How Important is Good Classic Literature

[Lillyfee]

I think I messed up all my kids. None of them appreciates good literature. 

In the last two years I kept hearing how unbelievable important good read alouds are. Every day we should read good literature to our kids, no matter the age and in the best case classics. Of course, the kids should also read good, classic literature.

Now, I tried since last year.

My then 8th grader had no interest in me reading to her. She actually told me that she prefers a conversation with me and me reading to her is boring.

She also does not seem interested in any big books. She likes graphic novels and non fiction about things that interest her. She is however an A student in LA.

My son (6th grade) let me read to him when we needed to do shared reading in our lesson but as a good night story he kept asking me if we could skip the story time. Also he doesn't really want to read in his free time. He likes to play outside until it's dark and then get ready for bed. If he needs to read graphic novels are his choice.

Now my two little ones (2nd and 3rd grade) love read aloud time as long as we read picture books. I started reading chapter books to them at night and made the voices and everything but they kept asking how many pages we still have and did not enjoy it. We pushed through Litte House in the Prairie, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, The Wizard of Oz and Pippi Longstocking before we got back to picture books. Now they love reading time again. 

Also when they read they like shorter booklets with pictures (like easy readers) and don't show interest in chapter books.

I just wonder why it seems that most homeschoolers love reading classic chapter books and mine don't. 

I asked my friend who doesn't homeschool but her kids are great students and she said that hers also only read graphic novels and that they think that most old good classics are boring. She feels they should just read what they enjoy and that times and interests  change and we need to let the kids choose. 

I never read classics as a child unless they were assigned from school and we really did not read a lot of books in class. I mostly read horse or dog magazines as a child. 

How do you all go about this and how do your kids feel about good literature? 

Edited September 6, 2022 by Lillyfee

[Rosie_0801]

Ah.. you can do everything right and the little blighters still end up with their own personalities.

I think a lot of appreciation of classics comes from relating to the bad stuff. Maybe your kids just have a nice life!

Do you just read straight through, or do you stop to discuss parts? I think in this age of video games, old literature doesn't feel interactive enough. 

If they *can* read, are spending time productively, and are sourcing enough information from somewhere that they aren't completely boring ignoramuses, they're doing okay at life. Some books are for fun, some for exercise. They're probably getting enough exercise elsewhere.

I read what I consider essential to dd, have a very small mandatory reading pile that I expect her to work through, and everything else is up to her. Lately, we've been getting through some of the classics neither of us want to read ourselves, but feel are probably good for us, by listening to audiobooks while doing jigsaw puzzles.

Have you tried reading any non-fiction, especially to your older kids? Last year I read Dan Barber's 'The Third Plate' to dd, and a book on Indigenous thinking styles. 

Some picture books are written at a higher reading level than those early chapter books. My kid is 15 and happy reads Dickens (strange child) but also reads picture books. Pictures are nice.

Fact: A lot of books are better done by the BBC than their original authors.
Fact: Some old books are just horrendous. I struggle to believe there are people in this world who have read 'Clarissa' by Samuel Richardson more than once. It's not that I think they are liars, it's just, ugh, why do that to yourself?

I'd give them all a copy of an OMG Shakespeare in their Christmas stockings, just to mess with them. 😛

[HomeAgain]

I hate Jane Austen, The Great Gatsby, and a few other classic novels.

The ones I and my children have gravitated to over time have been these:

-Audio versions done well.  We spent weeks listening to The Three Musketeers and an entire car trip on Catch-22.  They were just amazingly done.

-ones that relate to current events/our lives.  DS had to read The Ransom of Red Chief two years ago.  It's a short O'Henry story, but oh, my, does my family relate to an out-of-box 11yo and how the captors must have felt with him.  Even ds laughed his rear end off, seeing himself as Red Chief.  The year before he had read Tom Sawyer.  When I was a kid I loved L.M. Montgomery's books, identifying with the story girl or Anne's children.   They have to hit that sweet spot of matching maturity and interest.  Some 'classics' are just old books.  They've outlived their usefulness, imo, as literature and are relegated to the history shelf where we can examine the language and ideas used within the context of the author's life.

-beautifully illustrated versions.  We never outgrow the need for prettiness in our lives.  I go out of my way to find books that are well done, and when we find an illustrator we like, we buy more that they've done.  Graphic novels also fit into this.  Sometimes, when ds is unsure, we find the graphic novel of it at the library.  It's a good introduction, especially when we can then hand over an original version and show the richness.  The pictures are already in his head, so he gets it.

-ones connected to good people/good times.  DS23 ended up loving a book because someone he really liked recommended it to him.  DS12 loves a book because he stole it from DS23's bookshelf.  Both grumbled their way through A Christmas Carol until about age 11.  I read it every year, from Dec. 19 to Dec. 23.  We watch the Disney version on the 24th to round it out.  The language in the book is a little rough for younger kids, but the jokes start sinking in in the tween/teen years.

