I realize the following is a long shot request, but I'm going to ask anyway. 
My mother went to St. Willibrord Elementary School back in the 50's. She mentioned this particular school reader from either her first or second grade that she really loved. I'm trying to find this book... or at least it's title or author... preferably for a Christmas gift.
All she remembers about the book is that it had something to do with the Bay of Fundy- either it was set there or one of the characters lived there.
If this rings any bells for anyone, no matter how slight, please let me know. The more pieces to the puzzle I can get, the closer to the title I become.
Thank you for your help!
~Devyn
28 comments:
Hello M-T-B ..........miss tinker bell, Does this help at all , there seems to be a book that was written in 1928 .....and knowing the school system back then we did keep the same books for years & years,.now maybe this isn't the actual book your looking for, but in many of those old Readers they had many story's hopefully this is the right one. Childhood memories inspire revival of story
By McKibben Jackinsky
Oceans. Tides that come and go. Seagulls wheeling overhead. Those images set the imagination of Sara Budinger Peterson spinning, as she and her six brothers listened to their mother read in the family’s home atop Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Mountains. Now, Peterson is sharing the colorful text with other youngsters by publishing “Nip and Tuck, by the Bay of Fundy,” a book originally written by Caroline Dwight Emerson and published as “The Hat-Tub Tales” in 1928. Here's the link to the site I found this on: http://homernews.com/stories/090105/art_0901art001.shtml Good Luck with that . ................ Have Fun & Remember Verdun
This is a little more of the same story,but it would be better if you just checkout the link,as I see a lot of computer-speak in my previous post: Peterson’s childhood memory of Emerson’s inspiring text was resurrected in 1963, when Peterson was teaching kindergarten in Philadelphia and found the book in the school library. “I recognized my friends immediately, and read a chapter of the book every day to my astute five-year-old students,” Peterson said. “They, too, fell in love with naughty Nip and tolerant Tuck, and I had to read the book several times each year of my three years at the school.” In 1966, while teaching kindergarten on St. Paul Island, surrounded by the Bering Sea, its abundant sea life and the island’s rocky shores, Peterson longed to share the cherished childhood stories of Nip and Tuck with her students. That longing came back again in 1993, when she was an educator in Homer. With the help of local library personnel, Peterson located a copy of the out-of-print book archived in Seattle. “My good buddies, Nip and Tuck, are with me again,” said Peterson, who has copyrighted the original text and updated the language to fit 21st century readers. “And now, here they are for you to enjoy.” The text of this easy-to-read 12-chapter book is filled with richly detailed adventures of two little creatures from which the book gets its name. Although the story takes place on Digby Neck, a thin stretch of land beside the tidally churned Bay of Fundy, young Alaska readers will find much in common with descriptions of that stretch of Nova Scotia. For instance, the strong tides. Many of Nip and Tuck’s activities are dictated by the rising and falling of the sea. Boats are left high and dry. Currents pull boats away from shore. It is a short step of the imagination to go from Kachemak Bay and Cook Inlet to this distant point half a world away, where readers will enjoy Nip and Tuck’s versions of moose hunting and beaver trapping. There is enough fishing to satisfy the appetite of Nip, and enough gardening to satisfy the taste buds of Tuck. Overhead, the aurora borealis form a waving curtain. And there are the continual misadventures into which Nip wanders and from which Tuck must rescue his friend. “Nip and Tuck, by the Bay of Fundy,” is published by Saranjon Publishing. It was designed and edited by Jan O’Meara of Wizard Works in Homer. It sells for $11.95. McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky@homernews.com. again Have Fun & Remember Verdun ps: there's te lady's name & email link ,if this proves to be the right book.hopefully you can get a copy for your Mom
