Spin off of 100 Cupboards. Here's our reading list, anything I need to be aware of?

[cin]

Well, with all the fuss about 100 Cupboards, I thought I'd see if any of you know of anything I need to be aware of. I don't mind pre-reading, but I've got a stack of my OWN reading that needs to get done within the next century, let alone her stuff.

 

A little background: She will be 8 yrs old, and VERY sensitive. Night terrors are not unheard of with her, and she is still quite naive. We are conservative, on all fronts, but we do read fairy and princess stories, and will read Narnia at some point. For her father and I, the issue with 100 Cupboards is the descriptive violence. Any feedback, positive or negative is GREATLY appreciated!

 

Her Reading:

 

Blaze and Thunderbolt

More Stories from Grandma's Attic

Nancy Drew (and Trixie Belden, if I can get my hands on them!)

Beverly Cleary

Song of the Swallows

Then There were Five

The Saturdays

The Four Story Mistake

The Door in the Wall

King of the Golden River

2 Minute Mysteries (Donald Sobol...Is this age appropriate? She LOVES Encyclopedia Brown!)

The Enchanged Castle

The Story of the Treasure Seekers

The Reluctant Dragon

Hiawatha

Jungle Book (May do as a read aloud)

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle

Detectives in Togas

Misty of Chincoteague

Trumpet of the Swan

Summer of the Swan

Brighty of Grand Canyon

Gone Away Lake

The Little White Horse (goudge)

Merlin and the Making of the King (Hodges)

Ballet Shoes (Streatfeild)

I saw 3 Ships (Goudge)

the Adventures of Buster Bear

Family Under the Bridge

Mixed up Files of Sail Frankweiler

Black Beauty

LIght Princess

King of the Wind

Bully for you Teddy Roosevelt

Story of Sacajawea

Sounder

Door in The Wall

Story of Dr. Dolittle

hansel and Gretel

the Wheel on the School

Railway Children

 

 

READ ALOUDS:

 

Princess and the Goblin

American Tall Tales

Chidren of the New Forest

Children's Homer (Colum)

Pinocchio

Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass

Robin Hood

Otto of the Silverhand (Maybe....)

Heroes (Kingsley)

Peter Pan

Shakespeare (Lamb)

Sercrets of the Woods

Tanglewood Tales

Wonder CLock

Blue Fairy Book

Parables of Nature

50 Famous Stories retold

 

 

Please forgive the typos. It's 2:20 AM; I took my Adderall TOOO LATE!!!

 

Thanks agian, I appreciate any and all feeback!

[ElizabethB]

The first few Nancy Drews were, I think, written by a different author than the rest. Nancy lies in them, and it is portrayed that it is OK, that the end justifies the means.

[Ibbygirl]

The first few Nancy Drews were, I think, written by a different author than the rest. Nancy lies in them, and it is portrayed that it is OK, that the end justifies the means.

 

Does she lie really? Gee, I used to read them with my dd a few years ago. We got through at least the first 10 books in the series, but I don't remember her lying or doing anything else objectionable. Did I filter all this out somehow? :confused:

[happydays]

I had an Encyclopedia Brown fan too and thought 2 Minute Mysterie would be great.

 

WRONG!!!

 

There's murder, attempted murder, ex-girlfriends, suicides...

 

Check out the Amazon Look Inside feature to preread 3 of the mysteries.

 

Another mystery series my son liked was Saxby Smart by Simon Chesire.

Otherwise your list looks great.

 

Hope this helps,

Sarah

[cin]

I had an Encyclopedia Brown fan too and thought 2 Minute Mysterie would be great.

 

WRONG!!!

 

There's murder, attempted murder, ex-girlfriends, suicides...

 

Check out the Amazon Look Inside feature to preread 3 of the mysteries.

 

Another mystery series my son liked was Saxby Smart by Simon Chesire.

Otherwise your list looks great.

 

Hope this helps,

Sarah

 

Kewl! I'll move those to MY stack ;) I'm a HUGE Mystery fan. I cut my teeth on Agatha Christie, and it's been downhill since then.

 

Seriously, Thanks a bunch. I'll check those out thoroughly.

[snickelfritz]

and they were great:

 

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle

Ballet Shoes

The Family Under the Bridge

[nmoira]

I'd say The Jungle Book wouldn't be a good choice for a very sensitive reader. It's fantastic, but nothing like the Disney version.

[Ellie]

I would put "The Little White Horse" on your read-aloud list. It's on my top three list of children's books, but I think its reading level might be above an 8yo...or not, but it's so good you should enjoy it, as well. :-)

 

Have y'all done Understood Betsy? It's on my top three list, too.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I have a bunch of Trixie Belden books I would like to sell. PM me if you are interested.

 

There is another series from the 50's & 60's about a girl who becomes a nurse and helps solve mysteries. It is the Cherry Ames series. The heroine gets her name because her lips/cheeks are bright red and everyone thinks she is wearing lipstick/rouge. Each book has her working as a nurse in a different area - visiting nurse, hospital nurse, etc. I loved these as a young girl.

The first four are back in print!! Here's a link to a website that discusses the series. http://www.netwrx1.com/CherryAmes/

Edited June 2, 2009 by The Dragon Academy

[Spock]

You might want to wait a year or two for Black Beauty. Some of his owners abuse him or other horses, and some horses die. (None of this is graphic, but one purpose the author had in writing this book was to raise awareness of the treatment of horses, and encourage readers to treat their horses well--similar to Charles Dickens' descriptions of the conditions in orphanages and workhouses.)

