Thoughts on Ana's reading habits.

[conuly]

Such as they are :)

Up until now, most of her books have been fairly plot-free, or with exceedingly minor plots: Bunch of animals go to bed; a hippo has a party, then everybody leaves (one hippo, alone once more, misses the other forty-four); everybody hides from Spot and then they have cake.

Some of her books do have a plot, but they're still simple plots: Harold goes on a trip and then goes to bed; Mickey gets out of bed and gets milk; the most ambitious book she has so far is Curious George.

She can follow quite long stories by now, and she's very smart.

So I'm thinking it's time to introduce her to villians, the mainstay of childhood fiction. (I'm with Nanny Ogg on this point, I think that a little pointless terror is essential to the healthy child.) I don't want to scare her too much (or, indeed, at all), so can anybody reccommend simple stories that feature slightly scary things and are suitable for toddlers? Fairy tales work, so long as you give me a specific edition - I'm planning on reading her Hansel and Gretel, but I want to find an edition that she'll grasp easily. This may have to wait awhile.

Gah, I can't wait until she's old enough to read Roald Dahl to. Or Edward Eager. I have a list of my favorites from my childhood all lined up and ready to go! For Ana. Of course.

Comments

[ladyshrew.livejournal.com]

I HOPE YOU READ HER THE BFG WHEN SHE'S OLD ENOUGH!!!! ::hearts that book::

[conuly]

Well, duh!

[ladyshrew.livejournal.com]

YAAAAYY!!!!! :-D

[leora.livejournal.com]

I can't think of much for that young, make it a bit older and I'd do better. But when I was working with 4 year olds, I remember I read them The Gingerbread Man. I was noting it because I ended up reading 3 stories that day that involved whether or not a character would get eaten, and I wasn't sure why this was such a staple plot at that age. It'd go with Hansel and Gretel as a nice cannabalism theme.

[conuly]

So suggest things for when she's three, or four, or five. Just tell me how old you think she should be when reading whatever, or having it read to her. I promise, I read through every book before I buy it, and when I *see* a book, I can judge fairly well if she'll like it or not.

[leora.livejournal.com]

This story doesn't so much have villians as it has really annoying culture, but I loved this book as a child: Mr. Pine's Purple House. I haven't read it in ages, so my opinion might differ now, but there's info on it at: http://www.purplehousepress.com/allpine.htm

Nothing else springs to mind until you get up to books with chapters.

[drewaline.livejournal.com]

What about Where the Wild Things Are?

[drewaline.livejournal.com]

.. I don't actually recall too much of the story itself, just that as a young child it interested me.

[xiggaroo.livejournal.com]

I loved it. The whole "the monsters scare kids" thing is such BS.

[conuly]

Everything Sendak has written is automatically on my list :)

[drewaline.livejournal.com]

Excellent. ;)

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

As soon as she's old enough, she needs to read The Giver by Lois Lowry. Until then... How old is she, again?

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Maybe Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The parents are pretty villainous, if you ask me.

[conuly]

Two. She's not *quite* there yet.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Um, yeah, not quite.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

I don't know what age it's supposed to be suitable for, but Harold and the Purple Crayon was fun when I was a kid.

[conuly]

She enjoys that.

[sparklyfabulous]

(seen you around via friendsfriends, wandered in because i couldn't let this one pass)

I have two recs, both stories that I adored as a kid, though I don't remember quite how old-- I'd imagine 2 or 3 would be okay, though.

The Little House, by Virginia Burton

and

The Funny Thing, by Wanda Gag (of "Millions of Cats" fame).

I can't quite explain why I liked the first one, but I think it's mostly the illustrations; the second one is just fantastically silly with fun words to run around screaming.

(on the "fun words" note, there's always Dr. Seuss, tons and tons of Dr. Seuss that I somehow still have memorized from when I was very young...)

[conuly]

My father's favorite picture book was "The Little House". If I can't find our copy, I'm planning on buying a new one.

[sporks5000.livejournal.com]

I recall there being a rather good version of "The spider and the fly (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0689852894/qid=1122216467/sr=1-33/ref=sr_1_33/104-8948012-7639138?v=glance&s=books)" by Tony diTerlizzi. It's just the old poem put to illustration, but clearly, the spider stands out as a villan. There are a few lines that I recall being slightly sexually suggestive, but not in such a way that you can't convincingly pretend that they're not.

And it's Tony diTerlizzi, so there's no doubt that the illustrations are fantastic.

[ladyshrew.livejournal.com]

I HOPE YOU READ HER THE BFG WHEN SHE'S OLD ENOUGH!!!! ::hearts that book::

[conuly]

Well, duh!

[ladyshrew.livejournal.com]

YAAAAYY!!!!! :-D

[leora.livejournal.com]

I can't think of much for that young, make it a bit older and I'd do better. But when I was working with 4 year olds, I remember I read them The Gingerbread Man. I was noting it because I ended up reading 3 stories that day that involved whether or not a character would get eaten, and I wasn't sure why this was such a staple plot at that age. It'd go with Hansel and Gretel as a nice cannabalism theme.

[conuly]

So suggest things for when she's three, or four, or five. Just tell me how old you think she should be when reading whatever, or having it read to her. I promise, I read through every book before I buy it, and when I *see* a book, I can judge fairly well if she'll like it or not.

[leora.livejournal.com]

This story doesn't so much have villians as it has really annoying culture, but I loved this book as a child: Mr. Pine's Purple House. I haven't read it in ages, so my opinion might differ now, but there's info on it at: http://www.purplehousepress.com/allpine.htm

Nothing else springs to mind until you get up to books with chapters.

[drewaline.livejournal.com]

What about Where the Wild Things Are?

[drewaline.livejournal.com]

.. I don't actually recall too much of the story itself, just that as a young child it interested me.

[xiggaroo.livejournal.com]

I loved it. The whole "the monsters scare kids" thing is such BS.

[conuly]

Everything Sendak has written is automatically on my list :)

[drewaline.livejournal.com]

Excellent. ;)

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

As soon as she's old enough, she needs to read The Giver by Lois Lowry. Until then... How old is she, again?

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Maybe Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The parents are pretty villainous, if you ask me.

[conuly]

Two. She's not *quite* there yet.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Um, yeah, not quite.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

I don't know what age it's supposed to be suitable for, but Harold and the Purple Crayon was fun when I was a kid.

[conuly]

She enjoys that.

[sparklyfabulous]

(seen you around via friendsfriends, wandered in because i couldn't let this one pass)

I have two recs, both stories that I adored as a kid, though I don't remember quite how old-- I'd imagine 2 or 3 would be okay, though.

The Little House, by Virginia Burton

and

The Funny Thing, by Wanda Gag (of "Millions of Cats" fame).

I can't quite explain why I liked the first one, but I think it's mostly the illustrations; the second one is just fantastically silly with fun words to run around screaming.

(on the "fun words" note, there's always Dr. Seuss, tons and tons of Dr. Seuss that I somehow still have memorized from when I was very young...)

[conuly]

My father's favorite picture book was "The Little House". If I can't find our copy, I'm planning on buying a new one.

[sporks5000.livejournal.com]

I recall there being a rather good version of "The spider and the fly (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0689852894/qid=1122216467/sr=1-33/ref=sr_1_33/104-8948012-7639138?v=glance&s=books)" by Tony diTerlizzi. It's just the old poem put to illustration, but clearly, the spider stands out as a villan. There are a few lines that I recall being slightly sexually suggestive, but not in such a way that you can't convincingly pretend that they're not.

And it's Tony diTerlizzi, so there's no doubt that the illustrations are fantastic.