Have the old books stood the test of time?

[Michelle]

When Beth started to really enjoy her books, I excitedly pointed her in the direction of The Famous Five, and Secret Seven.. only to find she wasn't interested at all!

Those of you with children, have they read the older books, or do the modern children's book appeal to them more?

And to our younger forum members.. what children's books did you enjoy.. the older ones, or the modern one?

[Janet]

My daughter tried one of my Famous Five books, and declared it boring! I reread them all myself a few years ago, and found them to be really dated. I enjoyed them for old time's sake, but I don't think they really stand the test of time.

I started reading the Narnia books to my children, and whilst some of the language in them is a bit dated (I did have a silent chuckle reading The Magician's Nephew when Polly tells Digory not to show anyone his ring!), but the stories are still fun.

Other books stand the test of time better - Charlotte's Web, Gobillino The Witches Cat and Winnie-The-Pooh have all been enjoyed at various times in this house!

[Polka Dot Rock]

Winnie-the-Pooh most definitely, I really enjoyed them when I was a child. I also loved When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six, A.A Milne's poetry collections.

I think I was quite modern in my young tastes: I hated Enid Blyton, but I loved Jacqueline Wilson - I remember devouring The Story of Tracy Beaker in a day! Wilson's stories and characters have really stayed with me, especially The Suitcase Kid and The Bed and Breakfast Star.

My other favourites were definitely Colin Dann (The Animals of Farthing Wood series and Just Nuffin' in particular) and Dick King Smith. God, I think I must have read most of Smith's output by the time I was 11! I started with The Guard Dog, went onto The Sheep-Pig and Harry's Mad, all the way to The Fox Busters (GREAT book, v feminist-vigilante as I remember, lol). There was a fantastic one about an Ostrich which I loved, but I can't remember what it was called :confused:

Oh, and Jill Murphy's The Worst Witch series I really enjoyed at the time, too.

Of course, the ultimate literary hero of my childhood was - and probably still is - Roald Dahl. My favourites were, and remain, Matilda, The BFG, George's Marvellous Medicine, Fantastic Mr Fox, Dirty Beasts and Revolting Rhymes, and The Giraffe, The Pelly & Me.
Never liked Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, mind you.

[KW]

Sadly, it's a well known fact in the publishing industry that most "classics" would not be pubbed today, not in a world of immeadiate gratification and Star Warsesq special effects.

Video games, TV, films have all stolen a bit of the savor and enjoy element one used to get from reading books like that.
Authors today are told that they're first line, even their first sentance ant paragraph must leap off the page and grab the reader or...forget it!

KW

[Polka Dot Rock]

Authors today are told that they're first line, even their first sentance ant paragraph must leap off the page and grab the reader or...forget it!

If that kept happened to me, I'd be quite tempted to fashion a huge pop-up boxing glove for the first page, and after if banged them on the nose, say "That leap out enough for ya?" :mrgreen:

[Louiseog]

Attention spans are less now. Blue Peter does not let any of its spots last for more than five minutes, whereas in the past it was 10 or more.
Lessons in school are supposed to be chunked down, we have 50 minute lessons and are supposed to divide them into three sections to maintain interest.

[Purple Poppy]

Polka Dot Rock said...

If that kept happened to me, I'd be quite tempted to fashion a huge pop-up boxing glove for the first page, and after if banged them on the nose, say "That leap out enough for ya?" :mrgreen:


Good one Amy!!
Louise sais ...
Attention spans are less now. Blue Peter does not let any of its spots last for more than five minutes, whereas in the past it was 10 or more.
Lessons in school are supposed to be chunked down, we have 50 minute lessons and are supposed to divide them into three sections to maintain interest.


And that is sad, and appalling and bodes badly for the future, but you have to hope that seeds are sown and the more intelligent will take them out of hibernation after a while and nurture them, otherwise we're lost! Not just in reading either.

PP :cry:

[KW]

I completely agree purplepoppy. It's a sad commentary on our world as a whole that we can't ( dont?) take the time to savor. I fall into this catagory now myself, trained as I've been to think. Unless I'm stuck on a beach in Mexico for seven days KNOWING I can't access my computer, I simply won't take the time to really get into slower-starting literature.

KW

[Kell]

I think pretty much all the Enid Blyton books have dated pretty badly, from The Famous Five to Mallory Towers - it's all midnight feasts, tea & crumpets & having a jolly-whizzy time cycling & picnicing. Kids today don't get that at all. The books that are aimed at the very young (such as Winnie the Pooh or the Beatrix Potter ones) fare better, because the audience is pretty much captive & they like soft toys & talking rabbits in blue jackets. Certain genre writers, such as C S Lewis also stay the course because they write about different worlds which can be pretty much timeless.

