Cotsen Children’s Library

Childhood is prone to the many manifestations of fear. Fear of being small, fear of being powerless, fear of all kinds of things on four, six, and eight legs, fear of elderly relatives with strange faces who insist on hugs and kisses, fear of the house where the mean boy lives that’s on the way to school… And books. A Gothic novelist recently confessed that her younger self loved being scared out of her wits by scary tales. Some people agree it’s a healthy way to come to terms with the dark side, others are triggered at the sight of a closed book they know contains something awful.

When picture book creators try to dispel fears now, they tinker with strategies to address the source of anxiety and feelings which bubble up. Showing a non-human character dealing with it, as did Maria Nilsson Thore in A Pack of Your Own (2020; English translation 2022), is a way to put some distance between the reader and the fear. “The best thing and the worst thing in the world is other dogs,” sighs the dachshund sitting on the radiator in his bathrobe, looking out the window at the dog park.“The best thing about other dogs is that they seem to have a lot of fun together. How wonderful it must be to belong to a pack!” Then he remembers all their disgusting habits, like sniffing bottoms, walking on all fours, and defecating anywhere. He can’t imagine finding another dog who also loves coffee, solves crosswords, and collects vintage sticks. It’s lone wolfhood for him. But he unexpectedly makes a friend with a poodle who follows him home after the disastrous visit to the dog park and makes herself at home. On the rear endpapers, they play catch their own way in hats on two legs at the dog park with the pack.

Friends offering reassurance at tense moments can also defuse fears. Meg Rosoff’s Jumpy Jack and Googily (2008) illustrated by Sophie Blackall features the odd couple, a large timorous snail Jack oblivious to the fact that his patient blue friend Googily is a monster. Jack can’t enjoy a stroll because he sees danger lurking everywhere. There’s a tree! Could there be a monster behind it? Googily obligingly goes over and checks even though it’s barely big enough to conceal a squirrel. Oh no, there’s the tool shed–what if a monster is hiding inside? Googily inspects the premises and reassures him no one there. Coming home doesn’t quiet Jack’s nerves. Googily can’t believe that his runaway imagination has conjured up a monster with long thin feet under the tea table, but he still makes sure there’s nothing there. Of course, when they retire Jack makes Googily check under the bed. Surprise! A sock is there, the one thing which terrifies the agreeable monster. Seng Soun Ratanavanh’s George and His Nightime Friends (2020) must be the most beautiful and tranquil of any picture book dealing with insomnia. Alone at night, the solitary little boy George can’t fall asleep even after mentally travelling to marvellous places. Once that stops, he suddenly becomes frightened by the dark and imagines monsters in the shadows. When he wishes out loud for a friend, a little mouse answers and asks him to follow her downstairs, where he choses a book from Mole the librarian, listens to rabbit practice for a concert, takes a bath with a penguin afraid of water, plays badminton with a panda and then all of them enjoy sweets prepared by a pig in the kitchen. Now George is so relaxed he feels sleepy. His new nighttime friends walk him back up the stairs and tuck him into bed. Where did they come from? The sharp-eyes will see them in the form of toys on the floor or framed pictures hang on the wall of the stairway. Perhaps they can return any and every night to play away George’s uneasiness.The “social story” by Certified Child Life Specialist Rachel Tepfer Copeland, I Can Be A Superhero During a Lockdown, takes the bull by the horns, without ever mentioning an active shooter. Instructions to obey the adult in charge, be absolutely quiet, and stay still are repeated over and over again like a drum roll puzzles until the reader realizes the author decided to write a book that would prepare her two special needs sons and all children like them for this kind of emergency by giving them jobs which when executed without deviation will elevate them to superherohood. Copeland acknowledges the possibility of being frightened and wavering from the tasks in the child’s voice. As he repeats the rules in each situation he is likely to encounter, their chanting keeps up his spirits and confidence that he will be able to do the jobs which will keep him, his friends and teacher safe.All four books have such kind, reassuring hearts it feels curmudgeonly to turn over the complicated questions they raise about protecting children from their fears. To what extent can young listeners learn from non-human characters when their behavior in the story really blurs the line between the two far more than an Aesopian fable? Will the child feel betrayed by the eventual realization that the conflicting desire to fit into a social group with few or no compromises is rarely resolved joyfully–or outgrown. If the characters can’t two and two together, will the reader pick up on the illogicality of fearing a creature with a heart of gold with bug eyes, sharp teeth that curl into a dreadful smile, horrible scary hair, two fingers on each hand, and long thin feet? How far should an illustrator go reversing the associations of the shadowy black night? The only projection of George’s fears in the gorgeous dreamscape drawing in a palette of greens is the patch of floral wallpaper with a repeat of carnivorous plants over his shoulder. As much as I like the clever books by Thone, Rosoff and Blackall, and Ratanvanh, they have the luxury of sidestepping fear by aestheticizing or poking fun at it. By comparison Copeland’s blunt solution ends up being surprisingly moving because of the way she urges the child to embrace strength and not weakness associated with difference. He is shown that obeying and doing his jobs it is possible to triumph against the odds and protect others. It is too bad to have to admit in real life it may not turn out so well.

