Last summer, while cleaning out my parents’ storage unit, I found more than old dolls and a clock hat. Underneath a trampoline and behind a Bruce Jenner Air Climber, lost among boxes full of WWF Wrestling Dolls and the Millennium Falcom, were two boxes filled to overflowing with books. Some worth worth keeping, others not.
My Serendipity books from the 70s and 80s? Totally worth keeping. I adored these books about animals and creatures determined to extol moral virtue on kids aged 4-8. I read each one a thousand times, always turning the book over to admire illustrator Robin James’ Catskill chic outfit. Her long, straight hair parted down the middle drew my eyes to her� drawstring denim skirt and the violet held delicately between her fingertips. I made a mental note to grow out my hair and move to the East Coast so I could draw pretty pictures and wander the mountains with a man not afraid to wear boots the color of flan.
The books tackled issues like kindness to those who are different, acceptance of life’s challenges, and the value of working to the best of your ability. The usual little kid topics, although occasionally they would touch upon something entirely 1978.
Like, Kartusch, the story of the blind snake who teaches a group of “Eye-Fulls” the importance of hearing the beauty in the world that surrounds us. Translation: Meditation, man. Meditation.
But some topics are timeless, like Bangalee, a story the boys became acquainted with just two weeks ago.
Bangalee is a Kritter, a short, furry horned creature who lives in a castle like all the other Kritters. You should know that Kritters are impossibly messy. They leave their clothes and dishes and toys strewn all about. They never, ever take baths or brush their fur. They simple can’t be bothered with cleaning up clutter.
All except Bangalee. He is neat and tidy and somewhat fussy. Messes make him nervous, and he spends most his days cleaning up after all the other Kritters. One day, he decides to hold a meeting to beg all the other Kritters clean up after themselves. Pick up their dishes. Put their toys away when they are finished playing with them. Well, the other Kritters thought that idea was a riot. Why bother? Who cares? Let’s go play!
Oh, Bangalee. I feel your pain.
On a day like every other messy day, the Kritters heard a rumble and a tumble. Well, wouldn’t you know it? Lumbering up the hill to their castle was a GRUNK! A Grunk is a creature–and not a very nice one!–who eats your junk.
Yup. A Grunk eats junk left by messy little Kritters.
I don’t need to tell you what happened, but I will. The Kritters were in a panic. The Grunk was eating things left and right outside and they barely made it inside the walls of the castle, which was also full of junk. Now there are dozens of Kritters in a tizzy, tripping over each other and their junk wondering how they are going to illude the Grunk, who is looking for all the world to see like a very, very, very hungry creature.
Bangalee knew an opening when he saw one.
He calmed everyone down and suggested they clean the junk to avoid the Grunk. The Kritters thought about it for approximately 0.00007962 seconds and started cleaning rapidly, efficiently, and (because this was still Bangalee’s show) properly. Soon the castle was clean, the junk was put away, and everyone was drying off from long overdue baths. The reader can assume Bangalee was in the corner smoking a cigarette.
The Grunk finally finished eating everything off the lawn and raised his nose in the air to track more junk. Finding nothing, his went off the way he came. The Kritters all rejoiced in their good fortune and from that point forward, kept a very clean castle.
I finished the book and looked at the boys, who sat silently the entire time while I read to them about the Grunk who ate junk.
It’s difficult to describe what I saw in their eyes when they stared back at me, human emotions being so complex. Eyes, even little boy eyes, can say so much. But, if I were to try to sum up and encapsulate in a tight sentence or two what they were thinking, it would probably something along the lines of O.M.F.G.!!!!!!
All of a sudden my Kritters were running around their respective rooms picking up toys, putting their dirty clothes in the hamper, and sliding books back onto shelves. They worked with the speed of a thousand woman with company coming over at the last minute. I was helping Mikey extract a shoe from under his bed while Nicholas, arms full of sporting equipment, struggled valiantly to open the closet door with his toe. Anxious that the Grunk was mere seconds away from taking a bite of his NFL regulation football he started calling out, “Can somebody help me please?” as he resorted to using his forehead and his toe to open the door. I told him I would be there in a minute, but terror must have kept him from hearing me.
“Can somebody help me please??” Scratching, toes squeaking against wood, gaspy little breathes.
“Can somebody help me please???” The hysteria reaches a fever pitch.
“CAN SOMEBODY HELP ME PLEASE????!!!!” I walked into the room to find his forehead beaded with sweat, his arms loaded with a football, a soccer ball, a bucket cap, a beach towel, and the heavy, heavy weight of dread. I opened the closet door and stood back while he flung his junk and closed the closet door, resting his back against its solid wood with arms splayed. He looked wildly about the room, scanning the corners for junk…or worse…THE GRUNK.
Twenty minutes later, both boys were sound asleep in their clean rooms, the earlier coursing terror a powerful sleeping aid.
My God, I adore those books.
