Fun for parent to read, newer chapter books for first grader

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The hobbit
The swan and the trumpet
The mouse and the motorcycle
The secret garden
Charlie and the chocolate factory
Junie B. Jones
Little princess

Uh what? The Little Princess is SO DATED and incredibly boring. Same with the The Secret Garden. There is SO much excellent children's literature being written now, there's no need to read things written at the turn of the century.

Troll fail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The hobbit
The swan and the trumpet
The mouse and the motorcycle
The secret garden
Charlie and the chocolate factory
Junie B. Jones
Little princess

Uh what? The Little Princess is SO DATED and incredibly boring. Same with the The Secret Garden. There is SO much excellent children's literature being written now, there's no need to read things written at the turn of the century.

There's a lot of value in older literature. We need to maintain a connection to the past. Their errors can be corrected by our improvements in those areas, and our blind spots (and culturally we definitely have blind spots) can definitely be corrected by the past. Our culture values diversity in so many areas, but not temporal diversity. That's a shame.

That said, I really hated The Little Princess and The Secret Garden as a kid. They are both pretty trite books in my opinion. But my kids who in general read a lot of good lit love them, so OK. I tell them that those books (and other bad books) they like are kind of like cupcakes. Good for fun sometimes, but not for a steady diet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My first grader LOVED Howl’s Moving Castle (much to my surprise). He says it’s his favorite book. He did not enjoy the second book in the series and thought the third was okay.

Also liked:
Harry Potter
Wings of Fire
Gregor the Overlander (be warned some death and dark themes, though)
Wind in the Willows
Shadow Weaver series
The Girl Who Drank the Moon
Watership Down (more death and dark themes if your kid can handle it)
Artemis Fowl series

Some of these are really quite dark. Great books many of them, but not what I'd read with or hand to a first grader. My sixth grader? Absolutely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boxcar Children were my favorite growing up, but they definitely have gender role issues - the oldest brother is always going off to work for money while the oldest sister is cooking, cleaning, setting up the boxcar, and looking after Benny.

And that’s actually a completely FINE division of labor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My first grader LOVED Howl’s Moving Castle (much to my surprise). He says it’s his favorite book. He did not enjoy the second book in the series and thought the third was okay.

Also liked:
Harry Potter
Wings of Fire
Gregor the Overlander (be warned some death and dark themes, though)
Wind in the Willows
Shadow Weaver series
The Girl Who Drank the Moon
Watership Down (more death and dark themes if your kid can handle it)
Artemis Fowl series

Some of these are really quite dark. Great books many of them, but not what I'd read with or hand to a first grader. My sixth grader? Absolutely.

Ok. That’s why some of them are noted as being dark.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The hobbit
The swan and the trumpet
The mouse and the motorcycle
The secret garden
Charlie and the chocolate factory
Junie B. Jones
Little princess

Uh what? The Little Princess is SO DATED and incredibly boring. Same with the The Secret Garden. There is SO much excellent children's literature being written now, there's no need to read things written at the turn of the century.

There's a lot of value in older literature. We need to maintain a connection to the past. Their errors can be corrected by our improvements in those areas, and our blind spots (and culturally we definitely have blind spots) can definitely be corrected by the past. Our culture values diversity in so many areas, but not temporal diversity. That's a shame.

That said, I really hated The Little Princess and The Secret Garden as a kid. They are both pretty trite books in my opinion. But my kids who in general read a lot of good lit love them, so OK. I tell them that those books (and other bad books) they like are kind of like cupcakes. Good for fun sometimes, but not for a steady diet.

The Secret Garden is full of white supremacy, colonialism and bad attitudes towards people with disabilities. I wouldn't read it to any kid these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The hobbit
The swan and the trumpet
The mouse and the motorcycle
The secret garden
Charlie and the chocolate factory
Junie B. Jones
Little princess

Uh what? The Little Princess is SO DATED and incredibly boring. Same with the The Secret Garden. There is SO much excellent children's literature being written now, there's no need to read things written at the turn of the century.

There's a lot of value in older literature. We need to maintain a connection to the past. Their errors can be corrected by our improvements in those areas, and our blind spots (and culturally we definitely have blind spots) can definitely be corrected by the past. Our culture values diversity in so many areas, but not temporal diversity. That's a shame.

