DISQUS

lelak · 1 year ago

"Where the Wild Things Are" is just as wonderful as it ever was.

Riayn · 1 year ago

"Where the Wild Things Are" is an excellent children's book.

leesargent · 1 year ago

I read Space Demons and its sequels over and over in school and semi recently bought the current editions because I loved them so much. I think they held up. Wind in the Willows was also a book I read very very early (my first I believe) and the story is just as brilliant as it was when I first encountered it. Actually it's interesting because I just wrote about it in my five books that left their foot print in my life list last week (or the week before!).

The three investigators were very big in my childhood and I recently read a bunch of them and they were great, I can just hear Alfred Hitchcock's voice reading them out.

**Dawn** · 1 year ago

I was *just* thinking about the Ramona books this past weekend. Weird... Some of my favorite childhood books were: "The Chronicles of Narnia" series; the series by Madeleine L'engle that included "A Wrinkle in Time"; the Nancy Drew series; the Babysitters Club series; and "The Little House on the Prairie" series. I still own my Narnia, Little House & Wrinkle in Time sets. Every so often when I need some light reading, I will pull one out to read, and they still make me happy. I think I could handle reading the other two series too, if I were reading them with a child. =) The thing the strikes me most about the Narnia series is how much symbolism there is that I didn't even notice until I read them as an adult!

SnarkyDork · 1 year ago

I havent' reread any of these, but I loved The Island Of The Blue Dolphin, Mandy, and The Secret Garden. Then I moved on to Stephen King books...ha ha!

Riayn · 1 year ago

*laugh* I moved on to Stephen King in my mid-teems as well. I just loved his earlier books.

Kathy · 1 year ago

Oh, Riayn! When I saw your post title, I immediately thought of Ramona the Pest and then I came to the blog and found a Ramona book! I loved the series. I think I saw myself in Ramona with all her goofy problems and foibles. I'm not sure I want to read one of them again, as now you have me afraid that it might ruin my lovely memories of it. I think I'll stick to what the 8 year old in me remembers. Thank you for posting this. What a great topic!

Riayn · 1 year ago

I must admit I have not read the Ramona books as an adult. Like you I am worried that I will discover that my adult self doesn't love them as much as I did in my childhood.

ann of the shampoo bag · 1 year ago

I read the Ramona books as a third grader, and read them to my daughter when she was the same age. I find that the stories stand the test of time, although I had to explain a few things that were out of date. My daughter is nearing the Judy Blume stage, but I'm not sure if she'll be interested. The books that are available now are much more sophisticated. I may just read them myself!

Riayn · 1 year ago

Ann, you are so right that there are much better kids books available today than there was when we were kids. In fact, there are times when I go visiting the children's section to buy books for myself. Why should kids have all the fun?

Jayne · 1 year ago

Used to love ( and still have ) the Anne of Green Gable series, a lot of Ruth Park's books, Enid Blyton, and a stack of others.
Almost all of them I've revisited since childhood and, yep, they've stood the test of time.
Or I'm going through my second childhood lol :P

Riayn · 1 year ago

I just loved Anne of Green Gables, but I must I did not read it until I was in my mid teens and had seen the mini-series. I still own the entire series and read them once a year.

Christie @ fig&cherry · 1 year ago

Great post! I've read all of those! I really liked reading - especially Are you there God it's Me Margaret and Blubber (they answered so many questions...). My absolute favourite book as a teenager is a random one, it's called 'Cinderella in Blue Jeans' - a classic ugly duckling turns into gorgeous woman story. Just what I needed at the time ;)

Riayn · 1 year ago

I used to own the book Blubber and I loved it, however, I just couldn't view Peanut Butter sandwiches the same way after reading it.
I must admit I have never heard of Cinderella in Blue Jeans. Do you remember who wrote it?

Christie @ fig&cherry · 1 year ago

Funny you should ask! After writing this comment I went straight to my parents house to dig it out - it's by Tessa Krailing. I can lend it to you if you like. I'll bring it to the choc fest!

Sylana · 1 year ago

I read a LOT of the classics when I was a kid- everything from judy blume and beverly cleary to louisa may alcott and the narnia books. I have to say, having gone back to reread some of these to my own children, Mary Poppins and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ( and the sequel, the glass elevator) are some of the most severely MESSED books I've ever read. They are nothing like the movies. Mary is a stuck up prig who spends more time looking in a mirror than actually taking care of the children- and when she takes them out, it's to places and people I'm not entirely sure I'd want to see. Willy Wonka is just totally bonkers- the glass elevator ends up in outer space at a space hotel infested with vermicious knids (sp?). WTF? I mean, I like fantasy novels, but those are just too weird for words.

Riayn · 1 year ago

I think this the fault of the movie rather than the fault of the book. Movies like to sanitise books to make them appealing to the mass market. Books on the other hand can be weird, frightening, and downright weird and that is what makes them fun.
Often there are times when the book would not translate well onto film and I think that may be the case in your examples.

Kimota · 1 year ago

Strong children's fiction that lasts are far rarer than classic adult novels. I also read and adored the Narnia books at around the age of 12. Although I was later told aboutt he Christian symbolism, is didn't dampen my love for them. The good thing about layers is that you can choose to see them or not. I don't read them as Christian allegories and enjoy them purely as wonderful adventure novels with a great sense of fantasy. The books also are far darker than most children's novels, as attested by the recent film adaptation of Prince Caspian. And that is exactly how young adult fiction should be - unafraid to shie away from the more adult topics.

Winnie the Pooh is another set of books that will always endure - so long as parents understand the difference between the original A.A. Milne masterpiece and thye Disney saccharine and soulless travesties that would follow. Far too often, someone tells me that they adore Winnie the Pooh, only for me to discover their only exposure to the character is through crap Disney sequels and Little Golden Book adaptations. There is no Pooh, other than that which exists in the two collections of short stories, 'Winnie the ooh' and 'The House at Pooh Corner'. I still read them, preferably aloud and with voices, and I don't need a child with me to do so. ;-)

Writing for children is a controversia area. For every Harry Potter, there are truckloads of forgettable, derivative and sanitised one-print wonders. It seems many writers try to publish a children's book thoinking it is an easier genre to master, when the reverse is actually true.

For me, apart from the above, I still have an immense fondness for the books of alan Garner, John Christopher, Betsy Byers and Enid Blyton.

You've got me thinking now. I can see a few blog posts in this... stay tuned.