Toys! written by Don Wulffson

Growing up everyone had a favorite toy as a kid, right? But do you know the story behind your favorite toy? Such as, do you know who, why, or how your favorite toy got invented? Well here is a book about how several favorite toys that were invented back in the old days.

Don Wulffson wrote the book, Toys!, explaining how some favorite children toys creative people invented back in the days.  The toys that Don Wulffson mentioned in his book were, The Slinky, Seesaws, Lego, and Mr. Potato Head. Along with, Silly Putty, Windup Toys and Automations, Hobbyhorses, and Bicycles. Further more, Remote Controlled Toys, Raggedy Ann, and Toy Soldiers. Along with, Magic Rocks, Super Ball, Toy Trains, Play-Doh, Kites, Dolls. Hot Wheels, Pokémon, Skateboards, Wiffle Ball, and Novelty Gags (i.e. the Whoopee Cushion). The games that Don Wulffson mentioned in the book are, Twister, Parcheesi, Checkers, Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly, Scrabble, Table Tennis, Playing Cards, and Pin Ball Machines and Video Games.

Now I know there are a lot of toys and games that are mentioned in Mr. Wulffson’s book, so I will be describing my three favorite toys that I thought were interesting in the book.

First, I loved playing with Play-Doh as a kid, I loved the smell when it first comes out of the bottle. The way it feels between my fingers and I loved to shape them into food and pretend to eat it, I just overall loved Play-Doh! But did you know when Play-Doh was first invented it was white and used for cleaning wallpaper? That’s right! The original name was Magic Wallpaper Cleaner created in the 1950s by Joe Mcvicker, who was in the wallpaper business. One day Joe was talking to his sister, who was an elementary school teacher, she mentioned how her students were having a hard time working with clay because their hands were small and the clay was tough. Joe gave her a sample of his Magic Wallpaper Cleaner, and behold! Play-Doh is now popular in classrooms and at home because children have fun making things out of soft clay. An interesting fact about Play-Doh that I learned while reading is that there is a hint of vanilla scent in Play-Doh, incase you’re wondering why it smells so good. Finally, if you have children drawing on wallpaper, get the white color Play-Doh and scrub off the mess. Your Welcome!

            My second favorite toy that I had a huge passion for growing up as a kid was Pokémon! Pokémon was originally invented in Japan by a man named Satoshi Tajiri, when Satoshi was growing up he was an avid bug collector and gamer. At the age of seventeen, Satoshi and his friend, Ken Sugimori, created a magazine called Game Freak. Next, Satoshi and Ken created a game that is similar to an arcade game called Quinty, which they sold to a gaming company. Years later, Satoshi worked for the gaming company, Nintendo.  Satoshi told Nintendo about his idea of creating Pokémon, the company loved the idea of living in a world with little creatures and the goal is capturing them in order to become a Pokémon Master. Pokémon was first introduced in Japan before it was introduced to the United Sates in 1998. Personally, I have stories of when Pokémon first came to America since I was around seven years old at the time. So my fellow friends, that is how Pokémon became a franchise to the world with its video games and trading cards. I still have the original trading cards! Oh! If you’re wondering how Pokémon got its name: first, take the word Pokémon second, separate the word apart until you get pocket and monster. Mind blowing! Gotta catch ‘em all Pokémon!

My final toy that I thought was interesting to read about was the birth of the classic doll Raggedy Ann. Now, I never owned a Raggedy Ann myself but I remember my older sister owned Raggedy Ann doll once (at least I think she did).  But anyways, I like the story about how Raggedy Ann came to life in 1914 when John Gruelle’s eight year old daughter, Marcella, found an old doll with red yarn hair and no face in her grandmother’s attic (the doll belonged to Marcella’s mother). When she showed her father the doll, he thought it could use some love. Once the doll’s hair and face was sewed on, Marcella’s mother sewed on a heart that said, “I love you”. The name for Raggedy Ann came to be the Marcella’s doll’s name after her parents named her after   two poems that were written by James Whitcomb Riley, The Raggedy Man and Little Orphan Annie. Anyways, since John Gruelle was a cartoon artist he wrote many stories and was a great storyteller. When Marcella became sick, he told her stories with Raggedy Ann as the main character and she loved her father’s stories. Unfortunately, Marcella passed away at the age of ten due to an unknown illness. John decided to publish the stories of Raggedy Ann that he once told to his daughter along with the doll so everyone can have the same experience of loving a doll just like his daughter. So, whenever you come across a Raggedy Ann doll, you can see her heart under her dress that says, “I love you”, and remember that a little girl once cherished the doll that you know of today.

In concluding, I did enjoy reading Toys written by Don Wulffson because I thought it was interesting reading a book about how various toys that either my parents or I grew up with playing and now I am watching my adorable little nieces playing with them (such as Mr. Potato Head).  I also love the cartoony pictures that are illustrated in the book (good job Laurie Keller). Over all, if you want to read a book about how your favorite childhood toy or game became about, then I would suggest you read Toys.

