Children’s Stories

Favorite novels, plays, comics, etc.
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SnowRayjah
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Children’s Stories

Post by SnowRayjah »

As an elementary school teacher, I find that I get to read/hear a lot of story books. I really love it! I started thinking about how children’s stories and all the reading I did as a child probably made me the reader I am today. I even have a dream of publishing some children’s stories at some point in my life. I’m particularly fond of rhymes and anything with cooperative sisters! I’ve read Dancing Dinos go to School six or seven times this year (in the last few months no less)! And I have plans of reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar in Japanese to two kindergarten classes. What we’re going to do is read the English version several times throughout the year, and then I’ll read the Japanese version and have the kids translate it. My mentors are really excited about the prospect! It’ll be a fun way to check for reading comprehension too. It should be pretty easy since the kids will be very familiar with the story.

I really enjoy stories that teach children about rules, trying their best, and understanding that sometimes things don't go as planned but that it's all good. They can still make the best of it! Library Lion in particular is a story about rules and how there are appropriate times to break rules. This can be very important because I've run into some children that are real sticklers for the rules can become easily conflicted. It's nice to have an example that students can relate too. In Library Lion's case his friend was hurt. You should read it, it's adorable and I find the art to be very soft. PLUS, it has a lion IN the library. Cool, right?!

I reread The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein recently. It was a book I loved growing up because the tree was so giving and I enjoyed how it gave everything (this is probably where I developed the idea that one should give everything they have to others). I loved that about it. Now as an adult, I just don't see it the same way. I can't enjoy it in the same light as when I was a child. Now reading it makes me a little bit sad. I feel like I understand the tree a lot better now and that's probably why I feel sad when I read it.

What were some of your favorite books that got you into reading as a very young reader? What books would you like to go back and read with your more mature persona (aka now that you’ve grown up xD)? How would you inspire young readers? What do you think are good messages to put into children's books? What do you think should be in children's books more often?

Some of my favorite books are:
Rainbow Fish
Stellaluna
Ballet Kitty
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Library Lion
Zelda and Ivy
Bad Kitty
Poor Puppy
Beatrix Doesn’t Want too
Have you got my Purr?
Yes Day!
The Wonderful Book
Charlie Cook’s Favorite Book
When a Dragon Moves In
Pete the Cat
My dear, the truth is simple. We're all mad here.
Cherri
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Re: Children’s Stories

Post by Cherri »

I like Pete the Cat! Library Lion, Ballet Kitty, Velveteen Rabbit (maybe not kindergarten material but a childhood favorite), Rainbow fish and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

The last three I would reread as an adult. But I have a feeling that Velveteen Rabbit will make me cry like a Disney story. I should probably give some other books a reread too, like The Giving Tree and some others that I don't quite remember the names off.

I'd get them little readers with Pete the Cat. ^-^ He's the best.
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neo
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Re: Children’s Stories

Post by neo »

My favorite children's books have always been Frog and Toad, I have a couple of Anthologies of the stories! ^_^

BUT< OMG> There is one book I read that is incredibly fantastic, I didn't quite understand it when I was younger and I purchased it now that I am older, and the feels!

It's "The Three Golden Keys" by Peter Sis.
Image
Amazon synopsis because I am lazy:
In this allegorical tale, a man in a hot-air ballon is thrown off course in a violent storm, landing him in the city of his youth. He finds the way to his old home, but the house is dark, with three rusty padlocks on the door. A black cat with eyes of fire appears and leads him through Prague's silent streets and monuments in seach of the three golden keys that will open the door of his boyhood home and restore the city to life. In this reissue of one of his most personal works, Peter Sís recaptures the wonder of his own lost childhood in Prague and celebrates the city's wonderful cultural heritage, reborn after forty-five years of Communist rule. He wrote it for his young daughter, Madeleine, who is growing up in the New World, so that when she is old enough to understand it she will have a record of the strange and wonderful heritage that is her birthright. An utterly magical book on every level.
One book I have always wanted to read is The Little Prince. My local bookstore has an anniversary edition of it that will be mine. lol.
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Chibi
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Re: Children’s Stories

Post by Chibi »

I love Children's books! The Little Prince is one of my favourite books and I seriously cannot recommend it enough. I also liked The Chronicles of Narnia and intend to read Charlotte's Web and Velveteen Rabbit soon. A book for children that I read as an adult and found really nice was Six Dinner Sid, which I'd never heard of, but it was a childhood classic of my boyfriend's, so I read it.

