Oswald is an octopus that lives in Big City with all of his friends. The series aired on Nickelodeon back in 2001, and only lasted for about 2 seasons. The series itself was very cute, easy to follow, and taught kids the basics like sharing and how to understand their emotions. I remember watching it, as this was back when I was in my Toonarific days of recording absolutely every animated series on TV for the old animation archive I used to have, and out of many of the preschool shows available at the time it was pleasant to watch and not mind-numbing as many of the others.
A couple of weeks ago I got in a request from a mom who has an autistic child, and her child absolutely loves this show. She had been buying copies of the same book over and over from, I’m guessing, Amazon and the like as her child was coloring through it each time a new copy arrived, and as she put it to me – “I’ve purchased just about every copy of Welcome to Big City I can get my hands on, but I know there will be a day when purchasing the new book isn’t possible.” It was a BIG reminder to me as to why I have been doing this archive for so long. These books ARE disappearing, as they always do, but even when I watch eBay for new rare additions to the collection, I just see tons of homemade rubbish listed and less and less authentic, vintage books. I am thrilled to have helped her child find more content for a favorite show, and hope I can do the same for any other child (of any age) with the same attachment to a special character or series.
Here are the 4 books of Oswald that I have, all complete & uploaded, with samples. Enjoy them like her family will, and let us know what books you’d like to see uploaded to the site. Spread the word and take care out there.