Here are some of the cartoony pictures that were in the book (Illustrated by Laurie Keller)

  

 Trivia Questions:

Out the toys/games that  Don Wulffson had mentioned: 

1) Which toy was originally used for as a synthetic form of rubber since there was a shortage of  natural rubber during World War II?

2) Which toy was mistakenly invented after the inventor was trying to find some sort of way to stabilize ships when they are going through the sea? 

3) Which board game did inventor stole the idea from another board game that already had a patent on it and claimed that he was the original creator? 

Wulffson, Don L. Toys!:Amazing Stories Behind Some Great Inventions.New York, Square Fish, 2014. Print. 

The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls

        We all heard the phrase “every family has problems” before. Right? Right! Well, that phrase does go well with Jeannette Walls’s family. Why? Because in her memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeannette describes her life being raised in a dysfunctional family who do the best they can to be a “normal” family.

            Jeannette Walls was born as the second child in the Walls family, in Arizona, from Rex and Rose Mary Walls. Jeannette’s siblings were Lori, her older sister, Brian her little brother, and finally her little sister, Maureen. Basically, the Walls family was a poor family. Rose Mary was a creative mother who loved to paint but never sold any of her artwork. Rex, on the other hand, was the kind of dad who did some temporary odd jobs here and there but was also a huge drunk.  Rex and Rose Mary did love their children but they always had a hard time taking care of them. For example, when Jeannette was three years old, she knew how to cook hotdogs on the gas stove (unsupervised). She was wearing a skirt while cooking the hotdogs, and before Jeannette knew it the fire from the stove got caught of her skirt and was covered in fire! After her mother took Jeannette to the hospital, the doctors couldn’t believe that a three year old was still alive after being severely burned while cooking hotdogs. But since Jeannette loved being at hospital for several weeks because she gets to eat whatever food she wants, the medical bills were expensive for Rex to pay them.  Instead of paying the medical bills, he went into the hospital, took Jeannette, and drove away from the hospital and started heading somewhere where the police or social workers can’t find him.

            The big reason why reason the Walls family moved from place to place because Rex was in some sort of trouble with the law. Some of the places that the Walls were: Nevada, California, and West Virginia. Where ever the Walls traveled to, Rex would get a job, make some money, buys beer, lose his job, and then moves the family somewhere else because he doesn’t want the police or the social workers to come after him and take his kids away.

            One particular place that Jeannette talks about the most is living in Welch, West Virginia with her family. Rex was born and raised in Welch, his parents and his brother, Stanley, still lived there and he thought that since the family needed some help with money, they could stay them even though the children never met them. Sadly, Rex’s mother and Uncle Stanley was not a good people because Rex’s mother molested Brian and Uncle Stanley molested Jeannette. Unfortunately, Rex and Rose Mary were the sorts of parents who did not care about their children’s safety and let their children deal with it themselves. Thankfully, Rex and Rose Mary eventually found a home that they could afford to own, in Welch, it was a shabby looking house with no indoor plumbing and electricity but it was home.  

Through out the book, Jeannette mentions some of her darkest moments in her life.  Such as, being molested several times, living without food and starving to the point where she had to dig through the trashcans at school just to find food. Along explaining life living with her father who is the town drunk. Jeannette does mentions some happy times in her life with her father. Such as, giving her the planet Venus as a   Christmas present. Jeannette also remembers touching a cheetah at a zoo while on a family trip. Finally, Jeannette loved working on the school newspaper at Welch High School until she had the money to move to NYC to be with Lori and became a reporter for a newspaper company.

The reason why Jeannette Wall’s memoir is titled, The Glass Castle, because her father, Rex, knew a lot about engineering and mathematics, he wanted to someday find gold and build a house made out of glass for his family to live in. He wanted the family to dream big even when there are moments when the family feels like they are falling apart.

Personally, I came across this book when I was in eleventh grade and my English teacher assigned this book to the class. I reread this book again when I noticed that it was becoming a movie. After rereading the book, it is sad to imagine four children trying to stay alive and looking after each other since their parents did not take of them properly. Finally, the way I see it is that anyone can have a better life through bad experiences.

 In concluding, if you want to read a book about a dysfunctional family that Jeannette Walls grew up in even though there is a bit of child molestation, domestic violence, and drug use. I do think the book is good to read if someone thinks that their family life is messier than another family.

Trivia Questions: 

1) When Rose Mary finally got a job as a teacher, how did the children help her in the classroom or at home? (just name one thing that they did) Was Rose Mary a good teacher or a bad teacher?

2) When Jeannette first started school, where did the teachers place her in? 

3) When living in Welch the family dug a hole for the Glass Castle project, what did they use the hole for instead of building the Glass Castle? 

Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle: A Memoir. New York, Scribner, 2006.Print.