What a fantastic find! "Book of Short Stories" is a collection of short stories written by New York City fifth graders in 1931.
A book of grade schoolers' stories is always worth a gander, a safe bet for "ahhh, kids say the darnedest things". My own memorable fourth grade essay chronicled a day at my father's office, me summing up his duties as "sitting around all day cussing people out". So it's doubly intriguing to stumble upon a collection of fifth graders' stories from 1931! February 18, to be exact. Consider the world into which these kids were born. The first generation born following "the Great War" with its bloody new technologies: trench warfare, air forces, and mustard nerve gas -- these children also entered a world decimated by the Spanish flu pandemic wherein 50-100 million people died worldwide. Now "carefree" grade schoolers, aged ~10 to 11, when -- cue the Great Depression! Liven things up a bit more with that distraction the Dust Bowl and locusts -- you've quite a lively childhood.
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