Brown spots caused by high humidity and old inks sink through the thin, frayed and taped pages of a vintage childhood book that travelled the world on an historic ship.
Tom’s Little Farm, published by Zip Editoria S.A., Barcelona, found its way into my family after sailing on the world’s oldest serving passenger ship, which docked in Durban, South Africa, when we boarded.
The book dates back in our possession more than 30 years, but its topic is still relevant today.
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The main character, Tom, learns how to reduce his impact on the environment and protect little creatures’ homes on his farm, with kindness and friendship at its heart.
This old and rare childhood book can’t be found online or in modern bookstores and it was purchased for 25 cents by my parents on the MV Doulos ship that began serving in 1914, docking at port cities around the world and making it into the Guinness Book of World Records.
Previously known as the SS Medina, the SS Roman and the MS Franca C, the MV Doulos became the world’s largest floating book exhibition, operated by the German charity Bücher für Alle (Good Books for All), with over 8,000 titles.
I still remember browsing the freshly polished wooden aisles on the ship — that could carry 414 people — and pausing at the stacks of books with cheerful front-cover characters with bright, colourful fluffy hair.
My mother, Eileen, picked out the same book my sister Mary-Anne had found years before on the same historical ship run by volunteer missionaries from over 30 countries.
Tom’s Little Farm was a remarkable book, and now we had a spare — just in case.
At night, I would question my mother why the character Tom wouldn’t cut down the weeds growing over the path with his axe to save a caterpillar or trim the leaves of a bush to keep a ladybird(bug). Then I would touch the fluffy red hair on the front cover.
My sister’s childhood book came with us when we immigrated to the Isle of Man in 1994, but my copy became lost. So, my mother treasured her book. And when my mother passed away in 2016, I found Tom’s Little Farm among her items in an old suitcase and brought it back to P.E.I.
Now, I read the book to my daughter, Alice Anstey. She touches the fluffy-red hair of the front-cover character, just like I did when I was her age, and she giggles when I animate the storyline and pause to breathe in the familiar smell, as I am transported back in time.
And the ship that served in the Second World War as a freighter, then in the 1950s carrying pilgrims to Rome and, afterwards, emigrants to Australia before being remodelled into a first-class luxury liner and then a missionary bookstore, now has a permanent dock.
It rests on Bintan Island, Indonesia, after being saved from the scrapyard by Christian businessman Eric Shaw in 2010. Renamed Doulos Phos (translated as servant light in Greek), the ship continues to welcome people, operating as a modern hotel.
While our childhoods are decades apart, this book is a connecting thread between Alice and me, and it has shaped how I look at life in many ways.
Nicole Rice from Paradise, NL., too, has a book she has treasured from her childhood over 30 years ago, purchased at a scholastic book fair.
More Spaghetti, I Say! is a rhyming children’s book, originally published in 1977 by author Rita Golden Gelman, about Minnie the monkey being too busy eating spaghetti to play with her friends.
“The rhymes are so catchy and funny that I have re-read this book numerous times over the years,” says Rice, while acknowledging the book is “well-loved” with the front cover missing, and many pages taped together.
“Luckily, all the actual pages inside are still intact. My mother read to my brother and me every night. We would read this book, or she would make up stories on the fly. More spaghetti, I Say, always stood out because it was fun to read, almost lyrical.”
Rice now reads the lighthearted tale to her two-year-old son, Jackson.
“After finding this book in storage last year, I still remember the words coming up before turning the page. It’s wild how our brains work. It is the first book that Jackson pays attention to, while pointing out everything from the pictures to repeating the words as I read to him before bedtime.”
She adds, “It makes me so happy to read that same book to him that I grew up with.”
There’s something wholesome about an old book, says Mariam Arsh.
“I find that many kids’ books nowadays are very generic and don’t teach anything important other than storytelling. I remember the countless conversations we would have as kids with our elementary school teachers and how we would analyze the stories and the lessons they taught,” shares the St. John’s, NL., resident.
“I grew up reading the books penned by Roald Dahl, so, when I introduced my daughter to Matilda, she didn’t put it down until finished. I would love it when she would stop and talk to me about the book’s character, their way of life compared to ours.”
Arsh says reading was a significant part of her childhood.
“Growing up, my father was a big reader, but he never read to me. So, it’s nostalgic whenever I take my daughter to the library because that was a tradition me and my father had every Saturday from 10 (a.m.) to 4 p.m. We would go to the library and I would spend the day in the kid’s section and later in the young adult section when I was older.”
Visiting the library is still part of her family tradition.
“Growing up, I didn’t own many books, but always wanted to, so now I always gift books to my kids and we have a little library. My favourite book would have to be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory because I read it for the first time in Grade 2 and then we watched the original movie in class so many times that I have memorized the lines.”
She adds, “When my daughter finished reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, we shared a special moment and watched the original movie and then the newer one with Johnny Depp. But, the movies are never as good as the original books.”
