I heard about something really
neat when Tim told me he had seen “Dick and Jane” books at
Wal-Mart.He said they were
reproductions of the original books with all the illustrations we remember.
Hearing that they were reasonably priced, and since I didn’t want to go out in
the snow and cold, I went to Amazon.com. Low and behold, there they were
in all their splendor! I ordered the 3 kinds they had and received them last
week. They are GREAT! Tim and I were going through them and remembering all the
illustrations and being “taken back” to the 1st grade again! Ah, the
1st grade! When we were 5, we remember our mother dragging us
into the car and taking us to our first day of school. (You can read some of
our school adventures in the story series “School Daze” in the story
directory). The first grade was probably the most noteworthy due to 2 main
reasons: 1. We learned how to read (using “Dick
and Jane”), and, 2. It was the only time
that Tim and I were in the same class ever again! After the 1st grade
they (wisely) split us up into separate classes.This account will touch on our memories of learning to read with “Dick
and Jane”.In Mrs. Hahn’s 1st
grade, we were split up into 3 reading groups, The “Bluebirds”, “Robins”,
and “Sparrows”. The “Bluebirds” were the best readers (made up
almost exclusively of girls), the “Robins” were the average readers, and
“Sparrows” were the kids that were poor readers. Tim and I were “Sparrows”.This was not due to our inability, but even
in the 1st grade neither of us “Gave a d----“.I, however, did really like to read even way
back then. Since that time, I’ve read literally thousands of books. When
there’s nothing to read nearby, I’ve been known to read the phone book or the
dictionary. Maybe that’s why I’ve always preferred to see people alphabetically
by their last names. The library people are always amazed at my eclectic
interests in the reading materials I check out.Well, I owe it all to “Dick and Jane”.Oh, I almost forgot about “Spot” the dog
too. I think all we “Baby Boomers” are starting to “wax trivial” at our ripe
middle-age. I’d be willing to wager that a lot of the “Dick and Jane” reprints
are being purchased by “Baby Boomers” like me, since I bought a set! I’m also
sure most 3 Stooges and Little Rascal tapes and DVD’s are purchased by our
demographic too. I’ve always watched and bought the afore-mentionedever since I was a kid. All during grade
school we had to give a minimum 10 book reports. They kept track with a chart
with our names on it and for every book report they put a star after our name.
It was all I could do to get the 10 minimum, while some other kids (most if not
all girls) had a line of stars after their names that looked like the Milky
Way! I did indeed read a lot in those days, but not “book report” stuff. If I
could have made book reports on things like Sgt. Rock, Donald Duck
and various other comic books, MAD Magazine, Bazooka Joe Bubble Gum
comics, etc., I would have had a Milky Way star chart after my name too! I
guess I just had a natural aversion to doing anything I had to do for schoolwork.
Toward the end of the school year, the teacher would use all kinds of ominous
threats if at least 10 book reports were not completed.So during the last few days of school when I
was always short of the minimum 10, I would go to the school library and
get the exact number of books needed to make the minimum 10. I would then take
the book report form and take the book and skip through it here and there and
write concepts. The biggest fear was having to give an oral book report! If Ritalin
was invented in those days, I would have OD’d on it for sure before an oral
book report! Even when I knew I’d have to give a rare oral book report, I
nevertheless still just skipped around the book and managed to muddle my way
through it!Well, I’d like to write
more, but I must go and finish the next chapter and find out what Dick and Jane
did when Spot was missing…