-ones we can make multisensory.  There are companies like Litwits and Moving Beyond The Page that help.  When my oldest was younger I was frustrated that there wasn't an American Girl-like experience for boys.  There were no accessories to go with books, no ways of immersing themselves in stories.  So I started doing it myself.  I built a kit for books I wanted to expose my kids to, like Narnia.  Our L, W, Wardrobe kit had things like Turkish Delight, a "newspaper clipping" of WWII and children transport story, and background noises.  Our Secret Garden kit had a mysterious key, seed starting activity, Indian food, baked potatoes, a set of small gardening tools.  Every chapter was a new experience.  (Mrs. Piggle-wiggle had licorice drops appear in our medicine cabinet, and me looking up to see Tattle-Tails after "dosing", frosting to write "DS's Apple, DON'T TOUCH" and the like).

 

It's not so much sharing classic books, it's sharing love of books.  It's just a different way of looking at it.

Also, I will say that it's something that happens over time.  I keep exposing my kids to all sorts of writing to see what they think about it.  Some we've done more than once.  Some are just good conversations and we're done.  But I'm going to keep filling their bookshelves with beautiful books that they may gravitate to over and over...or maybe just decide to give away after a while of gather dust.

 

[Lillyfee]

I have to say that some stories are also really boring to me as well.

Like that Little House on the Prairie book. Everyone recommended it and as we live currently in Kansas I thought it is a must. Then in a lot of chapters it was explained into detail how the dad built the house. English is not our first language and I did not understand some names of the tools and the kids just looked at me confused why we read now that somebody put on a hinge for the door and then hammered three nails in. My kids even busted out laughing out of irony because they thought it was so boring .

I felt horrible because I did not see the magic in this book and every single person seems to love it. Maybe also because we are not American and we could not relate enough to the family.  I don't know.

Glued to my ear were the kids really in "When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit"  now when I think about it(a gentle introduction how Jewish people had to suffer in World War II). They kept asking "That happened at home? Why did they need to leave? Did great grandmother not see what was happening?  What did Opa do?" We watched the movie after the book and the kids really were highly interested and kept asking questions.

My kids like magic and enjoyed the story of "The Wizard of Oz" but were not highly impressed and never asked to read more than I did. When we read picture books they can't get enough.

Maybe audio books while relaxing and drawing or doing a puzzle are a good idea.

So what do you guys think are absolute essential books every child should read at school?

Edited September 1, 2022 by Lillyfee

[EKS]

9 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

Fact: Some old books are just horrendous.

Absolutely.  My theory is that they didn't do much editing because it was all done with pen and paper.  The way it came out is the way it stayed.  Also, with regard to old "children's" books, many of them weren't originally intended for children or they were only nominally intended for children.  And example of this is Peter Pan.  The themes in that aren't something that children can appreciate.

To the OP: It takes time to get kids used to listening to longer works.  A good transition would be something more modern.  Have you tried the Beverly Cleary books?  We usually had something modern going alongside the classics, and we always took the classics in small bites (and always with me reading aloud).  

[Lillyfee]

I did not try these books yet but thank you for thr suggestion.  They really enjoy modern literature more.

[HomeAgain]

2 hours ago, Lillyfee said:

So what do you guys think are absolute essential books every child should read at school?

This is such a hard question and speaks to the debate about classic literature.  'Classic' often is shorthand for 'popular books in and about Western culture.'  What it should come down to is 'what is important for this child at this time in this culture in this environment to read or be exposed to?

Most children's literature was written in the last 100 or so years.  It is going to reflect it.  Ones that were loved from grades K-3 here were:

Paddington Bear

Aesop's Fables

Folk tales: Billy Goats Gruff, Little Red Hen..

The Secret Garden

Mrs. PiggleWiggle

King Solomon and the Bee (picture book)

Poems of Edward Lear (Poetry for Young People series)

The Story of Gilgamesh (picture book)

Trojan Horse (picture book)

Casey At The Bat (picture book)

Winnie The Pooh

Beowulf (a retelling in prose)

Thorton Burgess books

Beatrix Potter stories

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Grimm's Fairy Tales

 

From 2nd-5th grade:

The Book of Dragons

The Reluctant Dragon

Heidi

Tom Sawyer

Short Stories of O'Henry

Around The World in 80 Days

Lamb's Stories of Shakespeare

Egyptian Myths

The Children's Homer

My Side of The Mountain

Lassie Come Home

Narnia books

Here Lies The Librarian/A Year Down Yonder (any Peck books)

Animal Farm

 

From about end of 4th to 6th:

Sherlock Holmes (pop up interactive book of 2 stories)

A Wrinkle In Time

The Phantom Tollbooth

Ivanhoe (a retelling)

The Canterville Ghost and other stories by Oscar Wilde

Robin Hood

King Arthur (various retellings)

Treasure Island

Maus (graphic novel)

The Great Brain series

Tanglewood Tales

 

You can see that many of them are England-centered.  It's just what tends to happen with older books.  Also, we often started out with an idea in picture format (like the Trojan Horse) and built upon it (Children's Homer, Tanglewood Tales).  Most of the books in the early years were animal or fantastical, more realistic or important myths/legends in middle elementary, and deeper ideas or more difficult language toward middle school.

