Childrens books!

[Amidala]

I am a great beleiver that every parent should read to their child and its a fact that it makes them much more aware and creative later on in life,
I can't wait to read to my children but until then I read to other peoples,

Childrens books are great I am a huge fan of them,
I think most of it is thanks to my grandma who used to buy me the most beautiful ornate bound books and my parents who bought me allsorts of stories

I think its a real shame children dont read as much as they used to it takes alot of magic out of their lives at that age,

so anyway the point of this, what stories had a profound effect on you?
What stories are u going to make sure your children hear?
What are your favourites and most hated?

Okies Mine!

I had (and still have) this beautiful red and gold bound Alice in Wonderland /through the looking glass book. the full original version with all the illustrations and poems, letters.
I remember reading it sat on the windowsill as a child,
I just adored how clever Alice was!

Also the chronicles of narnia
The secret garden

and A little Princess I love that story even now and I love the film, Its so warm EVERY child needs to hear it (though its more for girls without trying to sound a bit sexist) but it teaches children alot

 

[X Q mano]

I so much agree with you! If I get children, they're going to hear stories from before they understand them!

I remember The neverending story, Narnia, and the story about King David from the Old Testament.

 

[jerchar]

How I agree. I always read to my daughter since she was a baby, when she was in her last year of preschool she was reading, the teachers then asked me if I taught her; I just said: "you and I taught her the alphabet, the rest was done by herself" I think she just couldn't wait to read books by herself. I am still reading stories to her (she's 8 now) and my younger son (3 years old), unfortunately he gets very impatient and cannot sit still through a story, but I keep reading them to them. It is our special moment, it is a link between us.

The favourite stories of my daughter are: fairy tales from all over the world, the wizard of Oz, the Forbidden book, Narnia, Harry Potter, the magic woodhouse (a serie of 10 where the children have to find clues in the books).

The favourite stories of my son are all with animals; he prefers the books that have a tape to listen to while you are reading the book itself.

My favourite stories: fairy tales, Narnia, the Snowqueen, the wizard of Oz (I was terrified by this green witch).

You are right when you say that it is the parent's role to make their children learn to know and love books.

 

[dwndrgn]

The one story that had the most profound effect on me was Black Beauty. My grandparents gave me a lovely hard-bound copy. I read that thing over and over and over again. I cried every single time.

I don't recall being read to (actually I remember very little of my childhood - just small flashes now and again) but I'm sure I was. Both of my parents are readers so that would have been something they would have done. I'll have to ask mom what they read to me. Now I'm curious!

 

[littlemissattitude]

I was read to all the time when I was very young, and told bedtime stories (my favorite was always "Rumplestilskin"). But I don't really remember reading very many kids books, or at least I don't remember which ones I read. I'm sure I did read a lot of them between the ages of three and six or seven, because I read all the time. But, because I started reading things out of the adult section of the library when I was seven years old, I missed a lot of children's literature. I've never read "Charlotte's Web", for example, or "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

Of the children's literature I did read, my favorites have always been Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books. I still read those occasionally. I also read a lot of Robert A. Heinlein's juveniles when I was seven or eight years old. My favorites of those were "Red Planet", which was the first one of his I read, and "Citizen of the Galaxy." I was also mad for the Nancy Drew mysteries when I was about that same age.

 

[Allyn]

I don't remember much of my childhood, well, the younger years atleast (which doesn't bode well for the future, since I'm not even technically an adult *yet*) although I do remember some things.

I remember a whole shelf full of hardcover childrens books. This is because my sister got them after I was too old for them. I can only remember one story, and even it is only a small blurb of it.

I also remember the Bearenstain Bears (yes, I can't spell) books. We must have every one of those books from that time.

I am also told by my parents that I would spend time reading once I was old enough to, or just amusing myself in other ways. But, again, I can't remember any of that.

 

[Milena]

A lot of the best childrens books are still great reads for adults too. Favourites include The Children of Green Knowe (L.M Boston), The Dark is Rising (Susan Cooper), The Owl Service (Alan Garner), the Wizard of Earthsea (Ursula Leguin) and Marinanne Dreams (Catherine Storr). I could bore on and on, as I collect childrens books as well as sf ...

People aren't so shy to be seen reading a childen's books such a HarryPotter, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, or an Alex Rider title - but some great books get ignored becuase the are seen as just for kids.

OK , i'll stop now!

 

[Alia]

Milena... you can keep going.
In fact I will encourage you to post as often as you would like....
There is a forum for YA fiction and that includes Children Fiction too!
I will have this thread moved over there!!!
And your choice in books are awesome!

 

[Jay]

I'm a strong believer in not exposing children to idiotic books even at a young age, and giving them books of some merit at an early age to expsoe themselves to. I of course have no statistics, or studies on the subject, only my own experiences to gauge or add validity to my opinion.

