Remembering Parent's Magazine Press
Back in the n the 1960s and '70s, Parents Magazine ran a mail order book club called Parent's Magazine Press. If you were one of the lucky children whose parents actually enrolled you in this club, you were undoubtedly overjoyed whenever the mailman arrived bearing one of those telltale packages.
The books that my mother ordered for me from this book club are among my most cherished possessions. I still own many of them today, although not the original copies. Instead, I've scoured bookshops and eBay to replace my long lost copies of books like Roz Abisch's Open Your Eyes, Miriam Young's Miss Suzy and Jay Williams' The Cookie Tree.
You can certainly find some of the old Parent's Magazine Press books today, either at bookstores or at your local library. Miss Suzy has been reprinted in recent years, so it's pretty easy to find.
Here's to the vintage books of the '60s and '70s and the wonderful memories that they bring back with them....
posted by Victoria Leigh @ 1:32 PM
3 Comments:
I enrolled my daughters in the book club around 1966 and continued with the club until they wrote me that they no longer had books available that were appropriate for their age. I believe that they were members for at least 10 years (forgive me if I exaggerate). After my granddaughters enjoyed them all, I ended up donating the books to a program in Cleveland for children that had no or very few books at all. They requested that the doner tell the future recipient about the child or children who had enjoyed them and to relate your wishes for the person receiving the book's pleasure. I wrote in every one of them. I never enjoyed donating something more than that, ever. To know your books that we enjoyed so much were going to children to provide them with the same pleasure that my children had was very precious to me. I wish the book club was still a working entity. The read aloud books are not a club as I understand it and that disappoints me. I will try to find another club but I fear that I will not be successful. Hugs, Bonnie
I was a lucky child whose mother enrolled me the famous book club in 1965. I still have the original Miss Suzy, my favorite!!! I've read it to my daughter, and then, my grandchildren. They lived the story as much as I did. I know they will pass it on to their children, and generations to come. I loved old black witch too!
Wow. I've been researching this very subject tonight. My mother got me so many books through this program, books that I still have embedded in my brain after 50 years. I've still got a lot of them somewhere. "How High is Up," "What's in the Dark," "How Fletcher Was Hatched," "Donkey Donkey," "The King's Choice," "I'll Fix Anthony." So many books.
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