I realized when I went to write up my thoughts that I’m inclined to mention the endings, but the more I thought about it, I realized I can’t discuss these books as an adult without doing so, since the overall themes are what interest me. In some respects, knowing the ending of children’s books, though, doesn’t really seem to “spoil” the book, since children’s books are more about the stories, the feel, and the overall themes.

What do you think? Does knowing the ending of a 150-page children’s book “spoil” it for you? What if you take the fact that these books are 30-60 years old in to consideration?

I don’t think knowing the endings would spoil these novels, but if you think it would, don’t read the rest of this post.

Charlotte’s Web

In Charlotte’s Web, the runt of the litter is saved by the smallest farm creature, a spider. Charlotte the spider befriends Wilbur the pig when he moves to Zuckerman’s barn, and her talent for weaving words in to her web shows the world that Wilbur is “Some Pig” and definitely much too special to be killed for holiday dinner. While Wilbur is the one whose life is saved, it’s interesting to realize that Charlotte is actually the creature to be praised.

When Mr. Zuckerman tells his wife about the spider web and how Wilbur is a very special pig, Mrs. Zuckerman isn’t quite sure.

“Well,” said Mrs. Zuckerman, “it seems to me you’re a little off. It seems to me we have no ordinary spider.” (page 80)

Charlotte’s Web, therefore, is about service and about true friendship, for Charlotte in the end has spent her life for Wilbur’s cause, even though she was never recognized as the one who made the difference in Wilbur’s life.

My first grade teacher read me Charlotte’s Web, and I’m sure I reread it a few times myself as a child. I loved this book. As an adult, I felt it was a bit dated and slow, but that may be a result of my reading it aloud to my two-year-old at a rate of about five pages a day. Children may still relate to the themes of friendship that permeate.

The Trumpet of the Swan

In The Trumpet of the Swan, Sam Beaver befriends a wild trumpeter swan named Louis who was born without a voice. Louis learns to write (by going to school with Sam) and later to play the trumpet, successfully working as a nightclub performer in Boston for years in order to pay back his debt to society (the trumpet had been stolen). In the end, the wild calls him back.

I related to Trumpet as a child because I played the trumpet in my elementary school band. As an adult, I found the story rather ridiculous. I think that ridiculousness is the purpose, however, for White seems to be commenting on acceptance. Is Louis’s arrival and acceptance in grammar school (and in Boston, and in Philadelphia) a commentary on the 1960s racial issues that were dominating society at the time? I don’t think White is saying that such racial acceptance is ridiculous: rather, he’s illustrating how easy it was to accept Louis. Why not give him a job?  He’s a great trumpeter!

One thing in the book irked me. In order to get Serena, the love of his life, out of the zoo without getting her wings clipped, Louis promises the zookeeper that they’ll bring one of their cygnets back to the zoo. Louis didn’t want himself or Serena to be trapped in a zoo, but he didn’t hesitate to promise one of his young. That seemed disingenuous to the entire story, which until that point had celebrated his freedom to be himself and to cross the boundaries between humans and the wild. I also went to the zoo recently, and I don’t think any animal would choose to be in there, let alone will it upon their children!

That said, The Trumpet of the Swan is a creative look at acceptance in society, and it’s a fun story of a swan and a boy being good friends.

Stuart Little

As the first book White published for children, published in 1945, Stuart Little is short and sweet at just 130 pages. And yet, I think there is more in this book that might interest adults than in any of the other two books. Stuart is the second son born to the Little family, and he is a two-inch high mouse. Through a series of adventure stories, we see Stuart leave his parent’s home and set off in to the big world. He’s seeking his friend Margalo the bird, and the book ends before he finds her.

Stuart Little didn’t feel like a children’s story. The New Yorker had an interesting article last year about the development of literature for children and E.B. White’s writing of Stuart Little. I mentioned it last July, and I thought of it often as I reread Stuart Little.

I would have to say that Stuart Little is not a childish story. A very young Stuart (at one point it said he was seven, and it was unclear to me whether he’d grown up before the end of the book) goes through painful and possibly fatal experiences. And then he runs away from home, essentially to seek his fortune and his friend. It ends, and he’s still searching. We don’t know if he’ll be okay; we don’t know if he’ll be eaten; we don’t know if his ending is happy.

I believe it ended happily. The novel Stuart Little is about growing up. Stuart feels out-of-place in his family, and he’s seeking a place in the greater world. We never quite finish growing up, and our happy endings are not always clear cut. As an adult, I enjoyed reading about his search more than I enjoyed reading the other two, more child-like stories.

Apparently, though, many dislike E.B. White’s first novel. If you are at all interested in the history of children’s literature, I’d highly recommend The New Yorker’s article.

Which E.B. White children’s novels have you read? Do you think Stuart Little is an appropriate children’s book?

• Stuart Little Was a Banned Book
• Kids Corner: Winnie-the-Pooh Books Inspired by Milne and Shepard
• Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne
• Kids Corner: What Are Your Children Reading? 22 October
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
• Caldecott Corner: David Wiesner
• Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I should say that my son loved it. As in: he  specifically requested most days that I read to him about Pooh and pointed to the book on the shelf. As in:  he would come running over to my side to see the pictures and yell “Pooh!” when he found his bear on the page. As in: when I turned the last page of Pooh Corner and closed the book, he looked up and said “More?! Pooh?!”

Since I already have reviewed it, I thought I’d do something different this time. Chance #9 for the Take a Chance Challenge is to review something in poetry. It seems appropriate to write a “review” of Milne in poetry because Pooh likes to put a rhyme (a hum) to everything.

Please forgive my non-poetic offering. I know I’m just building stereotypes of poetry as bad, but hey, I can pretend I’m a poet, right?

It ended up pretty short for the time I spent putting this together. I could write more, but I  think I’ve spent long enough already!

Haiku

Pooh Bear and Piglet
and Tigger, Rabbit, and Roo:
My son asks for more.

Limerick

Christopher Robin’s best friend is Pooh Bear.
Pooh lives in the forest, and plays Poohsticks there.
Pooh and Piglet save the day,
and CR goes away.
From now on, “nothing” days will be rare.

Free verse

Listening to stories,
he finds his Bear is real:
eating honey,
climbing trees,
and building a house of sticks.

The Bear’s friends
come alive
in a make-believe forest
and the rain
batters their homes.

The Bear
saves the day
and Hums to celebrate.
The piglet saves the day
and Bear continues humming.
Everyone has their turn
to be a Hero.

Yes, his bear was real,
until he said
Good-bye
and went to learn
of Brazil and knights.
Real knights, with
more than Very Little Brain.

• Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne
• Kids Corner: Winnie-the-Pooh Books Inspired by Milne and Shepard
• The Jungle Book(s) by Rudyard Kipling
• Bookworms Carnival: You Are Never Too Old
• Consistency Errors in Goodnight Moon and Other Book Issues for an Obsessive One-Year-Old
• The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle
• Poetry for Young People: Lewis Carroll
• Poetry for Young People: Robert Louis Stevenson (edited by Frances Schoonmaker)
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, April 5

Almost from its original publication in 1719, Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe had an immense impact on literature for children and adults. It has been widely seen as one of the first major novels in English; as the stimulus for a range of adventure stories; as the kernel for abridgments and adaptations; and as the marker for particular personal and political experience. (page 129)

I can believe that. I liked Robinson Crusoe’s themes (reviewed here), and I can see how people through history could pick and choose various themes to expand upon both in criticism and when creating adaptations.

For the sake of this month’s project, I decided to look at some of the modern-day abridgments and adaptations of Robinson Crusoe to determine how it is still viewed. In Lerer’s analysis of some of the adaptations from the 1800s, he observers that many of the themes of Robinson Crusoe are taken away in making it an adventure story, and each rewritten version focused on a different moral lesson. The main difference among all the early retellings was the tone (page 137).

I came to this project torn as to whether abridgments for children are good. I wished that I could determined that adapters are more faithful to the original in this day and age, but I also wished I could suggest that everyone just stay with the original,  simply because I like classics to be left alone.

In the end, I’d suggest that there are similar changes in tone in the various children’s adaptations of Robinson Crusoe today, and some of them eliminate or completely rewrite the major themes of Robinson Crusoe. But this is not always bad.

The Original versus Adaptations

The original Robinson Crusoe was not just about his adventure marooned on an island; it had some beginning stories, starting with how Crusoe was kidnapped by pirates, sold into slavery, escaped, and then began a plantation in Brazil, and it also had further story after he was rescued from his island. The original contains recognition that the savages are cannibals, since Crusoe finds human remains. Do you think the cannibal theme is appropriate for children? At what age can they deal with that theme?

But for me, Robinson Crusoe was not simply an adventure story: it was a spiritual journey as Crusoe came to peace with God. It also had strong themes of loneliness, fear, and survival. Emotion carried the story, for, with no other characters, Robinson Crusoe’s emotions had to be supreme.

One of my favorite aspects of the story was Crusoe’s religious transformation, so I worry about how much of that might be eliminated in adaptations for children.

The question is, then, which parts do abridgments excise from the story? Are they faithful to the spirit of Robinson Crusoe? Why are challenging words considered bad for children to read?

Are Adaptations Good?

After reviewing a number of adaptations, I’d have to say that adaptations do have a place. They are much easier to approach than Defoe’s daunting novel, and they may introduce children to important themes.

I think the afterward to the Classics Starts edition did a good job of explaining why adaptations might be okay:

Even for a gifted young reader, getting through long chapters with dense language can easily become overwhelming and can obscure the richness of the story and its characters. Reading an abridged, newly crafter version of a classic novel can be the gentle introduction a child needs to explore the characters and story line without the frustration of difficult vocabulary and complex themes.

