The Hodgepodge Book (Duncan Emerich)

Like Flapdoodle, this is one of my all-time favorite childhood reads!  I have read The Hodgepodge Book so many times!  As a child, I thought I had found a real goldmine--a book that not only had a ton of fun games, riddles, pranks, and jokes, but also "real world" advice, such as how to send secret messages to your sweetheart (using postage stamps), how to cure a stye (with the tail of a black cat), or even how to get rid of warts (by leaving them at the crossroads).  I suppose it's a good thing that I never had the opportunity to test some of these things out!

I was thrilled to pieces when Ahmed pulled this title out of my shelves.  With Kilbronson on to bigger and better adventures, it was nice to have a comforting read to keep my mind off things.  It also helped that this was a book that I hadn't read in years, even though I had bought it less than a decade ago.

I get the impression that children today would not appreciate a book like this.  With the internet putting a world's worth of knowledge at our fingertips, what use have we for an almanac of sorts?  Still, I can't help but smile whenever I read this, and I think in the hands of the right child, this book could be a real boon.

I mean, look at me.  I might not have had a smartphone or been glued to my computer screen (not like today, anyway), but I was absolutely flabbergasted by the wealth of knowledge and folklore found here.  It's just a darn fun book.