I'm in the process of writing my own book for children, it will be like The Little Prince and might have a few illustrations in it. :D
dubiousdisc
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Re: Children’s Stories

Post by dubiousdisc »

Actually now that I think about it the book I used to read the most were really just series of illustrated classic tales or myths, hehe. I recall fondly a few ones in particular but for the illustrations, the stories are the same old. I also had an illustrated version of The Blue Bird of Happiness and I recall liking that one a lot. Then big classics like The Little Prince (although it's really not a book for children in the end) and Rodari's stories (C'era due volte il Barone Lamberto, that book was so fun).
Destinie
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Re: Children’s Stories

Post by Destinie »

OK have you ever come across this picture book called Traveling to Tondo? I used to read it all the time as a kid and I had to do some extensive research a couple years back to remember what it was even called. I just remembered that it was an African folktale. That book was highly influential to me as a child, not sure why, probably because it was about a wildcat.

Also, not sure if Dinotopia counts as a kid's book? James Gurney is a magical artist.
Robin
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Re: Children’s Stories

Post by Robin »

/just found this topic and am so happy

As a young reader, I remember actually liking a lot of children's poetry books (Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutzky). I also read a lot of the Winnie-the-Pooh and Beatrix Potter literature, as well as classic fairy tales. As I got a bit older, I got into Roald Dahl (except Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory...nope nope nope), The Boxcar Children, The Phantom Tollbooth, etc.

Other than children's fictional lit, I also got into the kids' encyclopedias and atlases that my parents got--they explained everything from ocean creatures to volcanoes to human body workings. Plus, at my grandma's house, I dug up some old science/technology textbooks that were once my older cousins' and spent many an afternoon poring through them. (Both science and fairy tales have always fascinated me, which is probably one reason I read sci-fi/fantasy now, LOL.)
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SnowRayjah
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Re: Children’s Stories

Post by SnowRayjah »

Neo: I've never heard of Frog and Toad! I might have to hunt this down.

Chibi: Oh! Charolette's Web will remain close to my heart. I'm not sure I want to reread it now that I'm an adult since I don't want the wonder to go away!

Dubs: I love classic myths, folktales, and fairy tales. I recently picked up a book called The Little Mermaid and Other Stories (something along those lines). It had The Little Mermaid and The Steadfast Tin Soldier, two of my personal favorites!

Destinie: I have not, but I do love African Folktales! For some reason Anansi is very dear to me.

CLB: Read everything! I wasn't too into non-fiction as a kid, and am still not as an adult. But I definitely see how my choices as a reader as a child have influenced my reading today. I still walk out of the library with horror or mystery books! Thanks Goosebumps and Boxcar children! Just curious, why didn't you ever read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? I recently read The Fantastic Mr. Fox, since I hadn't read it yet!

I started my student teaching which means I have access to almost as much Children's Literature as I could ever want! I've been contemplating reading Goosebumps again because I read it as a child! The Boxcar Children too. I've found some pretty decent books as well as a few that I read a child and couldn't remember the names of The Dollhouse Murder in particular.

A newer story I read was Doll Bones. It's about a haunted doll and I quite enjoyed it. It's a bit of a mystery to solve and a small adventure. Maybe I'm just bias because I love haunted doll stuff!
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Robin
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Re: Children’s Stories

Post by Robin »

@SnowRayjah Actually, I was forced to read Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (of Death and the Tears of Small Children) in school--I finished the unit test on it and haven't touched it since, because 9-year-old me was pretty freaked out by it.

I believe the reason I found it to be a lot more menacing than Dahl's other works (even The Witches!!) was because Willy Wonka was too damn HAPPY while doing menacing things. The attitude was like "hey I'm secretly a villain! YAY ME! Let's F some kids' lives up because why not??!?!" (The Joker also bugs me for about the same reason... gleeful malice was something I had daily contact with courtesy of my entire grade level relentlessly teasing me, so I didn't like reading about it, I guess.)
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SnowRayjah
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Re: Children’s Stories

Post by SnowRayjah »

Ah, that makes sense! I hadn't thought about it like that, so I'm going to have to go back and reread it with a more objective eye. I wonder if I could reread it, I did check it out a few weeks ago but never got to reading it, and I ended up returning it because I knew it would just sit there. Thank you for sharing this with us. I also haven't read The Witches!! So, maybe I'll pick that up too.
My dear, the truth is simple. We're all mad here.
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