Comments so far
For KimKim:
I have this one big idea that’s the thesis of the book, which I’m not sure is specific enough or not. And I’m not sure there’s enough to write about it. I am working on it a little bit everyday but there are a few other things I want to write that sometimes push it aside and then I’ve got work-for-pay stuff that takes precedence. But I notice that making time to work out makes me feel way more focused and less frantic about running out of time.
Re., Chapter Books:
I remember trying to find chapter books that made for great read-alouds. We wanted high quality literature (or at least not junk), with short chapters and nothing too scary (because Noah was easily scared). There were quite a few books that we started and then stopped because he wasn’t ready for them including the Ramona books (chapters were too long but he has read all of Beverly Cleary’s stuff since and loves her), Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (again, loves them now but wasn’t interested at five or six) and my beloved Moomins. First chapter books were a popular topic at playdates, too, so I’ll tell you what we liked and I’ll tell you what some other friends liked (including a few books that totally didn’t work for us but were really successful with other families we know):
- My Father’s Dragon (and its two sequels) were HUGELY popular with both Noah and me and with every other kid I know who read them. They are fast, fast to read and there are enough pictures to keep even antsy kids interested. I can’t say enough about these books — Noah wanted me to read them to him for a long, long time. To me these are the BEST first chapter books I know.
- Jenny and the Cat Club (also lots of sequels including the easier to find used The Hotel Cat) You may know The Fire Cat already but there is a whole series of Cat Club books that are fabulous. Again, quick reading and pictures. I loved these as a kid and was so excited to see they’d been reprinted so that I could revisit them with Noah. They are — happily — just as good as I remember.
- Catwings These are tiny little books that a friend recommended having fond memories of them herself. We only read two of them (I think there are four) and truthfully, Noah liked the first one better and was a little tired of them by the time we got halfway through the second. I think this says more about Noah’s tastes than it does about the books.
- Billy and Blaze This is a popular series with conservative homeschoolers because they’re very wholesome and old-fashioned. I picked up four at a library sale and Noah ate ‘em up. Me, I coulda skipped ‘em.
- Here Comes Tricky Rabbit This is a collection of Native American trickster tales that were just perfect for Noah at five-ish. We read and re-read this book and it’s still one of his favorites. (Cousin Frankie loved this book, too.)
- No Flying in the House Every family should have a copy of this book and happily it’s kinda easy to find at garage sales and thrift shops. This is a book you may have read and then forgot about it. It’s about a little girl who’s half-fairy (she can kiss her elbow — that’s how she knows) and who is being minded by a tea-cup sized dog named Gloria. Sound familiar?
- Milly-Molly-Mandy Ok, I couldn’t stand these books (or Snip-Snap-Snur or Flicka-Ricka-Dicka — even though those last two are unrelated to that first one but the tongue-twisting names all mesh them together in my head) because they make Raggedy Ann and Andy (stories that Noah DID like) seem positively cynical. I mean, they are treacle with a capital T. But I have two families of friends who swear by them and worship at the altar of Milly-Molly-Mandy (and Snip-Snap-Snur and Flicka-Ricka Dicka). Those last two are also hugely popular among Waldorfers of my acquaintance.
The worst thing is opening up a book I remember from childhood with great tenderness and finding out that memory conveniently left out the part where Pa (in Little Town on the Prairie) dresses like a “darky” or that Mary Poppins is hanging out at the South Pole with some black folks eating watermelon who advise her to put some shoe polish on those white babies. Raggedy Ann has some stories to skip and Dr. Dolittle has a whole chapter that’s best left alone. Personally I think there’s educational value in reading those books with your kids and talking about the racist (and sexist) stereotypes but not at bedtime when you’re just trying to send the kids off to sleep with a nice story. So my last piece of advice is to always BUT ALWAYS read (or re-read) the book yourself before reading it to (or handing it to) your kids.
That’s all the books I can think of without getting my sorry tush up off this chair and digging through Noah’s bookshelves. What else have people liked when it comes to starting off with chapter books? Oh and I also highly recommend the Chinaberry catalog for finding books for whatever age. I have a friend who uses this catalog as a self-counseling tool. Seriously — she reads it whenever she’s depressed!
Thank you! Already requested My Father’s Dragon from my library (where it is, of course, checked out) and the library in the next county.
Dr. Dolittle’s Circus is probably the safest of the Dr. Dolittle books — it’s the only one I had as a child, and I was very disillusioned when I read the other books later.
I had a similar experience re-reading Little House as an adult (mean government won’t let us stay in our little house on Indian land). Also Lord of the Rings (sallow-complected, slant-eyed bad guys, ugh). Also, some parts of the Dark is Rising books.
I remember something about a girl who could kiss her elbow!
“Alice in Wonderland” worked for us - I hadn’t expected it, mostly because it took us three days to get through the first chapter. But our 4-year-old loved it!
I’m a little reluctant to read the Little House books for a lot of reasons; I don’t think she’s old enough for them, for starters. I *am* eagerly looking forward to reading “A Wrinkle in Time” with her, probably in a couple of years.
We love My Father’s Dragon and No Flying in the House. Another one I always read to my first graders that they Begged for MORE of was The Nunga Punga and the Booch.
I remember the Jenny the cat books from when I was a child - I loved them! I’m going to have to borrow them from the library now to share with the kids.
This has nothing to do with this post - it’s just that talking about the unsuitableness of the ‘Little House’ books reminded me of the post where you were asking about children’s books that worked adoption in as a background thing rather than as a Main Issue, and I remembered I’d been meaning to mention a couple more that I thought of. There’s ‘The Clan Of The Cave Bear’, although I don’t know whether or not you’d think of that as a children’s book, as a couple of the scenes are disturbing - and, of course, there’s ‘Superman’!
Oh… chapter books!
I started writing a post here and it grew and grew so I decided to give it it’s own home on my (sadly much neglected) blog instead of clogging up your comments.
http://hingly.blogspot.com/2007/01/chapter-books.html
Thanks for reminding me.
Keep working on your book, I am proud of you.
I just bought “Mary Poppins” for my niece — and I had forgotten that chapter. But lo and behold, P.L Travers actually rewrote that section in the 1960’s and got rid of the offensive racial stereotypes. In the revised version, Mary Poppins visits various local animals rather than “Eskimos” and so forth, and it completely passes muster. I am assuming that the old version is no longer sold in bookstores, but I may be mistaken.
As for other chapter books: “Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle” and “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” seem to have stood the test of time (and are free of this kind of problem. “Dr. Doolittle” gave me an unpleasant surprise, too!).
Aha! My sister had the old version! I’ve got the new boxed set downstairs — I’ll have to check that out!!!
Thanks Dawn for these suggestions. I’m looking forward to being able to read Liam the moomin stories, I hadn’t thought of them before.