Kate And Kitty | Collectors’ Quest

Finding a Piece of Childhood

The thing I love best about the internet is that I can get just about any book I want. I remember being a child and hearing about an obscure book that I thought I’d like and faithfully checking our little town’s bookstore every week in hopes that it might appear. In college I haunted the used bookstores in search of out-of-print gems. Now if there’s a book I want I need only go to my favorite online bookstores - it’s all there. New books, old books, even books that haven’t actually been published yet.

This came in particularly handy in locating my favorite childhood book, Two Stories About Kate and Kitty. I loved that book as a small child and I’m honestly not sure why. It’s not a classic like “Goodnight Moon” and it was most likely thrown into the cart at the grocery store one day as an afterthought. But for whatever reason, I adored that little book and constantly begged to have it read to me. Unfortunately, when I was preteen the book was given away by mistake. Both my mom and I tried to find another copy, but were unsuccessful.

A couple of summers ago while surfing the internet, it occurred to me to see if I could find Kate and Kitty. I searched Amazon and Half.com with no luck, but then tried Abebooks and was thrilled to see that there were several copies available. I picked the best one and within days was holding the slim volume in my hands again. I smiled as I turned each page and recognized the illustrations. I laughed when I saw a phrase I use with my kids whenever we’re in a rush - “Hurry, scurry!” I had no idea that I’d learned it from Kate and Kitty.