Covering the book but uncovering the inside

One of my most vivid memories of my father involve the beginning of the school year. We would all get our new textbooks and notebooks, and rolls of brown paper. Our father would painstakingly cut the brown paper and create neat, beautiful covers for all our books. This was a humongous job, because we often had three notebooks for each subject. Education, diligence, cleanliness and dedication were a hallmark of my father. He wanted us to have all the books we needed, and he wanted to make sure that the books were packaged so that they could survive the handling.
What a childhood!