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In case you haven't noticed, I come from a family of readers, on both sides. We would read for entertainment, information, to waste time, and to create a lesson for our children. With the devastating earthquake and tsunami so recently experienced in Japan, my son had questions I couldn't answer. I got books from work and brought them home to teach us both just how those tectonic plates worked. When I was rude at home, my maternal grandmother would have me look up the word which described my particular action and read the definition to her. Another case in point: Noisy Nora , "An Almost True Story" by Hugh Lofting (whom I just discovered created Doctor Doolittle).
Once upon a time there was a little girl and her name was Nora. She lived on an old farm in a hollow of the hills with her mother and father. On the farm they had many kinds of animals, horses and cows and pigs and chickens. Now Nora's table manners were very bad. She never said "please" or "thank you" and she always ate with both hands at once. It was a good thing the neighbours used to say, that she had not four hands, for if she had she would surely have used them all at the same time. But the worst thing in Nora's very dreadful behaviour was chewing with her mouth open.
This book was published in 1929 and the copy I have is an original. The pages are falling out and the cover is faded. There are water marks (or possibly tear stains from the naughty children in my family who were made to read it) at the bottom of some of the pages. This book belonged to my paternal grandmother and she kept it high up on a shelf. She was a stickler for manners and had very definite ideas about how children should behave. When one of us was rude at the table, smacking our lips or speaking with our mouths full, she would refer to "Noisy Nora". I remember feeling a gleeful sense of foreboding when she would take that book down and pass it to me. Sometimes I would ask for it, even when I was acting appropriately.
Last weekend I was visiting my Aunt when she got this maniacal look in her eye and said she had something for me. Out of the hall closet, she pulled out this very same copy of Noisy Nora and handed it over to me with a shiver. I think she was glad to get rid of it. I sat there and read it, feeling myself shrink to a young girl, sitting in the dark family room of the old family place, with the light coming over my shoulder from the huge window way in the back of the room, over by my doll house and the loom. Yes, my grandmother had a loom. The pictures in the book are part of what make it so charming, and freaky. There are little pictures drawn in-between words to help young readers, as well as larger ones to help make the point of the book.
With my step-mother looking over my shoulder, I quickly summarized the book to her, how Noisy Nora is so rotten at the table she is sent to the kitchen to learn some manners. By lunchtime, the cook tells her father that none of the farmhands will eat with someone who made so much noise chewing with her mouth open. Nora's father sends her out to the horse stable. Nora thinks that sounds fun, so instead of apologizing to the cook, she goes to the stable. Soon, the horses send in a message, begging for the dreadful little girl to be taken away. How does she fare in the cow shed? With the pigs? The rats in the barn? None of them can stand her obnoxious chewing and lack of manners. Nora is put out in the pasture, scaring away the rabbits, birds and worms, the butterflies, ants and grasshoppers. Eventually Nora is surrounded by "a solemn silence". Even the wind has gone someplace more peaceful. Nora reaches for her sandwich and starts eating. Now that she can hear herself clearly, she is disgusted by the "nasty and dreadful noise she had been making." Finally, Nora decides to never again eat with her mouth open and "to always think of others when she was at table."
My dad read the book for the first time in MANY years and wasn't as creeped out by the memories as he thought he might be. I'm looking forward to reading this book to my son. I have referred to him as "Noisy Nora" from time to time and wished I had a farmful of animals to shun him when he's being gross. I'll have to put my mind to this one. Maybe I can borrow a horse or chicken from the neighbors. Thanks for listening.
Once upon a time there was a little girl and her name was Nora. She lived on an old farm in a hollow of the hills with her mother and father. On the farm they had many kinds of animals, horses and cows and pigs and chickens. Now Nora's table manners were very bad. She never said "please" or "thank you" and she always ate with both hands at once. It was a good thing the neighbours used to say, that she had not four hands, for if she had she would surely have used them all at the same time. But the worst thing in Nora's very dreadful behaviour was chewing with her mouth open.
This book was published in 1929 and the copy I have is an original. The pages are falling out and the cover is faded. There are water marks (or possibly tear stains from the naughty children in my family who were made to read it) at the bottom of some of the pages. This book belonged to my paternal grandmother and she kept it high up on a shelf. She was a stickler for manners and had very definite ideas about how children should behave. When one of us was rude at the table, smacking our lips or speaking with our mouths full, she would refer to "Noisy Nora". I remember feeling a gleeful sense of foreboding when she would take that book down and pass it to me. Sometimes I would ask for it, even when I was acting appropriately.
Last weekend I was visiting my Aunt when she got this maniacal look in her eye and said she had something for me. Out of the hall closet, she pulled out this very same copy of Noisy Nora and handed it over to me with a shiver. I think she was glad to get rid of it. I sat there and read it, feeling myself shrink to a young girl, sitting in the dark family room of the old family place, with the light coming over my shoulder from the huge window way in the back of the room, over by my doll house and the loom. Yes, my grandmother had a loom. The pictures in the book are part of what make it so charming, and freaky. There are little pictures drawn in-between words to help young readers, as well as larger ones to help make the point of the book.
With my step-mother looking over my shoulder, I quickly summarized the book to her, how Noisy Nora is so rotten at the table she is sent to the kitchen to learn some manners. By lunchtime, the cook tells her father that none of the farmhands will eat with someone who made so much noise chewing with her mouth open. Nora's father sends her out to the horse stable. Nora thinks that sounds fun, so instead of apologizing to the cook, she goes to the stable. Soon, the horses send in a message, begging for the dreadful little girl to be taken away. How does she fare in the cow shed? With the pigs? The rats in the barn? None of them can stand her obnoxious chewing and lack of manners. Nora is put out in the pasture, scaring away the rabbits, birds and worms, the butterflies, ants and grasshoppers. Eventually Nora is surrounded by "a solemn silence". Even the wind has gone someplace more peaceful. Nora reaches for her sandwich and starts eating. Now that she can hear herself clearly, she is disgusted by the "nasty and dreadful noise she had been making." Finally, Nora decides to never again eat with her mouth open and "to always think of others when she was at table."
My dad read the book for the first time in MANY years and wasn't as creeped out by the memories as he thought he might be. I'm looking forward to reading this book to my son. I have referred to him as "Noisy Nora" from time to time and wished I had a farmful of animals to shun him when he's being gross. I'll have to put my mind to this one. Maybe I can borrow a horse or chicken from the neighbors. Thanks for listening.
The legacies we have.......
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