When Reading was Golden

~ Becky Ross Michael

As a child, I loved going to the library. And I definitely looked for my favorites each time we visited. But for the books we bought at the store to keep at home, Little Golden Books were the stories that made my heart sing! In fact, I loved them so much that I still collect them. The three pictured above are titles from my collection that I remember from childhood.

I grew up in a small town, so we had no bookstores or large department stores. The great thing about Little Golden Books, besides their affordable price of just a quarter, was that they were sold in grocery stores and at the local “dime store.”

Although I didn’t yet pay much attention to the illustrator or author names as a youngster, I eventually realized that I was drawn to the books illustrated by Eloise Wilkin. Her characters always wore such soft and friendly faces, as the three covers shown above.

And I also loved the Little Golden Book stories written by Margaret Wise Brown. Yes, the same author of Goodnight Moon fame!

Although my 1946 copy isn’t in very good shape, I’m proud to say that my oldest Little Golden Book, The Little Taxi That Hurried, was written by Lucy Sprague Mitchell , a child education reformer. And it’s illustrated by Tibor Gergely, whose artwork graced many other Little Golden Books, as well.

Later, in the 1970s, my own kids liked many of the Little Golden Books, too! The Monster at the end of this Book was one of their favorites. By that time, the price had gone up to $.89.

My family members know that I still love these books and help me add to my collection, on occasion. Above is a Little Golden Book I received last Christmas from my sister. We used to watch Roy Rogers and Dale Evans on TV when we were kids.

And this is the most recent addition to my collection from one of my daughters, purchased right at Target. Both my girls and I “love Lucy” and have watched many episodes together over the years!

What about you? Are you a collector? Do you have a favorite memory of a Little Golden Book?

80 thoughts on “When Reading was Golden”

  2. I have fond memories of Little Golden Books, too. Just seeing those spines brought back memories. šŸ™‚ While I don’t specifically remember any from your collection, the covers feel familiar and brought smiles, Becky. (I had no idea MWB wrote them, too…those are especially beautiful covers.)

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  3. I remember them. More than one of my librarian friends, knew they wanted to become librarians as children when they cataloged their Golden Books. I was never that motivated. I just liked to read them.

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  7. thanks for the memory, Becky: I’m a great fan of the Little Golden Books; I read them as a kid; I had a good sized collection: i loved their tales and illustrations and read them to each of my kids; I have even written a few poems featuring them, a few were published including one about Tootle šŸ™‚

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  10. I still have some Little Golden Books from childhood, and I sometimes see them at yard sales. I wonder if they’ll ever become collector items.

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  13. There is something familiar about these but I don’t remember being aware of them as a series of Little Golden Books. I wonder if we ever had them in the UK? What a treasury to find at the local store – and to collect now. Lovely!

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  16. The first title that came to mind was “The Pokey Little Puppy.” It was one of my favorites, and I still can ‘see’ the cover art in my mind. A few new Golden Books always were part of birthdays and Christmas — I couldn’t get enough!

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  17. Becky, you really are a specialist! šŸ™‚ I used to love “The Poky Little Puppy” and I think, among others, we also had “The Little Engine that Could.” A fellow writer posted on IG recently that Golden Books have just published a rather good volume on Taylor Swift!

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  18. Becky, I loved this! Thank you for the memories, as I had many Little Golden Books as a child. Many of mine are featured here. My favorite was The Pokey Little Puppy. Like you, they brought me joy and fun. I read The Monster at the End of This Book to my children more times than I can count. I’m so glad they are being sold in grocery stores and other stores- another generation can discover these wonderful books.

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  19. WOW! I LOVE your collection of Little Golden Books. They were a wonderful introduction to reading. I just read that ā€œBy Little Golden Books’ 75th anniversary in 2017, sales topped two billion copies, and eight-million-plus books sold annually. ā€œhttps://www.antiquetrader.com/.amp/featured/ten-things-didnt-know-little-golden-books

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  20. Such lovely memories, Becky. I didn’t have books as a child but I bought so many of those books for my children. Unfortunately, we kept nothing because we kept moving. I would donate wagonloads full of children’s books to whatever library in the current school they went to at the time. It’s why I have a large library in my own home. Letting go of all those books was so hard. I loved those golden books so much. I was able to read them with my children.

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    1. I enjoy hearing about your memories of reading books with your kids! I’ve had to get rid of many books over the years, too. I sometimes wish I had more of them back and sometimes still look for certain titles, uncertain whether I still have it or not!

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      1. I was looking for a book to give a neighbor the other night. Gone. ;( Hate when that happens. I had to pare down in this small space. Now everything I buy is audible or ebook. So sad. Have always loved children’s books but no grandchildren so no point in keeping them.

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      3. This is address #36. It’s the last one. I have 4 large bookcases with no more space. I can only buy books as gifts now. I still have our city library and a good size library upstairs in a common area. If I go to someone’s place and there are no books, I know we can’t be fast friends. šŸ™‚

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  21. Mine are all sadly long gone. I remember you could buy these in the grocery store magazine section. My son also enjoyed golden books. His favorite was ā€œthe pokey little puppyā€

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  23. What a fantastic collection! At Funko, some of the artists contribute to the Funko Golden Books–we don’t have too many out these days, but they’re lots of fun to see on our website. Right now, I think they’re all on Amazon, though.

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    1. Oh, my gosh, Cecelia…I knew nothing about this whole line of Golden Books! E.T., Back to the Future, Gremlins, Universal Monsters, and even Stranger Things! I just put in “Funko Golden Book” as my search, and a whole slew of them came up. Thanks for this info!

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  24. I don’t recall seeing Golden books for sale here, but my children had The Monster… which I think we picked up at a fete and still have it for the grandchildren. I used to love watching ‘I Love Lucy’ with Mum.

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  25. I did love reading when I was young, but I never read Golden books.

    I did collect Classics Illustrated comic books until I was about 10.
    They paved the way for me to read may classics by authors like Dickens, Shakespeare, Dumas and Scott.
    I’d say have fun collecting but it would be moot, as I see you do.
    Cheers!

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  27. Oh my. An intense feeling of nostalgia passed through me as I read this post. I loved the Little Golden Books growing up and bought them for my kids as well. My daughter’s favourite was The Lucky Little Puppy. That Dale Evans book looks enticing. I was named after Dale Evans (my middle name is Dale). How wonderful that you collect these books. Although not a Little Golden Book, I still have my Bobbsey Twins in Mexico book, given to me by my grade three teacher for being the top student that year. I treasure it.

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    1. I’m pleased to read my post has brought back such wonderful memories about books, Darlene. And that’s so interesting to know you were named after Dale Evans. I also loved Bobbsey Twins books; my sister sometimes read them to me before I learned to read:)

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  28. The gold leaf of the spines are wonderful šŸ˜ƒ tx much for visiting my site. I love anything to do with books & would be thrilled if youā€™d write a guest blog post for my site, which is for anyone who enjoys writing, or books, and all the arts. If you think it might be fun or helpful to have my followers (who total about 10k across my various social media) meet you, hereā€™s the link for general guidelines: https://wp.me/p6OZAy-1eQ – best, da-AL

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