“What’s the story wishbone?” If you grew up in the 90’s you know how to sing that line. I loved wishbone growing up. I really loved anything on PBS for the most part (and yes that includes the Antiques Roadshow.) For those of you that did not experience the wonder of Wishbone, you can check it out here. The great thing about Wishbone, though, as you can tell from this clip, is that wishbone supported bookish behaviors.
Now to my confession. Wishbone only ever showed the beginning of a classic story. It would leave you on a cliffhanger to encourage you to read the story yourself. Some how I missed that memo, even though it gave that sentiment at the end of every episode. So for a long time, I thought the ending of wishbone was how the book actually ended. This is why I didn’t read Pride and Prejudice until it was required my sophomore year of high school. I went into the book thinking I was going to hate it because I remember how the Wishbone episode ended. And then discovered that the part where Darcy declares his love and Elizabeth yells at him and sends him packing, was the middle, not end of the book. And thus, my eyes were open and I realized all the stories I thought I knew, I only knew half way.
Yes, I was in High School before I realized this.
I may have read more classics early on if I realized the terrible endings were really the middle of the books. However misguided I may have been, I love that the Wishbone series supported reading and classic literature and made me feel like it was the most wonderful thing in the world to connect to a book. Because let’s face it, it is.