I am an obsessive reader. If I don't have my Trenton Times, Trentonian, or New York Post at my breakfast table, you will probably find me reading the back of my "Wheaties" box. Reading, writing and penmanship were very important parts of our Kuser grammar school education. Even though the Bobbsey Twins" were more or less favored by the girls, we boys found very interesting reading as we read of the exploits of Bert, Nan, Freddie and Flossie Bobbsey. The bad boy Danny Rugby appealed to boys as we saw him get his just desserts in each volume. Long before I could read, my sister Dorothy read the Bobbsey Twins books to me at bed time. When I developed that still treasured ability to read on my own, I read each and every Bobbsey Twins book I could find. Naturally, my reading tastes were enhanced by my Kuser School teachers who subjected us to "Uncle Tom's Cabin," "Little Men," "Robin Hood," and countless other volumes that appealed to the younger generation. I have a bookcase full of vintage children's books from the "Buddy" series to the "Tom Swift" series, and the more advanced volumes by Naturalist author Ernest Thompson Seton and countless others who have made reading a necessary and joyful experience all my life. The generation who followed me found a similar source in the "Nancy Drew" and "Hardy Boys" series. I have just started re-reading some of those old volumes. The "Bobbsey Twins in the Country" is a bittersweet and nostalgic trip back to my childhood, which gives me a strange, almost spiritual experience.
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