Book for Kindergartners 2006 - The Pickle Patch Bathtub
Wanted: Bathtub Stories
When I chose The Pickle Patch Bathtub as the book my literacy foundation, Iowa Stories 2000, would give to Iowa’s 42,000 kindergartners this spring I had no idea it also would touch a chord in Iowa’s seniors.
As I visit small town libraries across the state, I have been telling people about the book by Frances Kennedy, her first. In 1925, when her mother, Donna, was 12, she grew cucumbers for the Keokuk Pickle Works to earn the $9.25 it would take to order a real bathtub from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. She didn’t fit in the old galvanized tub any longer and there was no privacy in her family’s farmhouse kitchen. She plants, cultivates and picks bugs off her cucumber plants. When she finally thinks she has enough money for the tub, she realizes she had not figured on the costs of shipping the tub.
Christie Vilsack (center), illustrator Sheila Aldridge (left), and author Frances Kennedy presented “The Pickle Patch Bathtub” to kindergartners in Dubuque April 24.
-Photos by Table Mound volunteers
Eventually she talks her brothers and sisters out of their Christmas dimes, but when the crate with the tub arrives, it has to sit on the porch while the family brings in the harvest. Finally, just before Christmas, Donna gets her first bath in the new tub. Frances says they still had to carry the hot water to the tub, but it was in a closet for privacy, and her grandfather rigged a pipe to drain the water out under the house.
The story illustrates the Iowa value of setting a goal and working hard to reach it, persevering in the face of obstacles. The book also conveys the positive values of loyalty to family and personal sacrifice for the greater good.
I personally gave the book to more than 800 kindergartners in 15 schools all over the state in April and May. The kids got a chance to sit in a washtub – no water in it – chomp on a few pickles, and to try out a pickle-measuring board similar to the one shown in the book.
The wonderful people at the Area Education Agencies made sure that the book was given to the rest of the nearly 45,000 kindergartners in the state. See a list of all the book’s sponsors below. Without their generosity of time and money, distribution of the book would not have been possible. Thank them if you have a chance.
When I show people the book and tell them Frances’ story about her mother, the seniors begin nodding, often wiping away a stray tear and elbowing each other in acknowledgement of shared experiences. They chuckle and begin sharing their bathtub stories with each other.
I have begun collecting those stories and will be posting them here on my website, www.christievilsack.org. I invite you to share your bathtub stories.
Here are the first few stories I have collected:
Frances Kennedy, author of "The Pickle Patch Bathtub," shares a jar of pickles with students. Frances Kennedy, author of "The Pickle Patch Bathtub," shares a jar of pickles with students at Table Mound Elementary School in Dubuque. Frances joined with Christie Vilsack in handing out the books in Dubuque.
In Grafton, 93-year-old Olive Trettlin remembers well her family’s claw-foot bathtub. As a child she lived in McIntire. When she and her brothers got into trouble, their mother punished them by making them work the pump handle. Their pump was in the first-floor utility room. The stock tank that held the water was in the attic. Olive’s aunt actually liked pumping, so every time she passed the pump she’d push the handle a few times. No one knew how much water she’d pumped into the tank until the overflow began raining down on them.
Diners in LeCaire, Iowa, can dive into the bathtub salad bar at Sneaky Pete's.
In Rockwell, Floyd Schlorholtz, who grew up in the Mt. Carmel, Breda area, said: “I don’t have a bathtub story. I have a shower story.” He remembers using nails to drive holes through a 10-gallon milk can, then creating a rubber flap to cover the holes and attaching a string. “We hoisted it up on the wall of the outhouse and filled it with warm water,” Floyd said. “Then they’d pull the string, releasing the water.”
Mabel Nicholas of Moville, remembers one tub story vividly. She grew up in the Lawton area and when she was in high school she invited her best friend over to spend the night.
Her friend lived on a farm and had a real bathtub. Mabel’s family lived in town but they did not have indoor plumbing. Mabel remembers telling her friend that if she wanted a bath, it was the galvanized tub or nothing.
Catherine Chapman of Moville, has lived in the same house for 65 years. She recalls the galvanized tub and the Saturday baths in her kitchen. She was next to the youngest in a large farm family. It was the custom for the youngest to bathe first, so the water was clean and warm for her, but became dirtier and colder for the older children. At least the tub was next to the heating stove.
Book Sponsors
Sponsors of “The Pickle Patch” book project are: the Iowa Area Education Agencies, ACT, Ahmanson Charitable Trust, Altria, Beef Products, Bright Foundation,
Dubuque kindergartners try out a washtub similar to the one in "The Pickle Patch Bathtub."
Bunn-O-Matic Corp., Casey's General Stores, Citigroup, Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, CUNA Mutual Life, Des Moines Register, Eagle Window & Door, Farm Bureau, Financial Services Roundtable, First Data, Freddie Mac, Heinz Co., HNI Foundation, Hy-Vee, Integrated DNA Technologies and the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.
Also Iowa Department of Education, Iowa Department of Transportation, Iowa Soybean Association, Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corp., IOWA Telecom, John K. & Luise V. Hanson Foundation, Morrison Brothers, Pella Rolscreen Foundation, Polaris Industries, Principal Financial, Prudential Financial, Rockwell-Collins, Roquette, Rotary International District 6000, Sallie Mae, State Farm Insurance, Sudo Corp., Swiss Valley Farms, Tyson, Verizon-Grinnell, Wells Blue Bunny and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.
When I chose 