Thank you for such a fast reply! I'm not sure that the book referenced here is the one I'm looking for. My mom says it had stories of a little girl in it. I'll mention Nip and Tuck to her and see if it rings any bells, though. Again, thank you! ~Devyn
hi MTB ,...ask your mom what other details she can think of from the story & that may help us find someone or spark someone's memory to remember the story? Good Luck .................................................................HF&RV
Miss-Tinker-Bell,............ There is an online book available that is called " Little Grace" or Scenes from Nova Scotia I think the jist of it ,is a little girl & brother come from England & experience living in Nova SScotia,..this book also was written in the mid to late 1800's ( 1846 ?if I'm not mistaken) http://books.google.ca/books?id=SeEOAAAAYAAJ&dq=Little+Grace+scenes+in+Nova+Scotia&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=qE7ODAU9J6&sig=1mWj70AqPJbyMnzx8okkzxQIqlo&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result ..........................................Again Good Luck & HF&RV
Again, thank you so much for your help! It seems that link isn't the book I'm looking for either. I got a tiny bit more information about it though. It was more of a school reader, along the lines of "See Jane run" or a little higher academically. Simple reading for a 6 or 7 year old. She said it was about 30 pages or so, and had to do with a little girl who perhaps visited her grandmother who lived in a house in the Bay of Fundy. At the moment, that's all she can recall. I have asked one of her old schoolmates and she couldn't recall the book either. Does anyone think they could have curriculum records available at the school from back then? Does the school still exist? Do they have a school library? If so, any contact information anyone might have would be much appreciated. ~Devyn
I think that all schools in the Montreal Catholic School Commission had the same readers and if I remember correctly grade one there was more than one reader sort of a progression as your reading skills developed - not all the class were on the same reader. It did not have a hard cover but more like a ragcloth cover similar to the Baltimore Catechism.
Can anyone tell me if St. Willibrord Elementary School still exists? I'm located in California, so I haven't any idea. There doesn't appear to be any contact information online, so I'm assuming it is no longer. Can anyone confirm this for me?
~Devyn
Devyn If memory serves when I lived on Willibrord many years ago it was changed into a French Language school..Levis Sauve or something similar to that. The buildings had gone under renos and the look was changed as well. I did have at one the time the Principal living above me in the apts. just up from St.Willibrord's. This was back in the 60's and 70's. I think her last name was Jackson but not sure..anyone out there have a clue? What part of Calif. are you in? I ived there for a while when I was young. Bakersfield,L.A.very briefly and then moved to Long Beach..This was a long time ago. Lad
Tinker, the school is known now as Lévis-Sauvé. The address is listed as 655 Rue Willibrord and it is under the Commission Scholare Marguerite Bourgeoys.
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The school was known as Jean de Bosco until 1970-71 (Lovell Directory) when it became Levi-Sauve. Is this when it became a french school?
Everyone- Thanks for the information. Especially the website. I'll pass the link on to my mother for some nice memories and fun photos. My brand new question is: Is there a local library around? Lad- I'm in the Santa Barbara area where it's still pretty mild/warm this week, and we're all looking forward to some more fall weather. :) ~Devyn
Gone a long time ago (30? years) , replaced by I believe a French elementary school last time I looked. Principal Doyle clanging the bell for assembly - yikes!