Reading an abridged version of a classic novel gives the young reader a sense of independence and the satisfaction of finishing a “grown-up” book. … (Classic Starts edition, page 149)

The modern-day language retellings won’t help a young child prepare to read Defoe’s language, and I hesitate to suggest that reading them (including the Classic Starts version) is reading a classic “grown-up” book; it’s reading a classic story, not a classic novel. The characters and themes are not the same as those in the original classic.  Even themes are changed to fit the adapter’s moral agenda. But there is a purpose behind these abridgments. Introducing a story to a young child may be a worthwhile endeavor, and the larger themes (as interpreted by the adapter) can be understood.

As I said, I came to this project torn as to whether abridgments are good or bad. I still think it really depends; one must read each abridgment to determine if it does a good or bad job at capturing the spirit of the original classic.

My biggest pet peeve is that most abridgments are not clearly marked as such: the Puffin Classics abridgment, which cuts out a lot of the themes, retains most of Defoe’s words, and simplifies the language, mentions an abridger in the very small print on the copyright page and on the back cover. It would be easy to miss. Therefore, if you are buying a classic for your child, read the copyright page to determine if it is an abridgment. Even if you think it’s the “real thing,” it may still be an abridgment or adaptation of the original.

The Verdict

The original and the adaptations that I read or skimmed are as follows:

• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (Tor Books). 337 pages. The original; read in full
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (Puffin Classics). Abridged by Robin Waterfield, 1986; 273 pages. abridgment; skimmed
• Robinson Crusoe retold from Daniel Defoe (Scholastic Junior Classics). E.W. Doloch, 1958; 127 pages. adaptation; skimmed
• The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (Great Illustrated Classics). adapted by Malvina G. Vogel, 1992; 230 pages. adaptation; skimmed
• Robinson Crusoe retold from the Daniel Defoe original (Classic Starts). Deanna McFadden and Illustrated by Jamel Akib, 2006; 150 pages, including discussion questions. adaptation; read in full
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe illustrated by N.C. Wyeth (Scribner Storybook Classic). Abridged by Timothy Meis, 2003; 52 pages. illustrated abridgement; skimmed
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe adapted by Sam Wray and Pat Boyette (Classics Illustrated). 1991; 44 pages with comic-like illustrations. illustrated abridgement; skimmed
• Robinson Crusoe (Usborne Young Reading) from the story by Daniel Defoe. Retold by Angela Wilkes, Adapted by Gill Harvey, Illustrated by Peter Dennis; 2003; 62 pages. illustrated adaptation; read in full
• Robinhound Crusoe (The Adventures of Wishbone series) by Caroline Leavitt, inspired by Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. 1997; 142 pages. retelling; skimmed

In my subjective opinion, some of these remain faithful to the spirit of Robinson Crusoe and some don’t.

My favorite abridgment by is the Scribner Storybook Classic, which is a short 52 pages of what is mostly Defoe’s writing. It is beautiful for perusing, but faithful in theme and language to Crusoe’s original. I love the beautiful paintings: they evoke the beauty of solitude in nature, as well as the adventure quality of Crusoe trying to fend for himself and the spiritual development that comes from his struggle. It is a beautiful book for children to be introduced to the story, and I highly recommend it to child and adult alike. I just need to find a copy of it for my personal library!

The abridgment by Robin Waterfield is the most complete abridgment, cutting out repetition and some of the religious themes but keeping the language of Defoe. To be honest, I like the fact that some irrelevant details are excised. I didn’t read (just flipped through it and skimmed portions) but in the end (and much as I hate to say it), I would suggest this to a reader wanting to learn the story and experience Defoe’s language but daunted by classic literature. We want teens to want to read the classics. This is as close as you can get without being the real thing.

Despite my dislike of the generic, modern writing, I really enjoyed the Classic Starts adapted version of the story. I loved the discussion questions at the end; this added some degree of scholarship, even though the stark change in language took some scholarship away from the classic. This is not a classic novel; it’s the classic story. Its main moral theme was that Crusoe regretted disobeying his father. Crusoe’s story is completely retold and rewritten, using modern colloquialisms (“that’s for sure”) and lots of exclamation points. And yet, it is so readable, I found myself reading the entire thing. It does have serious typos throughout.

As I mentioned, I reviewed a lot of adaptations this week. For more detailed analysis and for quotes for each of them, visit this page for my detailed summary. (It was so long, I didn’t want to post it on the main page!)

What are your experiences with adaptations? Have you had a bad experience? I read a bad adaptation on Little Woman when I was twelve years old; I always afterward thought I’d read it but of course I hadn’t really.

Have you had a good experience reading an adaptation and then reading the original? I’m curious if these adaptations do help one prepare for true classic novels.

• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
• Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
• Reading Journal (June 10): Book Clubs
• April in Review
• Treasure Island and Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Reading Journal (June 4): Reading More Than One Book at a Time
• Pat the Bunny and Other Interactive Books for Kids

When I was young I loved learning Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s “cures” for naughty children’s problems, such as not putting away toys, answering back, and refusing to take a bath. Her cures were ridiculous and magical, and they were funny.

However, as an adult, reading three volumes of such stories in The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Treasury by Betty MacDonald became tiring. In some respects, the sequels failed to live up to the original, and I was horribly disappointed.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is the original book, published in 1947, and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is a loving friend as she cures children such as Patsy, who refused to take a bath (“The Radish Cure”) and Allen who ate veeeeeeery sloooooowly (“The Slow-Eater-Tiny-Bite-Taker-Cure”), my personal favorite. The cures are often clever tricks of reverse psychology, and the results are rather funny. Although Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s world is obviously out-of-date today, I found revisiting Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle to be a lot of fun.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s Magic was written two years after the first, and now the cures involve magical potions and powders, which Mr. Piggle-Wiggle the pirate had left in a trunk when he died. These are clever but I began to tire of reading of children whining and complaining. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is still fun, and I wished it continued to focus on her interactions with the kids.

I had a similar problem with Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, which was written ten years after the first book. In Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, MacDonald provides more in-depth stories, with the cures happening in just the last few pages of each story. I found myself horribly bored with these, I’m sorry to say, and unlike the first two books, Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle felt inappropriately dated to a large extent. For example, Mrs. Weathervane encourages her daughter to feel sorry for poor Cornelia, whose mother works during the day and isn’t home waiting with a plate of cookies after school. All the books condone spanking to some extent (maybe that is just illustrating how stupid the parents are without Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s help) but the “housewife” cluelessness can only be described as reminscent of an earlier era. The last book seems even more so. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle herself is only a minor character in this volume of stories, and the children never interact with her.

In the end, I wish Betty MacDonald had stopped while she was ahead. Then again, maybe I should have stopped while I was still enjoying them. The “Treasury” of all three, I’m sorry to say, became rather annoying by the time I’d read it all aloud to my son.

Note: I just found two more books, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s Farm and Happy Birthday, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle on Amazon. If I hadn’t been so disappointed with this volume, I would have checked it out. The later is apparently written by Betty MacDonald’s daughter.

• Reading Journal (May 20): Rebecca Reads A Little Slower
• June in Review
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
• May in Review
• Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
• The Arabian Nights, translated by Husain Haddawy
• Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales
• The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter
• Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (and BBAW giveaway)
• Poetry for Young People: Lewis Carroll

No one guessed the most popular book searched for on Rebecca Reads. The book that I get the most searches for is a children’s book. It is one that I think almost everybody has read at least once: Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. I wrote a post about it here last August, and it has always gotten the most hits on my site. In connection with the contest, I thought I’d take this chance to read some others of Margaret Wise Brown’s picture books.

As for a winner for my giveaway, I chose a winner, then, from all those who did make a guess. (It pays to make a random guess, sometimes!). I’ll send the winner a copy of any of the books I reviewed in the past year.

Out of the twenty people who made guesses, the winner is ……Penny from Penny’s Pages!

Penny, I’ve sent you an email. Please send me your address and which book you’d like out of those I’ve reviewed since I started blogging. The archive is here for your browsing.

Margaret Wise Brown

Goodnight Moon is one of my favorite picture books. My son likes it too. But I hadn’t read any other books by Margaret Wise Brown, so in the past few weeks, I’ve remedied that: some of the others I like a lot, and others I didn’t.

The Runaway Bunny features our little bunny friend from Goodnight Moon and is again illustrated by Clement Hurd. The little bunny tells his mother that he will run away. But no matter where he says he’ll go, his mother has a solution to get him back again. In the end, he decides to stay right where he is. The illustrations alternate between black and white with text to full-color with no text. It’s a very sweet story, and I like to read it to my son. I got the large-sized board book from the library, and he likes turning the big pages.

My World is subtitled “a companion to Goodnight Moon,” but I did not enjoy this one nearly as much. It is illustrated by Clement Hurd and obviously pictures the same room, house, and little bunny as that in Goodnight Moon. It tells the story of a little bunny introducing you to his world. But the things he points to in his world are not always illustrated on that same page, and there is no story to drive the entire book. It randomly ends with:

How many stripes
On a bumble bee?

Tell me: what did I miss with this story book?

It’s interesting how illustration can give a completely different feel to an author. Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown was illustrated by Felicia Bond, and Bond’s illustrations are playful and simple, and yet amazingly realistic. Brown’s text is rhyming and simple. The story is that of the animals going about their animal days and then going to sleep at night. It reminds me very much of Goodnight Moon in its rhymes and simplicity. It’s kind of the equivalent of Goodnight Moon for animals, and I like it just as much.

The Little Island is illustrated by Leonard Weisgard, which provides yet another different feel for a very different kind of story. The story tells of a little island in the middle of the sea, the animals and plants that grow on it, and a kitty that visits and asks how the island is a part of the world. In a subtle way, The Little Island tells that we can be comfortable with ourselves, knowing that we are a part of the world, even if no one else believes us.

