Joined: Oct 2010 Gender: Female Posts: 1,659 Location: England
Childrens' Books « Thread Started on Dec 1, 2010, 6:59pm »
K2 talking about Harry Potter got me thinking, what books do you remember enjoying as a child? and are there any modern childrens' authors skilled enough to capture your imagination as an adult?
I quite enjoyed J K Rowling's books, but found them quite derivative, (having been an avid reader of Fantasy and Science Fiction for YEARS!)
As a child I loved C S Lewis, I didn't really associate the Narnia books with religion as I was raised in an atheist household and it never crossed my mind....(my first encounter with religion of any kind being in school aged 5....)
The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Graham) was a book I enjoyed both as a child and as an adult....
I really enjoyed Alan Garner's books...The Weirdstone of Brisinghamen and The Moon of Gomrath are still favourites...
I read The Hobbit and LOTR as an 11-12 year old...preferring former
A modern series of childrens' books that I would reccommend are the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy by Philip Pullman...really top quality writing (far superior to HP imo) excellent books...Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass are wonderful books.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 25,339 Location: Mexico
Re: Childrens' Books « Reply #1 on Dec 1, 2010, 7:37pm »
I have lost track of how many times I've read Through the Looking Glass, both as a child and an adult. Nothing against Alice in Wonderland, it's just that I've always had a copy of Looking Glass with delicately tinted Tenniel illustrations. It was issued the same year I was born, and is the copy I've always read.
Another series that kept its enchantment for me was The Princess and Curdie / The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald.
What is interesting is that I don't remember the book being that elaborately written. Probably if I'd never seen it before, I would deem it too fussy for a child to like. But not only did I love it, I was completely carried away by the plot and the setting, to the point I can remember some of the scenes to this day, as though I'd viewed them in a movie.
Also loved Heidi, which is the first non-picture book I ever read. I read it multiple times, crying furiously each time her grandfather died.
For a picture book, nothing will ever top The Giant Golden Book of Elves and Fairies. My brother and I used to read this together, making up stories about the elves on the front cover and turning to the book each time with great anticipation. The Garth Williams illustrations live on in my mind -- the girl tripping out of her wooden clogs and cream puffs spill from her tray and her silver slippers are revealed -- ahhhhhh.
Others: Bobbsey Twins lots of Enid Blyton books Nancy Drew
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 3,997 Location: South-West France
Re: Childrens' Books « Reply #2 on Dec 1, 2010, 7:55pm »
As a kid I spent a lot of time going to the library and always read a lot. Oddly, I didn't remember most of what I read until i got to the end of Bixa's post -- I also read The Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew, fairy tales (all those colour books: red, blue, green, etc). One name that stays is The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell. The Narnia books too I really enjoyed, and like Cheery, I didn't realize they had any religious overtones until I read them to my own children. I also remember liking Anne of Green Gables, Heidi and other classic kids' books. The names are coming back: The 5 Children and It by Edith Nesbit, There were probably more English books than American ones, although I remember reading a whole series of books from the library about American heroes/heroines. They were bound in orange covers and were about people like Julia Ward Howe!
Among more contemporary children's books I like and bought for my kids when they were small were of course CS Lewis's Narnia books, but also Graham Oakley's Church Cat books, which I think are great and still enjoy.
I read The Lord of the Rings when I was in high school but never made it past the first couple of pages of The Hobbit.
On a less serious note, I also read Classics Illustrated comic books and Mad magazine.
Re: Childrens' Books « Reply #4 on Aug 25, 2011, 8:14pm »
As a kid I absolutely loved Astrid Lindgren and read many of her books. The six Bullerby Children was one of my favourite, along with Karson from the Roof. Another of my all time favourites was 'the neverending story' and 'Momo' by Michael Ende.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 34,559 Location: Paris, France
Re: Childrens' Books « Reply #5 on Aug 25, 2011, 8:46pm »
I actually have a lot of catching up to do with children's books because I missed so many of them as a child, and the good ones can be appreciated on so many more levels than just "children's entertainment," even the ones for very young children. I am still haunted by a book that I read when babysitting a friend's three kids in Strasbourg. It was for kids no more than 6 years old, but in pictures and with very few words, it told what it is like to be a refugee. First you see a peaceful African village with huts and children playing, but then the army (or the rebel force?) arrives. People run and hide, and the huts are burned down. The hero's father is taken away and is never seen again. The rest of the family walks a long way to a refugee camp with almost nothing, and they finally are told they can get on a plane. But they have to leave their little dog behind. Woof, woof, woof, he runs along the field as the plane takes off with the hero watching him.