I read a kids' "horror" last year called The Dark Behind the Curtain by Gillian Cross & it had dated very badly, talking about record players & tape decks - very much a product of the 80s. It also wasn't scary at all by today's standards - most kids today would find it very dull.

[Michelle]

I did think the Secret Seven books would be a bit more interesting though, but yes, I suppose they are very dated to read, and so children would lose interest.

[KW]

This is why, from an author's perspective, it's important not to use too many trendy references, terminology, etc in your writing or it does date the piece.

I fear with all of the references in YA literature for example to IMming and texting and the likes, novels written during this period will feel dated in 20 years when kids simply "think" and the wire attached to their brains will transmit the message they want to send! LOL, right?!

[Maureen]

The Famous Five, and Secret Seven.. only to find she wasn't interested at all!

Those of you with children, have they read the older books, or do the modern children's book appeal to them more?


Oh, I was looking forward to have my son read these. I guess it will not happen! I never thought that these will be outdated!

[Louiseog]

Oh, I was looking forward to have my son read these. I guess it will not happen! I never thought that these will be outdated!
My boys loved them all !

[Liz]

And to our younger forum members.. what children's books did you enjoy.. the older ones, or the modern one?

My mother tended to read older books to me and so I carried on with them when I could read by myself. I read a lot of....

Roald Dahl
Beatrix Potter
Enid Blyton
A.A. Milne

I also read a few more modern children's books which were in the school junior library, which included.....

The Redwall series
Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell books

There were other modern books, but I cannot really think of many at the moment.

I have to say, though, that I would read the older children's books again, but I wouldn't want to read the more modern ones for a second time. Once was enough for them, I think.

[Kell]

Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell books
I only discovered these guys last year & loved them so much that i've kept the entire Edge Chronicles - I'm not parting with them at all! They're another example of fantasy writers thogh & I think those fare better over time providing they're not too "sci-fi-ish".

[Purple Poppy]

Liz said,

I have to say, though, that I would read the older children's books again, but I wouldn't want to read the more modern ones for a second time. Once was enough for them, I think.


Hmmm..interesting.

PP

[Sugar]

Winnie-the-Pooh most definitely, I really enjoyed them when I was a child. I also loved When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six, A.A Milne's poetry collections....

My other favourites were definitely Colin Dann (The Animals of Farthing Wood series and Just Nuffin' in particular) and Dick King Smith. God, I think I must have read most of Smith's output by the time I was 11! I started with The Guard Dog, went onto The Sheep-Pig and Harry's Mad, all the way to The Fox Busters (GREAT book, v feminist-vigilante as I remember, lol). There was a fantastic one about an Ostrich which I loved, but I can't remember what it was called :confused:

Oh, and Jill Murphy's The Worst Witch series I really enjoyed at the time, too.

Of course, the ultimate literary hero of my childhood was - and probably still is - Roald Dahl. My favourites were, and remain, Matilda, The BFG, George's Marvellous Medicine, Fantastic Mr Fox, Dirty Beasts and Revolting Rhymes, and The Giraffe, The Pelly & Me.
Never liked Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, mind you.

Snap, PDR! I think we were almost identical, although I did love Enid Blyton. I came to them quite late, my brother (4 years younger than me) started reading when he was 8, and was reading them to me in the evening. I then went on to read almost all of EB's books, in between adult classics and teen horror!

Enid Blyton - Famous Five and Secret Seven especially - do still issue really well from the library. I will leave them in stock for longer than I would like to quite often, because although they fall apart they have maybe 15 issues a year. They go out especially well in the summer as part of the Reading Games.

[Michelle]

Enid Blyton - Famous Five and Secret Seven especially - do still issue really well from the library. I will leave them in stock for longer than I would like to quite often, because although they fall apart they have maybe 15 issues a year. They go out especially well in the summer as part of the Reading Games.

Ah.. but I wonder if this is the children themselves choosing, or their parents saying.. "ooh.. try these, they're really good!".. just as I did to Beth!? :)

[Sugar]

I think it is partly the parents, but also there are a lot of children who like to read series - and the fact that there are so many series by Blyton really helps - she complements the likes of RL Stine, Lucy Daniels, Daisy Meadows (and the rest of the pseudonym collectives)!

[Polka Dot Rock]

It's true that Enid Blyton hasn't been completely left behind by subsequent generations: I've met a lot of people my age who loved Enid Blyton (mostly girls, unsurprisingly).