And it was good to be a little Island.
A part of the world
and a world of its own
all surrounded by the bright blue sea.

The Caldecott Medal winning illustrations are bright paintings that give life and texture to the island, its vegetation, and the sea that surrounds it.

Margaret Wise Brown’s The Golden Egg Book was published as a Golden Book, and illustrated by Leonard Weisgard. It tells of a rabbit that found an egg and tried to open it. While he sleeps, the little yellow duck comes out of an egg. The rabbit and the duck are friends. The illustrations are bright and engaging, but this book irritated me to no end. Maybe it was because the duck came out of the egg looking rather old, not like a newborn chick. But maybe there was another reason. I’m not sure.

The Quiet Noisy Book is another odd book, also illustrated by Leonard Weisgard in a completely different style. A little dog awoke to a strange noise. In the end, he determines the noise is a new day. The book provides lots of (ridiculous) analogies of things that are quiet: a bee wondering, butter melting, a fish breathing. In some respects it may be educational for children trying to understand analogies:

As quiet as a chair.
Quiet as air.
Quiet as someone whispering a secret to a baby.

As an adult, I didn’t enjoy reading it aloud. But maybe a child would enjoy reading it and learning from it.

Garth William’s illustrated animals in Margaret Wise Brown’s The Little Fur Family seem a little too furry to me, but this is a story about a fur family, so I suppose it’s appropriate. The book I got from my library was a cute little size, so he enjoyed walking around with. The story of the little fur child is entertaining, I suppose, but I found the occasional rhymes rather annoying and the story less than engaging. Again, maybe a child would like it more.

The Color Kittens, illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen, was originally a Little Golden Book, and this one I like. In this story, two kittens mix pails of paint to discover other colors, and they paint their world. The kittens were adorable, and I liked the colorful world they created together. There is a rhythm to The Color Kittens that also makes it pleasant to read aloud. I think it is a winner.

The Caldecott Honor A Child’s Goodnight Book, with pictures by Jean Charlot, has color pencil illustrations to show the different creatures and things around the world that are sleepy or quiet. It doesn’t rhyme as some of Margaret Wise Brown’s books do, but it does have a “sleepy” feel to the language, as each page ends with something sleepy: Sleepy fish, Sleepy sheep, sleepy bunnies, sleepy children. It ends with a prayer, which seems out of place today, but was probably pretty normal given the original publication of 1943.

The library also has a number of stories by Margaret Wise Brown that were originally published for magazines; now they have been reissued with modern illustrations for a picture book format. It was interesting to read some of them. Although I wouldn’t consider them great stories, it was nice to see that stories written fifty years ago can be translated into modern stories with the right illustrations.

In the end, I feel Margaret Wise Brown wrote some winning children’s books. I’m glad for her legacy, and I’m all the more interested to learn about her life and her impact on children’s picture books.

Which is your favorite book by Margaret Wise Brown? Did I miss it?

• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
• Bookworms Carnival: You Are Never Too Old
• Caldecott Corner: The House in the Night by Beth Krommes, 2009 Award Winner
• Caldecott Corner Author Spotlight: Simms Taback
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle
• May in Review
• Consistency Errors in Goodnight Moon and Other Book Issues for an Obsessive One-Year-Old
• Caldecott Corner: Mo Willems

Other than picture books any time of the day, I also like to read him chapter books (usually children’s). Even though he’s too young to care or follow a plot, I want to read those books, so I might as well get them read while I’m reading to a child. So each morning, I usually read him a chapter from something (10-20 minutes) while he plays with his toys or eats his breakfast.

From April 15 (when I started keeping track) until the end of April, we read 390 minutes, or an average of 26 minutes a day. I had made a 75-day goal of 2500 minutes, which is an average of 33 minutes a day. Considering reading in the morning and bedtime stories, that sounded do-able, but then I forgot to consider the days when I forget or don’t do much reading with him at all (like weekends!).

I realize now that that goal will be nearly impossible. In the past two weeks, I’ve been really pushing myself to read whenever I could and every day. But I still came up short of what I expected would be “easy.” Maybe averaging 20 minutes a day is plenty practical. My new goal is 1600 minutes by the end of June, including, of course, the 390 we did in the later half of April.

I also wonder which times I should count as reading; maybe I am “cheating.” My son doesn’t actually read, so all my time is actually “reading to a kid.”  Which times would you count as “reading with kids” out of these?

• I read a chapter book to him while he plays with his toys or eats his breakfast or takes his bath.
• I read a chapter book to him while he falls asleep in my arms (he was not feeling well).
• I read him a picture book bedtime story.
• I read him two pages of a bedtime story, and then he points at the pictures and babbles as he turns the other pages.
• When I say it’s time for a bedtime story, he runs to the closet and grabs a picture book. Then he sits on the floor, turns the pages, and babbles, pushing me away if I come near. After about 30 seconds, he gets up and exchanges it for a different book. Repeat five to ten times.

I count them all, because each in its own way helps him to love reading. That is, I think, the purpose of this challenge. I’m comforted in the fact that my son loves books. But what do you think? Does reading with kids need to be interactive?

I know my son has begun to love books and reading. It’s a success so far.

An example of success: I read my son Robinson Crusoe aloud over the course of two months. I figured he was too young to notice what I was reading anyway, so why not. Now, whenever he sees that particular book on my bookshelf, he brings it to me, babbling something incomprehensible. I’m hoping he is actually saying something about his good memories of me reading to him (like maybe that day I held him when he was not feeling well, and he fell asleep as I read to him).

Another example: Yesterday morning, after I got him up and dressed, I was going to go into the other room. But my son found the copy of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle we’re reading and handed it to me, very excited.

“Do you want me to read some of it to you?” I asked.

He nodded emphatically and then headed back to his toys, turning to look back at me to see that I was starting to read. Aww, how could I not?

• Rose, Where Do You Get that Red? by Kenneth Koch + Reading with Kids Challenge
• Thoughts on Blogging and Reading + HTR&W Giveaway Reminder
• Pat the Bunny and Other Interactive Books for Kids
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, April 5
• Kids Corner: What Are Your Children Reading? 22 October
• Reading Habits: Who What When Where Why How?
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, December 7
• Caldecott Corner: The House in the Night by Beth Krommes, 2009 Award Winner
• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
• Kids Corner: Winnie-the-Pooh Books Inspired by Milne and Shepard

I enjoyed how the Poetry for Young People: Lewis Carroll (edited by Edward Mendelson and illustrated by Eric Copeland) volume included background information about each poem so I knew who and what Carroll was mocking (often, it was Isaac Watts, whose moralistic children’s poems scared me silly a few months ago). Because I was not familiar with some of the contemporary poets and styles that Carroll mocked, I was disappointed that the poems weren’t as ridiculous as they could have been.

And yet, the nonsense of poems like “Jabberwocky” and “Father William” are still fun for children today. I enjoyed rereading Lewis Carroll’s poetry, and the illustrations in this particular volume were bright and appropriately fantastic. Many of the poems are from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, which I also enjoy.

Lewis Carroll’s best-known poem is probably “Jabberwocky,” which is full of nonsense words. Here it is in full, thanks to Project Gutenberg. (Of course, in Through the Looking-Glass, it is written backwards, since it is a mirror reflection.)

JABBERWOCKY

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

‘Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!’

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought-
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

‘And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’
He chortled in his joy.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

• Poetry for Young People: William Shakespeare
• Poetry for Young People: Robert Louis Stevenson (edited by Frances Schoonmaker)
• A Poem in Your Pocket: Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins
• Babylon in a Jar: New Poems by Andrew Hudgins
• Sailing Alone Around the Room by Billy Collins
• Poetry Friday: Christmas Poems
• Harlem Renaissance Poetry
• A Selection of Poetry by John Donne
• Rose, Where Do You Get that Red? by Kenneth Koch + Reading with Kids Challenge
• The Norton Introduction to Poetry + My Introduction to Poetry

Rose, Where Do You Get that Red?

In a detailed introduction, Koch describes how he teaches children from third grade to sixth grade how to write poetry using classic poems as examples and frames. Then, in ten chapters, he details ten writing prompts using ten different poems (by William Blake, John Donne, Wallace Stevens, Shakespeare, Wallace Stevens, Walt Whitman, and others) and then provides examples of student poetry. He concludes with an extensive 150-page anthology of other poems that may work in elementary and middle school classes, with one line explanations as to how to teach them.

As a mother, a reader, and a want-to-be writer, I found Rose, Where Do You Get That Read? to be highly interesting . It emphasized to me that children are intelligent, that good classic poetry can be read and understood even at a young age, and that I can learn from poetry much as children can. It reminded me that just as the teacher didn’t expect the students to understand every part of a poem, I don’t have to understand every part of a poem to enjoy it and apply it to myself. Just as the teacher encouraged students to think about their own dreams, I can apply poems to my own imaginary worlds.

I admit that I skimmed some of the children’s poetry sections; while they were amazingly good for third and fourth graders, for example, they still were children’s poems, full of awkwardness. Because I skimmed some of those sections, this 300-page book was a quick read.

What I was most interested in was the selections of poems Koch suggested for children. All of his suggested poems were complicated and deep (“A Valedicition: Forbidding Mourning ” by John Donne, for example, has so many layers it’s mind-boggling), and yet his suggestions for teaching them to children were fascinating.

On the Donne example, he says:

The appeal of this poem for children is that it offers them new things to write about (science and math) and shows them how they can use these things to talk about tender and passionate feelings in an indirect way, without being embarrassed.  (page 50)

And then here is one of the student examples, this from a sixth grader (Stephen Sebbane):

Our Feeling

Our love is like two waves dashing together
No one can separate us, not even the shore
My hatred for your ex-boyfriend is like the way oil and vinegar repel.

