美国国家公共电台 NPR 'The Poky Little Puppy' And His Fellow Little Golden Books Are Turning 75

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

In the 1950s and '60s if there were any children's books in a house, at least one of them was likely to be a Little Golden Book. With their gold spines¹ and brightly colored pictures, they'd just beg to be grabbed off a shelf by a curious child. That's exactly what the creators intended this year as they celebrate their 75th birthday. NPR's Lynn Neary looks back at the cultural institution that ushered² in a new era in children's books.

LYNN NEARY, BYLINE³: Little Golden Books have staying power. First introduced shortly after the start of World War II, many of them from "The Tawny⁴ Scrawny Lion" to "The Saggy⁵ Baggy⁶ Elephant" have become classics.

MARY GLENDINNING: OK. So I'll do the first one, and I'll point to you when it's your turn.

NEARY: Like generation after generation of kids turned parents, NPR librarian Mary Glendinning sat down one night this week with her seven-year-old son Leo to read about the adventures of a pokey little puppy.

GLENDINNING: (Reading) Five little puppies dug a hole under the fence and went for a walk in the wide, wide world.

LEO GLENDINNING: (Reading) Through the meadow, they went down the road over the bridge...

NEARY: There were a lot of reasons The Golden Books became an instant success when they were first published. The most obvious one was the price - 25 cents, a mere⁷ quarter. Until then, children's books were mostly found in libraries or high-end bookstores and were meant to be handled with care.

LEONARD MARCUS: They tend to be very expensive. So even if you could find one of these books in a store, only a certain percentage of the population could even afford to bring them home.

NEARY: Leonard Marcus is the author of "The Golden Legacy⁸: The Story of Golden Books." He says the printers, publishers, writers and artists who brought Golden Books to the market had a lofty goal. They wanted to democratize children's books, making them both affordable⁹ and accessible. To that end, they were sold in department stores, train stations, drug stores and supermarkets.

MARCUS: Kids would come with their parents. And they'd be sitting in the shopping cart, and they'd reach out to the rack and grab a book. And the mother, the father would look at it and see that it was only 25 cents, and they'd put it in the cart.

NEARY: Golden Books became a kind of totem of the times for baby boomers who grew up in the 1950s and '60s. George Saunders, author of the bestselling "Lincoln In The Bardo," says Golden Books were a highlight of his visits to his grandmother.

GEORGE SAUNDERS: So "I Can Fly" and "The Poky Little Puppy" and all those. I can remember heading over there just with anticipation¹⁰ that we get to kind of wallow in these books a bit.

NEARY: Saunders says what he remembers best are the pictures.

SAUNDERS: There's some magic between the words and images and also something about the kind of primary nature of the images and how those colors just explode off the pages. And I think that might have been one of the first times I ever kind of became aware of art. I didn't know it was called that, but I could feel in my sort of mental and physical reaction to those books that something really incredible was going on.

DIANE MULDROW: These artists were some of the best illustrators of the 20th century.

NEARY: Diane Muldrow is editorial director at Golden Books. She says when they launched, they drew on two talented pools of artists - animators who wanted to leave the Disney studio and commercial artists fleeing the war in Europe. Teaming up with equally creative writers, Muldrow says they came up with a sophisticated product in a deceptively simple package.

MULDROW: I think that sense of motion and wit really shines through the books. I mean, when I think of these famous Little Golden Books - like "Tawny Scrawny Lion," "Scruffy¹¹ The Tugboat" - these books have a wit to them, a slyness that I think was very, very rare at the time, and it's lasting¹².

NEARY: In the 1960s, Golden Books drew criticism for their lack of racial diversity. The creative teams behind the books work to make them more inclusive. In the '70s, Golden Books began getting more competition from inexpensive paperbacks¹³. And by the '90s, the company went bankrupt. The books are now published by Penguin¹⁴ Random¹⁵ House. And though not as ubiquitous as they once were, they are still around and still much loved, says Muldrow - a truth she experiences every time she tells someone what she does for a living.

MULDROW: Well, first I get - aw, isn't that wonderful, you know? And then they always tell me their favorite titles and tell me what a particular book meant to them as a child.

NEARY: And one of the things people love most about Golden Books is that name plate in the front that reads, this book belongs to - beckoning¹⁶ a child to write his or her name in a book, making it their own.

Lynn Neary, NPR News, Washington.

1 spines   

n.脊柱( spine的名词复数 )；脊椎；（动植物的）刺；书脊

参考例句：

• Porcupines use their spines to protect themselves. 豪猪用身上的刺毛来自卫。
• The cactus has spines. 仙人掌有刺。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 ushered   

v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The secretary ushered me into his office. 秘书把我领进他的办公室。
• A round of parties ushered in the New Year. 一系列的晚会迎来了新年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 tawny   

adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色

参考例句：

• Her black hair springs in fine strands across her tawny,ruddy cheek.她的一头乌发分披在健康红润的脸颊旁。
• None of them noticed a large,tawny owl flutter past the window.他们谁也没注意到一只大的、褐色的猫头鹰飞过了窗户。

5 saggy   

松懈的，下垂的

参考例句：

• Daisy: Would you still love me if I were old and saggy? 当我的皮肤变得又老又松弛时，你还会爱我吗？
• My darling, if my breasts were saggy, would you still love me? 这是女人最担心的一个问题。

6 baggy   

adj.膨胀如袋的，宽松下垂的

参考例句：

• My T-shirt went all baggy in the wash.我的T恤越洗越大了。
• Baggy pants are meant to be stylish,not offensive.松松垮垮的裤子意味着时髦，而不是无礼。

7 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

8 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

9 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

10 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

11 scruffy   

adj.肮脏的，不洁的

参考例句：

• Despite her scruffy clothes,there was an air of sophistication about her.尽管她衣衫褴褛，但神态老练世故。
• His scruffy appearance does not reflect his character.他邋遢的外表并不反映他的性格。

12 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

13 paperbacks   

n.平装本，平装书( paperback的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This shop only sells paperbacks. 这家书店只出售平装本的书。 来自辞典例句
• Other paperbacks were selling for ten or 15 cents each. 其它的平装书每本才卖十或十五美分。 来自互联网

14 penguin   

n.企鹅

参考例句：

• The penguin is a flightless bird.企鹅是一种不会飞的鸟。
• He walked with an awkward gait like a penguin.他走路的步子难看得就像企鹅。

15 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

16 beckoning   

adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• An even more beautiful future is beckoning us on. 一个更加美好的未来在召唤我们继续前进。 来自辞典例句
• He saw a youth of great radiance beckoning to him. 他看见一个丰神飘逸的少年向他招手。 来自辞典例句