Posted on 06/19/2008 7:10:37 PM PDT by incredulous joe
FReeps have such great taste! So, I thought I would put this out there.
One of my favorite things to do during the summer months is read to my children before they go to sleep. Actually, I do this year round, but particularly enjoy reading to them during the summer months. At times we get carried away with some of the great children’s lit available ~ with Mom finally coming up tho the bedrooms at 10:30 to shut down the evening's activities. At which point we may have to get real quiet and me straining my eyes.
It’s great to have a book that you can’t put down and not have to get up for school the following day!
As the kids have gotten older I’ve found that there is a lot of great stuff out there that we can read.
I thought that I would ask my FReeper friends what they may have read with their kids or grandkids and really enjoyed ~ thought funny or profound.
My son will be 10 and my little girl is going to be 7 soon. They’re interested in a lot of different things, but it’s sort of a key to meet somewhere in between with them on the stories that we read. My son could go for a steady diet of military stories and C.S Lewis books, but my daughter does not particularly favor those, though she will listen in.
Here are a few that were very much enjoyed;
“Flush” by Carl Hiasson
“Because of Winn-Dixie” by Kate DiCamilo
“The House of 60 Father’s” by Meindert De Jong
“Redwall” by Brian Jacques
What do you recommend?
I just finished reading the Underland Chronicles. It is a fantastic series of books that starts with, “Gregor the Overlander”. I can’t say enough wonderful things about this series (of 5 books). Very strong themes of family, sacrifice and friendship with some fantasy elements. Loved it and my older kids loved the series too.
Add one more to the list.
Among the Hidden, by Margaret Haddix. It’s about a time in the near future when families are not allowed to have more than 2 children. The story centers on 12 year old Luke, the illegal third child. My daughter’s fifth grade teacher read it to the class and it was a favorite.
My local library hadn’t bought a new book since 1975 :)
Seriously, even the adult section, it was all macrame and making coffee tables out of tire rims, and how to form a successful commune. The kid’s section was fantastic- tons of kid’s books from the forties to the sixties, I can still smell those special library bindings.
Except for the secret stash of Sweet Valley High books in a revolving rack by the magazines in the Adult section. Those were kept well up to date :)
Maybe he didn’t want to diagree with the little boy in a fan letter? He seems more attached to the idea that there is no one right order.
I like the chronological order for second readings, but for first- the published order just feels more organic. There’s more wonder and mystery to it. Reading The Magician’s Nephew first piles a lot on to you. Aslan as Creator, the whole Adam and Eve thing, the wardrobe.
You move onto TLTWATW and you know exactly what’s going to happen as soon as the wardrobe pops up again. You don’t have to wonder why this Aslan character has such an effect on everbody. Boy seduced by witch, big whoop- didn’t I just read this plot? It works better placed further away.
I always kind of liked the bookending of Narnian history in the last two books. It heightens the sense of falleness in The Last Battle. I don’t think TLB has quite that contrast placed after The Silver Chair, which also concerned itself with a fallen society.
That occurred to me, and that argument is also presented in the Wikipedia entry:
"Some fans of the series who appreciate the original order believe that Lewis was only being polite to a child, and that he could have changed the order in his lifetime had he so desired (Brady 2005)."
I tend to fall in line with his step-son, Doug Gresham, who knew Lewis more intimately than the rest of us who can only guess.
I think TLTWATW is most often used to introduce people to the series because it has the strongest Aslan as Christ metaphor. I like Magician's Nephew up front, and personally, don't think it spoils the rest of the Chronicles. Likewise, it keeps the book in a general parallel with the Bible and gives Narnia a creation mythology, and subsequent history running all the way through the apocalypse of Last Battle.
Furthermore, I think the "Sons of Adam/Daughters of Eve" references and the presence of Father Christmas in Wardrobe, could be very disorienting without the foreknowledge of Nephew.
Just my opinion of course :-)
She had a Scandinavian name and was close to retirement age. I didn’t mention that because I am almost 100% sure there were no Latinas in my 4th grade class. Did your teacher read “Me and Caleb”?
Hmmmmm...
:)
Animal Farm, maybe. But the rest are not for children.
The Railway Children Edith Nesbit
At the Back of the North Wind George McDonald
The Princess and the Goblin George McDonald
The Princess and Curdie George McDonald
Chronicles of Narnia CS Lewis
The Water Babies Charles Kingsley
My favorite childens’ author is CM Yonge, but her books are not easy to find.
My dd and I have been reading “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” I remember reading it in the 9th grade and how much I loved it.
You know where I’ve had lots of luck finding books (besides the library) is at Half-Price Books. The place is like a garage sale and you never know what you’ll find! We found some hard cover books there last summer among some of the following:
“Strawberry Girl” by Lois Lenski
“Ginger Pye” by Eleanor Estes
“Everything on a Waffle” by Horvath
“Walk Two Moons” by Sharon Creech
“The Whipping Boy” by Sid Fleischman
“The Witch of Blackbird Pond” by Elizabeth George Speare
I loved Shoo Fly Girl by Lois Lenski
I don’t believe my dd has read that one. Same age group?
Also, for slightly older girls especially (10-11 years old), Zilpha Keatley Snyder's "The Velvet Room" is a fantastic story.
Yes, same age group.
Here is a website dedicated to with a list of her books.
http://www.mlb.ilstu.edu/ressubj/speccol/lenski/bib.html
Madeleine L’Engle and Tasha Tudor are also good.
Thank you. I’ll check it out!
Tasha Tudor died last week at age 92. My daughter used to love her work.
This was a good thread and I picked up a bunch of books from the recommendations of my FReeper friends.
While I’d like to read many of these suggestions to my children, we opted for the audio version of the Kronigsburg ~ well interpreted by Jan Miner ~ for our trip to and from the beach. The whole family enjoyed the book. 7 hours on the road was pleasure with the book.
Thanks for the tip!
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