Wow. Now, I won’t argue that that is a great poem. (Koch himself observes that he does not address revision at all in this book). However, I think it’s awesome that a young kid can apply his own feelings in a metaphor much as Donne did (Donne using the image of a compass). A child could still get something out of Donne’s poem, complicated as it is.

I knew that William Blake wrote “The Tyger” for children, so including that was expected for me. Even that, however, is difficult for children in this day and age. And yet, Koch points out that

Restricting children to poems supposed to be on their age- or grade-level deprives them of too many good things. They get more out of genuinely good poems than out of mediocre ones, even if the better poems are difficult in some ways. (page 179).

I’m convinced! Now I hope that my little son doesn’t mind if I read him poetry regularly through his life. I like it.

I highly recommend Rose, Where Did You Get That Red? if you are an educator. But even if you are not, it’s inspiring to see how good poetry can be applied to you yourself, and it may give you inspiration for your own poems.

Do you read poetry to your children?

Other Reviews:

If you have reviewed Rose, Where Did You Get That Red? on your site, leave a link in the comments and I’ll add it here.

Read with Kids Challenge

Speaking of reading with your children, USAirways has partnered with Reading is Fundamental to sponsor the Reading with Kids Challenge from April 1 until June 30, 2009. They are hoping to log 5 million minutes of parents reading to kids. There are prizes too, but I’ve joined simply because I love the challenge to read with my son more. My goal is to read 2,500 minutes with him from April 15 (when I started counting) until June 30.

I try to read to him from a chapter book for about 20 minutes each morning. He plays with his toys and otherwise enjoys being awake while I read. I know he doesn’t necessarily understand what I’m reading, and he probably doesn’t care if I’m reading or not, but I like the time I spend reading with him. I also read him picture books before bedtime. He is getting better at sitting still and participating in the reading!

My goal of 2,500 minutes comes to about 35 minutes a day. Since I currently aim for at least 20 minutes a day, I think that is reasonable.

How much do you read to your kids every day? Why don’t you join this challenge to read to them more in the coming months?

• Reading with Kids, Defined
• A Selection of Poetry by John Donne
• April in Review
• A Poem in Your Pocket: Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins
• Poetry Friday: Christmas Poems
• Poetry for Young People: Lewis Carroll
• Sailing Alone Around the Room by Billy Collins
• Reading The Iliad by Homer, trans. by Robert Fagles
• The Norton Introduction to Poetry + My Introduction to Poetry
• Babylon in a Jar: New Poems by Andrew Hudgins

I haven’t reviewed my son’s reading since January. This is partly because I’ve been busy moving, but also because my son has been enjoying the books I’ve already mentioned. In fact, he loves all books at 18 months old. I can’t hold a book without him coming over and taking it away for his own perusal. This includes story time at bedtime. Most nights, I don’t actually get a word read because he’s turning the pages so fast!

He’s taken a particular interest in Let’s Dance, Little Pookie. He wants to dance and march at all times of the day. Of course, he wants to hold the book himself as he marches. It’s okay, though, because I have it memorized by this point. He also still enjoys Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb and “reads” that every single day. I also have it memorized.

This week he also won’t stop with Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann. In this mostly wordless book, the Gorilla steals the Zookeeper’s keys, lets the other animals out of their cages, and they all follow him into this bed! I don’t know what he likes about this book so much: maybe the bright colors draw him in.  I’m delighted there is another book he’s so interested in!

Two weeks ago, I did a post on Pat the Bunny and my son has been enjoying that book very much, as well as the other “touch-and-feel” books I mentioned. At Sarah’s suggestion, we also found an Usborne touchy-feely book, particularly That’s Not My Dragon, which I think is rather fun.

I have been feeling lately like I am in a Sandra Boynton rut: I always turn to Sandra Boynton’s board books when I’m looking for a board book to read. I just love her rhymes and illustrations, but I have been hoping for something new. A few suggestions helped me find some new board books.

While You Were Sleeping by John Butler has gorgeous, soft, gentle illustrations as we count the animals around the world, all of which are awake while baby is sleeping. I really like the illustrations (adorable animals). I also found Georg Hallensleben, who illustrates a number of different types of picture books. I read Anne Gutman’s Mommy Loves, which shows mommy animals with their babies. The bright and rough paintings are quite attractive to me and I like the change of pace from Boynton and Butler. My son hasn’t paid any attention to these new books, even after three weeks: he’d still rather read Little Pookie and Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb. Again. I’m trying for variety, but at least I know he loves his books!

For fun, I also found Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. I loved this book as a child, and while I know my son is still too young to sit still, I read it while he played. I still enjoy it – and I can imagine my son will enjoy it when he’s old enough to sit and ponder the diagram of Mary Anne the steam shovel, Mike Mulligan’s dearest friend.

There is a story in Mike Mulligan that is fun: a machine goes fast and saves the town while everyone watches; a little boy gives a winning suggestion to keep Mary Anne useful. And yet there is still a sense of sadness surrounding the story. Mike Mulligan is about how changing technology makes the familiar technology of the past obsolete: Mike’s plight and Mary Anne’s inevitable (or is it?) “death” make the reader sad that there are no jobs for steam shovels and the operators. Mike Mulligan is a mournful reminder of the constantly changing world and the inevitable stage in everyone’s life of old age and uselessness.

Then again, maybe it is just a fun story.

What are you reading your children this week?

• Baby’s Sunday Salon, December 7
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, November 9
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, October 5
• Baby’s Monday Salon: Dogs, Trains, and Simple Illustrations
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle
• Kid’s Corner: Birthday Books (Age 2)
• Caldecott Corner Author Spotlight: Simms Taback
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, January 4
• April in Review
• Consistency Errors in Goodnight Moon and Other Book Issues for an Obsessive One-Year-Old

In a very simple manner, Swanson tells the story of a little house and a book, waiting on a bed. In the book is the story of a bird flying in the night with the sun reflecting off the moon. Then the story that we are reading steps back out again and we look at the house in the night, with the little girl going to bed.

While the story is simple and has few words, the illustrations are detailed and intricate. I tried my hand at scratchboard when I took an art class in college: it’s hard. And yet each page is beautifully illustrated, with just a touch of gold color. I can’t explain how comforting the book was to read and examine: a perfect bedtime story that relaxes.

But I wonder about the librarian’s comment. The illustrations are black, white and gold, with black the main color. I thought they were beautiful, but the librarian’s comment might have merit. See sample pages from the book via Amazon’s Look Inside! option here.

In this day of full-color illustrated children’s books, is a three-color (mostly black) picture book too “dark”? What are children drawn to in illustration?

My son is too young to tell me what he thinks. But I’d love to know what you (or your children) thought of The House in the Night.

If you have reviewed The House in the Night on your site, leave a link in the comments and I’ll add it here.

• Kids Corner: What Are Your Children Reading? 22 October
• Author Spotlight: Margaret Wise Brown + Giveaway Winner
• Caldecott Corner Author Spotlight: Simms Taback
• Dear D____ Public Library,
• Caldecott Corner: Mo Willems
• Caldecott Corner: Wintery Miscellany
• Caldecott Corner: David Wiesner
• Baby’s Monday Salon: Dogs, Trains, and Simple Illustrations
• Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne
• Kid’s Corner: Birthday Books (Age 2)

The toddler makes a mess and drives the mother crazy; but she loves him forever. The 9-year-old talks back to her and acts like an animal; but she loves him forever. And so on. Even when he’s a grown man, the mother still sneaks in late at night to rock him to sleep, singing, as always:

I’ll love you forever,
I’ll like you for always,
As long as I’m living
My baby you’ll be.

Then, of course, she gets old and can no longer sing. The son, by now a father with his own baby, sings to his mother, reassuring her that as long as he’s living, his Mommy she’ll be. He then turns to repeat the scenario with his own little baby.

I really like this book and I cannot read it without crying: it is so tender to me to think how my son, now just one-year-old, will be getting old. No matter what he does, I love him and always will. And yet, I suspect that this is a book for the mother.

In one respect, Love You Forever does not align with my personal beliefs: I believe that mothers are mothers forever, even after death, because life continues beyond this one. Therefore, to me, the line should say not “as long as I’m living” but “forever.” For me, then, this story isn’t all that disturbing; it’s a mother expressing her love to her son.

But what is your experience with Love You Forever? Does any child want to read it, thinking about how their mother will someday get old? Is this image of death disturbing to children?

I’m thinking about this book as a part of my “Children’s Literature: A Reader’s History” project. I’m pondering the question: does death and dying belong in children’s literature?

• Death and War in Children’s Literature: Two Newberys about the Revolution
• Kids Corner: What Are Your Children Reading? 22 October
• The Iliad by Homer, trans. Robert Fagles: Love and Hate But Mostly Love
• Kid’s Corner: Birthday Books (Age 2)
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, April 5
• Personal History by Katharine Graham + Why I Love a Great Biography
• Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
• Robinson Crusoe Adaptations for Children
• Stiff by Mary Roach: A Change Your Life (or Rather, Death) Book

This month, I found my favorite Dr. Seuss book: My Many Colored Days. My Many Colored Days was published posthumously and was not illustrated by Dr. Seuss. But probably for that reason I love the brightly painted pages, and I think the animals of various colors do help to illustrate how we might feel on different days. I might add that toddlers might sometimes feel like a brown bear, a red horse, and an orange circus seal all on the same day, maybe all in the same hour!

I first read of Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene W. Field, illustrated by Giselle Potter, at The Well-Read Child. So when I saw it on the new books shelf in the children’s section of the library, I was very excited to check it out. I’ve read the Eugene Field poem before, but this lovely illustrated book brings the story to life. I love the color blue and there is lots of blue in the paintings of the three fishermen who sail off in to the sky in a wooden shoe. The text of the poem is in the public domain; read it here.

