Did you know that this week is
Children's Book Week? I didn't (until this morning), so it's by happy
little coincidence that I'm writing this blog post (that I started
working on last night). :-)
In our house, we love books! Oddly
enough, we have never really developed the habit of bedtime story
reading with our children until now. I have an almost seven year old,
and a four-and-a-half year old (plus a toddler; who's NOT yet reading) who are both independent
readers. So, aside from our school time reading together, the
majority of their reading is solo. Enter chapter books! They don't
yet read longer, more involved material by themselves, so it has been
a wonderful way for me to bond with my big littles, and a way
for me to get to read some classics that I somehow didn't get around
to reading as a child. It's a win-win!
We started reading a chapter at bedtime
most nights. There were times
when we fell out of the habit of reading at night when dinner was
served too late too many nights in a row, but for the most part, it
has been a habit we've come to really look forward to.
Here is a list of the books we've
covered so far this school year, and brief(ish) thoughts about what
we liked (and didn't quite like) about them!
James and the Giant Peach- We liked
this one too, but the book about Charlie is still the favored of
author Roald Dahl in our collective opinion. I wasn't a fan of James'
aunts or the manner in which he came to live with them (parents were
eaten by a rhinoceros or something). I felt that it was a tad brutal
(okay, a lot of Dahl's stories include things along these lines, to
be fair), but the children didn't seem to get caught up on it
(probably due to the ridiculousness of being eaten by a wild animal
on a city street), though I may have purposely raced past that part!
(Ditto on the language- I actually don't remember what
but just be warned that it's there!)
Winnie the Pooh- Oh, my! What a
wonderful book. It was equally pleasing to my six year old boy and
four year old girl. They of course were already familiar with the
characters in the book because of the Disney movie adaptation, The
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, but it did not fail to delight
them in any way. That "silly old bear of very little brain"
is even more endearing to me in print than he is on screen, and you
get to see even more of the sweet and silly machinations of his
fluffy brain in the book.
The House at Pooh Corner- More Pooh
songs and delightful interactions between these beloved characters.
It's a must-read if you like the first one (I should say if you've
read the first one- of course
you liked it).
I love the humor and wit that AA Milne weaves through these stories.
And we all loved getting to know these friends even more. Consider
yourself warned, though, I teared up at the end!
Little Britches- While I really liked
this story, it was definitely a challenge to get through! I think the
material was a bit mature for my children, and a semi-tedious book
for a four and six year old to sit through, but they still enjoyed it
quite a bit despite this (I should note that it was not located in
the children's section of the library- also, there are some instances
of swearing in this book, but was easy enough to substitute "darn"
for " !@#$%^&*" and stuff like that.) I had come across this
title in a thread about chapter books somewhere on Facebook. I think
it was recommended to someone who was looking for a book similar to
Little House on the Prairie books, but for boys. It was definitely
that, but a little later chronologically. What I really liked about
it, personally, was that it kind of gave me a glimpse of what life
was like for of one of my great-grandfathers. He actually lived in
this area around the time set in the book (1906). Anyway, there are
lots of character-building lessons in this story, but admittedly,
many of them were kind of over the heads of my babies at the time.
Needless to say, this one might be a good one to save for your older
littles.
Pippi Longstocking- Oh, Pippi! How we
loved your amusing antics. I remember watching Pippi Longstocking on
television as a child, but never really read the book. She appeals so
much to my unconventional side, and I really appreciate how she
boldly "lives her truth". Ha. True, some probably won't
appreciate the trouble she gets into, but it also can open up a
dialog with your children of why certain behavior probably isn't a
good idea or very realistic. Still, there were plenty of laughs while
we read this book- and the children were definitely captivated by
Pippi and her adventures.
The Mouse and the Motorcycle- This
favorite by Beverly Cleary was fun for us to read. The children
especially enjoyed the sound effects (enthusiastically provided by
yours truly). Ralph is certainly a charming character, and I think we
can all relate to his story! (I also appreciate some of the questions
that came up because of the time period of this book...like, "Mom,
what is aspirin?" Ha ha!)
Mary Poppins- I almost didn't start
reading this book to the children because of some of the mixed
reviews I read. Actually, we are not quite finished with it, so
hopefully we don't run into any of the negative things people have
said about this. Most of them being related to Mary's attitude- they
found her to be mean and nasty in some parts. Well, she's definitely
not like the character in the movie version of the book, but mean and
nasty? Not really (in my opinion)- especially after seeing shows like
Super Nanny, it's easy to see that British nannies commonly take a
no-nonsense approach (unless that's just a made-for-TV stereotype)
and Mary Poppins would naturally NOT be the "Spoonful of Sugar" offering peach of a caretaker as portrayed in the Disney movie. They have many
adventures, for sure, and it's really a fun read for the children and
I (at least so far- I hope I don't run into any zingers in the last
couple chapters!)
What are some of your favorite
chapter books for kids?
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