To celebrate the 2026 Winter Olympics, Special Collections presented a pop-up exhibition of Olympic-related materials on opening day. Items on display ranged from the discus (Princeton University Archives AC053 Box 58) that Robert Garrett, Class of 1897, threw at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 [1], along with the laurel branch (AC053 Item 21) he received—to historical photographs, posters, and other ephemera. In this post, I highlight two items from the Cotsen collection.

Flip Your Back…or These Pages!

奥运之星 [Stars of the Olympics, no. 8] / text by Meng Fu; illustrated by Xu Liyuan. Tianjin, China: New Buds Publishing House, 1984. (Cotsen 71748)

This miniature flip book was published in China in October 1984, only a few months after the Summer Olympics concluded that August. Although the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was founded in 1949, its athletes were largely absent from the Olympic Games for more than three decades. (The PRC was invited to participate in the 1952 Summer Olympics, but the Chinese delegation arrived in Helsinki ten days late; the self-sabotaging political reasons behind this curious delay warrant a separate explanation.)

When Chinese athletes, representing the PRC’s first full participation in the Olympics, began winning medals in Los Angeles in 1984, the nation elated with immense pride.

Part of the series Stars of the Olympics, this flip book features the 21-year-old gymnast Li Ning. Having secured six medals (three gold, two silver, and one bronze), he ranked first in total medals won by any individual athlete at the 1984 Summer Olympics and became one of China’s most decorated Olympians.

Stars of the Olympics, no. 8 (Cotsen 71748)

Stars of the Olympics, no. 8 (Cotsen 71748)

The flip book contains two animated sequences. One side, titled “Men’s Pommel Horse,” opens with a brief introduction to Li Ning’s achievement (though it omits that he tied with American gold medalist Peter Vidmar in the pommel horse event). After a photograph of Li wearing half-a-dozen medals around his neck, the animation depicts a gymnast performing a full routine, including double-leg circles, single-leg swings, and scissors, before dismounting with perfect steadiness.

It is worth noting that in 1984 most Chinese families did not own a television—let alone a color set. By 1985, there were 17.2 color television sets per 100 urban households nationwide; in rural areas, ownership was under one percent (National Bureau of Statistics, 2008). For many children, this flip book would have served as a decent visual substitute for televised Olympic coverage.

Stars of the Olympics, no. 8 (Cotsen 71748)

The reverse side of the miniature book reenacts the raising of three national flags during a medal ceremony. China’s flag occupies the highest position, with those of the United States and Japan at equal height below. The scene may reference the men’s vault competition, won by another Chinese gymnast, Lou Yun. That event produced the only four-way tie in Olympic history. Li Ning received one of the silver medals; the remaining three silvers went to two Japanese athletes and Mitchell Gaylord of the United States.

Pick a Winning Team for 2000!

奥运赛场游戏棋 [An Olympic Board Game]. Wenzhou, China: between 1992 and 2000. (Cotsen 92091)

An Olympic Board Game (Cotsen 92091)

In this undated game produced in China, players compete in five sports—long-distance running, diving, soccer, vault, and swimming—at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Participants may represent one of six teams: the United States, Italy, Japan, China, North Korea, or the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

An Olympic Board Game (Cotsen 92091)

Strategically, the CIS would not be an unreasonable choice. Formed after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the CIS initially included former Soviet republics such as Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. The CIS competed as a “Unified Team” only in the 1992 Olympics. In Barcelona, it finished first in both the overall medal standings and the gold medal count, while the United States placed second in both categories.

An Olympic Board Game (Cotsen 92091)

The game can be lengthy. Completing the diving competition, for example, triggers a seven-step retreat (Head back to square no. 14, please!).

An Olympic Board Game (Cotsen 92091)

If another player lands on the square you occupy, a “collision” occurs—but only you are injured and must lose one turn in the hospital.

An Olympic Board Game (Cotsen 92091). Uncut medal cards assign 10 points for gold, 8 for silver, and 6 for bronze.

An Olympic board game (Cotsen 92091). Uncut referee cards.

After winning a medal, a player draws a referee card. Card no. 3 awards five bonus points for breaking a world record. Some cards impose penalties. If you draw card no. 7, your medal is revoked, because…sorry, you have been caught doping.

Update

Now I don’t know about you who might be fortunate enough to live in warmer regions of the Earth, but here in the Northeastern United States, I have participated in an occasional heavy winter sport: snow shuffling. After the blizzard that started Sunday, I secured fourth place as the earliest person on my corner of the neighborhood to unveil my car from beneath 12.5 inches of snow–just missing the medal podium.

[1] You may want to look up the famous story of how Garrett, in preparation for the Olympics, made a practice discus weighing seven times as heavy as that of the actual ones used for competition and nearly gave up the event.