- I am now in the central Minnesota town of Wilmer to visit a lady whose collection will bring me back to my own childhood.

Ellen, you have collected an amazing collection of Golden Books and when I heard about your collection, you know what it did for me.

It brought me back to my own childhood.

How did you ever get started with this passion?

- I grew up with Golden Books.

My mother read to my sisters and I every night and we collected a lot of Golden Books as kids because when we went to the doctor went to the dentist, we'd hop over to the dime store here or the dime store there and mom would buy us a golden book.

I agree with you.

It brings a lot of childhood memories.

It really reminds me of how sweet it was then and how safe I felt with my mother and loved when we were reading books.

Here we go, and here is the Little Engine that could, and you remember this story is about the train that's carrying.

- So how did you get started collecting?

- Well, it happened around 15 years ago, 14 years ago when I was becoming a grandmother for the first time.

And I was looking through a closet or cleaning something one day and I pulled out a box and it was kids' books and these were my children's kids' books and in there were a number of golden books and I thought, boy, I haven't seen these for a while.

And I pulled them out, started reading them, looking at the illustrations and I thought, I love these books.

I love them.

And, and I'm reading through 'em and I thought, Ooh, I'm gonna be able to read these to my grandbaby.

Won't this be great?

You know, I wonder how many Golden books there are.

I had no idea.

I mean, I hadn't been reading it into kids for years, so I started collecting.

I have a husband who loves to collect too, so we kind of joined forces and started going to places like thrift stores and Salvation Armies and Garage Sales.

And man, I just glopped them up.

Golden - Brooks have a Rich History.

When did they start, and you said they're still producing them today.

- They are.

- So how many total do you estimate - Golden Books started publishing in 1942?

They put out 12 books just to check and see how they would go.

Within five months they had sold a million and a half books.

- Do you have the original 12?

- I do have the original 12.

I don't have first prints on all of 'em, but I do have the original 12 and they're kind of of a, it's kind of interesting because it's a much longer book.

The original books were 42 pages long.

- What are they today?

- Today they're usually about 24.

Most of them are 24.

There are some golden books that are only 16 pages long.

- Was the idea of the Golden Book for kids to read or to be read to?

- I think Golden Books were meant to be read to children.

And so that means an adult has to sit down next to them, take the time to embrace them and read this book with some kind of enthusiasm to convey the story that's that's going on.

- What has been the most popular Golden book ever produced?

- Well, the most sold is this book right here, the pokey little puppy.

And this book is one of the original 12.

- So what's the most valuable book you would think?

- I think the most valuable book is Little Black Sambo.

And here's a copy of Little Black Sambo that I have.

A book in good condition would probably cost you two to $250 - Over the years.

Have Golden Books adjusted to cultural changes in terms of how they wrote them, how they illustrated them?

Have you seen that?

- I have.

In many ways they have depicted anytime there's a grandma in a older book, 40 or 50, she's got a bun on her head with glasses, little like glasses, little heels waddling around with an apron on.

And you know, by the time the fifties and sixties are coming, grandma doesn't look like that anymore.

Grandma looks pretty hip, you know, bell bottoms and you know, longer hair or whatever, you know.

It's good to see that it does change with time.

You - Know, Ellen has not only collected over 1300 little treasures, but she has developed speaking programs to promote and share the wonderful history of Golden Books from libraries to historical societies.

She has become the book Ambassador.