 

In relation to the mistreatment of horses, drunkeness comes up--some of the mistreatment of horses is due to the owner/groom being drunk. This is portrayed very negatively, but your daughter may or may not be ready for it.

 

I was going to use Black Beauty as a late 2nd/early 3rd grade read aloud, but in skimming it again first decided to wait. My daughter will be reading it as a 4th grade reader next year instead. She would have cried and been unable to take it last year as a young 3rd grader. If your daughter loves horses, other books in the Misty of Chincoteague series will be better choices.

[i.love.lucy]

I have a bunch of Trixie Belden books I would like to sell. PM me if you are interested.

 

There is another series from the 50's & 60's about a girl who becomes a nurse and helps solve mysteries. It is the Cherry Ames series. The heroine gets her name because her lips/cheeks are bright red and everyone thinks she is wearing lipstick/rouge. Each book has her working as a nurse in a different area - visitn nurse, hosptial nurse, etc. I loved these as young girl.

The first four are back in print!! Here's a link to a website that discusses the series. http://www.netwrx1.com/CherryAmes/

 

Thanks for the heads up on these Cherry Ames books. I just looked them up and my library has at least a dozen!!!:001_smile:

[Chris in VA]

Sounder is pretty intense in places. It's not about a dog, as I thought! lol

 

We did the Railway Children and Wheel on the School as attempted read-alouds--just couldn't get thru them. The language is somewhat difficult. THe dad in RC is in jail, and it's not quite explained, so if she's anxious about stuff like that, I'd wait a year or two. Nature Girl picked up Wheel on the School a couple of weeks ago, and said it was really good--but we started it in second grade, and it wasn't right for her to listen to at that point. YMMV, of course!

 

You've got some real gems on your list.

[Cinder]

Detectives in Togas warning. Actually it's been years since I read this and I can't remember specifics. I'll have to find the book and look it up.

 

Sounder. My not-so-sensitive 10yo boy found this story very depressing. The family is treated very poorly, and Pa and Sounder die at the end.

 

Cinder

[ElizabethB]

Does she lie really? Gee, I used to read them with my dd a few years ago. We got through at least the first 10 books in the series, but I don't remember her lying or doing anything else objectionable. Did I filter all this out somehow? :confused:

 

Yes, she lies several times in at least one of the first few books. The tone and writing changed later. Also, there was no mention of church in the first few books, the later ones there was. They were covering up sleuthing type of lies, but several of them were totally unnecessary and there was also, like I mentioned, the tone in the first few books of "the end justifies the means." I can't remember when they switched tone--by 3 or 4 I think.

[Cinder]

Ok, I skimmed over Detectives in Togas. For some reason my ds, who was 8 at the time, was creeped out during the parts where the boys encounter the soothsayer. But now I'm not sure why. I don't see anything in the story that was particularly creepy. :confused:

 

Cinder

[frogpond1]

stories.

 

Here are comments from their website:

From the Blue Fairy Book, the following chapters are scheduled:

Recommended List (with possible problematic events in parentheses for parents whose children may have specific issues with certain elements of stories)

Term 1 (37 pages total)

Beauty and the Beast; -Familiar (20 pages)

Why the Sea is Salt (a man tells his brother to go the Dead; a ship sinks and all perish) (5 pages)

Prince Darling (12 pages)

Term 2 (38 pages total)

The Glass Slipper; - Familiar (8 pages)

Master Maid (Unnecessary cruelty to her suitors. Couldn't she just say no?), (16 pages)

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp -Familiar (A wicked Magician and his wicked Brother are killed) (14 pages)

Term 3 (37 pages total)

East of the Sun, West of the Moon; (11 pages)

The Forty Thieves (9 pages)

White Cat (The white cat is killed and the princess appears) (17 pages)

Some Good Alternatives

Princess and the Glass Hill; (10 pages)

Blue Beard (6 pages)

Prince Hyacinth (7 pages)

Toads and Diamonds (a selfish girl dies in the woods) - familiar (4 pages)

Snow-white and Rose red (a bear kills an evil gnome) - Familiar (7 pages)

Hansel and Gretel - Familiar (the witch dies) (8 pages)

Rumpelstiltskin (however, Rumpelstiltskin tears himself in half at the end); - Familiar (4 pages)

 

If your children are sensitive to tragic stories, (and every family's needs will be different because children are unique and have varying levels of tolerance) you may prefer these less violent suggestions. However, you may want to first read Donna-Jean's comments before assuming that such tales are bad for children.

 

Term 1 (32 pages total)

The Glass Slipper; - common (8 pages)

Felicia and the Pot of Pinks; (9 pages)

Toads and Diamonds (a selfish girl dies in the woods) - familiar (4 pages)

East of the Sun, West of the Moon; (An troll woman bursts with anger) (11 pages)

Term 2 (32 pages total)

Beauty and the Beast; - Familiar (20 pages)

Prince Hyacinth (7 pages)

Why the Sea is Salt (a greedy man tells his brother to go the Dead; ship sinks, all perish) (5 pgs)

Term 3 (29 pages total)

Snow-white and Rose red (a bear kills an evil gnome) - Familiar (7 pages)

Prince Darling (12 pages)

Princess and the Glass Hill; (10 pages)

Some Good Alternatives

Hansel and Gretel - Familiar (the witch dies) (8 pages)

Rumpelstiltskin (however, Rumpelstiltskin tears himself in half at the end); - Familiar (4 pages)

 

http://www.amblesideonline.org