My Father and Boggle Beak

I remember “Boggle Beak”.

But listening to my mother or father read “Boggle Beak” to me, or reading it myself, isn’t among my childhood memories. I’m not sure why.

No, wait. That’s not entirely true.

I remember reading the book, but the memory reminds me of my father showing me “Boggle Beak” and telling me why the book is important to him.

I’ll let him explain it. “Boggle Beak” was:

“A greatly favored book of mine when an infant or child. It was read to me on innumerable occasions by my sister Mary Alice, and, less often, by other members of my family before I could read; and, after I could read it for myself, it continued to be a favorite for perhaps a year or two. I do not recall reading it after we moved to Rockford, so by the time I was nine I must have outgrown it.”
(Bernard Gill’s handwritten note, on the front endpaper of “Boggle Beak”, dated June 1963)

I’d have been 11 years old when he wrote that. We may have had the “Boggle Beak” conversation around the same time. That’d match the memories I have. We were in the basement room of 818 where he kept most of his books, desk, and assorted other stuff.

I don’t know why he, or my mother, didn’t make reading “Boggle Beak” a regular part of my childhood. Maybe he didn’t have access to the book until 1963. Maybe they had other reasons. Or maybe they just didn’t get around to it.

Boggle Beak’s “Strange Manner”

Anyway, Dad told me that the story’s emotional tone depended on how his sister read it. Her interpretation of old Boggle Beak’s voice made a big difference. Take this bit, for example:

“…’Will you carry me back to the beach?’ said Peter eagerly.

“Old Boggle Beak looked him over in a strange manner. ‘I might carry you,’ said Old Boggle Beak, ‘in a certain way.‘ Then he looked at poor little Peter Sandpiper. ‘Let’s play a game,’ he said. ‘Let’s play that you are a shrimp!’…”
(“Boggle Beak”, Jean Woods Finley (ca. 1910))

Peter Sandpiper survived, by the way, learning a valuable skill in the process.

Children and Children’s Literature

I’m not sure, even after reading “Boggle Beak” many times, whether the strange old bird would have eaten Peter Sandpiper, or was teaching the young bird a valuable lesson: in a profoundly disturbing way.

Either way, I seriously doubt that a children’s book like “Boggle Beak” could have been published during my childhood. Or since then, for that matter.

It’s not just the plot. The story’s language isn’t nearly as dumbed-down as it ‘should’ have been —

“One summer day, the sun shone down on the wet ocean beach, where a tiny sand-piper scurried along so quickly his little black shadow could hardly keep up with him.

“Whenever Peter Sand Piper came to the track of a sea-gull, he jumped over it, because that was a sort of game he played on other days. But he wasn’t thinking about it now. As he hurried along the beach he heard two voices; first, the voice of a nurse who said, ‘Run quick and catch the little bird. If you catch him you may have him.’ and second, the voice of his mother who said, ‘Don’t go very far or Old Boggle Beak will get you….”
(“Boggle Beak”, Jean Woods Finley (ca. 1910))

I think that there’s a place for simplified syntax and abbreviated vocabulary in children’s literature. I also think kids are a very great deal sharper than many highly-educated adults imagine, and I’ll leave it at that.

I’ll wrap this up with what’s on the book’s title page:

“Boggle Beak”
Montionjoy Books “Books for Fun”
Written and Illustrated by Jean Woods Finley
…
Published by The Regensteiner Corporation
Chicago, Illinois

That’s it. No copyright date. I’m pretty sure it was written around 1910, and was reprinted in or around 1925. That’s based on what folks selling copies said.

I did find a little about Theodore Regensteiner, who added the color black to the lithography printing process in 1894. The Theodore Regensteiner Wikipedia page includes a very brief discussion of the “Boggle Beak” publisher. Another resource gives a pretty good overview of the history and cultural setting of movable books:

• Theodore Regensteiner
  Wikipedia
• “What are Movable Books?”
  Learning as Play
  An Animated, Interactive Archive of 17th- to 19th- Century Narrative Media for and by Children
  Pennsylvania State University

The Usual Links

That’s all I’ve got this week. I’ve talked about my father and stories he told me, and passing along our experiences, before:

• “Night Watch, Paying Attention, and My Father” (August 29, 2026)
• “Passing Along Our Stories” (June 27, 2026)
• “A Ride in the Library” (May 30, 2026)
• “My Dad, His Friends, and Free Roller Coaster Rides” (March 28, 2026)
  • Background: The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression
• “Bonding With My Dad: Our Way” (March 14, 2026)