Jump to content

Choosing children's books...


Recommended Posts

This is something I originally posted on my blog, but I thought I'd share it here as well...

 

I took Amy (8) for a trip to Waterstones the other day, and suggested many books to her, but this was her final choice…

 

amy.jpg?w=225&h=300

 

The two at the bottom obviously don’t push her at all, and she’s read them very quickly. The top two were, I think, only chosen because they mentioned ‘Jubilee’ and ‘Olympics’, two subjects they’re discussing at school, and I’m not sure they will get read.

I really wanted to be able to say that she’d chosen some more difficult books, as I know she’s technically a good reader. I want to feel she’s pushing herself, and developing her reading.

But then I had a turn-around. She’s only 8, and has loads of time to develop. What I really want to do is encourage and nuture that love of reading and books which I have. I want her to *choose* to read, and to enjoy it, rather than trying to manage a more difficult book just because her mum says she should!

So how do you feel about your children – do you encourage them to read more difficult books, or just enjoy what *they* choose? And readers.. how was your childhood, and did it affect how you feel about books/reading today?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have any children myself, Michelle, but I can say that my mum always encouraged me to read (a book was always a reward for being good at the dentist, or not whinging for a day at the shops) but I don't remember her ever suggesting I read anything other than what I chose myself and at Amy's age that would have been almost exclusively Enid Blyton. Left to my own devices, as I grew into my teens, I eventually found the likes of Jane Austen and E M. Forster on my own, which I read in between Sweet Valley High and other teenage romances, and I've pretty much stuck to that sort of mix of the more serious and challenging mingled with entertainment ever since.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hoorah for Horrid Henry and Captain Underpants and Super Diaper Baby....if any consolation Kenny was lookin at Diaper Baby the other day in Waterstone's....lol. Sometimes they just need something simple and fun to read....plenty time for proper reading and I'm sure she does that anyway Michelle.

 

My childhood had books in yes....lots of Enid Blyton etc...and I loved the adventure type Famous Five, Secret Seven etc. I was never into overly girly stories. When I was older I did love Laura Ingils 'Little House on the Prairie' Not sure about influencing my reading though, maybe mum had a hand in that as she read Catherine Cookson, Victoria Holt. We were always encouraged and taken to the library regularly. Not sure when I eventually found the genre I liked that I like now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My little girl is just over a year and a half - but already knows her mind.

She makes me show her each book on the baby-book shelf - will consider it - and then declare an emphatic "No" or a happy "Yes" :)

So I can see her picking her own books in a few years from now!

 

My childhood had lots of stories in it. Almost every night, till I was eight or so, my father or grand-mother would narrate various made-up stories at bed-time - and I was hooked. Discovering that books had stories was the next step.

 

I grew up reading lots of Enid Blytons - the Enchanted Wood, Famous Five, the Mystery and Adventure series, the Malory Towers/St Claire series, The Naughtiest Girl...

The Just William books (Richmal Crompton), Tom Sawyer, and Heidi were other favourites.

 

I'm still in love with children/coming-of-age books, and I don't see myself out-growing them. I'm currently making my way through a series of children classics and Newbury titles and am constantly amazed at how uplifting and thought-provoking they can be.

I also hope to introduce them to the little one as she grows - but who knows what she'll want to choose!

 

 

Michelle, I think letting your 8-year old choose her own books sends her the right message - that you trust her choice and are willing to let her explore and discover for herself.

And as you've rightly said, there is plenty of time for the other books - the really good ones and the classics will always be around - and its never too late to read them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Hello Michelle :)

 

My daughter is 8 too, and my love for books has definitely rubbed off on her. She really enjoys reading, which I think is great, so I don't worry about the difficulty of the books she reads. I'm very happy that she likes going through a variety of genres and I'm confident she'll get into more "mature" books as she gets older. I bought her a kindle for her birthday because I find a lot of great children books on amazon that have been self published... I believe it gives her more options to choose from :) It's important for me that she's reading high quality books but also that she's enjoying herself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Delaila, a Kindle is such a great idea for kids, so many children's ebooks are being published at the moment! One thing though, how do you assess the quality of, like you mention, self-published books? I guess reviews should give a good indication.

