The lollipop tree is a book for our times.
Given new fresh illustrations I think it deserves to be republished. Here is a part of the text:
"Once upon a time there lived a little boy who believed in magic and dragons and flying carpets and everything else grownups thought were impossible. People would say to him 'There are no such things.' And he would say 'There are so.' And they would say 'It isn't scientific,' and then they would shake their heads at him and say 'Tsk, tsk, tsk. Too bad."
Luckily our little hero has two important qualities belief and perseverance. He plants beans and waits for giant magic beanstalks. Alas only real beans come up. The little boy just says 'Wait!'. Next he plants pumpkins and waits for them to grow into magic coaches but sadly they only grow into pumpkins. Again the boy says 'Wait!' He plants marshmallows, chocolate bars and gumdrops. Rabbits, a dog and a squirrel take care of these. "Nothing grew. And everybody said 'Scientifically, you are wrong." The boy decides to try one more thing so he plants a lollipop stick. Days and days go by until one morning the little boy goes outside to water his stick just one more time, just in case.
"He didn't see any coaches, or magic carpets or even one dragon - but just where he had planted the lollipop stick there was a very strange looking tree."
I can't say look for this book in your school library but perhaps you might be lucky and find a second hand copy one day. The little record featured Burl Ives and tonight I found it! I recommend listening without the images.
I can't say look for this book in your school library but perhaps you might be lucky and find a second hand copy one day. The little record featured Burl Ives and tonight I found it! I recommend listening without the images.
6 comments:
I completely agree. This was one of my favourite books as a child and resulted in many a lollipop stick being planted in my grandparent and parent's gardens!
I completely agree - this was one of my favourite books as a child. It would be great to see more lollipop sticks planted in gardens....
Fond memories abound of my grandfather's voice, "Tsk, tsk, tsk." If only I could find this book!
I would love for this to be reprinted. I loved it as a child and when I moved it was stolen by the mover. I haven't been able to find one sense. I am a school teacher and would love to use it in my class as well. If anyone knows how to get a copy or has the original that they are willing to share all the printed words please let me know. Thanks,
My grandmother would put this record on for us when we were very young (early '80s/late '70s. We would follow along with the book. The record would play a little sound when you had to turn the page. What a GREAT and WONDERFUL memory!
My younger twin brother and sister and I grew up spending every summer in the 70's and 80's in Maine at our Grandparent's beach house. There was a built in record player in the wall that pulled down out of the wall when you wanted to play records on it. My grandmother had a stack of children's stories like this we loved to listen to. And they all came with a book you could read while listening to the record. I absolutely loved The Lollipop Tree. I always thought the cartoon man on the cover looked like the actor James Woods! Lol We also had The Big Brown Bear...about a bear who got stung on the nose by bees while hiding in a pond after stealing honey from their hive inside a hole in a tree. At the end the bear's wife wrapped his nose up in a bandage and gave him a big fish for supper. Another one we had was Little Black Sambo. Although at the time we didn't know how incorrect that was. I'm pretty sure now...Its written as Little BRAVE Sambo. There were a few others too...but those were our favorites. Such wonderful memories. What I would give to go back to those days...and see my Grammy...and listen to those records.
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