I don't know what every child should read.  I just know that these were what I determined were worth good conversations for my own kids.

 

I do have some Junior Great Books around, mostly for 1st/2nd grade.  Their focus?  Culturally important picture books and folk tales.  So everyone is different.

 

[prairiewindmomma]

Although I have read and own many, many classic literature books….so many of them are terrible. Part of the reason they are terrible are because they are badly written, or aimed at the wrong audience. Sometimes we miss important cultural contextual information (I am thinking of classic Greek works here).

I loved Little House on the Prairie as a child. I recently re-read it as an adult and hated it. As a child I loved the idea of heading off into the wilderness with only a handful of tools and a sense of adventure and being able to create a home for myself. I think this is an American idea—being able to be self sufficient and independent. As an adult, I think the father was terrible. He took his wife away from a comfortable home and support and lived as a wandering nomad putting his family through all sorts of privation. When you read the actual history of what happened, it’s even worse…and you realize the novels are mostly a fiction hiding the harsh realities to cast the family in a good light.

I argue there are many more modern stories that are just as well written as those from 1850-1950, and that are more relevant to our lives. Feel free to dump a lot of the “classics”. Most were never aimed at children. Begin to reconsider in high school—but even then many books resonate more with me as an adult with life experience than they did when I was a college student.

[Lillyfee]

I feel like that with some TV shows as well. I loved as a child all these Swedish Astrid Lindgren stuff like Pippi Longstocking, The Kids from Noisy Village (I think thats what it's called in English, and Emil Lönneberga but I don't think my kids would love it that much.

When I read Pippi to my kids they listened politely but no magic there even though they love modern funny stories.

I mean look at what I got read to if I would suck my thumb, play with fire or don't eat my dinner . These are also absolute classics and I don't think they are especially beneficial to my kids even though they think these stories are hilarious 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2022 by Lillyfee

[Paige]

I think you have to have kids used to listening to chapter books when young and kids who have a specific personality to continue read alouds in middle school+. Starting that habit with older kids would be harder and I think many kids who enjoyed it when young will resist as they age anyway. People who say their older kids/teens still love read alouds? Good for them but you aren't a failure and you didn't necessarily do anything wrong if they don't.

The other issue, IMO, is that classics are not as important as some would suggest. First, they aren't always actually that well written or compelling, and they aren't all paragons of virtue- many are extremely problematic with racism, sexism, and other -isms that we may find appalling today. Some are great, some are worth the read despite their issues, and some could fade away without any great loss.

I think it's important to have familiarity with a wide variety of "classics" for cultural competence but they shouldn't always be preferred over modern books which may be more exciting or relevant to kids today and are just as rich and wonderful. You can also expose them to the works with graphic novels, picture book adaptations, cartoons, and movies. 

I'd read your younger kids whatever they want and maybe take turns picking books with them so you can occassionally stretch them. Your older kids? Let them off the hook as long as they keep up with their schoolwork. I think it's just as important for them to see you read and if you read and discuss what you're reading with them then they may want to pick up a book too.

[JazzyMom]

My kids enjoy listening to audiobooks either while in the car or playing (legos, trains, or something else quiet).  This is how I squeeze in some classic novels.

I have some kids who love reading and want to read all the time, a couple who will read but only certain genres, and one who wants to read for school and that’s mostly it.  My dh doesn’t read for pleasure and has encouraged me not to worry about it.

Once I introduced graphic novels, I found that even my kids who love reading began to prefer those to regular novels.  That may not be true in every family but seems to be for us, so we are backing away from graphic novels a bit. 

[prairiewindmomma]

I think it's important to think about what we want literature to do:

to explore a world beyond our own every day to day life

to see patterns in people and behaviors and wrestle with how to handle our own interactions with others--including developing empathy and communication skills

to reckon with evil and hardship and see that it can be overcome or survived

to inspire us to become something more

to help us learn how to problem solve

to participate in a greater discussion in society

If certain books aren't working for you or yours, find others.  Classic books are largely classic because they served the above functions for those who read them. 

 

[HomeAgain]

😂 @Lillyfee, Struwwelpeter (translated to English) is a favorite here as well!

Your kids might be more interested in first listening to funny, weird stuff.  Wayside School books are so well loved here that we've bought 3 copies of the first.  I'll put in another plug for The Great Brain, The Phantom Tollbooth, and Richard Peck books as well as ones like The BFG, Where The Sidewalk Ends, and The Stinky Cheese Man.  At the very least it'll expose them to different authors.

