Posts Tagged vintage stories

Rare children’s books like those wonderful elementary “primers” your grandmother used to read to you when you were a little girl are often difficult to find; however, homeschool mom, Barbara Frank, has recently published a beautiful new vintage book of short stories for reading aloud to young children called Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks. Isn’t that cover illustration scrumptious?

With over 125 vintage illustrations to supplement this 1894 text and an emphasis on virtues such as truth and gratitude, Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks is sure to please your young homeschooler as you snuggle and read about animals, nature, fairy tales, fables, and even how old-timey household objects were made and chores were performed like how to churn butter.  Here’s an excerpt from the “Milk, Butter, and Cheese” chapter:

Alice was greatly interested, when after this the milk to grow thick and form curds. She watched Aunt Lizzie chop the curds and press them till all the thin liquid whey was squeezed out of them, and they were salted and pressed in a round, solid form like those in the dairy, each cheese being put into a large hoop of wood, until it  became of the right shape.

“See! this is a cheese, Alice”; and then kind Aunt Lizzie let Alice press and salt a tiny cheese with her own hands. How pleased and proud was the little girl when it was placed on the supper table, and mamma, papa, and even Aunt Lizzie each ate a small piece of Alice’s own cheese.

Especially interesting to me are all the references to what we now call “homesteading” and the lost art of homemaking from scratch with whatever resources you have on hand at the time.  My mother-in-law would love this classic storybook, and I’m sure that she would stop every now and then and tell stories from her own childhood.  In fact, this would be a great gift to purchase for read aloud time at granny’s house.

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Are you looking for classic storybooks for your young homeschool children?  Check out my favorite selections in Best Homeschool Books for Preschoolers.  There you’ll find my picks for predictable plot lines that are sure to please both parent and child during read aloud time.  And if you know of a rare, vintage children’s book to share with us, tell me about it in the comments section below.