That said, I really hated The Little Princess and The Secret Garden as a kid. They are both pretty trite books in my opinion. But my kids who in general read a lot of good lit love them, so OK. I tell them that those books (and other bad books) they like are kind of like cupcakes. Good for fun sometimes, but not for a steady diet.

The Secret Garden is full of white supremacy, colonialism and bad attitudes towards people with disabilities. I wouldn't read it to any kid these days.

So kids shouldn't know that those things happened? They shouldn't know that people thought that was totally OK, so they can realize that people can be total jerks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The hobbit
The swan and the trumpet
The mouse and the motorcycle
The secret garden
Charlie and the chocolate factory
Junie B. Jones
Little princess

Uh what? The Little Princess is SO DATED and incredibly boring. Same with the The Secret Garden. There is SO much excellent children's literature being written now, there's no need to read things written at the turn of the century.

There's a lot of value in older literature. We need to maintain a connection to the past. Their errors can be corrected by our improvements in those areas, and our blind spots (and culturally we definitely have blind spots) can definitely be corrected by the past. Our culture values diversity in so many areas, but not temporal diversity. That's a shame.

That said, I really hated The Little Princess and The Secret Garden as a kid. They are both pretty trite books in my opinion. But my kids who in general read a lot of good lit love them, so OK. I tell them that those books (and other bad books) they like are kind of like cupcakes. Good for fun sometimes, but not for a steady diet.

The Secret Garden is full of white supremacy, colonialism and bad attitudes towards people with disabilities. I wouldn't read it to any kid these days.

I think you read a different secret garden than i did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The hobbit
The swan and the trumpet
The mouse and the motorcycle
The secret garden
Charlie and the chocolate factory
Junie B. Jones
Little princess

Uh what? The Little Princess is SO DATED and incredibly boring. Same with the The Secret Garden. There is SO much excellent children's literature being written now, there's no need to read things written at the turn of the century.

There's a lot of value in older literature. We need to maintain a connection to the past. Their errors can be corrected by our improvements in those areas, and our blind spots (and culturally we definitely have blind spots) can definitely be corrected by the past. Our culture values diversity in so many areas, but not temporal diversity. That's a shame.

That said, I really hated The Little Princess and The Secret Garden as a kid. They are both pretty trite books in my opinion. But my kids who in general read a lot of good lit love them, so OK. I tell them that those books (and other bad books) they like are kind of like cupcakes. Good for fun sometimes, but not for a steady diet.

The writing is also generally better or at least uses more advanced vocabulary. It's great for kids to get exposed to reading like books like those.

[Anonymous]

My Father's Dragon
Mr. Popper's Penguins

[Anonymous]

I loved the graphic novel Bea Wolf, which is written in alliterative verse and so fun to read, introduces some poetic concepts, but also very funny (though it does glorify mischief, as many of these books tend to).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My Father's Dragon
Mr. Popper's Penguins

+1 to both of these. Also both great on audiobook.

[Anonymous]

Song for a Whale--a great story about a deaf girl's connection to a whale who can't be understood by other whales. We both loved this one. It's probably a 5th grade reading level, so good for you to read to the kid. Great science-oriented girl protagonist.

Magic Misfits--we listened to this series on audio book, but it'd be a great read aloud too. It's by Neil Patrick Harris. There's some silliness, some magic and some mystery. Definitely not dated in terms of gender roles, etc. Probs a 4th grade reading level, but my 1st grader loved the audio book

sophie mouse--a very sweet series for you to read out loud or for the kid to try (it's probably a 2nd grade reading level), but a 1st grader could likely read it at this point

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The hobbit
The swan and the trumpet
The mouse and the motorcycle
The secret garden
Charlie and the chocolate factory
Junie B. Jones
Little princess

Uh what? The Little Princess is SO DATED and incredibly boring. Same with the The Secret Garden. There is SO much excellent children's literature being written now, there's no need to read things written at the turn of the century.

LIES! The secret garden is a beautiful and awesome book.

[Anonymous]

Ways to Make Sunshine by Renee Watson

It’s a series about a spunky Ramona-like girl. But modern.