Iconic Childhood Books: Artie and the Princess

For those of us fortunate enough to have memories of being read to as small children, those books retain a luminously magical aura. Sometimes, alas, they don't stand up well to being re-read as adults. I have no doubt that some of those I treasured would disappoint me greatly. This isn't about them. It's about a book that's as delightful to me today as it was 60 years ago.

Artie and the Princess, by Marjorie Torrey, Howell Soskin,1945.I don't believe my parents actually bought this book. It had a Christmas gift sticker on the flyleaf, now so peeled off as to be illegible, and an inscription from some folks we didn't know. The binding's all but disintegrated and many of the illustrations have been adorned with my own crayon scribbles. but the paper, thick and soft, has worn well.