Reading has gotten me through a lot in my life. When I was eight, during a particularly bad patch for me and my family, I read Madeline L’Engle’s series and was completely transported. I remember hunkering down in the small room of my aunt’s house, in which I briefly lived, under a pile of blankets reading these books by a soft bedside lamp. I have few distinct memories of that period but this is one. As a younger child I loved the Raggedy Ann and Andy stories by Johnny Gruelle and especially the Oz stories by L. Frank Baum. And, now L has discovered these tales, too.
First she found a Raggedy Ann and Andy book at C’s house and they read it together. Then she found an abridged copy of The Wizard of Oz (a favorite of mine when I was little and the sight of that book gave me serious flashbacks and caused me to call my mom wondering WHERE THAT BOOK WAS!). Luckily C lent us her copy and we can read it to our heart’s content. L likes to skip the part with the wicked witch and the flying monkeys and I don’t blame her.
I happen to have a bunch of the real Oz books but I know they are a bit too old for her. I also happen to have a bunch of the real Raggedy books and since she seemed to like the one C read her and since I seem to recall being pretty little when they were read to me, I got them off the shelf.
First we read the Raggedy Ann Stories which were a little odd but sweet. I thought the oddness came from when they were written. But, L doesn’t yet come to books with preconceived notions and she was enjoying the stories so on to the next.
Of the five old Raggedy books that I have she picked Raggedy Ann and the Nice Fat Policeman. God, this story is freaky and a teensy bit terrifying. Ann and Andy are trying to help the policeman, who is both fat and nice, arrest the creepy Mr. Hooligooly. This story is sortof surreal, both the prose (which is mind-numbingly happy-go-lucky) and the story itself. Mr. Hooligooly is a magical figure who lives in the deep woods and kidnaps Andy and then turns people into pigs. It is a pretty long book which we never did finish. It got too strange, even for L and I got sick of saying “Mr. Hooligooly” every 30 seconds.
For some reason she requested another Raggedy book last weekend. A was sleeping and L and I were tired and I thought it would put her to sleep. She picked Raggedy Ann and the Paper Dragon. This one was a tad less sinister than RA and the NFP. In it the Raggedy’s once again sneak out to the deep woods and this time come across a young girl, Marggy, being held captive (yipes) by Mr. Doodle who wants her to chop his firewood. They help her escape and come to learn her father is missing and along we her mother, they all go in search of him. Their progress is slowed when they befriend a paper dragon and also because Mr. Doodle is in hot pursuit. We learn that Ann and Andy have the ability to make wishes come true but for some reason they won’t wish Mr. Doodle away or wish Marggy’s dad was returned home safe. Actually they keep feeding Mr. Doodle cream puffs and donuts. Then they all (even Mr. and Mrs. Doodle!) go live together in a magical castle that messes up your memory. I kid you not.
Like I said, I loved this shit when I was little. L doesn’t love it but suffice it to say we are halfway through Raggedy Ann’s Wishing Pebble now. God help me!
Has anyone else read these? Do you think my childhood fondness for them explains why I ended up conducting experiments with certain chemicals outside of chemistry class? Should I shelter my impressionable young children from the dark Raggedy tales? Or, can you recommend any other creepy children’s books?
