I do like the adventures and mysteries and problem-solving and exploring other cultures and the other kinds of stories from the Children’s Friend — it isn’t that I think everything has to be explicitly LDS to be suitable for the audience. I just don’t care for the fairy folk, I guess. But there was so much of it that many people must have liked it — you have plenty of company.

I retract my nose wrinkling, replace it with a mere observation that this is quite *different* from what we’re used to in the present generation, and say Merry Christmas, I’m glad you liked it!

I understand that the issue may be slightly different for you; you may see “suitabilty” different than I. But, I remember one of the things I so loved about the Children’s Friend from my childhood—and I CAN NOT stress how much I really did love it!—was that it included material that was not strictly LDS. To clarify, it wasn’t that I like things that were non-LDS–I more or less identified myself as that at the time–but that the Friend gave me examples of things that were “different:” different culturally, historically and though I couldn’t articulate it at the time, different in terms of world view.

I remember a Christmas issue, probably from the early 60′s, that featured a retelling of the Hans Christian Anderson tale of The Little Match Girl. It was the first time I encountered that story and it devastated me. I can still see the illustration in my mind’s eye—one of those great Children’s Friend illustrations—and I can still emotionally connect with the strong feeling it generated: that everyone should be cared for and loved, especially in this life.

I’ve obviously lost touch with the more recent Friend, and I readily admit that my understanding of the “historical” Children’s Friend may be warped by subjective nostalgia. But I would be remiss if I didn’t put in a good word for sentimental tales of toys coming to life.

Plus, toys do come to life. Just sayin’.