Friday, January 20, 2012

COLLECTION #147: The Ginn Basic Readers


More readers! There is never any end to them, and I have tons more to go! But the Ginn Basic Readers, as well as the Alice and Jerry books, and the Scott, Foresman readers (Dick and Jane), were extremely popular readers across the US from the 1940s on. I'm sure there are current versions being used by American schools today, but I don't keep up with those.

I have nearly all of the 1957 edition of the Basic Readers, missing is the 6th grade one. One of these days I'll discover its title, and add it to my collection. These are wonderful books, using a variety of illustrators. There are about a dozen different illustrators who worked on these volumes. 

You can identify the books by their grade level, by observing the spine... on the later, revised edition (1957-1961) on the right, there are dots and lines.  Two dots and two lines means the book is second grade level, part two or semester two. The fourth through sixth grades only have one book per school year. I assume this is because less emphasis is placed on basic reading in the upper grades, and new subjects have come to take their place: science, arithmetic, social studies. The books on the left- the earlier 1948 editions, is the same way, but since I have fewer of them, it might be hard to identify those grade levels. If you look really closely, you can see that there are a few books that don't have such dots and lines. These books (Fun and Fancy in the early edition, Open the Gate and Ranches and Rainbows on the later editions, are considered 'enrichment' books. These were designed to help children who weren't quite ready to advance to the next level, OR to give to those who read more quickly, to give them extra reading practice while the rest of their classmates were catching up).

 I have two different pre-primers, two of the same title. These are all from the 1940s, and use the illustrators from the early books above. They are charming, but not nearly as wonderful as the later books.

1948 edition of On Cherry Street
1957 edition
 I've also included a few pages from early editions vs. later edition to see some differences in the illustrations. They are all wonderful!


1948 edition of the Little White House
1957 edition
 One of my favorite illustrators, Corinne Malvern, is one of the primary illustrators of the mid-grade books of the early editions. In those books there is usually just one or two illustrators for the whole book, as opposed to the later editions that have as many as a dozen different illustrators.

Example of Corinne Malvern illustraion in the 1948 edition of Around the Corner
I hope you enjoy reading  a little bit about Susan, Tom and Betty, and seeing these wonderful mid-century readers.

Around the Corner (1957 edition) with its Do and Learn Book

16 comments:

joscelyne cutchens said...

i LOVE old books.

Unknown said...

Trying to get my own vintage set of these. Off to a great start. Looked all over internet trying to find a picture of the complete set and I found yours...thanks a million. Kids today don't know what they are missing out on. These were a wonderful way to teach reading.I use them in my home schooling of pre-k through so far 3rd graders.

Anonymous said...

I am looking for a fun story about a little gray mouse that loved to dance. She did not like cleaning house and one day she saw a lovely red dress and shoes in a store window so she bought them. When she took them home she laid them across a chair and the next morning they were full of dust. Needless to say she always cleaned her house and then still had enough time to dance.
Does anyone know or remember this? I would love to have a copy

Anonymous said...

The 6th grade reader is "Wings to Adventure." :-)

-Joel

Anonymous said...

I'm looking for the reader that had the story about commercial space flight. I recall a drawing of a flight attendant floating in the cabin.

Can anyone help? Thank you.

Randy Hull said...

So glad I came across this. I collect old school books myself. Right now about 250 in my collection. Readers are my favorite.

Unknown said...

These are great reading books for early readers.!

Anonymous said...

do you have up up and away . I think it was grade 4




Stefanie Eskander said...

This reply is for Anonymous. Up and Away is not a Ginn reader, but is from Houghton Mifflin Co. I believe I have this reader, but was astounded to see that it is for sale on Amazon for over $800. (I hope you weren't trying to persuade me to sell you my copy cheaply!) There were actually two different books listed on Amazon, one for over $800, the other OVER $900. This has to be wrong. I have been buying school readers for decades, and have NEVER seen one for this type of price. Generally school readers sell from between $5-$30, with Scott, Foresman Co. Dick and Jane books slightly higher. I also checked eBay, and found Up & Away for sale, as I mentioned above, from $15-$20, with a teacher's edition at $50.

Anyway, if your interest in Up and Away is purely informational, let me know what I can help you with. I recently packed away a lot of my collection, and would be happy to check if you have a legitimate inquiry.

KEVIN17 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
KEVIN17 said...

I am looking for a Reader that has a story about a boy that is afraid to cross a bridge, but later he crosses the bridge in the woods to save his Family and friends because the woods have caught on fire. Any help would be Greatly Appreciated!

CW1764@YAHOO.COM

KEVIN17 said...

I am also looking for a Reader that has a story about a Bushmaster Snake. The story starts out with the Snake living in the jungle and with it being captured and taken to a Serpentarium where it is milked for it's venom. I remember that the end of the story shows a picture of the Snake in it's concrete enclosure. Any Help would be Greatly Appreciated!

CW1764@YAHOO.COM

Airedale65 said...

I am looking for a reader, which as I recall it contained a story about a popcorn popper, and another story about father grilling hamburgers for the family. Like Dick and Jane but not them.

Unknown said...

It's a long story, but I'd love to have a couple of the Tom/Betty/Susan and Flip book by Ginn Readers. When I was born in 1952, my brother Tom was a first grader, mom Betty, and Tom brought home a dog from school and named him Flip. Guess what my name is! Can anyone help? Thanks. 1/6/2022

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm looking for the name of a reading book that I read in 1980 in the beginning of 1st grade before they switched my reading group. All I remember was that it was a paperback reader and I only remember a story about a boy named Sam who ate eggs and beets for breakfast. Does anyone know which reader this could have been and the publishing company?

Randy Hull said...

I think it is called "Simple Sam Eats What". Published by Brohmberg. You can probably find it at Amazon or Abes Books.