The Doll Book of the Month Club: The Runaway Toys

   This month's book is The Runaway Toys, written and illustrated by Lillian Baker Sturges. It was first published in 1920.

My copy is from 1934, but appears to be exactly like the original. A handwritten note on the fly leaf says it was given as a gift in 1935.

 The story is all in rhyme. According to the story Nuremburg is known for it's wonderful toys, and yet, they are all shipped out to other countries to be sold in shops far and wide. According to the story, the local kids get squat. No toys for you, Nuremburg kids!

  One night the owner of the local toy shop, (I thought all the toys were sold elsewhere. Make up your mind Lillian Baker Sturges.), leaves the door open as he heads home. The toys are all tired of sitting in the shop, and want to see the world. (Ok. Maybe this is the shop where the guy makes the toys. Maybe they aren't actually for sale.) In any case, the toys decide to leave the shop and see what's beyond. 

 They make a lot of noise as they go down the street, waking all the kids in town. The kids, thrilled to see toys walking down the street, all get out of bed and follow the toys. 

 The toys head toward the moon on the horizon. Meanwhile, back in town, mothers checking on their sleeping children find all the children gone. They chase after the kids, who are still following the toys out of town. I don't know about you, but I'm getting a Pied Piper vibe.

  The toys all board the train out of town, (Wait until the conductor finds out none of them have the fare. Hope the train doesn't have a wood burning engine...), but the mom's stop the kids before they board, promising them that if they come back they will be given all the toys they want.

  Hmmm. I'm not sure I like the lesson here. Don't run away, (as you shouldn't be doing), and you'll be rewarded with as much as you want. In any case, it's a beautifully illustrated book. I'm not sure how little ones of today would take it. Kids these days don't seem to be reading rhymes as much as they were in 'the old days' when I was a kid. (I was watching a show last night about people digging up antiques at a 200 or more year old dump. One young woman found a piece of pottery with a picture of a cow, and part of a rhyme that went, "The sheep's in the meadow and the cow's in the corn." AND SHE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS FROM! She said, "I've never heard that one." What?! For Heaven's sake! Am I THAT old? Nobody knows "Little Boy Blue" any more?)

  The book is available online and probably in second hand bookshops and antique stores. (Pay attention though, because there are several books called "The Runaway Toys".) I think I got mine in an antique store. It's usually expensive, but I got mine pretty cheaply. 

  That's the book for this month. See you soon for another post. (Really!)