Little Heroines

by Courtney Pierce

One special book defined my early childhood. Back in 1961, my paternal grandmother gave me a ten-story collection titled The Golden Treasury of Caroline and Her Friends by Pierre Probst. For as long as I can remember, my grandmother appeared old to me. In her later years, she worked as a translator for a children’s book publisher in Washington, D.C. Grandma was a stern and demanding European immigrant, having fled the oppression of Nazi Germany in WWll. It seemed like such a contradiction for her to have magically turned children’s books into treasures for kids who spoke German and Danish. Still waters ran deeper than I ever knew.

I vividly remember sitting on my father’s lap as he rocked his stuffed lounge chair, the springy beige one with scratchy wool upholstery. I was only three or four when he would read aloud to me the stories of Caroline and her Friends before handing me off to Mom for a teeth brushing and tuck into bed. To the accompaniment of Dad's animated interpretation of the dialogue, my imagination went wild as I got lost in the illustrations. 

Dad wasn't great at reciting Caroline's parts in a girly voice, but he was really good with the animals: two rambunctious kittens named Puff and Inky, two naughty puppies named Bobby and Rusty, and a wise bear cub named Bruno. A velvety panther and a brave lion cub stopped by to join a few of the stories too. I would skip ahead to recite the dialogue before my father could lick his giant finger to turn the thick paper. I couldn't wait that long, so I made up some of my own.

"No, no, Rusty...don't you do that," I'd say, trying to sound bossy and poking my short forefinger on Dad's stomach. "Caroline's going to be so mad at you!"

Dad would chuckle and pat my chubby leg. "Gotta wait. Don't hijack the story."

I silenced my made-up words, but my excitement came out in the twisting of my toes on Dad's sweatshirt.

Caroline had rescued all of her animal friends from trouble in nearly every story. She was a heroine of the highest order. I had her assurance that all would be okay at the end of each tale. Trust was a given.

Sporting blond pigtails, seven-year-old Caroline, explored the world with her animal friends, a big world unknown to me at the time. Together, they got into all kinds tangles while traveling to India, tackling the chores of spring cleaning, hiking and camping in the mountains, and throwing a big party. In other books, Caroline takes her friends to the beach and even packs them into a rocket ship for a trip to the moon. 

Caroline could do anything, and I wanted to be just like her.

Little did I know that the seeds of my adult values were rooted in this book: my love for animals, my ability to learn from my mistakes, my courage to push myself beyond my comfort zone, my conviction to treat others with respect, and my love of travel. Most of all, it showed me that little girls could be leaders and have a sense of humor. Caroline inspired me to be passionate about everything, no matter how seemingly trivial the task. Now as an adult, I often wonder how many other kids’ lives were shaped by this author.

Pierre Probst first created Caroline in 1953, but this little character became a giant by the early 1960s with over 38 Million books sold across the world. Pierre was born in Mulhouse, France, in 1913. As a gifted painter and cartoonist, he studied Art at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Prior to creating the Caroline series, Pierre fought in WWII, was captured, and made a heroic escape back to his home country. He passed away in 2007 at the ripe old age of 93 at his home in Suresnes, France. 

Over the years, I lost track of my tattered copy of Caroline and Her Friends. I thought it was gone forever after I searched my parents’ attic, pawed through boxes in the garage and rummaged through the closets. I mourned the book's loss for years.

In last month's May post, I shared with this group the numerous conversations I had with my older sister as I wrote my first book, Stitches. One of those discussions was about books that shaped our lives. I had no idea that Debbie loved Caroline too. Behind our shared childhood reminiscences, something about this book resonated with her as it did with me.

A year later, on Christmas Day in 2013, Debbie presented me with an elaborately wrapped box. She had a misty glisten in her eyes as I ripped off the foiled paper. When I lifted the top and pulled back the tissue, there sat The Golden Treasury of Caroline and Her Friends. Half a century had separated the spine, releasing the book's illustrated pages. Holy cow! Caroline's animal friends were attempting an escape from their confinement in the box. I broke into tears and hugged my sister so tight that I couldn’t let go.

After five decades, Debbie became the heroine who rescued Caroline.

In the course of writing this post, just for grins, I researched the current value of this treasury of stories. To my shock, the book is apparently quite a sought-after rare find among us baby boomers. It’s worth a whopping $3,000 - $4,500 on the antique book market. This must be due to fact that we adolescent retirees drag around the freight of our childhood and are unwilling to let it go.

Regardless of its value and condition, the book is priceless. And I'll always be grateful for the gift my mean 'ole grandmother had presented to my sister and me. She's long gone now, but I suspect that my grandmother gave us the book because she wanted us to be free, free of the past war demons that she, herself, had lived with for so long. Just a guess.

Maybe in our retirement, Debbie and I will make our copy of Caroline an annual gift to each other, sharing it back and forth, year after year. After all, Caroline and her friends will remain forever young, forever hopeful, and forever in our hearts. 

Photo: Micah Brooks

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Kalispell, Montana with her husband, stepdaughter, and their brainiac cat, Princeton. Courtney writes for the baby boomer audience. She spent 28 years as an executive in the entertainment industry and used her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor, and mystery. She studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, Courtney is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and She Writes. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal.

Print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com.

Check out all of Courtney's books: 

courtney-pierce.com and windtreepress.com 

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."

Coming in 2020!

When Aubrey Cenderon moves to Montana after the death of her father, the peace and quiet of Big Sky Country becomes complicated with a knock on the door from the sheriff. An injured grizzly bear is on the loose and it must be eliminated before it kills again. The sheriff's insistence that she buy a gun for protection will present Aubrey with some serious soul-searching, because the grizzly-on-the-run is hunting for her too . . . for a different reason.