They're not quite classics, but they are all very established and relatable.

[cintinative]

If they like magic and they like humor, maybe try the Half Magic series by Edward Eager. They are fun.

[Ting Tang]

I don't think all kids need to love all classic books.  I read a snippet of Homer Price once, and we've never read the entire novel, for example.  It just bored me to tears, and I know it is on the Memoria Press list.  

One author that is not quite classic is Roald Dahl that my eldest son has enjoyed.  

 

[Frances]

14 hours ago, Lillyfee said:

I have to say that some stories are also really boring to me as well.

Like that Little House on the Prairie book. Everyone recommended it and as we live currently in Kansas I thought it is a must. Then in a lot of chapters it was explained into detail how the dad built the house. English is not our first language and I did not understand some names of the tools and the kids just looked at me confused why we read now that somebody put on a hinge for the door and then hammered three nails in. My kids even busted out laughing out of irony because they thought it was so boring .

I felt horrible because I did not see the magic in this book and every single person seems to love it. Maybe also because we are not American and we could not relate enough to the family.  I don't know.

Glued to my ear were the kids really in "When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit"  now when I think about it(a gentle introduction how Jewish people had to suffer in World War II). They kept asking "That happened at home? Why did they need to leave? Did great grandmother not see what was happening?  What did Opa do?" We watched the movie after the book and the kids really were highly interested and kept asking questions.

My kids like magic and enjoyed the story of "The Wizard of Oz" but were not highly impressed and never asked to read more than I did. When we read picture books they can't get enough.

Maybe audio books while relaxing and drawing or doing a puzzle are a good idea.

So what do you guys think are absolute essential books every child should read at school?

While I don’t think it’s necessary to read the Little House books, I would actually suggest starting with Farmer Boy. Personally, it’s by far my favorite of all of them. If you’re not familiar with it, it is based on her husband’s youth on a prosperous farm in upstate NY. It takes place over one year, so goes through the four seasons on the farm.

Based on the book your kids enjoyed, I would recommend Snow Treasure. Also, if you think they might be interested in more books about Jewish children, my childhood favorites were the “All of a Kind Family” series about a large Jewish family in NY city in the early 1900s, maybe because it was so different from my life growing up Catholic in the rural Midwest.

It sounds like your kids might be more visually oriented, so perhaps that is why they don’t enjoy being read chapter books as much. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I discovered that not everyone forms pictures in their head when reading. Trying audio books in the car or while letting them draw, build things, etc might also help.

And if you are really concerned, which I’m not implying you should be, you could try greatly reducing screen time of any type. My husband was raised without TV and we chose to do the same with our son. He enjoyed chapter books and audio books starting around age 3 and reading, read aloud, and audio books were a huge part of his homeschooling years.

Edited September 2, 2022 by Frances

[Jean in Newcastle]

Just answering the title of this thread. I actually think that classic literature is important. Even children’s classics. There are tons of allusions to classic literature in the English language and in current books and media. It’s part of the Great Conversation that I am glad that my kids were immersed in. Lists of classics can vary depending on who is putting them together and of course “classics “ are not the only good books out there. 
 

I had a child who wasn’t as happy with some of the older classics. So I mixed in a lot of newer books that were more to her liking. But I don’t think that I was wrong to still insist on some of the older classics as well. Just like I still insisted on learning math facts. 

[Brittany1116]

I read everything I could find as a child, but could easily dismiss many classics. I'd go into further detail, but I would likely lose my Homeschool Mom card. 

Some titles or authors my kids have loved (primarily read aloud):

Beverly Cleary (Ramona, Ralph, etc)

My Father's Dragon trilogy

The Big Wave

Farmer Boy

Because of Winn Dixie (most recent)

The Vanderbeekers

Homer Price

Charlotte's Web

A Long Walk to Water

Many titles from Christian Heroes Then and Now

My tween has daily required reading, as well as literature studies. This year he has an American history focus, and 15 titles to go along with it, besides other assorted books I have for the year. 

[bookbard]

I don't read aloud to my kids much nowadays, except for poetry. For longer texts, I buy audiobooks on CD, and play them in the car. The kids can then play them on their own CD players in their rooms. Moomintrolls was a surprising hit. I'd highly recommend Charlotte's Web as it is simply great literature. I'd read it as a kid, but listening to it as an adult . . . it's ahead of anything else I've read. 

A lot of stuff will be cultural, so there's a few classic Australian stories I've made them listen to. Being familiar with them is important, I think. Other books aren't so important in terms of broader conversations. So not being aware of Harry Potter would really leave you out of understanding a lot of discussions and jokes. But other books aren't such a big deal. 

[Lillyfee]

Thank you all so much.

