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?
Robin Wright and Cary Elwes must have been the most beautiful couple breathing that year.
I’m saving “Watership Down” for next year ~ when my little girl will enjoy it more.
That’s an awesome book for young and old.
BFG, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Why do so many men love that movie? My husband is such a kid when that’s on.
Comprising the Three Volumes, Mutiny on the Bounty, Men against the Sea and Pitcairn's Island
Excellent stories.
Yes, that’s a good one. :)
Thanks for that recommendation. My oldest just turned 10 a couple of weeks ago and is devouring books this summer (not good for the digestion, I know). She loves history (like her dear mother) and those would be right up her alley. I see our local library has several of that series.
One book still sticks in my mind from my childhood - "The Silver Sword". That one had us waiting with bated breath for tomorrow's chapter.
I love this thread, I’m getting good ideas.
We’ve read to our (much younger) kids Charlotte’s Web, Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass & we read excerpts from Book of Virtues (Bill Bennett).
You don’t have to break out the DVD for your hubby to go back in time. Simply utter thesse magic words;
“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die”.
My faves as a kid:
Heidi
Treasure Island
Books about horses: My Friend Flicka, Black Beauty, all the books by Marguerite Henry
My daughter read many of the Dear America series by Scholastic and liked them very much.
OH my gosh -— MY favorite! My daughter and I read it this Fall when she was studying the Holocaust. Her class read “The Hiding Place” which she also loved.
He mutters them ALL the time!!!!
Pinging EmilyGeiger! She always knows the best books for kids that age group!
The “McDonald Hall” series by Gordon Korman (aka the “Bruno and Boots” series, after the main characters)
Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Call of the Wild by Jack London
The Laura Ingalls Wilder books—my favorite was “Farmer Boy”
Watership Down by Richard Adams (probably a bit too advanced for a 7 and 10 year old, but still a great book)
The “Black Stallion” books by Walter Farley
I’ll try some of the E.B. White, too.
The summers go by too fast.
My kids are getting a little older, but I couldn’t imagine them growing up without reading some of the classics mentioned in this thread. many great suggestions.
Likewise, growing up without seeing “The Sound of Music” or “Fiddler on the Roof”, it’s just unimaginable.
Thanks for beginning this thread - I’m getting some great ideas!
Almost too many to respond to! I’m going to the library in the morning.
Another Frances Hodges Burnett children’s novel with “The Secret Garden”
The good thing about the Burnett’s stories is there have been various screen adaptations of them.
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