Which classics don't you like and why?

[BinahYeteirah]

We couldn't really get into Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. We have read many other books written in roughly the same time period with similar language, but for some reason my kids couldn't get interested in the story. Also, as the story progressed, I became certain Rebecca would end up in a romantic relationship with Adam Ladd. He is relatively young, but the age difference between them and the fact that he first knows Rebecca as a little girl, while he is already an adult, squiks me out. I read almost the whole book to my kids, but dropped it before the last few chapters, in fear of what I thought was the inevitable conclusion. I finished it on my own, but I was wrong about the end of the book. I just googled, however, and it looks like Rebecca does end up with Adam Ladd in one of the later books in the series. I just couldn't read something going in that direction to my kids!

[Ellie]

I don't like the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series... :blushing:

 

:blink:

[CatholicMom]

This thread is hilarious and frightening at the same time. I am quite sure now I had better not start any more read alouds without pre-reading them. Yikes. The Robinson Crusoe thing freaks me out. I can't believe that's on some 5th grade reading lists. I saw the movie and it was kind of disturbing to *me*.

 

I remember being deeply disturbed by Stuart Little as a child. His parents were HUMAN but she gave birth to a MOUSE. I cannot tell you how much that freaked me the freak out.

 

I couldn't stop thinking about it. Why did she have a mouse? Was his real father a mouse? How did that work? Could it happen to anyone? Could I have a mouse baby someday? What did the doctors say when the mouse-baby emerged from a human mother? Why a mouse and not some other animal? I couldn't really concentrate on the story at all and don't remember much else.

 

When we were given a copy as a gift my elder son stopped me almost right away and said "Wait. She had a mouse!?" I told him that we had better books to read. I was pregnant at the time and didn't want to confuse matters.

 

:lol::lol::lol: That sounds like something I would go through when I was a kid. When I watched "Honey I shrunk the kids" I was afraid to eat my cereal for a good while and agonized over the possibility that I was consuming helpless microscopic people... or who knows what.

[...................]

Wow...we love Peter Pan, Just So Stories, Heidi, and though I didn't enjoy Alice in Wonderland my kids loved it...

 

Anyway...

 

We didn't like Girl of the Limberlost. Truly a depressing, story. I'm

Amazed my son finished it.

 

Also didn't like Mary Poppins. I love the movie but the book was extremely boring for us.

[Sahamamama]

Mr. Popper's Penguins -- My daughter kept wanting to know why Mr. Popper didn't take better care of his family. ;) "Daddy wouldn't do that, you know."

[Sahamamama]

I remember being deeply disturbed by Stuart Little as a child. His parents were HUMAN but she gave birth to a MOUSE. I cannot tell you how much that freaked me the freak out.

 

I couldn't stop thinking about it. Why did she have a mouse? Was his real father a mouse? How did that work? Could it happen to anyone? Could I have a mouse baby someday? What did the doctors say when the mouse-baby emerged from a human mother? Why a mouse and not some other animal? I couldn't really concentrate on the story at all and don't remember much else.

 

When we were given a copy as a gift my elder son stopped me almost right away and said "Wait. She had a mouse!?" I told him that we had better books to read. I was pregnant at the time and didn't want to confuse matters.

:iagree:You are so wise. I like this line, and plan to use it as warranted. Thanks. :D

[Sahamamama]

The question is, ... is Mr. Wonderful a mouse or a man? :)

 

A big, burly, happy, laughing man, who just brought me a delicious ham-and-cheese omelette and an amazingly good cup of coffee, dontcha know? :001_wub:

 

And all of our children are human. ;)

[hsbaby]

The Hobbit, Wind in the Willows, and The Phantom Tollbooth. The only one we made it through was The Phantom Tollbooth, but the kids groaned everyday.

[TrixieB]

Don't be messing with the moomins! :sneaky2:

:iagree:

[Sahamamama]

The Hobbit, :001_huh: Wind in the Willows, :001_huh: and The Phantom Tollbooth. :iagree:The only one we made it through was The Phantom Tollbooth, but the kids groaned everyday.

