The Science Library: Botany and Ecosystems

So.  Kana here.  This is what happens when the human gets busy and forgets that she's scheduled about 8 blog posts in a row without actually writing anything remotely entertaining.  We're going to fix that now.

It's fall.  And that means back to school.  And we were going to have this super detailed post about  our collection of science books, but I think we're just going jump straight into the books until we find some time to show off everything.

Way back in February, the human got a little punchy and bored and decided that we all needed to be better educated.  So she sat down and over the course of 4 months, made 101 science books covering all the subject areas that we really need.  Today's books are on botany and ecosystems (with a dash of marine biology).

Colored Fairy Books

All the fairy tales a girl could read

Samantha here.  In the realm of old fashioned back-to-school reading, we also have a brand new set of fairy tale books.  All 12 of the Andrew Lang's Colored Fairy books were published between 1899 through 1913.  They're perfectly in period for any Edwardian through modern day doll.  (The human has a matching set published by Dover, and you can read all the stories online at gutenberg.org.)

The first one was the Blue Fairy Book, that had all the 'traditional' stories like Cinderella (the Charles Perrault version, not the Grimms Brothers version, and don't get us started on the evolution of the Cinderella story.  The human wrote a paper on it once upon a time.)  That was followed by the Red, Green, and Yellow fairy books.

Rather pretty spine art

We tried to get books with the original first edition covers.  I'm sure they dust jackets originally, but a century later, not even the internet can find them, so we'll have to settle for the colored 'cloth' (by which we mean paper) bindings.

The books covered fairy tales from all over the world, including some rather obscure stories from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.  So not just the common western European stories.  Our favorite story is 'The Girl who Pretended to be a Boy' from the Violet Fairy Book.  And all the Japanese stories from the Pink Fairy Book.

As always, the insides have readable text and images.  These books a little thicker than usual at 48 pages each.  The original books came with both black-and-white images and full color ones.  Well, the later ones came with full color images.  The Blue Fairy Book only had black-and-white.

And, of course, because we are feeling generous and because people need something to read over Labor Day weekend, here's the Blue Fairy Book.  The entire collection can be purchased here.

The Blue Fairy Book

Instructions

Harry Potter Books

This is Lily.  And this week, we continue going through our bookshelves to show off our new books!  And this is only a small selection of what we've gotten this summer.  We've been asking for modern books (not that McGuffey readers from 1880 are bad or anything...just very very dated) for ages now, and we finally have the start of a rather nice YA fantasy collection.  Still need to get some scifi books though.

Back covers

But first, the books that most people have come to know and love:  Harry Potter.  All 7 books, with the Bloomsbury covers.  They're all little hardcovers, with a dust jacket.  The first two books are 24 pages, the third is 32 pages, and the last 4 are 48 pages.  To be more realistic, the last 4 should have probably been 96 pages each, but the human only has so much patience for making tiny books, and 48 pages a book is the limit before she gets sick of it.  But it's enough to give an impression of a difference in book length.

Spines

As usual, all the books have text on the inside, in this case, usually the first chapter or a portion of the first chapter.  No spoilers, really.

Interiors of books 1-4

Interiors of books 5-7

Because everyone needs back-to-school reading (we're all out of school.  In fact, we'll all be getting a new apartment by Christmas.) here's a little something fun:

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Instructions

1950s Dick and Jane Readers

This is Nora.  Cauth and I are showing off a set of the (in)famous Dick and Jane readers from the 1950s.  The Dick-and-Jane books that everyone is familiar with are actually the primers and first grade readers of the 12 book New Basic Reader set.  Here, we have the whole 12 books.  The original basic readers were published in the mid-1940s and then revised in the early 1950s.(There's actually a 13th book, a 'transitional reader' between the 3rd and 4th grade readers, but that wasn't published until 1963, so we don't have it yet.)

Book spines, all color coordinated

1st and 2nd grade readers

The beginning readers are really of the 'See Dick Run' variety, though the stories get slightly more complex in the second grade books.  Peter and Ellen are introduced as 'Our New Neighbors', and the whole world is very...traditional.  Where women were stay-at-home mothers and father knows best.  Suffice to say, not our favorite books in the world, though we understand that these are very nostalgic for some people.

3rd and 4th grade readers

Still traditional family stories in the 3rd and 4th grade readers, with introductions of Levittown developments and girl scouts.  Maryellen would have used these in school, almost certainly.

5th and 6th grade readers

The later readers start covering more history, geography, and science, seeing how we've moved from the 'learn to read' books to the 'read to learn' books.  There are stories of children in different parts of the world and the lives of famous people (mostly white men, though a rare woman or black person is covered).

All in all, these are an interesting part of history.

And for fun, here's the infamous 'Fun with Dick and Jane' for your dolls to enjoy, if one can enjoy such an inane book.  If you would like the full 12 books, please contact the human at jinjia.mixed.goods at gmail.com

Fun with Dick and Jane

Instructions

NYC Souvenirs

 Kana here.  We're back in Boston (and have been for a week now) with some new souvenirs that we'd like to share with you.

First off, a copy of 'The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler' nominally purchased at the Met, but in reality made by the human after we got back.  

Get 'The Mixed-up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler' for dolls here!

Instructions

Also, a set of 6 postcards of NYC in the 1900s, including Central Park, Times Square, 6th Ave, the NY Public Library, the Met, and the American Museum of Natural History.

Get the postcards here!

Coming up, we're going to try to get a back-to-school printable series going.  Everything's been made already, so it's just a matter of getting the human to sit down long enough to take pictures of it all.  Leave a comment if there's something in particular you want to see.

NYC Trip Day 3: Lincoln Center and the Intrepid

Kana here.  Sunday, 7/24, was our last day in NYC.  We actually stayed right next to the Lincoln Center, which was great when the human wanted to go watch a show on Saturday, but less so for going anywhere else because it was a 30 minute walk (in 90 degree heat) to anywhere fun.

Takarazuka!  Chicago!  Feathers!

But Sunday morning, the plaza was clear, so we got our picture taken in front of the fountain before we all headed to the Intrepid Sea Space and Air Museum.  (The Intrepid was Shep's idea.)

On the flight deck on the Intrepid

It being still somewhat reasonable temperature-wise, we tour the flight deck first before it got too hot.  Ships and airplanes are definitely Shep's territory, and we've never been on an aircraft carrier before.  The flight deck had all sorts of planes on display.

SR-71 Blackbird

F-14A Tomcat (From Top Gun)

It's always a little scary to realize that the pilots didn't so much land on an aircraft carrier than crash in a controlled manner in 200ft of runway.  The humans were gossiping about how you always knew if the person piloting your (commercial) plane was Navy or Air Force because the Air Force pilots land softly on the back wheels first and then drop the nose and Navy pilots just plain drop down on all the wheels.

Flight deck elevator

Grumman E-1B Tracer Radar plane

Space shuttle Enterprise!

And then there was the space shuttle.  One of the surviving ones, at least.  (Next to a Star Trek display, no less, which much have confused the foreign tourists to no end.)

On the Flag Bridge

and the Nav Bridge

Manning the anti-aircraft guns

In the hangar

NYC Trip Day 2: Brunch at the AG store

Kana here.  Continuing the adventures from NYC:  Saturday, 7/23, we dressed up and had brunch at the AG store on 5th Ave.  I'd like to think we were some of the best dressed dolls there.  The human's friend who came with us claimed that Shep looked like she was ready to go on a date.

We even got our own cups and saucers when the humans got food.

The human claims that the food was good, particularly the mousse flowerpot.  We claim that the human needs to make us eggs benedict too.  She has the craft supplies for it.