 | | | Subject: Talking Point: Favorite Children's Books
Posted Mar 3, 2012 by Storm
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  | | Do you (or would you) let your children read whatever they like? My son is 9 and Harry Potter has hit his class in a big bad way. He struggles with reading and I've read the full series to him. I was surprised by what great children's books they were. However other parents in the class have deemed them unsuitable or have deemed the later books unsuitable (too scary) and not allowed the children to read them.
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| | | Subject: Talking Point: Favorite Children's Books
Posted Mar 3, 2012 by  Sho - It's Mrs G to you!
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| | I let the Gruesome Twosome read pretty much whatever they like but when they were younger I usually either read it first, or had already read it.
From my early years the usual suspects: Wind in the Willows, the Favourite Five (there were 21 in my day), the Blyton Adventure series, Mallory towers (and boy oh boy what a shock boarding school was when I got there  ), Secret Garden, 5 children and It, Borrowers, Children of the Oregon Trail. Blimey, there are so many I can't remember them.
For the Gruesomes when they were small, all the Eric Carle books but especially the Very Hungry Caterpillar (which i am now collecting in as many different language versions as possible) and the one about the Cameleon (Der Kameleon Kunterbunt)
A friend sent us Herb, the Vegetarian Dragon and that was a firm favourite that we read a lot, as well as Maisie Middleton at the Wedding - and we read that one until it fell apart.
Dr Seuss - #2's favourite is 1 Fish 2 Fish... #1's favourite is Green Eggs and Ham (mine is Horton Hears a Who - or is it Hoo?)
Brambly Hedge and the Alfie series by Shirley Hughes were also favourites.
Later they liked the Wilden Hühner books by Cornelia Funke.
The best way to encourage children to read: let them see you read, have books around the place and read to them.
As for Harry Potter, I read them all to the Gruesomes (and Treasure Island and a load of others) except the last - and that was only because it kept making me 
When I look back, my real favourites have been The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings (not really a children's book) and the Swallows and Amazons series.
Oh yes and the Sword in the Stone and the Black Cauldron series were pretty fab too. and I agree with whoever it was up there who said it's increasingly difficult for children these days to get anything out of them.
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| | | Subject: Talking Point: Favorite Children's Books
Posted Mar 4, 2012 by Just Bob aka Robert Thompson, plugging my film blog cinemainferno-blog.blogspot.co.uk
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| | When the BBC did their 'Big Read' thing about 10 years ago (probably this time of year too, as it was partly for World Book Day), LotR eventually won (<yay>). In the head-to-head debates, it was pointed out that most people who love Tolkien appear to have first read it before the age of about 15. If you wait longer, it seems, there is a significant chance you've missed the Buckleberry Ferry, as it were.
This is, of course, not to say that people stop enjoying it when they get older, but it seems that it has special power in capturing the juvenile mind...
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| | | Subject: Talking Point: Favorite Children's Books
Posted Mar 4, 2012 by Storm
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| | I do like the Hobbit. We live near the place where Tolkein grew up and every year there is a festival with adults in fancy dress, elvish poetry, traditional crafts and local players performing scenes from the Lord of the Rings in the woods. I've only attended with children but I'm told it's bit of a pick-up venue for those who like that sort of thing.
i also like Tolkein's letters from Father Christmas. He wrote these for his children and they are beautifully illustrated. They make great stories with different characters but also a social history covering times of war and depression. I read them every December with my son and husband as a part of our Christmas traditions. There are different characters and we do silly voices.
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| | | Subject: Talking Point: Favorite Children's Books
Posted Mar 8, 2012 by Pegasus ~A~
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| | Yes, E Nesbit and The Story of the Amulet, was another favourite. I also loved Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. However, as a child, I had no idea that these books were but parts of series, which is such a shame, as I would have loved to read more of the same.
Looking back, I can't really recall my parents reading to me. I also don't really remember seeing them reading, although I'm pretty sure I got my love of scifi from my father. Which reminds me - The Lotus Caves by John Christopher was one I absolutely loved. I've still got my original copy and re-read it last year. But I digress. What I do remember from childhood is regular visits to the library and picking out books. I taught myself to play chess from a library book, although I've no idea what book that was, sadly. The library was definitely a favourite place to go. 
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| | | Subject: Talking Point: Favorite Children's Books
Posted Mar 9, 2012 by GregPius
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| | Children respond to what they see their parents and friends doing!
If they see other people read then they copy them.
A readathon can be set up in a hall or classroom or elsewhere. Make it a contest like pass the parcel. But the new "game" is pass the book. The child who has the book, AND is reading it, when the gong sounds gets a prize. Make sure all readers get a prize and you reinforce the behaviour you want!
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| | | Subject: Talking Point: Favorite Children's Books
Posted Mar 9, 2012 by Storm
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| | I loved CS Lewis. I recently reread them to my son. If you read The Magicians Nephew before The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe it makes more sense. My favourite is the Horse and his Boy, I like those long days riding over the plains with nothing much happening.
My son read CS Lewis before he encountered christianity. When he met christianity he kept saying 'it's like Aslan'.
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| | | Subject: Talking Point: Favorite Children's Books
Posted Mar 9, 2012 by Sho - It's Mrs G to you!
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| | they were published with the Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe first, followed by Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair and the Last Battle
I can't remember where the Magician's Nephew and The Horse and His boy come in the publication order either just before or just after The Silver Chair.
Later CS Lewis recommended the order that is now printed on the books (but wasn't when I was a kid) and it annoys me that I have some newer editions on my shelf in the order I prefer but the numbers are then in the wrong order)
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| | | Subject: Talking Point: Favorite Children's Books
Posted Mar 9, 2012 by Big Bad Johnny P
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| | Winnie ther Pooh (if you know what ther means). I remember that being read to me and have since read it to my daughters.
Neither of my parents is an avid reader, but made sure that they read to my sister and I, who both do and always have read as much as we could.
Children have to find what catches their imagination. One of the series of books which a teacher read to my eldest which kept them both amused for ages was the Jeremy James books by David Henry Wilson. We started at home with "Elephants don't sit on cars".
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