 

I love the Hobbit, but IMO it's not a children's book. I remember trying to read it when I was 11 years old, and throwing it across the room. :blushing: I came back to it a year later, and that year was enough to make a difference in understanding it.

 

We all love Wind in the Willows. I read this aloud to my oldest when she was 5 years old, and she adored it! But I thought it would be over her head. I skipped a few parts. ;) In making up our list of RAs this year, WiW didn't make the cut. There's NO WAY my current 5 year old twins would sit through WiW.

 

I agree with Phantom Tollbooth, though. Never could understand the attraction on that one. :confused:

[Angie in VA]

I didn't like Peter Pan. I thought it was just odd, and that the author must have had personal problems with his mother. :001_huh:

 

I like Little Women, Little Men, and Jo's Boys; I used to like some of Alcott's other books until I reread them recently, and it turns out that she just preaches, and she was actually kind of prejudiced. :glare:

 

Girl of the Limberlost...just shoot me now.

 

Can't think of other classics that hit me like those did.

 

 

Oh, Ellie, think! Please think, woman! Once upon a time you mentioned that you'd prefer to stick hot pokers in your eyes than to read a certain book. What was it? I must know. ;)

[lindblomnest]

My son really enjoyed Stuart Little for some reason, but I didn't think it was all that wonderful. I like EB White's Charlotte's Web much better. I think my son just liked all the little adventures Stuart had.

 

We all loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but just couldn't get into the sequel, The Great Glass Elevator, at all.

 

Alice in Wonderland was... strange. But, we knew that going into it.

 

My husband read Peter Pan and said it was very odd, and, of course, not like Disney's version.

[JessieC]

I really did not like The Princess and the Goblin.

[Ellie]

Oh, Ellie, think! Please think, woman! Once upon a time you mentioned that you'd prefer to stick hot pokers in your eyes than to read a certain book. What was it? I must know. ;)

Inkheart. Not a "classic" by any means, but still fairly popular in recent years. I *wanted* to like it, I *love* that genre, but yeah, I'd rather have the hot burning poker in my eyeball. Just shoot me now.

 

ETA: I thought Redwall was pretty bad, too, although not quite the poker-in-the-eyeball level.

[Hoot]

Inkheart. Not a "classic" by any means, but still fairly popular in recent years. I *wanted* to like it, I *love* that genre, but yeah, I'd rather have the hot burning poker in my eyeball. Just shoot me now.

 

ETA: I thought Redwall was pretty bad, too, although not quite the poker-in-the-eyeball level.

 

Oh my soul, I HATED Inkheart. I wanted so badly to love it but I just didn't. I was bored to tears. When I was doing literature groups for the elementary school where I worked, one of my high level groups desperately wanted to do this book. I went ahead and read it with them and ended up hating our group time every week. Someone bought DS the series and he made it less than halfway through the first book before he decided that he hated it too. We tried to get around it all by just watching the movie and found that it was truly appalling.

 

DS tried to read Redwall once too and really didn't like it. I've never even bothered. :glare:

[Ellie]

Oh my soul, I HATED Inkheart. I wanted so badly to love it but I just didn't. I was bored to tears. When I was doing literature groups for the elementary school where I worked, one of my high level groups desperately wanted to do this book. I went ahead and read it with them and ended up hating our group time every week. Someone bought DS the series and he made it less than halfway through the first book before he decided that he hated it too. We tried to get around it all by just watching the movie and found that it was truly appalling.

 

DS tried to read Redwall once too and really didn't like it. I've never even bothered. :glare:

(((soul sister))))

 

:D

[morosophe]

Wow, this is a fascinating thread.

 

I've got to say that I, too, can't stand E. B. White. I did get through Charlotte's Web with my son, probably because we studied it in children's literature so I could back away from the plot and appreciate the writing a bit more, but ugh! I completely agree about Stuart Little (both the strange beginning and the indeterminate ending drove me nuts when I read it as required reading in school), and as for Trumpet of the Swan! I couldn't even stand the excerpts I was supposed to read my son as part of WWE2 last year. I remember that that book really skeeved me out when I read it in, I think, high school.

 

Defenses of things others have denigrated:

Robinson Crusoe is not a children's book, although it's very important historically. (I have to admit that I've only read excerpts.)

