SOLVED. Children's book series, nonfiction, about different social skills and such. [s]

[Laura]

I've been trying to remember the name of this series. I had them all as a child, so early/mid-80's. I believe it was part of a book club or something, so I think they must have been new at the time. I think I got one book a month by mail. Maybe two at a time, I'm not sure. Now that I say that, two at a time sounds more right, actually. They were thin, hardback books. I want to say there were a lot of books in the series, but you know how childhood warps memories. It may not have been as many as it seemed like at the time.

Each one covered a different subject about general life skills and so forth. Like one covered how to manage your money. Another talked about bodily functions. I think there was one on tv watching, and advertising.

There were cartoon-like drawings in each. I don't think there were specific characters, but they all had the same style of characters, if that makes sense?

I can remember a few of the pictures, but I don't know if I can describe them very well. I remember for the bodily functions one, there was a child who had passed gas and he's standing there holding his nose and there's a cloud of green gas wafting around him. And I believe the one on spending showed a child in a store looking at bargain toys. The one about television had a child sitting in front of a tv watching a commercial, and I think it showed him from behind. I think the illustrations were all sizes, depending on the text on the page.

I also think the main background cover of the books were white. They were not huge books, but they weren't really small either. I think they were kind of square, or maybe even a tad wider than they were tall? Maybe like the size of an iPad mini, if you turn it sideways, give or take a bit. They also came with this thing you could put them in. Like a magazine stand, but wider, so all the books fit. I think it was just cardboard though.

I can't remember where I got them from. I want to maybe say it was from one of those book club order forms they hand out at school, but I could be wrong about that. I remember looking forward to the new one (or two) coming every month and I loved these books. I can remember so much about them, so it's driving me nuts that I can't think of what they were called.

Thanks a bunch! :)

[Kelly]

Could these have been the Joy Berry Let's Talk About series? It looks like they were reissued recently, but most of them came out originally in the 80s.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

http://joyberrybooks.com/es/by-age

for Kelly's suggestion.

It looks like there is a series for every age group of child. Were yours for age 8-11, 11-13, other?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Every Kid's Guide to Understanding Parents contains the passage: "Parents go to the bathroom. They sometimes throw up when they are sick. Parents sneeze and cough, hiccup, burp, and pass gas. Sometimes."

Every Kid's Guide to Being Special contains the passage: "... you have a body that does things that might seem strange or embarrassing . There are times when you might need to • go to the bathroom, • vomit, hiccup, \ \/JW) \\ O • sneeze, • burp, or • pass gas. You might also • snore when you sleep or •."

[Laura]

Kelly wrote: "Could these have been the Joy Berry Let's Talk About series? It looks like they were reissued recently, but most of them came out originally in the 80s."

I don't believe that's the series, but it's a very similar concept. Those illustrations don't look familiar to me at all.

Waaaait a second. I just googled them and the covers are different now. The older, original covers look more like what I remember. That may very well be them.

Oh, found it! It wasn't that series, but it was written by the same person, that's why those pictures look familiar. It's the Ready, Set, Grow series.

Holy cow, $70 on ebay for the set. :o http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/15177504...

See how the original of that other series, the covers are white: https://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Book...

I think that's what the Ready, Set, Grow books looked like originally as well. They're Weekly Reader books. I remember getting the Weekly Reader in school. That's probably why I thought it was one of those book club handouts, they were kinda similar. They were made of the same funky newsprint-like paper and ink and about the same size.

You've just made my day, thank you! I can't justify dropping $70 on kids books just for the nostalgia, but at least I can keep an eye out for them elsewhere now. Thank you so, SO much! :)

[Laura]

Lobstergirl wrote: "http://joyberrybooks.com/es/by-age

for Kelly's suggestion.

It looks like there is a series for every age group of child. Were yours for age 8-11, 11-13, other?"

Thank you for the link! It wasn't that series that she posted, but another similar series by the same person. It's called Ready Set Grow. They were for the older age group, I'm assuming, because they dealt with money and managing time and what-not. I didn't think that series was it at first, but the covers threw me off. The covers of the re-release are a little different. I'm not seeing the Ready Set Grow series on that website. Pity, they're kinda pricey on eBay.

[Justanotherbiblophile]

You can mark this request as solved by clicking the 'edit' link next to the subject line / title, and then selecting one of the "Solved" folders. This will help save our moderators some time.

You should also change the subject line / title to start "SOLVED: [then your existing title]" which helps people still find your request later.

Solved requests are almost as important as unsolved requests (eg, so don't delete your info :D Otherwise it looks like this, which completely doesn't show how you generated *so* much interest for your book.

[Kris]

Danger!: A children's book about handling fear, dangerous things, places, and situations (one book from the Ready Set Grow series) by Joy Berry

[Kelly]

Laura wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Could these have been the Joy Berry Let's Talk About series? It looks like they were reissued recently, but most of them came out originally in the 80s."

I don't believe that's the s..."

The version I remember had a robins-egg-blue border, with a white middle. :) I'm glad that was the right author!