Some suggestions
Posted by Helen on December 04, 1997 at 14:22:00:
In response to Book Title Suggestions: for Kids!!, written by Karen R on December 03, 1997 at 18:17:53
] Mean Old Aunt Karen has decided to buy the kiddies BOOKS this year. After Thanksgiving's chit chat with the kids, I am thoroughly disgusted....
] Anyway, I'd like your help for (1) a boy, aged 13, who knows absolutely nothing if it doesn't have to do with sports and (2) girls, aged 9 and 11. For the girls, I had thought of getting maybe the book and the video of a Bronte or an Austen...but are they tooo young to enjoy?
My brother, the unbookish one in a house of people who read anything and everything, really enjoyed Sherlock Holmes (still does, for that matter). Or G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown stories, or such detective fiction. If he really doesn't like reading, I would suggest not getting him "a classic" (in terms of wrapper/presentation) but something that looks appealing. Aren't there any classic American sports writers? In the UK, there have been many well-written books about cricket, especially, which have led many innocent souls to appreciate good writing. But I don't know any US equivalents. Or history, or biography, or some such factual subject. At 13, I would say, give him an "adult" rather than a "children's" classic.
For the girls, I would say Jane Eyre, definitely! - because they can at least read the first part if they don't make it to Thornfield just yet... Another book is Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor. But Austen sounds good for that age.
] I'm looking for classics...something to expand their mind and help them when they play their "Wheel of Fortune" games and they look blankly at the screen when something even somewhat cultured is the phrase!!!
You are a noble woman! Good luck!
Helen
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