I vividly remember a few of the first books I encountered as a child. Though I never knew the names of their authors until I had kids of my own and started taking them to the library, I know I was fascinated by Ingri and Edgar d’Aulaire’s George Washington and Norse Myths. I don’t know if it was Wotan or Odin, but one of those Norse gods set in my mind as the father in “Our Father, who art in heaven,” and I never could quite accept what they taught us in Sunday School about God being Love. I thought Jesus was the nice, gentle guy who protected the little children from getting smote by God, all wrathful over something we did wrong.
Fortunately, the image that stuck with me the most was something a lot funnier:
My family had one or more cats pretty much the whole time I was growing up, and a few of them endured hours of being picked up by the middle and lugged around by one of us adoring little boys–the way it seems all little kids carry cats:
After having this book read to me and looking through it over and over, I started to consider if maybe there were gentler ways to pick up the cat. See, the message of the book, as I understood it at least, was that if everybody did something like pick the cat up by the stomach and carry them all around the house, well, then, kitties would end up all pinched up in the middle. Which does look pretty uncomfortable, though funny.
Every once in a while in recent years, the image of that pinched kitty would come to me again and I would rack my brain to try to remember what the name of that book was. But I always drew a blank. I know I never came across it in trips to the library with my own kids, so it struck me recently that whatever it was, it might be a candidate for a mention on this site.
Out of the blue, it occurred to me to do a search on “What If Everybody Did?” It came up blank. So I tried, “If Everybody Did”, and lo and behold, there it was on Amazon:
And it was in print.
If Everybody Did is nothing more than a collection of illustrations of what might happen if everybody did what kids often tend to do: track in mud, leave toys on the staircase, leave water running in the sink, or wipe dirty hands on the wall or window. Some of the extreme results are pretty comical, but in my view, nothing tops the pinched kitty.
Jo Ann Stover wrote and illustrated a few other children’s books, including They Didn’t Use Their Heads, which, like If Everybody Did, has been brought back in print by Bob Jones University Press. Yes, the fundamentalist Christian college that seems from the outside, at least, a little Stepford Wives-like. Apparently these two books are popular with home schoolers.
Still, I’d highly recommend If Everybody Did for any parent trying to foster some manners in a two-to-five year old. At least one of their bad habits is in here, and I can offer personal testimony that seeing the exaggerated consequences is a good way to turn it around. I know there are a few kitties lounging around Cat Heaven now who owe Jo Ann Stover a bit of gratitude for not having to walk around our house looking like an hourglass.
I remember this book from kindergarten, 1960 and it remains my moral compass. I wish I could find the red hard cover with the black and white pictures.
My mother bought me this book when I was four. I remember really hating it. I felt so offended by the whole thing. Not sure why I had such a strong reaction to it, because now as an adult, I find it hilarious. I still have my copy but I never read it to my children when they were little.
My mother and I were both “drawn” by Jo Ann back in 1953! I just came across the charcoals she did in Cape Cod. They are now hanging in my bedroom! I remember my mother saying “this lady drew Gabby Hayes!” Waaay before this book was published!
I don’t access to the 1960 edition to compare, but I have no reason to believe that it doesn’t have the same pictures.
Thank you! Does the new version (with that new cover) have the same pictures from the 1960 book, or is it updated?
You can find a copy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/If-Everybody-Did-Ann-Stover/dp/0890844879/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222465268&sr=8-2
I’ve been looking for this book for years! I’m 59 and I remember getting it out of the library when I was little! I may be wrong, as it’s been so long, but I seem to remember what if everyone pulled the cat’s tail, and what if everyone stepped on the dog’s ear. Are my memories correct? I’d LOVE to find a copy of this book!
Completely agree. Almost the only book that ever managed to teach responsibility and be funny at the same time.
I just googled this book and found your post. I’m sixty, and I remember this book from when I was about five. I was a brainy, independent kid who disliked stories with pointed “morals”, but this book really made sense to me. In fact, for a short while, “This is what would happen if everybody did,” became as sort of in joke between myself and my mother. I actually believe that this book is why I am passionate about the environment and social responsibility – especially the question of overpopulation. This is a GREAT book.
“Throw tacks?!” grew up on this one and many of the lessons have stayed with me after all these years. Would love to see this classic in hardcover again. I have ordered a copy for my bookmobile and look forward to reading it to the little monsters at some of the schools I visit.
This book was standard story-time fare for each incoming kindergarten class my mom taught for about thirty years, including the one I was in. I too, was struck by hourglass cat and became very gentle with the many cats that lived in our house through the years.
(I still forget not to track mud in the house).
Hello, love the illustration of the cat!
The illustration of the father with the kid stepping on his feet used to creep me out. I especially liked “Make a Smudge?” The following page with the dark room with only the whites of the child’s eyes still makes me laugh. If Everybody Did was one of the first books I ever checked out from the library most likely becasue it caught my mother’s attention. The exact year I cannot recall, maybe 1964 or 1965. Mom is a Russell Stover candy junkie and it is likely the name of the author appealed to her as well. Thankfully, mom ordered the book in hardcover and remains in our family to this very day.
I did a quick check on AddAll.com and found two copies of the 1960 hardback:
http://used.addall.com/SuperRare/submitRare.cgi?author=stover&title=if+everybody&keyword=mckay&isbn=&order=PRICE&ordering=ASC&dispCurr=USD&binding=Any+Binding&min=&max=&timeout=20&match=Y&store=Abebooks&store=AbebooksDE&store=AbebooksFR&store=AbebooksUK&store=Alibris&store=Amazon&store=AmazonCA&store=AmazonUK&store=AmazonDE&store=AmazonFR&store=Antiqbook&store=Biblio&store=Biblion&store=Bibliophile&store=Bibliopoly&store=Booksandcollectibles&store=Half&store=ILAB&store=LivreRareBook&store=Powells&store=Strandbooks&store=ZVAB
Hope this helps.
I was looking for an original copy of this book from the 60’s and I stumbled upon your comment. I, too, remember the cat more than anything else. Seeing the illustrations again was a real treat for me. I’ll keep looking and maybe I’ll find an original. I didn’t have any luck on eBay. Thanks again.