I am going to look at all the suggested books and authors and we will definitely start audio books.

 

 

[Rosie_0801]

8 hours ago, bookbard said:

A lot of stuff will be cultural, so there's a few classic Australian stories I've made them listen to. 

Which?

[Rachel]

Since English isn’t  your first language, you may enjoy audiobooks. Don’t listen to them for hours on end, just a chapter or two while in the car, or after lunch, or while making dinner. 
 

I don’t think everything considered classic is the be all end all, but there is still benefit. Americans, especially my age, are familiar with the Little House on the Prairie books, so comparisons come up in other books, movies, or conversations. I’ve never read Harry Potter, but it’s hard to get through a week without hearing references to it, so a passing understanding is helpful. 
 

For kids who don’t love read alouds, it is helpful to have read alouds that are interesting to them. If your kids only like picture books, read them picture books. Sarah Mackenzie at Read Aloud Revival has book lists geared by age. I have found her lists very helpful because they are more culled and include modern books. It’s ok to quit a book after a couple chapters if no one can get into it, it took me years to realize that.

One benefit I see to reading classics and to read alouds is that kids (especially younger) can understand things at a level higher than they can actually read. So classics and read alouds expose them to ideas and language they may not come across in their own reading. In my family a lot of our read alouds are classics because my kids don’t want/won’t  read them independently.

On a different note, my brother in law has German heritage and bought my then 2 year old son Strewwelper (in German) when he was traveling for work. I can’t read German but was horrified by the pictures. I couldn’t believe he would buy my son such a horrifying book and was lamenting to a friend about it. She cracked up and told me it was a German classic. My son, now 14, would probably find it hilarious now.  

[Lillyfee]

Yes, Wilhelm Busch, Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann and others are German classics. My mom always read it to me as a little child and I did not even think there was anything wrong with them and liked them . But it was also normal for me that on 5/6 December St Nicholas came with a bunch of horrible devils (the Krampusnacht) that take bad kids to hell or beat them up . Things I would not really tell my kids 

I really hope that audiobooks will be a good solution for us together with fun picture books.

Edited September 2, 2022 by Lillyfee

[FreyaO]

Lillyfee,

I'd be grateful if you could suggest some German classics / modern classics for elementary age kids. I'm not American and my childhood list of classics was not as heavily Anglo-Saxon/American as for most people here, but I'm afraid German wasn't there. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

My definition of “classic “ is fairly broad. I looked for well written literature or folk tales (which were often oral in origin) from around the world. I was familiar with Japanese folktales from my own childhood but scoured libraries for folktales from various places in Africa, from the Philippines (important to our family since my dh is Filipino), from Scandinavia (we loved Moonintroll too and The Wonderful Adventures of Nils), Diary of a Wombat and Possum Magic were favorites from Australia etc.  we compared “Cinderella” stories from France, Korea and China.  Not all might be considered “classic “ by others. Some were picture books and some chapter books. 

Edited September 2, 2022 by Jean in Newcastle

[Lillyfee]

46 minutes ago, FreyaO said:

Lillyfee,

I'd be grateful if you could suggest some German classics / modern classics for elementary age kids. I'm not American and my childhood list of classics was not as heavily Anglo-Saxon/American as for most people here, but I'm afraid German wasn't there. 

There is so so much 

I loved

Räuber Hotzenplotz

Die Kinder aus Bullerbü

Max und Moritz

Die Kleine Hexe

 

This is a good list I found really quick

https://buchszene.de/buchempfehlungen/kinder-und-jugendbuecher/klassiker/

[Matryoshka]

On 9/1/2022 at 12:48 PM, Lillyfee said:

I feel like that with some TV shows as well. I loved as a child all these Swedish Astrid Lindgren stuff like Pippi Longstocking, The Kids from Noisy Village (I think thats what it's called in English, and Emil Lönneberga but I don't think my kids would love it that much.

When I read Pippi to my kids they listened politely but no magic there even though they love modern funny stories.

I mean look at what I got read to if I would suck my thumb, play with fire or don't eat my dinner . These are also absolute classics and I don't think they are especially beneficial to my kids even though they think these stories are hilarious 

 

 

Struwwelpeter is ... a lot!  I have the book around, but I didn't make a point of terrorizing the kids with it!  

I can't image kids not liking Pippi!  Love Pippi so much (and much of the other Lindgren)!  I have a beautiful illustrated version I picked up when we were in Germany - maybe they'd like it better with pictures?  We also watched the mid-century live-action Pippi from Sweden (dubbed in German).  There's also a whole TV series about Michel that I have, as well as the book, and the movie about Ronja.

Do the kids speak/understand German?  Michael Ende and Cornelia Funke also have some great kids' books.  And do they like fairy tales?  I read them all the European ones plus folk/magical tales from around the world, mostly from beautiful illustrated versions.  

