Rosie Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 In light of the Circe thread and the continuing discussion about basing studies around literature instead of history, I'd like to start a thread where people can post their personal favorite children's literature. I think it would be best to post books that wouldn't fall into neat historical categories but I won't limit it to only those. What are your top choices for elementary-middle school level read aloud books (or readers) with high literary quality? (If you feel so inclined, mark your top 3 in bold.) Oh, and it would be wonderful to have some listed that are not the "usuals" on lists like this - more modern works, lesser known older works... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie Posted April 21, 2012 Author Share Posted April 21, 2012 (edited) Really? No one? Okay, I guess I'll post a few ideas, but I don't really think I am well-read enough to judge what is of merit and what isn't in terms of literary quality. Some books I have read that I think would fall under that category would be... Winnie-the-Pooh The House at Pooh Corner The Magician's Nephew The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe Little Women The Princess and the Goblin The Secret Garden Understood Betsy Anne of Green Gables The Hobbit Anyone else want to add in some books that might (but shouldn't) be missed if basing a K-8 education around history? (EDIT: Since this wasn't clear - What are some excellent literature books that might be missed out on if you were only choosing your read alouds based on what you are studying in history?) Edited April 21, 2012 by Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 A Little Princess The Secret Garden Little Women Chronicles of Narnia Pippi Longstocking Starring Sally J. Freedman As Herself Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales Anne of Green Gables Twig Heidi Ozma of Oz Charlotte Sometimes Understood Betsy King of the Wind Five Little Peppers and How They Grew The Railway Children Alice's Adventures in Wonderland The Invention of Hugo Cabret DD wouldn't forgive me if I didn't include Black Beauty Thimble Summer Charlotte's Web There are others I didn't list, like The Princess and the Goblin, and most of them aren't for lack of merit, but I haven't read them so I can't say how good or bad they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 Anyone else want to add in some books that might (but shouldn't) be missed if basing a K-8 education around history? IMO: Tales from Ancient Egypt some version of King Arthur, possibly either by Roger Lancelyn Green or TH White The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood The Book of Pirates 1000 & 1 Arabian Nights (either Lang or McCaughrean) Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare or Tales from Shakespeare The White Company Little Lord Fauntleroy A Tale of Two Cities Legends of Charlemagne (Bulfinch) King of the Wind Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West Black Beauty To Kill a Mockingbird Favorite Poems, Old and New The Story of My Life (Helen Keller) All-of-a-Kind Family Betsy-Tacy The Little Prince (not strictly history-based, but not to be missed) Children of the New Forest Honestly, I think it's rather too limiting to choose all literature based on history. You miss out on excellent books like Winnie-the-Pooh and Peter Pan and fairy tales, etc. I'm making a conscious effort to base next year's lit on good literature instead of letting our history rotation dictate my choices and there are SO many more to choose from! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie Posted April 21, 2012 Author Share Posted April 21, 2012 IMO:Honestly, I think it's rather too limiting to choose all literature based on history. You miss out on excellent books like Winnie-the-Pooh and Peter Pan and fairy tales, etc. I'm making a conscious effort to base next year's lit on good literature instead of letting our history rotation dictate my choices and there are SO many more to choose from! I'm sorry - rereading what I wrote, I can see that it was confusing. What I meant was that, if you are basing your kids education around history, you might end up leaving out a lot of great literature that doesn't tie in to history. So, what are some books that might be missed but shouldn't be if you want to cover literature well? So, yes, I agree with you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie Posted April 21, 2012 Author Share Posted April 21, 2012 This is the ongoing discussion I was referring to in the original post in case anyone is interested.... http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=363088 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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