The Sunny-Sulky Book

Throwback Thursday.

This is a volume of my mother’s childhood along with her brothers John and Robert. This is a copy of the book they were read to, not the actual one that belonged to them. I was able to find a copy online and gave it to my mom years ago.

My mother Marian was born in 1912 , John in 1910 and Robert in 1914 so that will give you a reference to the time period.

The story lines wouldn’t be acceptable in today’s world. “In “The sunny side,” children behave well and are rewarded for their virtues. In “The sulky side,” children misbehave and are punished by either their parents or their peers”

I guess the objective of the book was to keep kids in line!

When I was little I enjoyed hearing tales of the naughty children. 😂 my mother recounted a few of the tales but I only had my imagination to envision them at the time. The book is still available online with different illustrations.

The book opens in two directions. Half are stories of Sunny children who exhibit desirable virtues, do good deeds and show excellent deportment.

The other half are stories of Sulky children who get into their mischief, show poor manners or are naughty.

I remember the story of Fairy -Eat -it -All.

A mountain of desserts and goodies he never finished eating

Turn the book over and the Sunny stories begin

And here is a good girl feeding the birds on Christmas

Here’s another child who was deemed Sunny

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