Edited September 2, 2022 by Matryoshka

[Elizabeth86]

On 8/31/2022 at 11:14 PM, Rosie_0801 said:

Ah.. you can do everything right and the little blighters still end up with their own personalities.

I think a lot of appreciation of classics comes from relating to the bad stuff. Maybe your kids just have a nice life!

Do you just read straight through, or do you stop to discuss parts? I think in this age of video games, old literature doesn't feel interactive enough. 

If they *can* read, are spending time productively, and are sourcing enough information from somewhere that they aren't completely boring ignoramuses, they're doing okay at life. Some books are for fun, some for exercise. They're probably getting enough exercise elsewhere.

I read what I consider essential to dd, have a very small mandatory reading pile that I expect her to work through, and everything else is up to her. Lately, we've been getting through some of the classics neither of us want to read ourselves, but feel are probably good for us, by listening to audiobooks while doing jigsaw puzzles.

Have you tried reading any non-fiction, especially to your older kids? Last year I read Dan Barber's 'The Third Plate' to dd, and a book on Indigenous thinking styles. 

Some picture books are written at a higher reading level than those early chapter books. My kid is 15 and happy reads Dickens (strange child) but also reads picture books. Pictures are nice.

Fact: A lot of books are better done by the BBC than their original authors.
Fact: Some old books are just horrendous. I struggle to believe there are people in this world who have read 'Clarissa' by Samuel Richardson more than once. It's not that I think they are liars, it's just, ugh, why do that to yourself?

I'd give them all a copy of an OMG Shakespeare in their Christmas stockings, just to mess with them. 😛

Ain’t that the truth? 🤣

[bookbard]

7 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

Which?

I Can Jump Puddles by Alan Marshall, whose life was similar to my dad's, who also had polio. Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park, a book every kid used to do at school, set in Sydney (we just visited a few places from the book a month ago). I haven't done Seven Little Australians, I just remember how sad it is, I'll have to think about it. I did set a simple book by Hesba Brinsmead, but probably her stuff, though old, isn't seen as a classic, not famous enough! But she wrote well about different Australian landscapes. 

[Lillyfee]

1 hour ago, Matryoshka said:

Struwwelpeter is ... a lot!  I have the book around, but I didn't make a point of terrorizing the kids with it!  

I can't image kids not liking Pippi!  Love Pippi so much (and much of the other Lindgren)!  I have a beautiful illustrated version I picked up when we were in Germany - maybe they'd like it better with pictures?  We also watched the mid-century live-action Pippi from Sweden (dubbed in German).  There's also a whole TV series about Michel that I have, as well as the book, and the movie about Ronja.

Do the kids speak/understand German?  Michael Ende and Cornelia Funke also have some great kids' books.  And do they like fairy tales?  I read them all the European ones plus folk/magical tales from around the world, mostly from beautiful illustrated versions.  

Yes, German is our first language and they speak it better than English but we just started on reading and writing it, too.

We also want to retire in Germany and while the two oldest will probably finish high school in the US, the two younger ones might finish school in Germany.

They love Pippi as TV show but did not pay too much attention with the book.

[Eilonwy]

On 8/31/2022 at 11:51 PM, Lillyfee said:

Now my two little ones (2nd and 3rd grade) love read aloud time as long as we read picture books. I started reading chapter books to them at night and made the voices and everything but they kept asking how many pages we still have and did not enjoy it. We pushed through Litte House in the Prairie, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, The Wizard of Oz and Pippi Longstocking before we got back to picture books. Now they love reading time again. 

I found with my kids that they needed a slow transition from picture books to chapter books.

I still read aloud with my kids (8, 11, 14) every day, and it works well for us but I don’t know how typical this is.  We started young.  I read both classics and recent books like the Vanderbeekers or Adventures with Waffles (also some non-fiction — Scientists in the Field books worked really well for this).  I don’t read books that bore me, though, because they’ll be bored too. 

The pacing, vocabulary and sentence structure of classic stories are often different and takes some time to get used to.  We used illustrated versions of Pinocchio, Wizard of Oz, Pippi, etc. as well as longer picture books during that transition to chapter books. Others that we read included Winnie the Pooh, Beatrix Potter stories, and Jill Barklem’s Brambly Hedge stories (highly recommend these).  They all have more classic pacing and structure but also have illustrations.  

I sometimes do multiple versions of the same story to build up gradually.  For example, for my oldest who’s 14, this summer we did Hamlet. I read an illustrated children’s adaptation of Hamlet (Adam McKeown), then we read the full play together taking turns with the parts, then we saw the play live at a local open-air Shakespeare company.  I picked Hamlet because it was the one that was available live, but then since it’s a challenging one, we started with just the story, then the text, so she’d be familiar with it once she saw the play.

