My kids HATE the classics!

[Jenny in Florida]

Nobody said they were reading the classics when they are reading those stories. But, I do think they serve an important purpose. When I was in high school, we read the classics. But I'd never been exposed to any of that before. I was completely lost. You have two things to have to deal with, the plot and the language. I think if I had read a simplified version previously and had an idea of the plot of Shakespeare's plays and whatever else I read (you can see how much of an impresion it made on me) I wouldn't have struggled so much. At least, if a child has read the Abridged Version of King Arthur, they have the basic plot down and so when they pick up Morte de Arthur, they have an idea of what they're reading and it's not so difficult. Now, I'm certainly not advocating a steady diet of Great Illustrated Classics, and I realize that a good way to prepare a child for high school literature is to read excellent age appropriate literature, too, but the two things don't have to be mutually exclusive.

 

I'm sorry that was your experience.

 

However, my reaction to your story is to wonder why on earth you had no exposure to those stories earlier?

 

And let me be clear: I have no problem with child-friendly adapatations of some kinds of stories. For example, the Arthurian legends are just that, legends. Morte de Arthur is one person's take on the story, but it actually relies heavily on even earlier versions (Geoffrey of Monmouth and others). So, kid-friendly adaptations of the King Arthur story don't bug me a bit.

 

It's the stuff that has the title of a classic on its cover, "Treasure Island," and then in teeny, tiny type on the inside copyright page says, "Adapated/retold by Joe Anonymous" that drives me up a wall.

 

When it comes to Shakespeare, by the way, I'm a big fan of seeing before reading. And, with young audience members, I think you should read a simple synopsis before getting to the theatre or sliding in the DVD. My kids have been attending live performances since they were six or so and have never had a problem understanding the plays (although they certainly get more out of them as they get older). We start reading the full texts when they are about eight or nine, reading aloud and stopping for questions, comments and paraphrasing. It's never been a problem.

[HLDoll]

We do a mix of unabridged and original classics. My kids loved books like Pooh, The Secret Garden, The Hobbit, The Little House books, Paddington, Old Yeller, and Heidi as read-alouds. They have no problems listening to and absorbing the language, and we're now almost finished with The Fellowship of the Ring and ready to start the Two Towers. I always choose unabridged books for read aloud time. But when it comes to sitting down with books, as relatively new readers at ages 6 and 7, my kids aren't ready to tackle some of these books alone. But they've loved curling up with abridged versions of The Little Princess, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and Oliver Twist and being able to read the story all by themselves and tell me what is happening. My 7yo wanted to read Pyle's Robin Hood, but after struggling through the first chapter reading to me, he really wasn't enjoying it. He'd probably enjoy it read aloud, but his siblings are not interested so it's not a good candidate at the moment. I was able to pick up the Classic Starts Robin Hood at B&N, and he's happy familiarizing himself with the story that way, and I anticipate it will make reading Pyle at some point down the road a bit easier, while allowing him to encounter and enjoy the story on his own now.

 

So my feeling is, for read alouds, choose good, unabridged classics that interest your kids and build up to time and difficulty. A year ago, I'd never have thought I'd be reading The Lord of the Rings to my kids, but now we read about 2 hours a day from it. But for their own personal reading time, I don't mind them reading abridged classics and becoming familiar with stories, characters and plots.

[nmoira]

 

I have mixed feelings. I basically agree with you, but my son truly loves the Illustrated Classics. I've even enjoyed some of them. He has also read many on your list here. He reads a lot! Maybe I'd feel the need to be more selective if he didn't read so much.

I obviously have strong feelings about this, but FWIW I'm far more likely to hyperventilate over abridgements and retellings as read alouds. :tongue_smilie:

[CatMomof3]

We do quite a bit of driving, so we listen to books on CD. Since our library as a pathetic selection I download the files from LibriVox then cut them to CDs.

[sagira]

We're reading Edith Nesbitt's Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, and ds7 is enjoying them. He actually cried when we finished Romeo and Juliet. It was his first experience where the main characters die. We discussed how it was a tragedy, and I think he matured a teeny bit after that :)

 

That said, some are hard to get through, or I wait until he's older. I'm finding it hard to read through Jack's Insects. I find it unecessarily wordy, and I have to stop and explain quite often. Dd only likes picture books (she'll be 4 in a few days), she can't sit still for anything other than pictures. She does listen along with ds on car trips.

 

I like that Librivox CD idea! We greatly enjoyed E.B. White's Trumpet of the Swan in the car, procured from the library.

[SnMomof7]

My daughter is reading Great Illustrated Classics right now and really enjoys them. We do enjoy some 'vintage' read alouds too - think Yesterday's Classics, those are all older but really great (though they aren't often considered 'classics'). Some of the classics are definitely language heavy.

[Spock]

So, my boys are almost 8 and 6 and I downloaded "The Water Babies" and "Robin Hood" from Gutenburg Texts to my Nook and tried reading to them tonight. They hated it! My youngest turned to me and said, " I like the foxes one better."

 

Does anyone else have luck reading the classics to their kids and them liking it? I ended up reading "The Rainbow Fish" picture book to my almost 3 year old and they were all gathered round for that. Granted it's the old time way of language, but will they ever like the classic stories? Is picture books only ok? I want my kids to have a broader view of great literature. This is not what I pictured when I settled down to read them a great!:001_huh:

 

Your problem isn't classics per se, it is the particular books you chose to start with. In a couple of years they will like Robin Hood. Water Babies is sort of hit or miss--some kids like it, some don't--but either way it is more of a hit with the 8-9 and up group.

 

With an 8yo and a 6yo I would try Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Heidi, Winnie the Pooh (originals, not Disney versions), Peter Rabbit/other Beatrix Potter, anything by Edith Nesbit, and well written fairy tales. Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tanglewood Tales (retold Greek myths) and Kingsley's Heroes (more myths) are also good for this age. Look at the Ambleside Online lists for literature and free reading for years 1-2 for ideas for books that work well unabridged for these ages.

[robsiew]

I didn't read all the responses, so forgive me if I'm repeating, but we listen to a lot of the classics on audio. Then I don't stumble over the language making it easier for the kids to listen. I really vary what we listen to though... I'll put a bigger classic in that might take a little more to listen to, but then insert a fun story they can just enjoy. Some of them they just aren't ready for. We tried Treasure Island and my 10 y/o was fine, but it didn't hold the attention of my daughter nor my younger two. We'll try it again in a few years.

 

Right now we're listening to The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean. Not an "old classic", but a high quality story nonetheless and my kids are loving it (well, they were a bit shocked at the beginning, but they like it now). ;)

[Satori]

I agree! We love audiobooks for some of these books, as we drive in the car often. We are currently enjoying The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Yes, there's the n-word and a huge variety of different slang, but Elijah Wood is doing a fantastic job making the past come alive for us.

 

We also have done Treasure Island, Peter Pan and Anne of Green Gables on audio to name just a few. I usually try to pick longer novels or ones with accents/slang that I'd have trouble doing myself.

 

For my list, the last column is a work in progress, but it shows an "Interest Level" that shows books suitable for the interest of different ages of children.

 

1 = 5-8

2 = 8-12

3 = 12-13

 

I'll do a list for older children down the road too.

 

I thought that an "Interest Level" was more relevant for books that you might want to read aloud together. I looked into adding a "Reading Level" but it seemed so irrelevant for my dd6 who reads at higher levels and listens to read-alouds at even higher levels. I might add that extra column anyway.