When I was younger (say 6 or 7) my parents thankfully nurtured and probably gave me my love for reading by enrolling in a classic book club, that sent a book a month as part of a collection for a year (with the first book it also came with a little portable bookcase that would eventually fit all 12 too, so it was kind of hot too).

The books in the set included Herman Melville's Moby Dick, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, as well as Twain's Huckleberry Finn, Tale of Two Cities, Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo, Robert Stevenson's Treasure Island, and also his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , A Tale of Two Cities, and Oliver Twist by Dickens, Ben Hur by Lew Wallace, a book that collected works by Edgar Alan Poe, and sadly enough I never got the last one as we moved back to the ridiculous United States at the time, where it actually possible for one to go through the pre-university school system without ever reading any of them ( eye witness).

Sorry for the last bit, tiny rant - at any rate, that said, I'm not going to force feed my child anything to read, if they have the mind to read so be it, they will if not, they won't. I can't say a book has ever had a profound effect on me, I enjoy reading, but I'm nto one to be particulary moved by something on that kind of level, even if enjoy it immensely and think it's a masterpiece. I once found a $100 dollar bill in a library book I had when I was in 8th grade, that's about as close as it gets (if interested that book was Satanic Verses by Salom Rushdie, which I always thought was interesting.


Going before that, I never really was one to read chidlrens book, the only one I remember was due to being read to it when I was real young in class was Where the Wild Things Are.

 

[Alia]

I quoted the book 'Where the Wild Things Are' just yesterday... one of my favs to read to my son...
As Milena states, Ainulinade, often times a children's books makes wonderful reading for Adults... it could be an experience for both child and parent to enjoy. I read to my children, but lately, my son has wanted to read on his own. His choice in books, Dragonball Z or Yugi Oh comics... okay, not my first pick, but it's his and as long as he reads and enjoys himself then all three of us are happy.
And if I ever found a $100 in a book, I would be in heaven!!! And then spend the money on more books...

 

[Milena]

Milena... you can keep going.
In fact I will encourage you to post as often as you would like....
There is a forum for YA fiction and that includes Children Fiction too!
I will have this thread moved over there!!!
And your choice in books are awesome!

Hi Alia. Great to have another enthusiast to share favourites with. A lot of adults missed some of the best writing as children for various reasons, and I really encourage them to go back and enjoy them now.
So what would your best to 'go back to's be? (I will go and check out the Y.A fiction threads) Have you discovered M.T Anderson yet - he wrote 'feed' amonst others, a dystopian near future read which is a great cross-over novel, and he has a fine-tuned ear for the way young adults speak..

 

[Alia]

My 'go back to's'? Well... wow... that's a loaded question! Any book I have read except for Artemis Fowl... sorry Lore I just can't bear myself that torture anymore.
I have been listing my favorites here on the YA Forum, but haven't listed them all yet.
Gail Carson Levine is one of my favs... and Milena, you mention on a different thread of two little girls.. she is an excellent writer for them with books like The Two Princesses of Bamarre and Ella Enchanted. The books are for ages 5 or 6 to about 12 or 13... wonderful enchanting stories.

 

[Nesacat]

I don't have any children of my own to read to, but I dearly love children's books. my mother used to read to my brother and me and when were little and I still buy children's books. They are amazing. The books almost always have awesome illustrations and tell the loveliest tales in the simplest of fashions.

One book I read very recently is The Red Tree by Shaun Tan. It's a very, very simple tale about a little girl waking up to one of those days when you just know everything is going to be terrible and bleak and all downhill. The pages are filled with the most intricate illustrations and in each page there a red leaf from the red tree tucked away. And in the end just when the little girl feels that she simply could not deal with things getting worse, she comes home to find the Red Tree, growing in her room.

The other book is Mayfly Day by Jeanne Willis & Tony Ross. It's a day in the life of a mayfly, who only lives for a day. Again it's beautifully illustrated and very simply told. It's a tale about living in the very best way you can because each day and night is simply the best ever.

 

[Mouse]

Black Beauty and I had a big book on fairy tales that had really nice pictures in. Still got it actually! Also I used to love the pound puppy books.

 

[BookStop]

We read to our kids every day when they were younger, and they read every day to themselves now. Old favs included The Giving Tree, Where the Wild Things Are, Blueberries for Sal, There's a Nightmare in my Closet, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Of course, when they started to read for themselves, these were the same books they started with.

 

[carrie221]

I can remember being little and having my mother read to me...

Jenny goes to the hospital, berenstain bear books and clifford...

My addiction of books goes back a long way for me being so young

 

[Nesacat]

Indeed it does. Everytime I come home with a bag of books and my mom wonders where they are ever going to fit; I like to remind her that she created the addiction. She used to read to my brother and me every night. On a mat on the kitchen floor while she fed us dinner, even when we were quite old enough to eat by ourselves.

I still have all those books that she used to read from. Some are pretty battered and others have fragile pages but they are all there. There were a collection of graphic books based on Hindu mythology published by Amar Chitra Katha of India.