Posted on 06/19/2008 7:11:15 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?
My 10-year-old son listened to “My Antonia” on CD with me. Really. Try some classics you hated in high school :-).
My little nieces and nephews, all grown up now, loved ANY Dr. Seuss book! Not sure if that’s to your kids’ taste, but that wouild be my suggestion.
The Tale of Despereaux.
My little girls (10 and 8) like the “Royal Diaries” series. These generally have excellent historical research and good values.
Is that one of those rodent fantasies? I think I’ve seen it around the house, so somebody’s had it out of the library.
I loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a kid. Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys were good too.
They never go out of style.
The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame is a MUST read. It’s also a good “read aloud” book in which you can act out all the characters, and the kids will love it. 100-years-old and delightful as ever.
My son would feign to be put off by the “princess” aspect. Truth be told he will devour anything with a historical angle. I frequently catch him dipping into my daughter’s “American Girl” books, at which poit he looks up and goes “WHAAAATT!”.
“Nothin’, dude. Reading is cool.”
The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell. It’s perfect for both of them. I loved this story as a kid. I need to pull this one out for my daughter.
Sadly, my 2 are past Dr. Seuss and into “chapter books”.
We did enjoy them and still do on occassion. They launched our interest in reading.
“Feign” is the key, like Tom with “My Antonia.” There’s lots of action in those books, battles and assassinations and all that, just what boys like. Think of the boy in the movie “The Princess Bride.”
Wish I could go back and read it again for the very first time.
My boys read all the Hardy Boy books....there was a big difference in the books my husband read as a child and the newer versions....they seemed to have dumb them down in the recent versions....
If Redwall was a fave, I would suggest taking a look at “The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan... in my bookstore, for young readers, I always suggest the classic “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler” by E.L. Konigsburg...magritte
That’s a great summer movie and possibly the theme for another thread.
Yes, it’s about a mouse.
Laura Ingalls Wilder books.
Nancy Drew books are certainly great mysteries.
My dd read Island of the Blue Dolphins two summers ago, at age 10. She also really liked The Summer I Shrank My Grandmother by Woodruff and Julie of the Wolves.
Oh, and Treasure Island...of course, Dad.
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.
The Three Investigators series by Robert Arthur. I really liked these when I was a child.
Forgot to mention “The Indian in the Cupboard” by Lynne Reid Banks.
Get the book on audio and save for a road trip. You won’t be able toget out of the car if the cassette is not over.
The author’s reading delivers the story with relish and gusto!!
“I loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a kid.”
Laura’s mother Caroline is my great grandfather’s sister. Laura and my grandfather 1st cousins.
The Little House books are still good reading, even for adults.
“You mean, you’ll put down your rock, I’ll put down my sword, and we’ll try to kill each other like civilized people?” ~The Masked Man
The Princess Bride was written by William Goldman. Wow, has that got got a diverse catalogue of work!
Seriously, I read Ingalls Wilder to my wife’s stomach when my son was in utero. We were so silly when we were in the family way. ;-)
I’ll second The Tale of Despereaux. I loved that book.
Number the Stars
The Giver
by Lois Lowry
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wind in the Door
by Madeline L’engle
Bunnicula
The Celery Stalks at Midnight
by James Howe
Peter Pan. Read them the original.
i like the Kate Dicamillo books, especially The Tale of Despereux... excellent read aloud... this summer my sons are listening to The Children’s Homer... they recently listened to The Red Badge of Courage... A Wrinkle in Time... Cricket in Time Square is excellent... Johnny Tremain is very good... Carry On Mr. Bowditch... The Witch of Blackbird Pond is good...
as a family we are listening to Uncle Tom’s Cabin... very long... they also heard At the Back of the North Wind this year... and the original Pinocchio... and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry... as you might tell, we’ve been studying the Civil War period of American History...
past books: The Wind in the Willows, The Secret Garden, The Narnia Books, Shilo, Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island... Black Ships Before Troy, The Bronze Arrow, The Golden Goblet...
gosh—we do read alouds all year long, so we have covered many, many, books... i cannot think of them all... oh—The Indian in the Cupboard series is good... Mr. Popper’s Penguins... From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (this is one my 4th grade teacher read to our class 33 years ago—i was glad my kids loved it, too...) and Where The Red Fern Grows...
if i think of others, i will post again...
this summer we are covering: Farenheit 451 (currently), The Children’s Homer and The Illiad...
if i had to recommend just one, i would choose The Tale of Despereaux... easy to read aloud... good, good story...
I would also recommend "The Borrowers" series. There is something fascinating about tiny people living secretly in the walls and under the floors that really appeals to kids.
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