 

The Wind in the Willows is very episodic, so I have no trouble only reading my son a couple of chapters a month. Slow down and enjoy the word pictures and the tone the writer sets; don't try to get through it in a rush.

 

My son loved being read The Hobbit at six by his father.

 

In my opinion, Redwall isn't worth reading aloud, although it's certainly a good read "for fun" at the junior high or high school level.

 

I actually kind of enjoy Alcott's preachiness. (I see Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, AND An Old-Fashioned Girl and raise you Little Men and Under the Lilacs, though. I've never been able to read those more than once.) I don't know that I'd push any of them but Little Women for school, though, and that only if I had a girl.

 

For a slightly younger crowd, since that's where my kids are:

 

Roald Dahl. Yuck. I mean, if my son wants to read it on his own, fine (except Matilda and BFG), but no way am I wasting good reading time on that.

 

You want preachy? Forget Alcott and go straight for Dr. Seuss. Even when he's not preachy, his art is disturbing and his stories boring. I can only stand Green Eggs and Ham (which is still preachy, may I point out,) and One Foot, Two Foot. Bring that stupid cat or those Sneetches--or even the Whos--around, and don't expect any mercy. (Although I can stand the classic Grinch movie every few years around Noel.)

[Geo]

Reading Alice Through the Looking Glass/in Wonderland makes me want to take a fork to my eyes.

 

:001_huh:...taking a fork to the book would be a better choice.

[Hoot]

You want preachy? Forget Alcott and go straight for Dr. Seuss.

 

OH! Oh my gosh, how could I forget Dr. Seuss. I LOATHE his books. L.O.A.T.H.E. I'm actually not sure if my son has ever heard a Seuss book because I refused to read them. Uggh.

[Janell]

I do not like the Frog and Toad books and the Peter Rabbit series. I wanted to like Frog and Toad, everyone had good things to say about Frog and Toad...but I tried reading them to the kids but they seemed disinterested and I can't blame them!

 

The Peter Rabbit series is beyond boring to me. I always wondered why they drew the rabbits with shirts on but no pants..??

[VeritasMama]

Alice in Wonderland.

 

I had no problem with this until I read it for a college lit class. My prof painted Lewis as someone who maybe, could have been, might have been a pervert. I realize this was wild conjecture, but it tainted his books for me none the less.

 

I also dont enjoy David Copperfield. Id rather read Great Expectations, which most people I know hate!

Edited August 27, 2012 by VeritasMama

[den57]

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. It's my favorite novel. I love it. It's basically the story of two people who are in love, end up not marrying each other, then try to force their kids into living each other so they can live vicariously through it. It's a weird story, but it's awesome. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Emily's sister) is great as well. It's about an orphan girl, Jane, who lives with her rude cousins and mean aunt. Eventually she goes away to school, then later becomes a teacher for a young French girl named Adele. Adele's guardian is a man named Rochester. Jane and Rochester fall in love, and that's basically all I can say. It's a great book.

 

[morosophe]

The Peter Rabbit series is beyond boring to me. I always wondered why they drew the rabbits with shirts on but no pants..??

 

Ooh, I'd forgotten Beatrix Potter! I know she was a pioneer in writing and illustrating children's books, but they just read as boring or outright strange to me.

 

On the other hand, I have been enjoying the DVD versions...

 

I've never had a problem with the shirts/no pants aspect, though.

[Mom2Es]

The Peter Rabbit series is beyond boring to me. I always wondered why they drew the rabbits with shirts on but no pants..??

 

Yes!! We had a couple of them when I was a kid, and even then I kept trying to figure out what part of the book had pages missing because nothing ever happened. They read like the intro to a story, and then was over. Here's a rabbit. He's related to other rabbits. He got into a garden and the farmer chased him. Then he went home and went to bed because he was tired. The End.

Edited August 28, 2012 by Mom2Es
left out a word

[Shannanlee]

I do not like the Frog and Toad books and the Peter Rabbit series. I wanted to like Frog and Toad, everyone had good things to say about Frog and Toad...but I tried reading them to the kids but they seemed disinterested and I can't blame them!

