h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello Mol,

We've waved in the Atelier!

I too have a 7 yr old daughter. She asked last night (while I was refusing to read Amelia Jane *again*) "If you could read me anything you wanted, what would it be?" She reads to herself a lot and I think when I'm reading to her it should stretch her a bit. Most of the books I read at her age are hopelessly out-dated. Mind you, they were then too. (Enid Blyton etc.) Any suggestions?

Ying

Ooh, a new visitor! I don't get many of those.

The trouble is, I *love* out-dated children's books - I have over a thousand of them . But reading aloud is a bit different to reading in your head, and some of the old classics work better read aloud. Wind in the Willows is in my mind, I think, and the Narnia books are good read-aloud ones.

DH is actually reading the girls Harry Potter at the moment - SIC (who will happily lug the Argos catalogue into bed for light reading) claims that it's too big for her.

What out-dated books do *you* like, then?

1,000 out-dated childrens classics?! That must qualify you as a bona fide bibliophile. Mind you, I suppose Enid Blyton could account for a fair chunk of those...How do you rate her catalogue? I find that some include quite uncomfortable themes. And the whole boarding school thing leaves me a bit cold now, although I did enjoy them when I read them.

I was thinking of The Wind in the Willows (which I read at 7,) Narnia, Swallows & Amazons, Biggles, Secret seven, Famous Five, What Katy Did.., Polyanna, Black Beauty..............etc etc!

I guess the answer is to put as wide a range of reading matter in front of them and let them decide for themselves. I was hoping for a steer on contemporary fiction. I've had the Artemis Fowl books recommended and the ubiquitous Harry Potter, of course. KM Peyton is probably a bit old yet. Any suggestions?

Re what *I* like - I'm a sucker for Arthur Ransome You?

Ying

I ought to count them one day ... my biggest collection is not Enid Blyton (just the Famous Fives, Secret Sevens, Malory Towers and one or two odds) but Elinor M Brent-Dyer .

Definitely a sucker for Arthur Ransome, just enjoyed a complete re-read of the whole set as my commuting literature, and one of our kittens is named after him.

Never got into Biggles or Pollyanna, but I have all the Katy books, and a copy of Black Beauty somewhere. Noel Streatfield is another favourite (especially Ballet Shoes) and all of the Anne of Green Gables books.

I think Harry Potter is something kids will read themselves, and reading aloud is a good opportunity to share books that they might not - older ones which are harder to read to yourself, and might make more sense if read aloud ( did I already say that?), and ideally the first in a series, so they'd go on to read the rest of the set. So that would be Katy or Ballet Shoes perhaps. Did you see those on TV many years ago? The TV adaptations definitely pushed me towards reading.

Mol

A good driver for reading, but I must confess I missed the adaptations. It wasn't that we didn't watch TV - I loved it, but horses filled a lot of time. Books were easier to pick up and put down, to fill any bit of 'un-allotted' time. Well, actually I do remember walking around, nose in book whilst doing other things,(cleaning teeth etc.)

And reading under the covers with bike lamps.....

Frances Hodgson Burnett, Phillipa pearce, Nina Bawden, Yup- Noel Streatfield, Ian Serrailier, Molly Hunter,.....
Quite nostalgic now I come to reflect..

I'm coming back to the fact that I want all three kids to discover the magic of books as I did, but I struggle to see the relevance of some of the books I loved in today's vastly differing circumstances.
I feel a certain sence of circular logic pending (Put lots of different things in front of them, so they can make their own decisions!)

I had this sort of conversation with NOD (aged 9) tonight. My Chalet School books are all with my sister at the moment, so NOD had ground to a halt and needed something fresh. She wanted a "mystery" so I gave her "Mystery at Witchend" by Malcolm Saville, saying that there are 19 more in the series if she likes it!

But it made me think about what I was reading when I was her age - I'm pretty sure that was the year I discovered Arthur Ransome and Laura Ingalls Wilder.