Different times, different worlds.

Would not give to young children, IMHO.

If it's This book, it was originally published in 1908.

Interesting, Maddielee! Yes, that's the book. I didn't read the copyright carefully. It shows two separate copyrights, the first in 1908.

I'm sure somewhere I have a photo from 1908. :-)

I love the illustrations and the rhymes. I wouldn't give it to a child, though. A bit racist too, with Mammy and all.

Your photo of the gorgeous old car and it's occupants was entertaining...but the book and it's drawings were very cool!

I'll take the car, Nicole. The book bothers me, maybe because of my familiarity with guns and strong feelings about gun safety. And a close friend's 3-year-old brother who shot and killed himself with his father's police revolver. It was more than 50 years ago, but it lingers.

I'm surprised that such a book was published, but I guess since it was over 100 years ago, things were a lot different then. But, yes, it's not for children. Very cool picture, Alisande!! Love the car and the ladies.

Not to get off topic, but DH and I were talking about the book Brer Rabbit. Haven't seen or heard of it for many years. Definitely would not read to my grands.

Kathy G in MI

I love Shel Silverstein books, but not The Giving Tree. It is about a young boy who grows to manhood with a tree that he can talk to. So he goes to the tree when he wants something, and the tree gives of itself to the boy/man. Eventually, the tree has given all of itself to the selfish boy/man. I don't like the message of using and abusing others. So when I first read this book, which my sister sent to my children, I threw it out. I know some people like this book, but I just don't like the message sent.

If you like other things he did, you know well that Shel Silverstein was a brilliant humorist and polymath whose thinking and messages could never be presumed to be understood or classifiable in any one way.

I can see why you may not have liked that book, although I did, but I don't know why you thought you had a good handle on what message was intended. I never felt that way about anything he did. I was usually puzzled, shaking my head and often laughing all at once as normal reactions to his work. This book, like much of what he did, left people debating alternative "true meanings". I think he enjoyed being ambiguous and he certainly enjoyed being an intellectual troublemaker.

"People didn't have near the problems or worries we have now in our society, not with guns or with the public as a whole"

Before you get too teary-eyed about the past, consider some of how things were during In the first half of the 20th century.....

-If you were a working female, sexual harassment was normal, not unusual, and laws didn't exist for protection as they do now.

-Racial discrimination was rampant, Jim Crow laws were in full force in the South, and lynchings of innocent people took place by the hundreds each year.

-A young female was much more likely to be sexually abused by a family member than today.

-Women had limited access to birth control, and women whose rapes lead to impregnation couldn't get abortions.

I'm very anti-guns, but there's not much of common problems and evils in the past that I would be happy having back in today's world. You're welcome to have a different view.

Snidely beat me to. It wasn't an innocent time. There were things many people had to suffer. Right up to and including lynching in what he said. DITTO!

I have a copy of

brer rabbit little golden books. Called "Uncle Remus" And one of "Little Black Sambo" 1946 and 1947 I never thought of it as racist ....I just love the books. We were never taught that people were different because they aren't

When I was a child I adored Uncle Remus. Never understood it being racist as it taught acceptance. I also love Little Black Sambo, he was a hero in my eyes.

The Hole Book would have made me laugh. It has a moral also. Don't touch or play with real guns. Parents actually used to teach their children that, not try to instill fear of guns. I come from an era when children understood fantasy versus reality. I used to march up and down the street with an old army parade rifle. Imagine that happening today. We played Cowboys and Indians along with cops and robbers.

I lived during Jim Crow times yet I was also old enough to remember the civil rights movement. Actually participated.

I detest the revisionist history being taught today along with the redefinition of racism. It helps no one. It hurts many. Racism that really does exist has been over-shadowed by BS.

Today I live in a multicultural neighborhood. My grandchildren are colorblind as were/are my own children. They were both negatively impacted throughout their school years via affirmative action policies but held true to their value system, always judge by the person and deed, not by the "group" they belong to, despite that.

But if I say one negative thing against someone who doesn't have lily white skin by today's definition I am a racist.

Remember "Little Brown Koko?" As a child, loved reading about all of his 'adventures'. Those were fun to read.

Some of the messages given in the Uncle Remus stories are parallel to Aesop's Fables. My wife inherited a book of Aesop's Fables, 2nd edition, 1917, Philadelphia & London Company. There are over 200 fables in the book.

Didn't Disney make the movie "Song of the South" about Uncle Remus?

"When I was a child I adored Uncle Remus. Never understood it being racist as it taught acceptance. I also love Little Black Sambo, he was a hero in my eyes."

Do you think you would feel the same if you were African American? I think that's the point. These books, perhaps written with the best of intentions, portrayed African American people using negative and unflattering stereotypes.

nycefarm:

Yes, Disney did make a movie called "Song of the South" and it featured a kindly old gentleman by the name of Remus who, in a very wonderful manner, narrated Uncle Remus stories to children. As I recall, it was a pioneering effort of mixing cartoons with real actors. One scene begins with the tune, Zippa da dah, Zipp-i a and butterflies appear around the heads of the actors and then the scene smoothly transits to 100% drawn cartoon as a story begins. As the movie shifts to cartoon, it also goes to full color.