 

Michelle, I was always encouraged to choose my own books: I don't remember ever being forbidden any books, or on the contrary, being pushed to read any I didn't enjoy. I definitely think kids should experiment and choose what catches their eye, as opposed to what looks interesting or 'educational' to the parents. Or how will they ever develop their own preferred style?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Deborah I look at the reviews mostly before buying an e-book. What I like about the self-published books is that a lot of the times the authors pleasantly surprise you... I have read books by authors I have never heard of and they're brilliant! So don't hesitate to look around amazon and if something catches your eye buy it.. a lot of the e-books are really cheap so you don't have to be too careful when choosing :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

All my kids are good readers, and enjoy reading, but they quite often see me with my nose in a book. Although I have had to stop it so much while they are about, because they end up asking me for all sorts of things, and just get a mmm answer :D

We go to the library regularly, and they choose their own books,

My 5 year old especially loves reading, he picked it up so quickly at school and is reading every little thing he can get his hands on. I've just bought him for christmas The dinosaur that pooped christmas, written by a couple of the lads from McFly. He's 5 so toilet humour is high on the list at the mo :) it's a pretty funny rhyming book that I'm sure he will love.

My childhood was filled with books, lots of Enid Blyton and Susan Coolidge and Monica Dickens. My favourite ever books as a child were the World's End series of 4 books by Monica Dickens. I have copies still now, although unfortunately not my original as they were read so many times, they just disintegrated despite the fact that they had about 2 rolls of sellotape on them.

Reading is my life's passion, it's my chill out time, my pleasure. And I'm very pleased that the children seem to be following in my footsteps :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I don't have children.Now a days we are interested in seeing T.V rather than studying books.Previously my mother and aunty has habit of reading novels.In my school age my uncle use to give books as gifts for birthdays.Now I again started reading books and searching for good and interesting  topics in that hunting only I found this site.I am reading story books now a days to tell to my sisters son.

Very happy to be member of this forum.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was always allowed to read pretty much what I wanted. Yes, I read loads of Malory Towers when I was about 8, and followed them up with the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, but it wasn't long before I started choosing more challenging books of my own accord. This was mostly because I'd worked my way through our entire school library and they were forced to bring in books from the middle school to my first school. By the time I was in middle school, I was reading the books from the high school. I continue to read both adult and young adult books to this day - all genres, time periods, etc. I enjoy them all. I thin kit's important to give kids tha tleeway early on so that by the time they have to read certain books for school, they're already predisposed to enjoying them simply because it's something a little bit different.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From what I remember I was always choosing my own books. I was brought up around books in that my Mum and Sister also love reading a lot. I know I primarily focused on books such as Mallory Towers and Jacqueline Wilson novels as they did appeal to my childish mind. But by aronud 10 or 11 I was already branching into books that are probably aimed more at adults and young adults. I'd read books that my Mum would recommend or I found my Mum reading and thought the cover looked interesting. I was reading Jane Eyre and To Kill A Mockingbird in Year 7 at school (when I was 11/12) not that I retained much of what occurred, but it was a milestone. I think I've always been mature for my age and so my reading reflects my maturity and my want and ability to be maturer than my years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always picked my books, as soon as I could read, though my parents may have made suggestions (I don't remember it precisely, to be honest).

 

Once I was old enough to read a bit fluently, we had to go to the school library and borrow a book there to read during 'reading time' (I don't remember how long this was). I found out I really liked reading, and we started to visit the library where I borrowed many books each week (both fiction and non-fiction, I wanted to learn a lot about the world). When I'd read a lot at that library, we even had to go to another town's library or I wouldn't have enough to read! I had a special library card, for children who liked to read a lot, that let you borrow more (this was in my town's library). Once I was a bit older, I went to my town's library myself on bicycle (my mum took me to the libraries once a week I think? Not more often than that, at least).

 

I bought some books and was given some books too, ie. for my birthday. My book collection grew from there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...