Holy crackers. I loved Kartusch so, so, so much when I was 6. Thank you so much for that blast from the past.
Isn’t that the best feeling? To see again as an adult something you loved so much as a child? I felt the same way when I opened the box and found these books. I honestly gasped with happy surprise.
I had those books when I was a kid but had completely forgotten all about them. Thanks for the walk down memory lane. Hearing about your boy’s response makes me wish m mom had saved my books as well.
My mom saved EVERYTHING. My brother’s bathing suit from when he was 4? Yup. His cast from when he was five and broke his leg sliding down the slide at McDonald’s? Yup. It’s all neatly put away, too. Perfect when I needed a 1980s yellow knit Polo tie for Mikey to wear to 80s day at school…not so perfect when I was going through the storage unit during the dog days of August.
Some of the toys I found are awesome. They’re mostly my brothers’s, but still awesome. I’ll have to show them, only so we can all go down memory lane together.
I don’t remember that book in particular, but I did have some of these books. I bought one with my own money when I was on a field trip to the La Brea Tar Pits. I don’t know why I remember this but the book and the place are forever linked in my head.
P.S. Thanks for commenting on my bloggy blog. Maybe I’ll finally post something new!
Your boys are so funny.
And I remember those books. Can’t remember the name of my favorite, but it was about a water seal or something with a really long name that started with an “S”. I used to read it all the time. :)
Do you mean Trapper, the singing seal with a terrible voice from the land of Samarukan? His terrible voice saved him from the Sasquatch who was taking all the singing seals to keep for his enjoyment.
MORAL: If you see something in nature you love and would like to know, remember the singing seals and leave it there to grow.
i have a stack of these in my basement too. we used to try to replicate the pictures in the books. my friends and i would spend many first grade days pining away over the unicorns and mice and horses. this was a super cute post. wish i had bangalee for my boys!!
An ex-boyfriend just read this post and emailed me to ask if I remember that I DREW FOR HIM the dragon on that first book pictured. Uh, no. I did not remember doing something so humiliating, especially since I WAS SIXTEEN YEARS OLD. He says he remembers clearly wondering why the dragon had such big eyes and long lashes. Gah. How humiliating.
No. way. So hilarious and yes, humiliating. Thank you so much for sharing! :-)
So, we revisited the story of Bangalee this evening for my Nicholas, ages 4.5. His response, “May you please cwean up my room?” What? I said no, and sure as heck, he straightened up the mess. Thanks, Jules!!!
Awesome!
I remember those! Wow…this post and the Roger Hargreaves (“Little Miss Sunshine”, “Mr. Perfect”, etc.) tribute on Google just brought back a lot of memories.
Holy cow! My middle brother loved the Roger Hargreaves books! I actually found a few in storage. I remember Mr. Perfect and how he used to straighten the blades of grass on his lawn.
Um, can I borrow that book please? My gosh the hysterics we go through to get a clean room! I think the Grunk would do just the trick.
Oh, Serendipity books … just looking at them makes me giddy! I LOVED them! I’m sure I have some in storage somewhere … along with my Value Tales books. I heard the Value Tales stories were actually re-released as a Treasury, though I’m not sure any of them would have the power of Bangalee … except maybe to turn your boys into history nerds …
I still have my Serendipity books. I was broken-hearted when I realized that my daughter had pulled a few pages from one of the books. Doesn’t she KNOW (in her 4 year old self) how important these books are to me and one day for her?
Oh my goodness, I had totally forgotten about those books. I didn’t have them but my cousin did. ‘Serendipity’ was the longest word I could pronounce and I was so proud of myself… Am going to trawl Ebay to see if I can get them for my sons. So excited that you posted this, you have made an already wonderful day even more wonderful. Thanks a million!
You can see the influences from Where the Wild Things Are in those books (I’m guessing)… All monsters looked the same in the 70’s.
Isn’t that the truth. Everybody had large eyes, from monsters to Precious Moments to Holly Hobby.
well we never had those books in NZ but this was one of the funniest posts. It really was laugh (and snort) out loud funny. I love your descriptions; ‘boots the color of flan’!!!
Dying laughing! I need to get my hands on that book for my boys. Fabulous.
I loved those books! I bet my parents still have those hidden away somewhere. I’m sure my little lady would love them.
There was one about a squirrel who ate the leaves of a plants and overdosed. The pictures from that particular book haunt my dreams.
The only squirrel Serendipity book I have is the story of Squeakers, the squirrel who was molested by a dirty old mole. O_o
Oh goodness me. I too loved those books, and remember fondly going to Seattle to pick up the Weedle on the Needle.
Some of the titles are too funny though. The Muffin Muncher always provokes laughter from my Mr.
Is there any place to get these books…My son just asked me to send him a copy of Bangalee and the Grunk
These are the books I learned to read with. Helped that my Mom and Aunt were both teachers, I guess. Thanks for the post – I feel like a child. Again. For the 10th time today. :)