I remembered reading Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion as a kid, so I picked it up again to relive it now, reading it to my son. Harry the white dog with black spots doesn’t want to take a bath, so he hides his scrubbing brush in the back yard and runs away, having all sorts of fun getting dirty. Of course, he feels lonely and returns to his home. It’s a fun, simple story of learning to appreciate what we have (even having a bath!).

In December, I also shared a number of Christmas and winter books that I read in December.

What did you read your children last month? What are you reading them today?

• Baby’s Sunday Salon, October 5
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, November 9
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, December 7
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, April 5
• December 2008 Month in Review and January 2009 Reading Journal
• Baby’s Monday Salon: Dogs, Trains, and Simple Illustrations
• January 2009 Month in Review and February Reading Journal
• The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Treasury by Betty MacDonald
• January in Review: A Good Start to 2010
• Caldecott Corner: Wintery Miscellany

This year, I decided to immerse myself in holiday picture books. My son, at one-year-old, won’t remember a thing about this Christmas. But next year he might remember something: I want to know which picture books best bring the spirit of the season in to our home so next year we’ll be ready.

The Christmas Story

In terms of telling the Christmas story, one of my favorite books is a small picture book that my son received for his first Christmas: My First Story of Christmas by Tim Dowley. The illustrations are simple but fun, reverent but childlike. It ends with this reminder:

We give each other presents, just as the wise men gave presents to Jesus. And just as God sent Jesus as the best gift of all.

But sometimes it’s more appropriate to read the Biblical account of the first Noel. One such picture book is The Christmas Story, featuring paintings by Gennady Spirin. The illustrations in this book appropriately remind me of Europe and the Renaissance, and I like the solemnity with which the Biblical text is presented.

The Animals in the Stable

The animals of the stable are often the focus of children’s picture books, possibly because children tend to love animals and because they are so lovely in illustrations. The image of the babe in the manger, humbly surrounded by gentle animals, is a memorable part of the season.

One such book that I love is Tomie dePaola’s The Friendly Beasts. I like Tomie dePaola’s illustration style for this Christmas carol, although there are many available. I believe dePaola’s simple illustrations fit the song well. He frames the carol with three boys singing, although the majority of the book illustrates the manger, the animals, and people worshipping the newborn Savior. Every other page is a two-page spread with the specific animal near the baby Jesus. When I was young, “The Friendly Beasts” was, in a way, our family Christmas carol, especially my favorite. My favorite verse is of the doves.

Another animal nativity book is Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale by Martin Waddell. In this story, the Gentle Ox invites the Old Dog, Stray Cat, and Small Mouse into the warm stable before Tired Donkey and the Baby Jesus join them. The illustrations are beautiful, and the author wisely keeps the text to a minimum. My only complaint is the lovely Nativity image on the cover is not included inside the text: I love this image of the nativity. I look forward to revisiting this Nativity story time and again.

The Gifts of Christmas

I reread The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry a few months ago, but I appreciated reading an adapted version, illustrated by Carol Heyer, in celebration of the Christmas season. The adaptation takes out some of O. Henry’s tedious wordiness, thus emphasizing the true message and spirit of the story. Heyer’s illustrations are realistic, and yet deeply appropriate for this Christmas tale of the true meaning of giving a gift in love.

The Littlest Angel by Charles Tazewell and illustrated by Paul Micich is the story of a little angel in heaven who wants to give a special gift to the baby Jesus. He’s a young angel and he can’t seem to do anything right, but somehow his gift is the one that makes all the difference. I love the beautiful illustrations, and the story resonates with the rest of us who long to make a difference.

The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale by Angela Elwell Hunt (illustrated by Tim Jonke) tells us of three trees with big dreams. One wants to be a treasure chest, one wants to be a mighty ship, and one wants to stay where he is and point to heaven. When woodsmen cut them down, the first becomes a manger, the second becomes a fishing boat, and the third becomes a beam, and they all learn that their dreams have come true, for they each hold the Savior of the world in a different way. I like to include this with my Christmas books because it reminds me of the true treasures of the Season.

Santa and Friends

I love the Santa tradition: the red fur coat, the cookies and milk, the reindeer. When I was young, we left not only cookies and milk for Santa but also parsley for the reindeer. I love Santa’s friends: Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, Mrs. Claus, and so many more. (We got presents not just from Santa but from his friends.) I love Christmas Carols, even in the stores in late November.

And I love all the characters that we now associate with Christmas, because we met them first in books.

Santa

There are many different illustrated versions of the The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clark Moore, but I prefer the one illustrated by Ruth Sanderson. The illustrations are realistic but still gentle, and Santa looks like a magical friend. I also enjoy The Night Before Christmas as illustrated by Mary Engelbreit: the colors are bright and the cartoon-like illustrations are detailed and amusing, if not a little busy.

Here Comes Santa Claus by Gene Autry and Oakley Haldeman (illustrated by Bruce Whatley) has beautiful illustrations to the classic song. The realistic illustrations shift from Santa at the North Pole and in the midst of delivering presents, to a family singing carols, hanging stockings, and otherwise preparing for a happy Christmas Eve. This song about Santa Claus is a Christian one, and I enjoy the blend of Santa with the Christian Christmas cheer.

Other Christmas Friends

For me, Christmas isn’t Christmas without How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss. In this perfect Christmas classic, the crabby old Grinch, with a heart three sizes too small, steals Christmas from the each unsuspecting Who down in Who-ville who likes Christmas a lot. But when he realizes that taking away the things of Christmas doesn’t stop the Christmas spirit, he has a literal change of heart. I love Dr. Seuss rhymes, and I love my memories of Christmas growing up with The Grinch.

The Caldecott-winning illustrations of The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, are only part of the magic of this Christmas story. One Christmas Eve, a young boy lies awake, listening for Santa’s sleigh bells. But he doesn’t hear bells: he hears a train. And there it is outside the door, waiting to take him to the North Pole. The ride on the train in pajamas with other children is only the beginning of the fun, for he meets Santa, who gives him a very special gift. The boy’s story is an adventure-filled reminder to keep believing.

I’d never read the original story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Robert Lewis May until this month. In simple rhymes, Rudolph’s story goes beyond the song. I read the original, which was first published in 1939, as well as one illustrated by David Wenzel. The modern illustrations are bright and engaging, but the words are the same. It’s in an oversized hardcover format. I like the complete story of Rudolph.

Frosty the Snowman by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins and illustrated by Richard Cowdrey is another large and colorful book for a familiar friend. Frosty looks as realistic as a snowman can be!

Christmas Music

When I was about 8, my mother sewed a beautiful satin Christmas dress for me as well as one for my sister. As a family, we went to Chicago to watch a ballet of The Nutcraker. I have always loved the music and the story of this Christmas tradition. The Nutcracker by Michael Hague brings the story to life, basing his retelling on the E.T.A. Hoffman 1800’s story as well as the ballet. While I don’t always love Hague’s illustration style, it works well for this story.

The Twelve Days of Christmas, illustrated by John O’Brien, brings the ridiculousness of this carol to life. (The illustrations illustrate that he is a bit annoyed at his true love by the end.)

I’ve tried to provide an overview of a number of my favorite books, and books that I’ve newly discovered this year. But, as is always the case, I’m sure I’ve missed someone’s favorite. Which picture books do you and your family revisit every year?

Regardless of what you’re reading, I hope you have a very happy holiday!

• Four Christmas Novellas by Charles Dickens
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• Poetry Friday: Christmas Poems
• The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum
• Christmas Countdown: Music Collections I Love
• December 2008 Month in Review and January 2009 Reading Journal
• Caldecott Corner Author Spotlight: Simms Taback
• Favorite Author: Sandra Boynton’s Picture Books
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, January 4

In The Life of Our Lord, Charles Dickens retells the major events in the life of Jesus Christ. He obviously omits a lot, but he focuses on what he wants his children to know. It is an intriguing look at the life of Christ and at the specific faith of Charles Dickens. I appreciated the way he wrote as if speaking directly to a child, and I am glad I read it.

All that said, I wasn’t very impressed with this short children’s book. Publishers warned readers not to expect a typical Dickens book from it, and I have to say I agree: I don’t think it’s typical. It was written for children and for specific children at that (his own). For that reason the tone is incredibly casual.

As I read, I kept thinking “I want to write something like this for my own child!” Because Dickens is writing for his own purposes, he writes what he feels is most important, explicating his own theological understanding on the events of Christ’s life. It is perfectly appropriate, and yet it made me want to do the same with my own understanding and beliefs about the life of Christ. I want my children to know what I believe and what I love from the life of Jesus Christ.

While he was alive, Dickens asked that The Life of Our Lord never be published while he was alive; he wrote it for his family and wanted it to say in the family. In the 1930s, it was published by his descendants.  More information can be found at Wikipedia.

The bottom line: I recommend reading The Life of Our Lord if you’re interested in Dickens’ faith and understanding of the life of Jesus Christ. The Life of Our Lord may interest you and inspire you, but I don’t think it’s full of quality Dickens writing. I’m not very inclined to whole-heartedly recommend that you read The Life of Our Lord; it’s purpose wasn’t for me or you or anyone else to read it. I felt like I was reading a personal letter Dickens wrote to his children.

Do you think it was right of Dickens’ descendants to publish The Life of Our Lord? Dickens hadn’t asked that publication be avoided forever, but he obviously wanted to keep it in the family. If you wrote something you never wanted published, what would you think if someone published your writing against your wishes? What if you’ve been dead a long time?

Have you reviewed The Life of Our Lord? Leave a link in the comments and I’ll add it here.

• Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• Four Christmas Novellas by Charles Dickens
• Christ and the New Covenant by Jeffrey R. Holland
• Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding
• Abraham Lincoln: A Man of Faith and Courage by Joe Wheeler
• The Life of Wilkie Collins (Biographies by Clarke and Peters)
• Jane Austen: A Biography by Carol Shields, a Quote Book, and a History of England

My Very First Numbers Book by Eric Carle

Eric Carle doesn’t just list numbers with pictures for My Very First Numbers Book: this board book has two pages to turn for each number. The top portion of the book follows in numerical order, with digits and an appropriate number of squares. The bottom portion of the book has illustrations of fruits, with each page showing a different number. The idea is to match the number on top with the correct number of fruit pictured on the bottom. I like Eric Carle’s illustrations and I love the concept of learning the numbers by practicing. My son is still too young to really grasp that concept, but he sure loved having double pages to turn!

How Do Dinosaurs ….? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague

I love the “How Do Dinosaurs…?” series by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Mark Teague. There are many, many in the series. Here are some that I’ve read:

• How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? (hardcover)
  
• How Do Dinosaurs Clean Up Their Rooms? (board book)
• How Do Dinosaurs Play With Their Friends? (board book)
• How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten? (board book)
  

The illustrations are very cute. The dinosaurs are either having temper tantrums or acting properly while human parents oversee their progress. Most of the books follow a pattern. The first half of the book have questions: “Do dinosaurs [insert bad behavior]?”; the last few pages have the answer: “No, dinosaurs [insert good behavior]!” In each illustration, the name of the dinosaur is subtly written somewhere in the illustration.

My favorite one that I’ve read (Count to Ten) doesn’t follow that format. Instead, it shows a dinosaur playing with his toys as he counts them. It also ends with “Once he’s counted from one to ten, how does a dinosaur count again? Again!”, which I think is very fun. I could read it over and over (and we did).

Some of these are only board books; some are only in hardcover books; some are either. Because of my son’s age, I looked for the board books where possible (at least at the library).  Which do you prefer to buy for your young kids? Hardcover, softcover, or board books?

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins

Remember I told you my son is musical? Well, Hand Hand Fingers Thumb by Al Perkins has a rhythm that he smiles at, even at 14 months old.

Hand
Hand
Fingers
Thumb

One thumb
One thumb
Drumming on a drum.

Millions of monkeys
Millions of drums
Millions of monkeys
Drumming on drums

The board book is about half the length of the full-length original (apparently now out of print I can’t find a link on Amazon for it; it’s at the bookstores), but it’s still fun.

What are you reading with your child(ren) this month?

• Baby’s Sunday Salon, April 5
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, November 9
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, October 5
• Caldecott Corner: Mo Willems
• December 2008 Month in Review and January 2009 Reading Journal
• Caldecott Corner Author Spotlight: Simms Taback
• Baby’s Monday Salon: Dogs, Trains, and Simple Illustrations
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, January 4
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle

Sandra Boynton’s Pookie books. My son received Let’s Dance, Little Pookie by Sandra Boynton for his first birthday, a previously unknown (to me) new Boynton classic. In Let’s Dance, Mama helps Pookie dance the “Pookie Shimmy.” I think it’s very cute. My son likes the part where we march all around. I found another Pookie book at the library: What’s Wrong, Little Pookie? In this one, Mama tries to find out why Pookie is crying. Both board books feature Boynton’s typically cute and wacky illustrations.

George and Martha by James Marshall. George and Martha are best friends, and James Marshall’s story books show us what that means. They tell the truth to each other, even if it hurts; they respect each other’s privacy; they learn what it means to be friends. They are also hippos, and that makes the illustrations to these stories lots of fun. James Marshall wrote the first book (George and Martha) in 1972. Five sequels followed in the next 15 years. I loved the first one: the clever illustrations were imperative to the humor and plot of the five very short stories. The subsequent books, while equally ridiculous (i.e., humorous), didn’t charm me as much. You can also buy a book with all six collections of George and Martha stories.

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. When Max is sent to his room without supper, he finds himself on a journey to where the wild things live. But, in the end, he longs to return to where there are people who love him and he returns to his room to find supper waiting. Sendak’s Caldecott-winning illustrations bring the “Wild Things” to life, yellow eyes and all. I have good memories of reading this book as a child and I look forward to introducing it to my son (when he’s old enough to remember it’s been introduced). But I wonder: was anyone scared by the Wild Things? They are rather “frightening” looking, and I wonder if children would be scared by the monsters.

The Monster at the End of the Book (starring Grover) by Jon Stone. My son has only begun watching Sesame Street (we didn’t have a television set while in Australia) and so far only watches for 10 minutes before walking away. But when I was reminded of this book, I had to revisit it. And I love it! On each page, Grover warns us not to turn the page because turning the pages will bring us closer to the end of the book. He’s scared because the title told him there is a monster at the end of the book. But, of course, we reach the end of the book and discover Grover is the monster. And he’s lovable and furry. I imagine older kids love the “don’t you dare turn the page!” challenge. My son, as I mentioned, didn’t get it much yet. Maybe in a few months.

What are you reading your child(ren) this month?

• Baby’s Sunday Salon, April 5
• November Month in Review and December Reading Journal
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, October 5
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, December 7
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, January 4
• Caldecott Corner: Mo Willems
• Favorite Author: Sandra Boynton’s Picture Books
• Baby’s Monday Salon: Dogs, Trains, and Simple Illustrations

Our kids still use alphabet books to learn. I had a fun time reading children’s alphabet books to see how we learn the alphabet today. While all of these “teach” the alphabet, some encourage critical thinking, and some of them have specific purposes for further teaching.

Beginning ABCs and Alphabet Rhymes

Dr. Seuss’s ABC is my favorite ABC learning book that I read this week: it doesn’t force rhymes and each letter has a different silly sentence and illustration. Some pages have made up words, but they capture imagination in a way I think only Dr. Seuss succeeds in. A favorite page: “Many mumbling mice are making midnight music in the moonlight … mighty nice.”

A is for Annabelle by Tasha Tudor is one that I wish I’d found as a little girl. With gorgeous illustrations and soft rhymes, we follow the little china doll Annabelle through an alphabet of her little toys and accessories. I love these illustrations and intend to look up this Caldecott Honor artist again.

A number of books follow the alphabet using letters, nouns, and/or verbs, coupled with creative illustrations in a particular style.

• A to Z and In Between by Sandra Boynton is full of Boynton’s classic animal illustrations and creative imagination, such as “Xylo Xylophoning” and “Uglybirds being Ugly”.
• Alligators All Around: An Alphabet by Maurice Sendak has Sendak’s classic illustrations of alligators doing ridiculous things; but Sendak’s text is not politically correct in this day and age (for example, imitating Indians and pushing people). Do you think political correctness matters for a classic children’s alphabet book?
• Eric Carle’s ABC illustrates colorful animals (including narwhal and xolo) in a unique page fold-out format.
• Winnie-the-Pooh’s ABC, inspired by A.A. Milne, brings us Ernest H. Shepard’s classic illustrations; I think this book would work very well for allowing a young child to answer questions about familiar pictures using the one word on the page (e.g., who is eating the honey in this picture?)

Alphabet Storybooks

The Little i in Alphabet Adventure by Audrey Wood and Bruce Wood has lost his dot, and the other letters in Charley’s alphabet help in a search. Alphabet Adventure was refreshing because it doesn’t follow the letters in alphabetic order; instead, it allows young readers to search for the letters in the colorful illustrations. There are a few sequels to this story, also featuring the lowercase letters.

In Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault, the letters of the alphabet have a party on top of the coconut tree – which is a good idea until 26 of them are up there!

In Curious George Learns the Alphabet by H.A. Rey, the Man in the Yellow Hat teaches George the alphabet; he teaches things that start with each letter, attempting to make the capital and lowercase letters look like that thing in the illustration. Some are a bit obscure or politically incorrect (e.g., dromedary, tomahawk when George plays Indians) and many of the animals don’t really look like the letter. But this is classic Curious George.

The pirates in Shiver Me Letters: Pirate’s ABC by June Sobel decide that they want letters other than “R,” a concept I found quite amusing. They go on a search, using the anchor to find A, finding a C engraved on the cannonball, etc.

In Richard Scarry’s ABCs, Charlie Chipmunk invited Big HIlda Hippo to dinner, but can’t figure out what to feed her. An alligator or an apple? A bed or a banana? This a fun story that allows the reader to help make decisions.

Critical-Thinking Abecedaria

In The Z Was Zapped Chris Van Allsburg illustrates something happening to each letter; the text is on the next page, thus allowing the reader to guess. Obviously, the actions all start with the same letter: the A was in an avalanche, the K was quietly kidnapped, the T was tied up, and so forth. One amazon.com reviewer was quite distressed that The Z Was Zapped is too violent for children; I, however, think it was another creative way to put the alphabet into action. I also like Van Allsburg’s detailed illustrations. Do you think “violence” like this is okay in a child’s alphabet book?

Q is for Duck by Mary Elting and Michael Folsom is subtitled “An Alphabet Guessing Game.” Like The Z Was Zapped, the reader is expected to make connections using the alphabet. Why is Q for Duck? Because a duck quacks, obviously!

I Spy: An Alphabet in Art by Lucy Micklethwait is a similar concept. Classic artwork has items beginning with each letter of the alphabet and we must find the alphabetic item in the artwork (for example, the cover artwork has an apple). I love the concept of building art appreciation at the same time as learning the alphabet!

Educational Abecedaria

Many alphabet books endeavor to teach, from The Construction Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta, which teaches all about construction trucks and tools, to Eating the Alphabet by Louise Ehlert, which illustrates vegetables that begin with each letter. There are many more.

