are you still reading "little house on the prairie" to the kids?
i remember a blizzard so terrible that pa stretched a rope
between the house and the barn to not get lost. that might
be from the "long, hard winter," though.
hans and i were discussing that of all the gifts we have given
our children, the love for reading would be at the top of the
list. we cuddled their tiny bodies in our arms, reading them
nursery rhymes and bible stories.
as they grew older, they giggled at the antics of "hank, the
cowdog" and "the big friendly giant", better known as the
"BFG." they shuddered at the perils of bilbo baggins and
cried when beth died from "little women." one of them
would say, "mom, do the voices!" poor little beggars.
both the boys sort of stalled out at around 11 or 12, and i
resorted to gary paulsen's "the river" and "hatchet". his
thrilling adventures hooked them right back to the wonder
of well written stories, but they are not for young readers.
our local library asked me to host our children's author award
several years ago, and i flatly refused unless they granted the
award to gary. after all, i really owed him one. he was such a
colorful, salty guy, with a bit of a sailor's tongue, that the kids
were completely enamored.
that's what i love, a little salt, sugar and spice! speaking of
great stories, you can find heartbreaking love stories, tales of
intrigue and spies, and brutal wars in the Good Book, too.
love,
lea
Source for great stories for young children
8 comments:
Some of my favorite folks are salty. LOL!
A few days ago, my grandmother told me a story that I'd not heard before. (That is very rare.)My grandfather was a railroad engineer and there was a blizzard so brutal one winter that he feared being able to get to the train yard for his run. After a long while, the plow made one sweep on the main road, but their home sat well back from it. He put on his snowshoes and tied a rope to the back of them and made it to that cleared path. Once he got to the path, he gave a tug on the rope, which let her know to haul his snowshoes back to the house. I thought that was pretty interesting and it reminded me completely of the Little House story you speak of.
what a great story, vee! and a treasure to hear about
your grandpa.
You've listed really great books in this post Thanks for the link. I think my children will love it. Have a wonderful week :)
You are so right, children's stories and the warmth of good parents reading them live in our hearts forever.
We are still reading the Little House books and they are fabulous! They had a few horrible winters in there, and then there were the grasshoppers...great reading, and a great reminder from you to keep at it.
I loved the Little House books. I still think of them when it's cold and then I remember how good we have it!
My 17 year old son and 40 something year old husband listened to Hatchet on a trip from SF to San Diego. Eight hours...and they sat in the driveway of home to listen to the final few minutes. The entire trip they talked about what they would have done in that situation. Don't you love "kid" books that are equally entertaining for grown ups?
'thoughts', yes i DO love kid books that are grown up friendly.
am actually such a big fan of some children's literature that i
prefer some of it to the other stuff.
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