If the goal is to become familiar with culturally significant stories, like the Iliad or Odyssey, Rosemary Sutcliff has really good illustrated versions.  The D’Aulaires have good illustrated versions of Greek and Norse myths, and George O’Connor has a whole series of graphic novels on the Greek gods.

In German, Snöfried aus dem Wiesental (Andreas Schmachtl) is a cute epic adventure story with some illustrations that I really enjoyed. 
I’ve found read-alouds to be effective and fun for my family, but I think there are lots of ways to approach literature appreciation and familiarity, and it takes some tailoring, both for each of them and for you. 

[Lillyfee]

I don't come from a literature loving family.

My dad had lots of non fiction and encyclopedias and I loved looking at his books about animals and nature. 

My mom never read. She did sometimes read to me but not on a daily basis. I did not really have any books but picture books. One time I got Hanni und Nanni and Dolly (which are kind of classic girl books here)  and read these two very quickly. Also I got Lassie and read that big book very fast. I did have lots of horse magazines with comics in them.

Maybe that also has something to do with me not really appreciating classics enough. I never had the feeling that I missed out on something as a child but I do understand now that the kids in more intellectual families around us grew up with more and different literature exposure than me and my friends.

I really try to expose the kids more to books and good literature.

[LMD]

I think that good classic literature is super important actually. Not every single book listed as a classic will be a favourite, but generally, a lot of classics that are still widely loved are loved for a good reason. They speak to a universal human experience, or longing, and in turn help us be more human - imo.

Now, that said, developing the stamina and the vocabulary is 'work' and kids (and adults!) will naturally balk at that. I'd start small, even just one or two pages, or a short <10 mins on audio book, with a nice treat. Leave them wanting more, not exhausted and bored! 

I don't know if your older children are homeschooling, but if so I'd require good literature and take a similar slow reading with lots of discussion tactic. They might never appreciate it or be 'readers' but at least they can access and understand it. 🙂

[Lillyfee]

I thought I put it in my bookd thread instead of starting a new one. My son keeps bringing these comic books home from the school library which he actually likes to read. 

They are Manga comics. I know these are probably not the most valuable books but that this boy picks up a book and likes to read it is so rare and exciting.

Would you let him read whatever or would you be selective about books? I have never read these kind of comic books. He is 11, almost 12 years old. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

6 hours ago, Lillyfee said:

I thought I put it in my bookd thread instead of starting a new one. My son keeps bringing these comic books home from the school library which he actually likes to read. 

They are Manga comics. I know these are probably not the most valuable books but that this boy picks up a book and likes to read it is so rare and exciting.

Would you let him read whatever or would you be selective about books? I have never read these kind of comic books. He is 11, almost 12 years old. 

Just be careful because manga can feature some pretty “adult “ themes. (Obviously not all but enough to warn you about it). 

[Lillyfee]

Yes, my friend told me yesterday that some can be pretty wild.

So far he only gets them from the school library and as it is a middle school I hope they don't have really adult content in there. 

When I buy some I will definitely look out for that.

[kiwik]

On 9/2/2022 at 4:28 AM, prairiewindmomma said:

Although I have read and own many, many classic literature books….so many of them are terrible. Part of the reason they are terrible are because they are badly written, or aimed at the wrong audience. Sometimes we miss important cultural contextual information (I am thinking of classic Greek works here).

I loved Little House on the Prairie as a child. I recently re-read it as an adult and hated it. As a child I loved the idea of heading off into the wilderness with only a handful of tools and a sense of adventure and being able to create a home for myself. I think this is an American idea—being able to be self sufficient and independent. As an adult, I think the father was terrible. He took his wife away from a comfortable home and support and lived as a wandering nomad putting his family through all sorts of privation. When you read the actual history of what happened, it’s even worse…and you realize the novels are mostly a fiction hiding the harsh realities to cast the family in a good light.

I argue there are many more modern stories that are just as well written as those from 1850-1950, and that are more relevant to our lives. Feel free to dump a lot of the “classics”. Most were never aimed at children. Begin to reconsider in high school—but even then many books resonate more with me as an adult with life experience than they did when I was a college student.

Could you recommend the best book for the adult version? I know some but have not been able to select the right book. As an adult I suspect Pa had a mental illness.  As a child I knew several people remarkably like him so he didn't seem that odd.

[Ellie]

On 9/1/2022 at 5:54 AM, HomeAgain said:

ones we can make multisensory.  There are companies like Litwits and Moving Beyond The Page that help.  When my oldest was younger I was frustrated that there wasn't an American Girl-like experience for boys.  There were no accessories to go with books, no ways of immersing themselves in stories.  So I started doing it myself.  I built a kit for books I wanted to expose my kids to, like Narnia.  Our L, W, Wardrobe kit had things like Turkish Delight, a "newspaper clipping" of WWII and children transport story, and background noises.  Our Secret Garden kit had a mysterious key, seed starting activity, Indian food, baked potatoes, a set of small gardening tools.  Every chapter was a new experience.  (Mrs. Piggle-wiggle had licorice drops appear in our medicine cabinet, and me looking up to see Tattle-Tails after "dosing", frosting to write "DS's Apple, DON'T TOUCH" and the like).