The Discover America State by State series has an alphabet book for each state; review the list here and here. I read Illinois’s L is for Lincoln by Kathy-jo Wargin. While each letter-page has a somewhat awkward poem, there is a beautiful illustration and one-paragraph explanation about the letter-concept (for example, on the page for O is for Mrs. O‘Leary, we learn that there never was proof that Mrs. O’Leary’s cow knocked over a lantern, starting the Chicago fire). Even though I’ve lived in Illinois most of my life, I learned interesting facts about the state.

There’s one more alphabet book I’ll be reviewing tomorrow in honor of Halloween. In the meantime, it’s your turn.

Which alphabet book(s) did you or your kids learn from? Have I missed your favorite?

For the rest of October, I’ll donate 10 cents to World Food Programme for every (non-spam) comment I receive on any post of Rebecca Reads. See most post on Blog Action Day 2008 here. I’m also donating any proceeds (4%) from my Amazon Store.

• The Dangerous Alphabet by Neil Gaiman + Happy Halloween
• Favorite Author: Sandra Boynton’s Picture Books
• Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, November 9
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, April 5
• Children’s Christmas: Picture Books of the Season
• Two Books on Literacy (Growing a Reader from Birth and The ABCs of Literacy)
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, December 7
• The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle

On each page, the reader asks an animal what he sees; the animal responds with another animal. In the end, the students in a classroom are the ones seeing all the animals.

But such a simple concept is not the only thing that gives magic to Brown Bear: each page has a rhythm to it.

Brown bear, brown bear, What do you see?
I see a red bird looking at me.
Red bird, red bird, What do you see?
I see a yellow duck looking at me.

The sequels to Brown Bear are not as captivating. One successful sequel is Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?, in which each zoo animal makes a noise. The rhythm is not as appealing, but the gorgeous animals and the sounds they make are. In the end, a zoo keeper hears children trying to make all of those same sounds.

But the delightful rhythm and the interesting animals are missing completely in some of the other sequels. For example, in Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? each animal represents an endangered species. While that is a nice idea to nurture awareness, it doesn’t really work in the same format. Subsequent pages have the macaroni penguin, the water buffalo and other endangered species. So, for example, a subsequent page reads:

Macaroni penguin, macaroni penguin, what do you see?

That leaves me cringing as I stumble over it to read aloud, and I doubt it would captivate a younger audience.

The final sequel (thus far) is Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?, which features animals from North America.  It also felt like it had some agenda, and the animals weren’t delightful, nor did they fit the rhythm.

If you’re looking for a delightfully illustrated, rhythmic book to read your child, all the while learning colors and animals, I’d suggest Brown Bear, and maybe Polar Bear. Eric Carle’s illustrations are classic, and the rhythm makes them a fun bedtime read aloud. They also are available in a board book format.

Is Brown Bear a favorite in your home? Which of the sequels have you read? Do you like them?

• Author Spotlight: Margaret Wise Brown + Giveaway Winner
• Two Books by Eric Carle
• Favorite Author: Sandra Boynton’s Picture Books
• Consistency Errors in Goodnight Moon and Other Book Issues for an Obsessive One-Year-Old
• Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, January 4
• Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne
• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
• Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (Revisited in Poetry)
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

I took note of two elements within his discussion of the classics. First, children’s education was based on recitation and memorization. Also, children learned from extracts of The Illiad and The Odyssey, and later The Aeneid, works that even then were “adult” literature.

Memorization and Recitation

The first point caused me to ponder: Do children memorize in school today? What is the benefit of memorization?

Interestingly, Lerer argues that study and memorization of the classics helped give children a voice. They began by memorizing Homer, and progressed to writing their own recitations. Memorization, then, provided a way for them to find their own voice.

I remember memorizing some Robert Frost poems in eighth grade. Even now, any time I’m walking through a forest or driving down an autumn tree-lined road, I find myself thinking, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood….”

Likewise, in the past few days, I noticed others around me reciting instead of finding their own words: movie lines, commercials, and song lyrics. So even today we memorize and recite to find our own voice.

The Illiad as Children’s Literature

But children in ancient days weren’t quoting advertisements: they were memorizing Homer. The classic texts were what helped children learn to speak in an adult world. Lerer summarizes:

…what these texts taught were not simply moral maxims, but habits of control. Children could be masters in the house; yet children of the salves, too, could achieve beyond their birth to gain a path of honor through their merit. … nec generi, sed virtuti. [not according to birth, but according to merit] (page 34).

In other words, Homer helped kids see they could be anything when they grew up. I don’t know much about social class in antiquity, so I don’t know how accurate my generalization is. Nevertheless, it’s empowering to think that Homer could have that effect. But it’s also got me thinking: what literature might be appropriate for children?

Of course, children in ancient days didn’t have any other “children’s literature,” so to speak. Certainly, children’s literature today empowers children to speak, gives them a voice of power and mastery, and helps them recognize the opportunities they have in the future. But Lerer stresses that these works for adults were also the literature and the textbook that children relied upon.

Children were able to understand and take things away from otherwise adult texts. Note that they didn’t read the entire work (The Illiad, for example, is very violent), but they read extracts that were applicable to them. If we ask our children to read extracts from todays adult texts, might they still resonate with them?

Relevant Today?

Reading Lerer’s overview of these classics as a part of childhood education prompted me to begin the Really Old Classics Challenge. I am not familiar with many of the classics he discussed, and I’d never have thought of them in terms of children’s literature. I’m curious.

When I read The Illiad, I imagine it will be a struggle. There are challenging concepts and language within them. I imagine they were challenging to adults in ancient days. And yet, portions of the works were applicable to children then, and they memorized portions for their learning.

I’m not an educator, and my only child is a year old. I’m not calling for the addition of The Illiad to the first-grade curriculum. I recognize that the language of The Illiad is rather complicated for anyone today: this is a different age with different myths and traditions.

That said, I’m sure that modern literature has similar extracts that may resonate with children. What modern literature for adults might have portions that resonate with children? And should we encourage our children to memorize literature? Does memorizing extracts empower children with a voice? I wonder: if we expect more of our children, will they rise to the occasion? Why not try them, and see?

After reading this chapter, I’ve added a few things to my “to read” list:

• The Illiad by Homer
• The Odyssey by Homer
• The Aeneid by Virgil
• Confessions by St. Augustine

• Ingenuity and Authority: Who Really Wrote Aesop’s Fables?
• My Really Old Classics Choices
• Pat the Bunny and Other Interactive Books for Kids
• Robinson Crusoe Adaptations for Children
• Divine Songs by Isaac Watts (Poetry Friday)
• Too Young for Books?
• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
• Reading Journal, October 6
• Death and War in Children’s Literature: Two Newberys about the Revolution

I’ve never really done Sunday Salon, but there are so many great books I’m finding at my local library for my son, I thought I’d share what I’m reading to him, with him, and about him these days.

A Book to Amuse Me

This week, I got Walk On! by Marla Frazee from the library. I noticed it after reading this review on Maw Books. Walk On! is a manual for babies to learn to walk. It is very amusing. I believe it is intended for adults, not babies. In fact, most Amazon reviewers suggest it as a gift for high school grads. (In fact, in terms of teaching walking, I got it a few weeks too late, as my son learned to walk two weeks ago. He’s already a pro!)

A Book with Illustration

I also found a lovely illustrated copy of The Little Red Hen by Heather Forest and illustrated by Susan Gaber. The hen doesn’t share the cake at the end, so the reader gets the lesson (unlike in some versions). (The dog, cat, and mouse help the hen the next time, though!) The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. I intend to find more children’s stories illustrated by Susan Gaber. Somehow, she was able to capture emotions in a hen, and yet still keep it a realistic-looking animal. She has an amazing painting talent! Visit Susan Gaber’s website here. A sample picture from The Little Red Hen is here on her site.

However, despite the gorgeous illustrations and a great story, my son won’t sit and listen to me read it. He has a hard time sitting still if I don’t let him eat, tear, or otherwise maim the book I’m holding. How does one read a child this age a lovely, illustrated book? Please tell me!

A Board Book

Natasha at Maw Books reviewed the board books by Leslie Patricelli. Since I’d never heard of Leslie Patricelli and they looked great, I picked up No No, Yes Yes. This is another one that is far above my son: he doesn’t want to sit still to hear the words, let alone examine the adorable pictures with me! Parents, when does a child start to examine the pictures and point at things in books? Is my son unusually squirmy?

A Book for All Moms

Since I’m thinking about my little boy and books relating to him, I want to share my absolute favorite book for parents: Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age Five by The American Academy of Pediatrics.

My sister-in-law gave this to me when I was expecting my son, and I absolutely love it. It addresses all stages of child development, initially month by month, then by year. It has a section on first aid for young children. It’s informative and yet easy to read. I think it is a wonderful parenting resource and a perfect book for parents of young children. I suggest giving it to moms-to-be as a baby shower gift, because it is one I refer to all the time!

What are you reading your baby this week? Is he or she squirming?

• Baby’s Sunday Salon, January 4
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, November 9
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, April 5
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, December 7
• February in Review and March Reading Journal
• Death in Children’s Literature: Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
• Caldecott Corner Author Spotlight: Simms Taback
• Caldecott Corner: The House in the Night by Beth Krommes, 2009 Award Winner
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle
• Kids Corner: What Are Your Children Reading? 22 October

Kipling’s Jungle Books are collections of stories about animals and people from around the world. Each story seems to be rooted in traditional facts about the animals and/or traditions, so they make for an interesting read. Some stories have fantastic, speaking animals; others are about people and superstition. Some stories take place in the Indian Jungle; others are in Eskimo North America or the deep seas of the Atlantic Ocean. As with his Just So Stories, Kipling has interspersed a poem or two before or after each story.

