It's precious to both of us -- for different reasons --

I used to collect pop-up books and I remember buying this one at the Goodwill "stall" during the annual Book Fair. (Forgot which one.)

Victorian House

We're doing a bit of spring cleaning and sorting and our helper found this and set it aside for the kids.

I brought it home and Seth went mad -- he was "exploring" every room and loved that the doors opened and closed and loved that the toilet cover could be lifted up and down. (And he would point to it and say, "Look! That's where I make poo-poo!")

I decided to check out Amazon to see if there were others in the same series -- and I was surprised to realize just how much this book is selling if it's brand new. (Can go as high as $100+!!!)

When I found out about this, I was thisclose to pulling the book away from Seth (and, at this point, Anya was pointing at the toilet too) and find some sort of covering for the book to preserve it.

But then, I stopped myself -- the book is valuable, yes -- but for different reasons. For me, it'll probably fetch $10 or $20 if I sold it -- but it's value for the kids is ... incalculable. There is palpable excitement when they play with this -- and they know that they should handle it gently. (They have torn a bit at one corner and the yaya taped it with Christmas-themed adhesive tape. O_O)

The kinda good news? A similar version of this book is going to be published! Publication date according to the Amazon Japan website is November this year.

Definitely, definitely getting a copy, or two. (Maybe 3. One for Seth. One for Anya. One for me.)