Sunday, July 13, 2014

An Alleged "Day at the Seashore"

Dear Internet, I need your help.  I'm going crazy.

There's this book that I read to my daughter.  It's one of her favorites.  And it's actually quite pleasant to read -- it has a nice rhythm and rhymes

EXCEPT...

There's this one page right in the middle that doesn't rhyme.

"A Day at the Seashore" by Kathryn and Byron Jackson, illustrated by Corinne Malvern


Since my daughter doesn't know how to read, I sometimes just skip that page.  I've tried to think of something I could put in its place that would rhyme, but I haven't found anything yet.

AND I have a theory (a conspiracy theory) about how the un-rhyming page got there.

First...

I was reading the front matter and noticed that it was originally published in 1951 as "A Day at the Beach by Simon and Schuster, Inc." and later republished as "A Day at the Seashore by Random House, Inc." in 1979.

Second...

The out-of-place text is this: "You can stay near the edge and hold tight to the rope, and get used to the splash of the sea," which follows the page the says, "You can swim by yourself--if you're brave."

Therefore...

Here's my theory.  In the 50s, 60s and most of the 70s this book encouraged kids to be "brave" and swim by themselves.  But someone living in the 70s (it could have been any of them) decided that they wanted kids to be "safe" and hold on to the rope, so they threw the page in there and republished it.

Does anyone have the original book from the 50s?  I want to know of the page is in there or not.

3 comments:

Alicia said...

You're a funny guy! Good luck on your quest of discovery!

hagna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
hagna said...

Is the conspiracy that this book was never written by true Vikings?