Miss Jenny is one of my super tippy top favorite friends. We’ve known each other over ten years now (WOW!) and have been a big part of each other’s lives even though we both live across the country. She and I tend to share the same brain when it comes to most things, so it should come as no surprise that she is just as obsessed with vintage children’s books as I am!
Hello Modern Kiddo friends!
Jenny here, from Frecklewonder to share a little vintage book love while Miss Alix and family enjoy some sun + surf in beautiful Hawaii!
Like Alix, I am a huge fan and avid collector of vintage children’s books. The illustrations are tough to beat. My favorites come from the 1950s and 60s, and I never hit a thrift store without spending at least a few minutes digging through the book bin.
Today I am sharing one of my recent scores. A super sweet 1951 copy of Three Little Puppies. It’s a Rand McNally Elf Book, written by Ruth Dixon, with photographs by Dale and Sally Rooks. Let’s have a look, shall we?
What I love so much about this particular book—other than its obvious sweetness—is the use of REAL PUPPIES! Well known photographer of the time, Dale Rooks (with the help of Sally Rooks) achieved these fabulous images by using real life pups!
From the vivid colors, it almost looks as though an artist painted on top of the photographs but the book doesn’t mention anything about this process.
Wait til you see these photos….
A puppy in a boot!
Puppies on a tiny roller coaster!
Puppies holding tiny cameras!
The story is: the puppies set off on an adventure to find their Mama a nice, big juicy bone for her birthday. Along the way, they find themselves at the State Fair. They meet all sorts of dogs at the fair: hound dogs taking tickets, clown dogs beating drums, various dogs in line for a race, puppies eating ice cream cones, you name it. They compete in all sorts of races in the hopes of winning that bone for their Mama’s birthday, and in the end they do just that A big bone is loaded into the red wagon and brought home to their home on Echo Hill.
Thanks so much to Miss Alix for letting me pop in and share! And happy book thrifting + reading to all!
xo Jenny
Thank you so much Jenny! This book is outta control awesome. I love how the intro assures us that the shots were achieved with “unlimited patience and extreme gentle care”. Whew! The little black and white pup with his suspender pants is the funniest/cutest to me. Be sure to stop by Jenny’s terrific blog, Frecklewonder. And don’t forget to pop by her shops, Kid Wonder and Frecklewonder.
L O V E it! i’ve never this book before-so fun!
i just found a copy of “david mccheever’s 29 dogs” at the library sale;)
i actually sat in a meeting with a publisher who was reproducing these books! i am not sure it ever got off the ground tho. they totally creep me out! lol!
I can’t get enough of those Rand McNally books! I’m adding this one to the list! And I love that the puppies are trying to find a nice bone for their mama! What good puppies!
Say, Jenny–how many vintage childrens books do you own?
Okay. I thought that there was a kids book called Freckle Wonder. I was going to retro-actively call CPS on my parents for not buying it for me. Yes. I had that puppy book.
OH MY GOD! those just don’t even look real. that’s cracking me up.
Oh! My! Gosh! This book is sublime. I think that I actually stopped breathing for a bit as I saw them on that roller coaster and then doing a photo shoot!