New books for the (secret) reading list
A confession: I love children's literature. Not just in a nostalgic "Oh, I remember reading that when I was a kid," kind of way. I truly, truly enjoy reading good kids' books now. I always have. I grew out of my infatuations with Rainbow Brite, New Kids on the Block, and DuckTales, but classics like Anne of Green Gables, the Little House books, the Chronicles of Narnia, Little Women, Charlotte's Web, and others remain on my shelves and I still read them. Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, Louis Sachar? Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em.
Does anyone remember how in that sappy Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks movie "You've Got Mail," Meg's bookstore closes, and she is in another bookstore and someone asks if they have the "Shoe" books and the clerk doesn't know what she's talking about but Meg does? I knew.
I have been a bit ashamed of my kids-lit habit as I've gotten older. My mom would sometimes say, "You're reading that again?" when she saw me reading some beloved, falling-apart book for the 20th time. And my husband at times tells me I could be challenging myself, stretching my mind with all the wonderful adult classics I haven't read. Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov and Don Quixote are all on my to-do list, okay? They just aren't as much fun as Harry Potter. I do read grown-up books too, honest.
I have come to look at kids books as my junk food reading. Some women read trashy romance novels. I just read books meant for 8-year-olds. Everyone needs an escape sometimes.
And it makes parenting all that much more fun, re-discovering old classics and new with my daughter. She's not quite into chapter books yet, but Beth loves to read. Two books I've come across in the Brownsville library that apparently are classic picture books and yet I never read them as a kid: "Caps for Sale" and "One Morning in Maine." Both great.
So the point of this post, minus my long self-defensive rant, was to link to an interesting post on the Powells.com blog. It's about how under-appreciated children's books are and how we've got to do everything we can to get kids to read, including calling on higher powers. And the blogger included a list of under-read children's books. Amazingly, I had read only one item on that list, the Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper.
So now I obviously have some catching up to do. More good books to put in my candy jar.
Does anyone remember how in that sappy Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks movie "You've Got Mail," Meg's bookstore closes, and she is in another bookstore and someone asks if they have the "Shoe" books and the clerk doesn't know what she's talking about but Meg does? I knew.
I have been a bit ashamed of my kids-lit habit as I've gotten older. My mom would sometimes say, "You're reading that again?" when she saw me reading some beloved, falling-apart book for the 20th time. And my husband at times tells me I could be challenging myself, stretching my mind with all the wonderful adult classics I haven't read. Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov and Don Quixote are all on my to-do list, okay? They just aren't as much fun as Harry Potter. I do read grown-up books too, honest.
I have come to look at kids books as my junk food reading. Some women read trashy romance novels. I just read books meant for 8-year-olds. Everyone needs an escape sometimes.
And it makes parenting all that much more fun, re-discovering old classics and new with my daughter. She's not quite into chapter books yet, but Beth loves to read. Two books I've come across in the Brownsville library that apparently are classic picture books and yet I never read them as a kid: "Caps for Sale" and "One Morning in Maine." Both great.
So the point of this post, minus my long self-defensive rant, was to link to an interesting post on the Powells.com blog. It's about how under-appreciated children's books are and how we've got to do everything we can to get kids to read, including calling on higher powers. And the blogger included a list of under-read children's books. Amazingly, I had read only one item on that list, the Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper.
So now I obviously have some catching up to do. More good books to put in my candy jar.
4 comments:
Well, I am one up on you because I have read the Dark is Rising and John Bellairs. (I believe I still have a copy of one of my favorites by him - the chessmen of doom - on our bookshelf.)
I also love childrens books, the best part of being a mom is delving back in to childhood things. Ranger Rick or Highlighs magazines are fun too :)
You're right, we do still have that book on our bookshelf. I'll have to check it out. To be honest I thought that the title sounded a little dorky so I never read it, but now I certainly will.
I'm also a Jen who has never given up reading children's books, and I don't even have kids of my own as an excuse. I actually wrote an article about Why You Should Read Children's Books as an Adult. I also have a list of children's books that adults should read on my website. I wasn't such a Dark is Rising fan, but I, too, love Louis Sachar and Harry Potter, as well as the classics like Anne of Green Gables and the Secret Garden and the John Bellairs books. Thanks!
Post a Comment