would come across it while being treated there. Somehow over the years, the book vanished, only to resurface in January 2013 at a prominent Victoria auction house known as Kilshaw’s. A trail of clues and investigation revealed that at some point in the past five decades, the book had made it to a bookshop in La Jolla, California (and has the stamp to prove it), and was sold here in Victoria for 25 cents at a garage sale in 1992.

When the book ended up at Kilshaw’s auction house, serendipitously, a medical doctor attending the auction to find furniture recognized its significance. He entered into a bidding war and won – specifically to return the book to its rightful place among the children of the centre. Victoria-based AbeBooks bookseller Neil Williams lent a hand as well – as an expert in children’s books, Williams not only verified the authenticity of the signature, but also waived his fee when he learned the book’s destination. Kilshaw’s auction house did the same.

“The book somehow got lost. There is no history of when it came here. It was at least in the late 1950s or early ’60s,” said Jessica Woollard with the Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver Island, which is on the QACCH grounds and helps support the centre. “There is no record on how it ended up across the road in a rummage sale.”

Woollard said the foundation has received some interesting donations in its time – most recently gold from old fillings from two dentists; and $1,100 from the outcome of a contest via Twitter by the owner of the Indianapolis Colts football team – but the Dr. Seuss book holds a special place in their hearts.

“We know how significant Dr. Seuss is to kids, and for a centre that helps kids with special needs this is amazing,” she said. “It’s hard to believe we have this book with his signature.”

And if you find yourself desperately wishing you had your own copy, don’t worry – AbeBooks has a wide variety of cool and collectible Dr. Seuss books and ephemera.

via vicnews.com

One of the suggestions that my colleague Richard made was for Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories series . Featuring titles such as The Vile Victorians, Ruthless Romans and Awful Egyptians, the series attempts to put the often dry, boring and stodgy subject of history into terms a child will be enthralled by. In short, the series is often gory, bloodthirsty, and blunt, and chock full of toilet humor. But it sneaks in plenty of education when the kid isn’t looking – kind of like hiding spinach in a delicious smoothie.

This excellent video from Horrible Histories is an absolute delight. It’s a short biography of Charles Dickens, plenty peppy enough to amuse kids and make them laugh. But there’s a ton here for an adult to enjoy, too – like the fact that the video and song are clearly a tongue-in-cheek take-off on Morrissey and the Smiths (and sounds very much like a hybrid of “This Charming Man” and “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”. The lyrics are genius and cracked me up:

“Little Dorrit is a tale about my dad in debtor’s jail, while Hard Times tells my life, ’bout when I tried to leave my wife…”

Enjoy!

Last week I was in New York for the ABAA New York Antiquarian Book Fair and also the Manhattan Vintage Book & Ephemera Show. As always, New York offered amazing bookstores and a buzzing city.

I had some spare time, and in keeping with the book theme, decided to visit the main branch of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. For me, this building is the very best of what a library can be; beautiful architecture, unique books and a great children’s book collection.

Walking down Fifth Avenue, my first glimpse of the library was the iconic lions (top left), Patience and Fortitude. The library lions are instantly recognizable and mark the library as a special place. On this visit, there were two Lego replicas of the beloved lions (top right) inside the building – definitely worth a look for Lego lovers!

The NYPL is the second largest library in the US and the third largest in the world, with at least 53 million items. The building was designed by John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings between 1897 and 1911 and is stunning example of Beaux-Arts design. At the time of construction, the library was the largest marble structure ever built in the US.

In a corner of the children’s library I discovered an exhibit of the real Winnie the Pooh animals: Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga, Tigger and Pooh. The animals belonged to Christopher Milne, son of the author, A.A. Milne and the books were donated to the New York Public Library in 1987 by the publisher of the Pooh books (aside: if you don’t know the origins of Winnie the Pooh, they are fascinating).

When you look at these animals you can see they were well loved, with worn patches and bits of fur missing, this makes them that much more endearing . Knowing that the stories were based on treasured and well-loved toys makes them even better to read, I can’t wait to rediscover these tales with my daughters.

The real animals of Winnie-the-Pooh: Piglet

Guest post compliments of Maria Hutchison, AbeBooks Account Manager for our rare and collectible segment.

In honor of the anniversary, Flavorwire put together a slideshow of (to their minds) The 25 Books Every Kid Should Have on Their Bookshelf. Here is the list they came up with:

1. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
2. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
3. The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill
4. The Sweetest Fig by Chris Van Allsburg
5. Matilda by Roald Dahl
6. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
7. Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
8. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
9. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
10. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
11. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
12. Half Magic by Edward Eager
13. Peter Pan and Wendy by J.M. Barrie
14. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
15. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
16. Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
17. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
18. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
19. The Giver by Lois Lowry
20. The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne
21. The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
22. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
23. Lizard Music by Daniel Manus Pinkwater
24. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
25. Oh, The Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss

Which of those do you agree or disagree with? What do you think they missed? For more great suggestions for children’s books, be sure to look at 30 Books for a Six-Year-Old, and 50 Books for an Eleven-Year-Old.

When the late author, the alter ego of Theodor Seuss Geisel, was penning his beloved Beginner Books for Random House in the 1960s, he’d have his editor in chief, Michael Frith, over to his house, where they’d work until the wee hours. And when they’d get stuck, according to “Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel” by Judith and Neil Morgan, Geisel would open a secret door to a closet filled with hundreds of hats. Then, he and Frith would each pick a different hat, perhaps a fez, or a sombrero, or maybe an authentic Baroque Czech helmet or a plastic toy viking helmet with horns. They’d sit on the floor and stare at each other in these until the right words came to them.

