Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, October 21, 2009 "Curator Scott Eberle writes lively histories of the toys, photographed in whimsical poses."
Dallas Morning News, December 7, 2009 "Kids will love thumbing through this one, but they'll no doubt have to pry it out of the hands of their rapt parents first. The book is sure to evoke lots of boomer-generation childhood memories, and might even coax a 21st-century tot into wanting something as archaic as, say, a Raggedy Ann doll or a Hula Hoop.
The text displays a nice sense of humor and irony. For instance: 'The bubble-cut Barbie that appeared in 1961 softened the doll's look by replacing the tight Teutonic ponytail. When Barbie parted her hair on the side, she seemed more casual and less severe, more Fresno and less Frankfurt.'"
Ann Strainchamps, Wisconsin Public Radio, December 4, 2009 “One of the best coffee table books of the year.”
Babble.com “Get it for you, then share the stories with the kids.”
The Journal-Register, December 10, 2009 “Nostalgia, history, sociology — this book covers all of the imaginable bases that are involved with play. Eberle’s work makes for a truly tremendous toy story.”
The Washington Post, December 24, 2009 "…wonderful…There's no doubt that "Classic Toys" will entice even the most hard-nosed Scrooge or hardhearted Grinch to waste a lot of valuable, billable time simply smiling over pictures of Radio Flyer wagons, wooden rocking horses and fancy Duncan yo-yos. Those of a more sentimental nature may simply find themselves aching with nostalgia. But the pictures are only half the story here. Don't neglect Scott G. Eberle's fact-filled essays…Because of Eberle's sharply written text, "Classic Toys" isn't just a sentimental journey into childhood: It's also a work of incisive cultural commentary and a pleasure to read."
The Commercial Dispatch, February 5, 2010 “…a big, colorful book that is bound to bring you a happy sense of nostalgia….this book is so delightful…This is a book about a subject that all of us love, and it is colorful, informative, and (pardon) playful.”
Reader Reviews
Previous reviews have aptly and admiringly captured the features of this glorious book that will delight and inform readers of every generation (and viewers, for the illustrations and photography are beautifully selected and rendered). The book's topic, expressed in its subtitle, is "A celebration of the greatest toys of all time." It is hard to conceive of a book better designed to make such a celebration satisfying. I read a book more often than I run my dishwasher, and this one was one of the best I've read in years. One reason for its success is that the subtitle's implicit claim--that the book is has indeed identified which toys are "the greatest"--is reasonably assured. It's published by the Strong Museum of Play, one of the nation's biggest history museums and the premier repository of toys. Under its auspices empaneled experts regularly refine criteria and referee objects for inclusion to Strong's National Toy Hall of Fame. At first glance the overjoyed reader might consider ranking superfluous and methods of selection academic, but ultimately they help insure that the toys treated in "Classic Toys" are the ones most readers will most fondly recall. The key and related reason for the book's achievement is the author's ability to enhance our recollections by bringing to his treatments of each toy his remarkable understanding of the social, economic, cultural and material contexts within which these toys where invented, evolved, and played with. Because Scott Eberle, vice president for interpretation at Strong, seems sympathetically to intuit the reasons the reader has come to this book and because he imparts his considerable, concealed erudition with exceptional wit and fine writing, the entertained reader scarcely notices she has been gifted with an appreciable education in American social history and the latest scientific insights into the psychology of play. Indeed, while the book's topics are toys, the subject matter is really play--and that is why the book will hold such fascination for the reader. Don't let the analytical tone of this review deflect your attention from the book's pure delight. When I wasn't smiling as I read, I was laughing out loud. Let me briefly quote, for example, Eberle's treatment of Joseph Merlin's invention of roller skates. Speaking of inventors in general and then of Merlin in particular, the author writes: "Inventors are a quirky lot, no less then than now. If an idea propels them, they'll ignore obstacles and hardships, stopping at nothing to perfect their brainstorm. The problem with Merlin's skates was that they stopped at nothing." "Classic Toys" is itself a toy, an instrument capable of eliciting endless games of nostalgia and play of memory. Reading Eberle's treatment of the many uses of the Radio Flyer, I recalled my father's recollection of his childhood chore during Prohibition of delivering hooch (his father had been a whiskey blender in the old country) in his little red wagon. And I'll swear the photographic image on page 84 of the circa-1955 Duncan Jeweled Tournament Yo-yo is a picture of my lost treasure, right down to the scuff marks. The book smells good too.
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