 

The Peter Rabbit series is beyond boring to me. I always wondered why they drew the rabbits with shirts on but no pants..??

 

My daughter and I love Beatrix Potter. We have read them over and over. I think the book that makes me want to end it all is The Hobbit. I can't even make it out of the first chapter. I guess I will attempt it again but maybe.

[Ritsumei]

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Emily's sister) is great as well. It's about an orphan girl, Jane, who lives with her rude cousins and mean aunt. Eventually she goes away to school, then later becomes a teacher for a young French girl named Adele. Adele's guardian is a man named Rochester. Jane and Rochester fall in love, and that's basically all I can say. It's a great book.

 

 

Jane Eyre would have been an awesome book if she'd stopped at the point you did, but she kept going and it keeps on getting worse and worse and more and more twisted. You got the insane first wife that tries to kill them all, the one that Rochester fails to mention, so poor Jane finds out literally at the alter. Jane runs away, nearly marries a total user-priest who loves her ability to learn languages (as distinct from Jane) and wants to marry her and take her to India, even though he knows it will kill her- and by the way the priest happens to be her cousin, but Jane runs away again (noticing a theme?), and inexplicably runs back to the Rochester creep, finds him blind due to a fire set by his first wife (she's conveniently died in the fire), and they re-fall in love and live "happily" ever after. Eww.

 

Funny thing is, my sister loves Jane Eyre, and to hear us each talk about the book, you'd never know that it was the same one we're talking about.

 

The other one that I'm not a fan of is Around the World in 80 Days. The chapter on Mormons in that one is so full of disinformation and stereotypes, and it casts doubt on every exotic place they go through, so that I have to wonder what other culture has been just butchered. I was so disappointed when I read it.

[Angie in VA]

Inkheart. Not a "classic" by any means, but still fairly popular in recent years. I *wanted* to like it, I *love* that genre, but yeah, I'd rather have the hot burning poker in my eyeball. Just shoot me now.

 

ETA: I thought Redwall was pretty bad, too, although not quite the poker-in-the-eyeball level.

 

I thought it was more along the lines of The Great Gatsby which probably doesn't fit into the category the OP intended.

 

But I believe you. :)

[Laura Corin]

I did find Stuart Little strange. I don't think I read it to my sons. I feel like they picked it up to read at some point but didn't stick with it.

 

Laura

[Cricket]

Peter Pan

Actually, we *liked* this as a fascinating study with an older high school student -- read it in conjunction with Lord of the Flies -- WOW! BUT... it's not really a young children's story, IMO.

 

I'm so glad to see this thread because right now I'm reading Peter Pan aloud to my girls. My 8 yo loves it but I think it is creepy and disturbing. The Lord of the Flies did pop into my head tonight! I'm glad I'm not alone!! :D

[Mergath]

I have to agree with Stuart Little. That book was just... strange.

 

Also, I can't stand My Father's Dragon. I know I'm supposed to love it, but it bored me to death.

[besroma]

For man of the same reasons, I do not like:

 

Stuart Little

Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass

Pinocchio

Peter Pan

Dahl books

Dr. Seuss books

The Lord of the Flies

 

I like Louisa May Alcott's books.

[Mom2pandc]

I tried reading the Borrowers to my kids as our first read aloud this year. I'm not sure if it's the version I got or what, but I felt like a moron reading it. I couldn't make sense of the language. It wasn't rich language. It was down right old and not easily understood. I swear I liked these books as a kid, but maybe I just liked the idea and never actually read the books.

We are reading treasure island now and are enjoying it. Reading through this thread though, I'm wondering what to read next. Obviously not Stuart Little. Haha.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I think one of the oddest books we tried reading was Wizard of Oz. Dd, at age 5 stopped me after the Tim Man part and said it was just to weird for her brain, I agreed.

[trlt]

I didn't know there was anyone who didn't like Dr. Seuss. I learn something new every day!!:D

 

We finished reading Stuart Little a month or so ago and I felt like I must be missing something because I really didn't like it. Stuart Little is always recommended as a read aloud for my dd's age so I thought something must be wrong with me because of my dislike. I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one!