I remember that well navigatorbob.........he could also swing a good 'strap' Yikes !!! hahahahaha Remember there was almost always a line-up outside his office waiting to get the treatment'........................hahahahah HF&RV
Devyn There is one at Brown and Bannantyne. There is a fellow on here who runs the acrchival centre there. Guy is his name and you often see his name here when he posts pictures of days gone by or ones he takes on his travels. He is Guy5479. Lad
I started school, grade one, in St. Willibrord's in 1949-50. The readers were indeed ragcloth-type books, progressions as mentioned, with Mary and David as the principal characters. It's really too bad that no one was looking for this information last year. My mother, Mrs. Bérubé, taught grade one boys for almost 33 years at St. Willibrord's. She passed away this summer, but I'm sure last year she would have remembered the names of some of the books. I really don't remember any story about the Bay of Fundy. I would have to think that it would not have been a first or second-grade reader, but perhaps later on, although as I've said, I really don't remember it. Perhaps it was a library book that your mom read when she was young, Devyn. It's strange how some things stick in our minds, but we can't quite put a time to them. I wish you good luck in your search. Lad, would the teacher have been Mrs. Annie Jackson? She was a dear friend of my mother's. I believe that she has passed on now, but was living up here in Ontario for the last couple of decades of her life. She and her husband had a daughter and a son. Madeleine
Hi Les... Don't mean to change the subject, but need to ask something. You are very knowledgeable about lots of stuff on this site, do you recall as a kid a whistle that fits on the roof of your mouth and when you speak it whistles?? I know as a kid we had one..it was hilarious........why do I ask,you say??? I want to buy one.... Maybe someone will recall them?? Think way back folks! cookie
Hi Cookie3261,.You've got me on that one,....I hope someone remembers what they were called ,maybe we can find a picture.......... I can only think of those crazy whistles, that Dave Boxer used to use ,that had a plunger in it that you moved up & down & it made strange sounds.. but now you'll have me up looking for whatever it's called hahahahahahaha HF&RV
I vaguely remember those whistles my mother was afraid that we would swallow it or choke on it - if memory serves me right it came in the crackerjack box. About the reader - I too do not recall any story about the Bay of Fundy. What I remember from grade one besides the Baltimore Cathechism was the huge flip thing that stood on an eisel and depicted large picture of whatever we were studying in our religion class and Mother St Hilda who taught grade one for 50 years at St Anthony's Academy would stand with her pointer and point out various things in the picture - not sure if there were words below the picture to coincide with the Baltimore. Then she would flip the page over to the next picture - we loved to look at it. We also loved to get the very special Holy Cards which one might get for being able to recite the Hail Mary or the Our Father or perhaps finishing up one reader and moving on to the next.
Les Dave Boxer I think called it and I know the spelling is way off here but it sounded like a phnortanizer....like I said I think it was that... man I don't know but this stuck with me.. Lad
Is this it it is called the swiss bird warbler http://cgi.ebay.com/BIRD-WHISTLE,-Imitate-Sounds-and-Birds,-Swiss-Warbler_W0QQitemZ250322037256QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20081109?IMSfp=TL081109104003r14391
Maybe it's one of these strange whistles?
Two more pics with possibilities. These are all taken from Ebay, so, if your whistle is among them, you could bid on them. Both of these claim to contain a "cracker jack" whistle.
Maggie,Shirley and Les.....Geez..thanks so much for your info on whistles! I saw that swiss one on the internet also. Those flat ones that fit in the mouth is what I was looking for, but some look antique and probably costs a fortune. I'll tell you why I need one and you can have a laugh. I will be singing "All I want for Xmas is my two front teeth" at a xmas party,and I cannot whistle through my teeth....so I thought of that flat whistle that fits on the roof of your mouth when we were kids...also wonder if they would have this type at a kids novelty shop, but these would be too dangerous for little kids to use. Of course there's always the chance that a person cannot sing with a whistle in their mouth at the same time?!? thanks so much for your searching, YOUR THE BEST!! cookie
Cookie3261..........That is hilarious.........ahahahahah I started to laugh as I just read your reason.......I hope you find that whistle & I want to see this concert of yours on YouTube hahahahahah I'll probably think of you singing this song everytime I ever hear it......... Good Luck HF&RV
Here's the link to the Ebay category where these whistles are for sale: http://toys.shop.ebay.com/items/Toys-Hobbies__Whistle?_trkparms=72%253A1205%257C66%253A2%257C65%253A12%257C39%253A1&_npmv=3&_sacat=220&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_pgn=4 http://toys.shop.ebay.com/items/Toys-Hobbies__Whistle?_trkparms=72%253A1205%257C66%253A2%257C65%253A12%257C39%253A1&_npmv=3&_sacat=220&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_pgn=7 I can't seem to find the other one. must have expired. The first lot, the set of 3 are going for $5. + $4. shipping. Closes on Monday. The second lot is going for $14. US free shipping. Closes on Nov, 27
Les....thanks to the folks who supplied info on the whistles again..BUT...to prevent choking altogether, I will stand very close to the micophone and do a tiny whistle which will sound louder through the microphone...should be lots of laughs..ya' see, the older ya' get,the more silly !!! (smile)
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