School Days: Cartoons from the New Yorker

School Days: Cartoons From the New Yorker 2010

Weight: 8 oz

Method of Disposal: Gave to a friend at brunch who will later most likely leave it in a lending library...

Despite having learned about Bookcrossing while in college, this is the first released book I ever found.  I found it in a lending library in Decatur, GA after having Sunday brunch with my crew.  It was particularly exciting because it had a little kid's drawing as an extra inside.  I was less than impressed with the actual cartoons in the books though and had no qualms handing it over to a friend after the following Sunday's brunch.  Being a minimalist, I am sure it will find its way back to a lending library.  Being that we often brunch in Decatur, it may find its way back to the very same one.  Who knows?

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/14158612

Treasury of Cartoon Classics

Treasury of Cartoon Classics: Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies Edited by Darlene Geis
1995
Weight: 2.8 lbs
Method of Disposal: Donating

This, my friend, was a well loved book.  I received it as a Christmas gift from one of my Uncles when I was a young kid.  I would spend hours drawing the cartoons inside, even in my teenage years.  I was and am really good at drawing exact replicas of other people's cartoons.  Not very creative or helpful, but it passed the time and was almost like meditation.  It calmed me.  It made me feel good without knowing why.

Many of the cartoons in this book I had never heard of or seen when I received it.  I feel like I was disappointed at first but, as I grew older, it was fun to finally see them.  I never sought them out.  I was always just pleasantly surprised when they would show up.  I would flip through the channels and then stop when I saw something I had drawn a hundred times and watch it in awe.

I am not a huge fan of Disney, knowing what I know now.  I am appalled by the little "Indian" boy that is nose to nose with a bear on the dustjacket free cover.  Little Hiawatha.  I had no idea about appropriated cultures, oppression, and racism back then--or at least not like I do now.  I am not proclaiming how wonderful these cartoons are.  I am just acknowledging and enjoying a memory from my youth.