D retold us a story from his childhood. He’s been clearing a fair bit of snow the last while and I think it triggered a fond memory of his favourite childhood book. When he was little, he got a book from the school library. He loved it. He loved it a lot. He read it and poured over the pictures. It was about a tractor with a big snow plow that saved the town during an enormous snow storm. It helped everyone get moving again. The fire department could function. So could the police. The library was able to open back up. People could get around. The tractor with the snow plow’s name was Katy. She was a vibrant red and D loved to read the story of how she saved the day. There were detailed illustrations that told the story as well. The story was called “Katy and The Big Snow” and was by Virginia Lee Burton. It began, “Katy was a beautiful red crawler tractor. She was very big and very strong and she could do a lot of things.”
The problem was that after a week the book needed to go back to the library. A week never felt like enough time with the book so D came up with a strategy. He would return the book and then pop back to the library, watching the process from library cart to shelf. Then, if he saw it on the shelf, he would take it off and hide it between other books in another part of the library until enough time had passed that he was allowed to take it out again. That way it wouldn’t go missing in his mind (AKA another child having a chance to take it out). When it was time, he would know exactly where it was and could sign it out again. He would follow the same process of signing out, reading it over and over, returning, watching, hiding the book and signing it out again. Of course, technically he shouldn’t have hidden the book, but we love hearing the story because it’s endearing to hear how meaningful the story was to him.
Fast forward about 20 years, early in our marriage, and D was telling me about this book. I decided to see if I could find it to surprise him. The problem was that he couldn’t quite remember the name of it. He knew it had the word “snow” in it, but wasn’t sure beyond that. It’s hard to believe he’d forgotten Katy’s specific name, but he had. I searched and found several other snowy titles (many of which became part of our home library once we had children. The Snowy Day – Keats, The Big Snow – Hader and Hader, White Snow, Bright Snow – Tresselt). Eventually I came across what I thought might be the one. Because I didn’t have the exact title or author, I wasn’t sure, but I was hopeful. I bought it and put the book out on the table to surprise him when he got home from work. I figured that way there wouldn’t be a big letdown if I had the wrong book; he’d just think there was a book on the table. When he came home, he spotted it immediately, rushed over to it and said, “My book!” He clearly recognized it. 🙂 He has kept it pristine and safe (as he does with all of his belongings) for over two decades. It has been a special book that he brought out during snowy weather to read to the kids when they were little.
The other day, he had an urge to read it out loud, so we were treated to a reading of Katy and the Big Snow. He showed us some of the little intricacies in the illustrations that might have been missed by just reading the text, but that told more of the story. Looking at all the details from a child’s perspective makes me wonder how much adults miss when we read picture books to children. Do we skim through them quickly, pointing out a bit of something here and there, but maybe not take enough time for the child to take in what they notice most?
Anyway! So there we were, a bunch of people 5’6.5” (I’m the shortest now) and taller listening to a childhood classic being read aloud. A lovely and fun memory!
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Erin, what a beautiful post. I love how D’s story has become a shared one with you all and that you managed to find the book for him, how gorgeous! I’m certain I’ve missed so much over the years from not paying attention to the pictures in books – my youngest daughter’s made it her mission to help me notice more after so many occasions where I’ve said something along the lines of, ‘I didn’t see that coming’ and then she points out the clue hidden in plain sight on the cover! Thanks for sharing 😍
Thank you, Hayley! Yes, it been fun to share in the love of the book. That’s so interesting that your daughter is helping you notice more. I often miss quite a bit myself and it’s interesting to have someone along who notices those finer details. My daughter is quite visual and points things out to me too. 🙂