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

[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.