My Father and Boggle Beak

I remember "Boggle Beak".

But listening to my mother or father read "Boggle Beak" to me, or reading it myself, isn't among my childhood memories. I'm not sure why.

No, wait. That's not entirely true.

I remember reading the book, but the memory reminds me of my father showing me "Boggle Beak" and telling me why the book is important to him.

I'll let him explain it. "Boggle Beak" was:

"A greatly favored book of mine when an infant or child. It was read to me on innumerable occasions by my sister Mary Alice, and, less often, by other members of my family before I could read; and, after I could read it for myself, it continued to be a favorite for perhaps a year or two. I do not recall reading it after we moved to Rockford, so by the time I was nine I must have outgrown it."
(Bernard Gill's handwritten note, on the front endpaper of "Boggle Beak", dated June 1963)

I'd have been 11 years old when he wrote that. We may have had the "Boggle Beak" conversation around the same time. That'd match the memories I have. We were in the basement room of 818 where he kept most of his books, desk, and assorted other stuff.

More at A Catholic Citizen in America.

(Remembering a favorite book from my father's childhood, and a very quick look at literature for children.)