Children's Books

[Deleted]

Am double posting only because it's been so long!

I don't know how to post a link to it, but if you go on to the website of Lois Lowry, she has texts of speeches she's given. I absolutely loved the one she gave that was connected to her book The Giver, where she spoke about the reasons we tend to "turn away" from harsh things, but why it's important to remember, etc--all connected to why the idea of memories was so crucial to the book--is it worth it to have a memory if it also contains sad ones? I can't express it anywhere near to the way she does, but it's worth a read. When I get a chance, I want to print it up and keep it (I have a folder for clippings of written pieces that are very meaningful to me and I like to have to reread every few years or so; it's surprisingly thin. I only keep things that really, really "speak" to me).

[anne]

I read this thread back when I was just a lurker, and had forgotten about it until just now. Since there are some overseas posters around here, I thought I'd ask a question about one of my favorite children's books of all times which has always bothered me ...

In Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day, he makes repeated references to Australia, and it's important as a representative of a far far away unknown place. When the book is read/sold in Australia, does anyone know if they change the text at all to reference someplace else? I've always thought that the references wouldn't have the same meaning if read in Australia, so it's always befuddled me. If I ever make a trip to Australia (which I hope to some day) one of the first things I'll do is to go to a book store to look for the book.

[Door]

As a kid I really loved the Wayside High books by Louis Sachar.

While working in a bookstore I came across three books I thought were cool and had great messages:

The Rough-Face Girl by Rafe Martin & David Shannon. It's about a Native American girl with scars all over her. She ends up marrying the great "Invisible Being" of the tribe because she's the only one who looks past physical beauty to see the beauty in all things around her.

Brave Margaret, by Robert San Souci. It's a retelling of an old Irish tale where a woman gets to do the saving and swashbuckling. Right on!

Women of Camelot: Queens and Enchantresses at the Court of King Arthur, by Mary Hoffman. Each little chapter focuses on a different female character in the Arthurian myth. The stories are all told in the first person, from each lady's perspective. I really liked the artwork in this one, and even persuaded several coworkers to buy it for themselves. Good times.

[Deleted]

Just thought of some books I loved to scare myself with when I was 10 or 11 (and going through a phase where I loved reading about magic/witches): Witch's Sister, Witch Water, The Witch Herself by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.
They really were quite creepy, and no matter how many times I'd read them previously, I'd feel goosebumps break out when I'd read the book's climax.
The main character was a girl named Lynn who just knew that this old neighbor, Mrs. Tuggle, was a witch out to add witches to her coven, and was therefore preying on unsuspecting victims. Lynn kept trying to warn her parents, but they remained unconvinced and would just tell Lynn that poor Mrs. Tuggle was a lonely old woman, and would insist on being all neighborly. The night Lynn's parents went away and had Mrs. Tuggle sleep over to babysit....!!

A few years after this trio of books were published, the author wrote some more sequels, but they were nowhere as good as these three. (I think she should've just let the first ones stand alone.)

So if any of you know kids who like to read scary books, you might want to recommend these. (Not just for girls, my younger brother loved them, too.)

[polygal]

I was reading through this thread yesterday, and the whole Love You Forever discussion cracked me up. For my floral arts class, my midterm is to take a children's book and create a floral interpretation of it, and this thread made me want to do that book just to freak people out.

[berrybearie]

For those in the U.S. the postal service has a set of new 39 cent stamps that feature animals from children's books (Curious George, Olivia the pig, Wilbur the pig, the Very Hungry Caterpillar, one of the Wild Things, Frederick the mouse, Maisy, and Fox in Socks). My childhood was well before Olivia and Maisy came along, but the others bring back good memories.

[ownlife]

I am going to the post office today to buy the picture book animal stamps. Apparently I live in a cave because I didn't know that postage went up last Sunday.

[anne]

I saw those stamps at the post office yesterday, and I was so excited. I'm pretty sure the co-worker I was with has now officially labelled me as insane because of my reactoin to them. (not that she didn't believe that before anyway) I normally buy my stamps in rolls, but I may have to make an exception to buy some of those.

[pathtaken]

I got a sheet of those yesterday. The clerk showed them to me and I started squealing. She kind of looked at me funny and I quickly turned adult and told her Where the Wild Things Are was my children's favorite book.

It's not, it's one of mine.

[magmat10]

I am reading The Giver to my 4th grade class. It is one of my favorites, and it is becoming one of their favorites too. Lois Lowry wrote two more "sequels," Gathering Blue and Messenger. Messenger ties up everything from The Giver rather nicely.

I absolutely adore and recommend The View from Saturday (5th grade and up).