You are so clever! I would never have thought of that in a gajillion years!

[happypamama]

Didn't read all the replies. 

 

Are there classic books you personally love? If so, maybe try one of those. That has the potential to backfire, but it also has potential to give them warm fuzzy feelings too because it's a part of you, someone they love. (For instance, my ILs have a little cottage where my kids love boating and spending time with their grandparents. There's a print with a quote from Wind in the Willows that I've pointed out to the kids a few times. So I recently started reading WitW to them. Because they associate it with their grandparents, they're sort of pre-set-up to expect they'll like it. And they do.)

 

I also suggest audio books that the kids can enjoy on their own, at their leisure, no analysis, just discovering what they like, completely on their terms. My 9 and 11yo don't have as much access to screens as the older kids do, so they spend a ton of time listening to audio books. 

 

Vary the time you read -- try during or after lunch if bedtime isn't good and vice versa -- and read just a few pages if that's all you're up for. Especially with older books, they can be a lot to follow, so maybe a full chapter at once isn't always feasible. Fidgets or drawing or the like might help too.

 

Try the more modern classics. Try ones with a movie. (Normally I am pro "book first then movie," but my 11-year-old had seen the Lord of the Rings movies several times and loved them, as the rest of the family does, so he decided he'd listen to the entire trilogy this summer. He didn't get all of it, but he liked it, and he could follow the basic plot points.) Try a shorter version; again, normally, I prefer just to wait until they're ready for the full book, but sometimes a shorter version can help make something accessible and interesting.

 

I love the idea of interaction! Try food from the book or YouTube videos that talk about some aspects.

 

And you know what? Kids are their own people. Some are not going to like to read for fun. Some don't like fiction. A d that's okay too. It's good to encourage and to have some expectations as far as school goes, but don't sweat about it too much. 

Edited October 1, 2022 by happypamama

[mathmarm]

On 8/31/2022 at 10:51 PM, Lillyfee said:

How do you all go about this and how do your kids feel about good literature? 

OP, I was like you. I was not into "good classic literature" as a child. I wasn't a great reader. Reading to my children was an intentional choice and very effortful for me, personally. I wanted my kids to read better than I did at their ages, and to feel capable of reading big books, even if they didn't love reading big books.

We tried very hard to intentionally read to the kids daily when they were younger and that part went well. The desire to not have to read to them was especially strong once they could reliably read to themselves, but we push on because we've made books an enjoyable part of our family dynamic and the kids (usually) enjoy that part.

For longer books, I don't read to my kids as much as we read with them these days.

We try and keep a family read going, where everyone has a copy of the same book and we read in turns--kind of like a radio cast.

Depending on the book, some people might read certain characters or certain pages.

We do this with novels, chapters book and even picture books.

Sometimes we read books that are easy for the kids to get into, other times we read books that are too hard for the kids to enjoy on their own.

[Shoeless]

On 9/13/2022 at 7:49 AM, Lillyfee said:

I thought I put it in my bookd thread instead of starting a new one. My son keeps bringing these comic books home from the school library which he actually likes to read. 

They are Manga comics. I know these are probably not the most valuable books but that this boy picks up a book and likes to read it is so rare and exciting.

Would you let him read whatever or would you be selective about books? I have never read these kind of comic books. He is 11, almost 12 years old. 

Absolutely let him read whatever he wants to read. Graphic novels and manga often have very rich vocabulary in them, plus story lines that go on for many, many volumes.  Good manga and graphic novels are not simplistic if that is your worry.

Unless a kid was picking out something really, really inappropriate, (violent or adult content), I would not discourage their reading picks at all. Add in different books to augment what they already like, but don't eliminate the books they choose for themselves.

If you end up purchasing manga for him, any decent shop selling it will be able to steer you to age-appropriate picks and away from anything racy.

[birchbark]

I also agree that good classic literature is important. You don't need to read "all" the classics, but every child should be exposed to at least a few during their education. Some good reasons are given upthread.

When it comes to enjoying good literature, whether old or new, my first question is how much screen time are the children getting? The color, light, movement, engagement, and immediate feedback of the digital world militates against the slow-moving, imagination-requiring world of the printed book. My experience is that when books are in competition with screens, screens will win every time. The more screen-time there is, the less the ability to enjoy books. It's like it destroys the ability to sustain attention on anything unstimulating. Maybe there are some lucky households that have the two coexist, but it's not been my experience.

Perhaps it is luddite in our current culture, but I restrict screens until I see the kids enjoying literature. My non-readers enjoy listening to a book, and that's good enough for me.