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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Anonymous wrote:My 1st grade daughters current favorite is the Zoey & Sassafrass series - magic animals, cute cat, some lite science/scientific method, what’s not to love.