I was not as impressed with these stories by the Nobel Prize-winning author as I was with his Just So Stories. While they were interesting, they were not as creative nor as well-written as the Just So Stories, which were written ten years after these. Many of the non-Mowgli stories especially were slow to develop and involved lots of dull discussion or description. One exceptional non-Mowgli story was Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, which is about a mongoose that saves a boy’s life. I did find it fun and I will look for a nicely illustrated version for my son.

I did like the Mowgli stories, and wish those were in a separate volume, in a more chronological, novel-like format from the other, more mediocre stories. Mowgli and his animal friends (Baloo the bear, Kaa the serpent, Bagheera the panther, Hathi the elephant, and others) reminded me slightly of Winnie-the-Pooh and friends. When Mowgli left the Jungle the last time at age 17 to live in a village with the other humans, his good-byes made me sad, just as saying good-bye to Winnie-the-Pooh made me sad.

However, in contrast to A.A. Milne’s Hundred Acre Wood, Kipling’s jungle is quite violent. Also, while in Winnie-the-Pooh Christopher Robin was saying good-bye to his imaginary animal friends, in Mowgli’s tales, Mowgli is giving up a “real” life of hunting and killing in the jungle for a more “normal” human life. In Mowgli’s stories, Mowgli hunts, the tiger Shere Khan tries to kill and eat him, the human villagers try to stone him to death, and Mowgli encourages the jungle animals to overrun a town, killing a few villagers in the process. The Mowgli stories are excellent, all the same, although they feel somewhat dated, maybe because I’m not familiar with the setting.

Overall, I felt that The Jungle Book(s) by Rudyard Kipling contained somewhat mediocre and dated stories, especially in comparison to his later writing. Kipling’s writing improved in Just So Stories. While I’ll read those stories again and I may revisit select jungle stories, I can’t imagine reading all of The Jungle Book or The Second Jungle Book again.

But I’m not a ten-year-old boy. Maybe, in nine years, I’ll let my son be the real judge.

Have you or your children read Kipling’s jungle stories?

Have you reviewed The Jungle Book or The Second Jungle Book? Leave a link in the comments and I’ll add it here.

(Note: Most recent publications called The Jungle Book contain both The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book.)

I am in New Zealand for nine days, so I may not be visiting your sites or responding to your comments while I am gone, but I’ll make up for it when I return!

• Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
• Poetry Friday: If by Rudyard Kipling
• Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (Revisited in Poetry)
• Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
• Bookworms Carnival: You Are Never Too Old
• The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter
• The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum
• Kids Corner: Winnie-the-Pooh Books Inspired by Milne and Shepard
• Consistency Errors in Goodnight Moon and Other Book Issues for an Obsessive One-Year-Old

I submitted my review of The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne.  I love Winnie-the-Pooh, and I look forward to rereading it many times with my son!

I also wrote a post recently about the picture book Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. I love that picture book!

I have also reviewed number of other children’s books and stories, but not all of them are books that I enjoy as an adult. View summaries of all of the children’s books I’ve reviewed on Rebecca Reads in the Child/Young Adult category.

I’m going to New Zealand for nine days! If all goes well, I have a couple of posts scheduled to appear. I probably won’t be visiting your blogs or responding to comments in the next few days. I’ll try to make up for it when I return!

• Bookworms Carnival: Fairy Tales
• Bookworms Carnival: Relationships
• Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (Revisited in Poetry)
• Recent and Upcoming Bookworms Carnivals
• Bookworms Carnival Call for Submissions: Really Old Classics
• Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne
• Upcoming Bookworms Carnival: Pulitzer Prizes
• The Jungle Book(s) by Rudyard Kipling
• Reading Journal (9 Sep): What is Rebecca Reads?
• Reminder! Send Me Your Posts

“In the great green room,” I began, setting him on my knee.

He stopped squirming and clapped his hands together, ready for his story.

My son was 3½-months-old when my mother sent him Goodnight Moon for Christmas. At that point, it was one of the five children’s books that was not 16,000 miles away in storage. I read it to him every night for months.

At first, I thought I’d get tired of reading him the same story every night. After all, at four months, I know he wasn’t really listening or looking at the pictures. Reading to him was a struggle for a few months, especially when he started “eating” the books (literally taking a bite out of one book). But nights like the other night, nights when he is excited to read, reinforce the need to keep reading.

Besides, I’ve found that I love to read Goodnight Moon. Yes, every night the little bunny says goodnight to the same objects in his same green room in the same order. But it is a different experience every night. Some nights I point out the toys in the pictures. Some nights we read slowly. Some squirmy nights we read very quickly. Some nights we read backwards because my son wants to turn the pages himself.

The words are simple, and the rhymes are lilting and gentle. Goodnight Moon is a lullaby.

Goodnight stars.
Goodnight air.
Goodnight noises everywhere.

I recently purchased Children’s Literature: A Reader’s History from Aesop to Harry Potter by Seth Lerer. I have only just begun to read it, but so far I enjoy it very much. It is a textbook about children’s reading, and, as the subtitle states, Lerer is following the child-aged reader through history, rather than the writer, as many such books do.

As I read the introduction, I felt shivers of excitement as he talked about the power children’s literature can have on a child’s life. Lerer wrote:

Even the most ordinary prose becomes magical when read aloud at bedtime. And even the simplest-seeming of our children’s books teaches something elegant and deep.

Then he quotes Leonard Marcus’ thoughts about Goodnight Moon. Marcus wrote the following in Margaret Wise Brown’s biography (and this makes me want to read the biography):

Goodnight Moon is a supremely comforting evocation of the companionable objects of the daylight world. It is also a ritual preparation for a journey beyond that world, a leave-taking of the known for the unknown world of darkness and dreams. … [I]t is partly spoken in the voice of the child, who takes possession of that world by naming its particulars all over again, addressing them directly, one by one, as though each were alive, and bidding each goodnight. … The sense of an ending descends gradually, like sleep.

Lerer expands the same concept to all of children’s literature: that cataloging and recognizing the familiar are our children’s regular stepping stones into the world of the unfamiliar.

I happen to like looking at things deeply and figuring out why we like what we do and why some things are more appealing than others. That’s the English major in me, I guess.

You, on the other hand, may think that this is reading far too much into a simple children’s story.

Regardless, I hope you take the time to sit down and read something to your child. If you don’t know where to start, I’d suggest Goodnight Moon. That’s what we’re going to read, again, tonight.

• Author Spotlight: Margaret Wise Brown + Giveaway Winner
• Consistency Errors in Goodnight Moon and Other Book Issues for an Obsessive One-Year-Old
• Bookworms Carnival: You Are Never Too Old
• Speak, Child: The Illiad as the Infancy of Children’s Literature
• August in Review
• Ingenuity and Authority: Who Really Wrote Aesop’s Fables?
• I’m Back and Book Miscellany
• December 2008 Month in Review and January 2009 Reading Journal
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle

The reasons behind the ban are surprising. Banning Stuart Little was a sort of political battle between two woman in the newly developing field of children’s literature. How many other “bans” on books are simply personal?

If you are interested in children’s literature, banned books, or Stuart Little in particular, check out the article. It made me want to reread Stuart Little and see what the fuss was about.

• What Are Banned Books? (Do I Favor Book Banning?)
• Kids Corner: Three Novels by E.B. White
• The End of Publishing?
• Reading Journal (30 Sept): The Gift of Choice (Thoughts on Banned Books Week)
• Political Reading
• Banned Books Week
• Martel-Harper Challenge (Fourth Quarter 2008)
• Dear D____ Public Library,
• Reading Reflections: A Book Kingdom
• Magazines I Would Love to Read

Tan’s illustrations in The Arrival are gorgeous and realistic, although as the immigrant man enters the new world, fantastic elements enter the pictures. Such fantastic elements were odd to me and confused me. I believe Tan intended to illustrate the foreignness of the new land. Tan further illustrated foreignness by never using letters: even in a sample newspaper, the characters are odd letter-like symbols, not our familiar ABCs. This was a clever technique because Tan demonstrated the confusion an immigrant might feel upon arrival in a new country where even the language is unknown.

The story of The Arrival was “tender.” The man left his wife and daughter and arrived in the new land, confused and lost. He relied on others to help him, others who had likewise arrived as immigrants a short time ago. After some time, his family is able to join him. They have become the experienced locals helping new arrivals find their way.

I enjoyed reading this, but I wonder about the role of all-illustrated books for children (grade 5-7) like The Arrival. While it is important to help our children appreciate art and learn to read and interpret art, wouldn’t it be better to encourage our children to be literate by actually reading a story of an immigrant or many immigrants? How does The Arrival help literacy?

I consider reading Winnie-the-Pooh aloud to my son reading. I consider listening to an audiobook reading. I consider reading a graphic novel reading. I consider reading The Arrival reading. But which of these media actually help our children become literate, and which should we promote most?

I would suggest that while reading The Arrival might help children understand the immigrant experience, reading it won’t actually help children embrace reading. However, I’m certainly not a teacher or a literacy expert. What do you think?

Other reviews:

• Thoughts of Joy
• Reading Adventures
• Books of Mee

If you have reviewed The Arrival, leave a link in the comments and I’ll add your link to this post.

• Caldecott Corner: David Wiesner
• Poetry for Young People: Lewis Carroll
• Caldecott Corner: The House in the Night by Beth Krommes, 2009 Award Winner
• Poetry for Young People: Robert Louis Stevenson (edited by Frances Schoonmaker)
• Twenty Years at Hull-House by Jane Addams
• Baby’s Sunday Salon, January 4
• Author Spotlight: Margaret Wise Brown + Giveaway Winner
• Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass + The Listeners
• The Green Knowe Chronicles by L.M. Boston
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle