Reviews

Family Pages Summer 2008

The last time I visited the big-box bookstore northwest of State College, I found what may be the best children's books they carry before I even went inside. These are classic titles — many first published a half century ago — displayed in the vestibule and bearing the store's own imprint.

Priced at about $7, these hardcover editions were not manufactured for the ages, but they look fine now and would make good additions to classroom libraries, or gifts for children or new parents.

Among the titles are Russell Hoban's "A Bargain for Frances," Arnold Lobel's "Frog and Toad Together" and "Frog and Toad Are Friends," Else Helmelund Minarik's "The Adventures of Little Bear," and three by Syd Hoff - "Danny and the Dinosaur," "Oliver," and "Sammy the Seal."

Happily, I settled in and read them all. Several things struck me about them as a collection, in particular in contrast to most books being published for the age group today. They are comparatively long, sometimes with complex plots; there is no irony but no overt moralizing either; they are witty without being sardonic; the artwork is kid-friendly and straightforward — in part because printing technology was comparatively primitive; and the characters are even tempered and — with the exception of gloomy Toad — cheerful, even when things don't go their way.

This last quality was especially striking in the three books by Syd Hoff, who was born in New York City in 1912, grew up in a Bronx tenement, dropped out of high school because his family needed him to work and he couldn't do geometry anyway, then went on to become a bestselling writer and cartoonist for children and adults. First published 50 years ago, "Danny and the Dinosaur" has sold more than 10 million copies.

In it, Danny (named after Hoff's brother) takes a trip to the natural history museum where he is befriended by a dinosaur-come-to-life that spends the day with him. "Oliver" and "Sammy the Seal" are likewise fish-out-of-water stories. Oliver, because of an ordering mix-up, is turned down by the circus and so spends a day about town looking for a home. Sammy, bored with zoo-life, receives permission from the zookeeper to check out the world beyond the fence.

Nothing bad happens in any of these books. The people and animals who encounter the dinosaur, the elephant and the seal are bemused but accepting, and eventually everyone finds his rightful place.

There is, however, something more melancholy about "Danny" than about the other two, maybe because he is a human rather than an animal protagonist. At the end of the story, the dinosaur returns to the museum and Danny goes home alone, reflecting — as if to comfort himself — that his household doesn't really have room for a dinosaur anyway, and at least the two of them had one good day together.

With those last lines, the book becomes a coming-of-age-story: Danny may look like a little boy, but he has put childhood things like dinosaur adventures aside and adopted an air of fatalism more typical of a well-adjusted adult. Hoff, who died in 2004, had an eventful life full of joys and disappointments. I couldn't help thinking that the attitude he ascribes to Danny must have been the one that sustained him.

There are lots of brilliant books being produced for young children today, of course. Mo Willems' "Pigeon" books, for example, deserve all their accolades. But classics endure for a reason, and these children's books written in the last century remind us of values that I hope still speak to children, and for that matter to parents, today.