Shabby Sunday is a weekly meme created by my dear friend, Mischenko, at ReadRantRockandRoll to highlight cherished vintage books in her own collection. Please check out a recent Shabby Sunday post of hers here: Shabby Sunday.
I moved frequently, especially during childhood and college/grad school, and it was only recently that I found a stash of my well-loved books.
My next Shabby Sunday share is one of my first books, I Can Do It Myself, copyright 1980, Sesame Street/Golden Press Books. It actually doesn’t look too shabby. The funny thing about this book is that my mom and dad always said that a frequent early phrase of mine was, “I do it myself” because I was (am) fiercely independent. Mom and Dad never told me that it may have been because of this book! I took one look as an adult and put it together. I must have had a bunch of practice saying “I can do it myself” while reading this book with my Sesame Street friends.
I remember being gifted these adorable book plates with my name on them! My parents called us by our middle names, which I used until I was six. So, my plate for this book has my “old name” on it.

I love finding little memories inside old books, and these are stamps. They are still in great shape. 
Like I said above, this book is in rather wonderful condition, especially for all the love it received. I think part of that has to do with it being a hardback. Did anyone have this book, or did you watch Sesame Street as a child? Did you have a favorite character?
Thanks for reading my Shabby Sunday post inspired by Mischenko! Do you hold on to shabby, vintage books? Do you have any favorites from your childhood? Happy Reading! Jennifer THR
How sweet! Enjoyed reading your SS Post. I watched SS with my children. I liked Cookie Monster. Happy Sunday. 🍪💕
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Thank you, Virginia! I’m glad you enjoyed it! Cookie Monster is pretty funny, too. 🍪 ♥️ Happy Sunday to you!
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How cool! It had stamps in it? This had to be so exciting to find. I feel like there’s a slim chance we have this one in a thin square paperback form, but I’ll have to check. We do have a nice stack of Sesame Street books. I just loved watching it when I was a kid and my kids still watch it today. We were just watching some of the really old clips the other day on YouTube!
Such nostalgia.
Thanks so much for sharing this one, Jenn! I just love those book plates too. Enjoy your Sunday! 💙💜💙
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Aww, yay, favorite M! I love that you were watching old clips with your kiddos. Those stamps were randomly inside the book, which was fun to find because I remember them! I never know what fun item I’ll find in one of my old books! I wish I could remember how I got the book plates, but more than that, I remember how excited I was! You know, back then, it wasn’t common to have our names on things like it is today! So it made it super special! I’m happy you enjoyed my post today and hope you’ve been having a wonderful Sunday! 💗 xo
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I remember this book! Ha ha! Pretty sure I used to have it myself, somewhere…
I’m very intruiged by “your old name” if I’m not prying, why did you change it?
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Yay, Nicole! I’m glad you remember this one! I thought my story would be boring, but I don’t mind sharing. We moved a lot, and when we moved to a new city, my older brother decided he wanted to use his first name, and I wanted to do whatever he did, so I said, me, too! It was also a little easier because my teachers mainly used first names, and never called me by my middle name, so I was confused all the time. 😂 Now I have extended family who have refused to use my first name and still only call me by my middle name!
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Ha ha!! Definitely confusing!! I can understand why you changed it, now. ONE NAME FOR ALL PEOPLE! 😅
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I love this! Ernie! This made my day!
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I’m glad, Reeca! ♥️ I was an Ernie fan, too! Poor Bert, though! I think he was just too serious!
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Yes…Bert was a little uptight 😂
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💗I still love to put on Sesame Street for my preschoolers sometimes! I was a total Sesame Street kid! My fav character was Little Bear! I can sing every song they play still… 🤗🤗 wonderful post!
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I’m so glad you share SS with your students, Lana! Little Bear! I want to test to see if I can still sing the songs. I need to get on YT! I’m glad you enjoyed the post! Happy Sunday! Xo
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Great post! It’s nice to hold on to well-loved books from our past.
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Aw, thank you! It is so much fun- so many memories in those pages!
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I had that book!!! 😃
This is a great post. I really enjoyed it.
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Thank you! That makes my day that you enjoyed it, too. I am happy you had this book. I didn’t realize how popular it would be, but I love it! I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday! 😊
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My almost 32 year old son loved this book! I read it 100s of times to him! Thanks for reminding me of a beautiful memory Jen!😀❤😂
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💗 ♥️ 💕 I love this comment so much! I’m glad it brought back a sweet memory, Sus! Xo
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Come and play everything‘s A-OK! Or something like that? Love Ernie myself I can even laugh like him, so unfortunately I can’t share that with you, LOL also am a big fan of Grover and Oscar!🧡💙💚
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I love Ernie, too, and always felt so sorry for Bert being so serious all the time! Grover! He is a special guy too! 💗
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Ahhh this is such a sweet post! I love hearing stories about people’s childhood books and how they shaped them to become who they are today. My favourite SS character is/was the Cookie Monster…mostly because I could relate to his love of cookies. 😀 And I do have a stash of older books in my collection, but I don’t know if they would count as vintage! 😛
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Thank you, Kathy! I have read a definition of vintage that said 20 years or older for the cut-off, so I went with that one, but I bet your books are not that old yet! I loved Cookie too! So funny! ♥️
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Beautiful post and memories! Never read the book but I did like Sesame Street on TV and especially remember The Cookie Monster
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Thanks so much, Diana! Cookie is getting lots of love! He is such a funny guy! 🍪
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HI Jen! I’m really loving your Shabby Sunday posts, I feel lIke I get to know you so much better! Thank you for sharing your precious memories. I was a big fan of Sesame St, I used to have a Big Bird cuddly toy but I’m also a huge fan of Elmo and the vampire who still cracks me up every time I hear him counting!! 😂😂😂
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Oh, you liked The Count, eh, Beth? 🧛♂️ He was too funny! I loved him too! And of course Big Bird because I was always taller than everyone else and could relate to him feeling “big!” Elmo is precious too! I’m so happy you enjoy these posts! They are really fun to do! And I’m super excited to tell you that a friend of mine did a Shelfie by Shelfie today so you should have a pingback! Hooray! Love your shelfie tag so much! ♥️
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😁😁😁🤗🤗🤗
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