Perhaps a lot of my not really enjoying with her was to do with the fact that I was a tomboy, as I remember loving George (and Timmy!) but wanting to push the rest of them off the nearest cliff! (Perhaps they'd have landed on one of those smugglers' cave they always seemed to stumble onto...)

Sugar - glad we are Children's Fiction twins, lol.

I also read a lot of Goosebumps (oh yes!). Even now, I think I'd be scared if I read Night of the Living Dummy again... *shudder*

[Angel]

I loved Enid Byton - especially the Famous Five, Mallory Towers and St Claires. Unfortunately, these seem to be lost to the younger children now. Although Tiger has some of them, they were not a terrific hit :blush:

[kernow_reader]

I once gave my daughter an Enid Blyton book to read and she laughed uncontrollably at "Uncle Peter and his nephew going twigging". Ingrate!
If I found her and the two boys in front of Nintendo's Mario Bros I used to read the riot act and tell them they should be reading Arthur Ransome's "Swallows and Amazons". This story never impressed them either. They all loved Grimm's and Anderson's fairy tales and The Narnia stories but poked fun at Dick, Jane and Spot. Even now I return to some of my old favourite books from childhood.

[Kell]

They all loved Grimm's and Anderson's fairy tales...Now those are stories that stand the test of time! I especially love the Grimm tales - much darker than people suspect when they are used to the stories getting the Disney treatment - stories like Cinderella are far better without the sugar-coating!

[Liz]

I used to read the Mr. Men & Little Miss series of books over and over again. They were great.

[Michelle]

Now that is something Beth does like! She had the Mr Men set last Christmas, and she's read them those of times, and sometimes sits copying them. This Christmas she has the Little Miss set, so she has something new! :)

[Maureen]

I loved Enid Byton - especially the Famous Five, :blush:
I wanted to bejust like George!:blush:

[Purple Poppy]

I can remember sitting in the back garden one summer hols writing my own Famous Five book. I wonder what happened to it. I loved George too, but favourite was Timmy.

PP

[Maureen]

P.P., I hope you did not want to be Timmy :lol: :lol: :jump:

[Purple Poppy]

Maureen said...
P.P., I hope you did not want to be Timmy :lol: :lol: :jump:


Well he had an interesting life, not bad for a dog. Lots of adventures and lots of treats (food), so why not??
No, I think I wanted to be like George as I was a bit of a tom boy too.

PP

[Polka Dot Rock]

Actually... I think I wanted to be Timmy... :blush:

Look, I was a tomboy who loved animals! (See previous post on Dick King Smith for evidence).
I remember that whenever I got roped into playing 'Family' at infant school, I invariably elected to be the family dog! :lol: At least it was my own choice!

[Maureen]

Well he was quite a hero ! (Timmy I mean!)

[Purple Poppy]

:lol: :friends0: I can relate to that as I love animals too especially cats and dogs.

PP

[Liz]

Now that is something Beth does like! She had the Mr Men set last Christmas, and she's read them those of times, and sometimes sits copying them. This Christmas she has the Little Miss set, so she has something new! :)

My mother slowly bought them and built up the whole set for me (Men & Miss). I think they've done a few new ones since I gave up reading them (about '96/'97), as I don't recognise some of them. My mother gave them to my two nephews a few years ago.

[Purple Poppy]

Good stalwarts (sp?) they have lasted the test of time. My children, all in late twenties and thirties had them all

[Polka Dot Rock]

Ah, I love Mr Men! And Little Miss, of course.

When I was little, my favourite was Mr Bump. Poor Mr Bump...

I had a T-shirt from Urban Outfitters with Little Miss Christmas on, that I wore with pride throughout December :lol:

[Liz]

When I was little, my favourite was Mr Bump. Poor Mr Bump...

When we had a charity dress-up day at school where you had to come as a character from a book, a lad in my class came as Mr. Strong. He wore this huge cardboard box painted red that was as big as he was. He kept getting stuck in the doorways.

My Maths teacher came as Mr. Bump and was wrapped up in loo roll.

[Michelle]

We did that when Beth had to dress up as a character from a book... she put on a blue top, and I wrapped some bandages around her. Much more inventive than the spiderman, power rangers and princess outfits that everyone else wore! hehe

[kernow_reader]

Now those are stories that stand the test of time! I especially love the Grimm tales - much darker than people suspect when they are used to the stories getting the Disney treatment - stories like Cinderella are far better without the sugar-coating!

*Absolutely*!!!

[benedicklover]

I used to read the Mr. Men & Little Miss series of books over and over again. They were great.
I still do;)

[Icecream]

I agree. Mr. Men will always be around I think.