And they were behind a secret false door in his home! What a marvellous thing to know. It’s no wonder he was so able to tap into the joy and mystery that appeals to well to children. His collection of hats was apparently quite extensive, containing hundreds of hats.. And as reported in the article, many of them can now be viewed as part of an exhibition that is traveling across the U.S.A.

Read the full article for more information.

Edith (E.) Nesbit was the queen of children’s literature in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her best-known work is The Railway Children (1906), a story of three children trying to prove the innocence of their father, who is falsely imprisoned for espionage.

Nesbit’s writing went beyond children’s books to adult novels, political writing, and even poetry. She is a talent not to be missed. Read on for more about E. Nesbit

My colleagues Richard and Christi put together this great video (above) about the importance of reading to children, and even provided some helpful guidelines on how to get started, and how to get the most out of your bedtime (or anytime!) reading. I’ve added the tips below as well, for reference, as well as a list of books included in the video.

Tips:

1. Begin reading to them from at least six months old. Use those thick board books so they can get used to handling books — some people read to ‘em while they’re still in the womb.

2. Do it regularly — reading must become routine. It’s have a bath, brush their teeth, listen to a good book.

3. Turn off the TV. Turn off the computer games. Turn off the Ipod. Turn off the radio. If I’m reading, then they’re listening and there will be no distractions.

4. Put some effort into your reading — you don’t have to do funny voices but a monotonous drone can put a young listener to sleep.

5. Stop and explain new words being heard for the first time — and encourage your child to ask when they hear something they don’t understand.

6. With chapter books, have a quick discussion at the end of a chapter — you can start by saying something like…well, it looks like Harry and Ron are really in trouble this time?

7. Let your child choose the books — this is important in developing their own tastes and a feeling of independence. Young children may ask for the same picture book over and over again — that’s fine, they move on….eventually.

8. Don’t underestimate your child’s ability to process stories that seems threatening and violent. There’s nothing worse than bland bedtime reading.

9. Once my children were learning to read to themselves, our routine changed to include them reading something to me before I read to them.

10. For a bit of variety, introduce ‘guest’ readers — granny or grand-dad can do it when they come to stay, or an older sister can do it for an evening.

Great Books for Children:

Peter Rabbit

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt

Angela Brazil is long forgotten, but this English author pioneered modern schoolgirl fiction with more than 40 books over 40 years. Victorian literature advocated moral principles for young women but Brazil offered pure entertainment. It was a new dawn for female readers.

Step back into the classroom with Brazil’s novels and their eye-catching artwork, and explore 25 of the titles available from Angela Brazil.

Louis Wain was a British artist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, best known for his whimsical and chaotic drawings of cats. If you’ve come across any of Wain’s art, you know it’s memorable. The cats and kittens are depicted with large, wide eyes, often with crazy, spiky fur, and with psychedelic patterns and backgrounds. The cats are anthropomorphized, wearing clothes, having conversations, playing musical instruments and more. If you are a fan of cats, or unusual children’s art, they are utterly charming.

Wain’s story is rather a sad one, unfortunately, in many regards. He was born into a family with a lot of mental illness, and was the only one of six children in the family ever to marry. His longtime devotion to cats began when he was married in his early twenties. His wife Emily fell ill with breast cancer, and Wain found that their kitten, Peter, lifted his sick wife’s spirits immeasurably. He began to dress the kitten up and teach him to do little tricks to make his wife happy. He also began to sketch Peter, and it was on a promise to Emily that he persevered and published his first drawings.

Wain was a highly productive artist for the following three decades or so, providing work for countless children’s books, as well as advertisements and features in magazines. His love of cats defined his entire oeuvre (though he did branch into dogs, from time to time), and he became chairman of The National Cat Club in 1898, and even had his own Louis Wain’s Annual from 1901-1915.

But Wain’s success did little to secure his financial future – he had a mother and five sisters to support, and was a poor businessman, often selling his work outright with no thought to copyright or royalties, and was taken advantage of frequently.

Around 1907, Wain’s own mental health began to decline rapidly, and the previously affable, good-natured artist became paranoid, suspicious and delusional as schizophrenia began to take hold. He was committed in 1924, to the pauper ward of a mental hospital. When news of his circumstance reached the public, there was outcry from many, including H.G. Wells, who championed Wain’s cause. Wain was, as a result, moved to a much more pleasant hospital with abundant green space (and even cats), and he spent the remaining years of his life there in relative peace.

Some students of Wain’s art have claimed that the deterioration and change in Wain’s mental state can be clearly demonstrated through a study of his drawings and paintings, while others argue that is problematic. The latter claim that Wain’s frenetic, chaotic, psychedelic-patterned cats were experimentation with for, color and style, and that Wain also continued to create more conventional (albeit playing sports and talking) cats well into his later career. It is tough to know whether to lend any credence to the theories, as few if any of Wain’s works were dated, anyway.

Regardless, for a cat lover, an art lover, or a collector of vintage children’s books, Louis Wain is not to be missed.

And if you can’t get enough weird children’s books about cats, be sure to check out Mee-a-ow! Or, Good Advice to Cats and Kittens by R.M. Ballantyne.

Enjoy this selection of Wain’s cats, depicting great variation in his artistic style over the years.

The book at bedtime is just part of the daily routine for many families, but choosing the right titles to read aloud to an inquisitive six-year-old can be difficult. Can’t be boring, can’t be too slow and can’t be too simplistic.

Put together by a father with two daughters, this list comes from experience. It includes dragons, rabbits, a giant, an iron man, a secret society and a pig.

See the list of books for a six-year-old.