They arrive in a new country (France, I suppose) and are given a place to live and some other assistance. School starts and the hero makes new friends but plays basically the same games at recess that he always played. Life goes on, but he will never forget the wonderful little village that he had to leave.
A story like that just bounces off the kids, but I had tears running down my face and I still get upset remembering that book.
Re: Childrens' Books « Reply #6 on Aug 26, 2011, 6:34am »
Kerouac - that story is far too sad for any child younger than 10 in my view. Imagine reading it just before bedtime with tears trickling down ones cheeks. That should unsettle any kid waiting for the Sandman! I bought my grandson a delighful little book in BHV last year. All in French about a snail. Sounds stupid when I can't speako Frencho but my son graduated with a good mark in school French so thought he may give it a go just for the sheer novelty of gettting a puzzled look on McNabs face
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 34,559 Location: Paris, France
Re: Childrens' Books « Reply #7 on Aug 26, 2011, 5:45pm »
Tod2, as I mentioned, the story just bounced off them. Things that we find horrifying do not affect young children the same way, especially real life tragedies.
I remember from early youth, though, that I was extremely affected (as were millions of other children) by The Velveteen Rabbit. No dead fathers or abandoned pets there -- just a crummy stuffed toy. And I am very much aware that on the same level, small children often cry when the parents get a new car -- the old car is a family member with stains and smells that have important stories.
Any of us could probably make a fortune by writing a children's book about the trauma of a new car and what happened to the old one.
Re: Childrens' Books « Reply #8 on Aug 27, 2011, 7:47am »
I have never heard of The Velveteen Rabbit - I also have never heard of children crying when parents get a new car?? Having said that, my grandson is absolutely ga-ga about his grandfather's bakkie ( small truck). He asks about it all the time and runs to our garages to see if it is parked - then points and squeels with delight at seeing it! (His parents have changed cars at least 5 times). Now at 3 years old he can point to my car and say its mine, and the same goes for his mothers car, and of course Pa's bakkie. Seems this is when they get attached to the mode of transport always taking them here and there, or is it something deeper?!
Re: Childrens' Books « Reply #10 on Aug 27, 2011, 3:20pm »
Goodness! I will look out for it but may decide against buying it My son's favourite (and mine) was the Richard Scarry books. I liked the story about 'Flying down to Rio' with the python wrapped around the plane to stop it bursting - It felt like that when I flew from Miami to Rio and saw all the enormous suitcases some people took! (We experienced a lightning storm over the Amazon - I have never been so frightened in all my life and wished there was a python wrapped around our plane)
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 25,339 Location: Mexico
Re: Childrens' Books « Reply #11 on Dec 16, 2011, 4:16pm »
Although the OP is about books we enjoyed as children, anybody with kids naturally thinks of what books those children liked & which ones we enjoyed reading to them. Tod, my son loved his Richard Scarry books, too. And they were fun for a grown-up to read with the child, with all the detail in the pictures.
I just read that Russell Hoban died yesterday and felt a pang of sadness that such a huge and gentle intelligence has left this world. My first exposure to him was when my son was little and we discovered Frances the badger making her way through childhood and delighting human children along the way. Later I found his books for adults and became a staunch fan of his brilliant language and imagination.
Re: Childrens' Books « Reply #12 on Dec 16, 2011, 7:43pm »
I was very lucky in that my parents had me entered in a junior book of the month club. I read Heidi, Little Women, Black Beauty, The Peterkin Papers, The Wizard of Oz, a lot of Dickens (I got lost in Oliver Twist but I was only 8 when I first tried to read it). I always received books as presents - Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Heart of a Dog by Albert Payson Terhune. I remember reading King Arthur at the age of 8 or so.
And I read the series books - Nancy Drew, The Bobbsey Twins, Cherry Ames, Trixie Belden.
I read anything I could get my hands on - I was reading Pearl Buck at the age of 12 or so. I did read books that were over my head (amazing what you pick up when you reread something years later ). I'm very lucky in that I have most of my childhood books. I have of course read Narnia & The Hobbit & LOTR but those were in my teen years.
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