Thursday, September 3, 2009

Generations In Oz


Once there was a young girl named Kathy. A gentle man wrote a book and invited her to escape to another land -- one called Oz. Sometimes she felt very alone and this was a place where she could have friends and adventures.



It was a beautiful world full of royalty ...



and magic.



She marked each book as her own and her family helped her collect the books she loved ...



...even passing on their treasured volumes.

Her voyages to this land lasted for many years, but eventually she grew up and passed the books on to her daughter, Kristen.



The young girl wanted to be beautiful like Ozma ...



and have her own robot like Tik-Tok.



And though the edges are tattered, the world inside in intact and Kristen is getting ready to pass them on to her son.

So the story is that I was three or four years old and came out of my room holding one of these thick volumes. My mom asked me if I was enjoying the pictures and I said that I was reading the story. She chuckled and then asked me what the story was about. I told her.

Holding on to the past through magic,
K

12 comments:

  1. This post itself is magic!! What a beautiful legacy to share and pass on through the generations of your family.

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  2. Kristin,

    What a beautiful memory! I know your son will share your happiness passed down from your mother.

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  3. It is fortunate that many people have had the opportunity to learn and explore and grow from this great chronicle; including me!

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  4. Thanks, Robin and Tea! It feels special to have this link in the family.

    Kevin - I think this is one of the special things about books that would be lost with the Kindle. Nobody will talk about the special file that was passed through generations. ;)

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  5. Wow! What a beautiful set of books, and the memories that go with them. :)

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  6. You have the entire set!! I'm still hunting down copies. Lovely post.

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  7. Thank you, Tanabata!

    Madbibliophile - I wish this was all of them but I too have more to look for. In fact, I don't have our copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz right now. My mom thinks it is still somewhere in her house. :)

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  8. This is a perfect beautiful blog post! I so enjoyed it ... and you (and your son) are geniuses!

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  9. Holding on to the past through magic indeed! These are absolutely beautiful volumes, all the more so because of the fact that they aren't just nice copies of old books but because you have a personal connection to them. They looked well loved in the very best manner and could not be more beautiful if they were in pristine shape. These are a real treasure and I appreciate you sharing them with us.

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  10. Jenners - Thanks so much! And yes, we are ... haha! No, you are really too kind. :)

    Carl - I agree that I wouldn't want these books to look any other way. The fact that they have been loved by three generations of hands just makes them that much more special to me. I'm sure a book collector would cringe but I'm collecting the memories instead.

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  11. Aw, this post was so touching! My mom has all the original Miss Piggle-Wiggle books, but I never read them.

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  12. Tasha - Weird! I read just about every book that my mom had on the shelves at home including Readers' Digest Condensed books. :) Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is just a trick anyway to get kids to clean their rooms. You didn't miss out on much.

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