I simply don't know how I managed to skip this writer till I got here and watched a movie called 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' with my son. Came to know that it was based on the book by a guy named Roal Dahl and didn't think much more of it. Then came my son's birthday and guess what he got? A bunch of children's books authored by none other than Mr. Dahl! My son immediately finished reading 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and that was it. He was onto other peer reviewed interesting books by authors like Barbara Parks (Junie B Jones), Jeff Kinney (Wimpy Kid) and of course Star Wars and the ilk. We did get the kids stories from Panchatantra, Jataka Tales, TinTin, as many 'Amar Chita Katha' I could find in stores etc all of which my blooming reader devoured in no time.
He wasn't too much into chapter books that looked a little dull or long. My husband finished reading 'Swiss Family Robinson' from the Illustrated Classics with him and again that was that. But once we got the full set of the 'Treasury of Illustrated Classics' (which unfortunately seems out of print now) he had also reached the right time. We started him off with one chapter at a time which he just had to finish by himself before we got to the next day's turn. Sherlock Holmes was what started off the frenzy I think. Now he started scouring the house and of course the Library for books to read. So finally I was able to turn his attention to the 'Roald Dahl' books. This is when I also discovered how fun they are to read! My daughter who is into 'Panchatantra' stories, who then slowly drifts off to sleep while the reading is going on has started to sit back up to listen because the adventures are such fun. We are reading 'Danny The Champion of The World' now which I think is the best ever by Dahl! There are still more of his books (Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, BFG etc) to finish and I can't wait for each.
One book that he had to learn in class was by actress Julie Andrews that is greatly entertaining is: The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles . He also got me 'Death of Superman' from the school Library although he had already read it. Am I not lucky?:-)) I am glad we are past Arthur, Dr.Seuss , etc which are indeed great kid books (my daughter finds them very easily laid out to read all by herself) but I wouldn't be able to talk much about with the kiddos. I do love Avatar stories. We have '1001 Arabian Nights' at home but it looked so bulky that even I couldn't bring myself to read them. My husband found some audio stories (storynory) online for long car trips which the kids enjoy a lot. It had 'Alibaba and the 40 Thieves' which was so popular with them that now I am on the lookout for a simple 'Arabian Nights' edition.
Speaking of car trips, all 4 of us -especially my daughter- love listening to the Laurie Berkner Band in car. She also loves to listen to old Yesudas classics:-) To my surprise, they are enjoying the 'Alice in Bibleland' stories that I had bought hoping to substitute for a mildly anchoring religious aspect we might not be able to provide here due to a busy life and the lack of extended family - read grandparents- around. Step into Reading books are no brainer buys for kids who are in various stages of learning to read. My son didn't take much to Magic Treehouse but I think my daughter might like them. Her all time favorite and first love is Arnold Lobel's Mouse Soup which happens to be one of her brother's favorites too. Well folks, I have some more children's books to gush about but I think it is time to step off the pulpit and let these permeate. Hope your kids will find at least one new author/book/genre here and will come to love them.
4 comments:
Wow....so much of options. I had no clue.......we just have stacks of Enid Blytons & a few comic books.
Alice in Bibleland & Magic Treehouse sounds interesting.
I wonder if we get Alice.. in India coz here in the Middle East anything pertaining to religions other than Islam is not available.
blue, thanks for a wonderful source!
i checked it out and like what i see.
will be on the lookout for these.
nancy, i grew up on 'famous 5' stories too among others. george was my favorite. that is frustrating about being unable to access books of your choice..
Hey, thanks for those pointers. Same here, my first Dahl book would be Fantastic Mr Fox, thought I’d read it before watching the movie
btw, do you know of any good abridged Holmes books for kids, available in India? I saw one in the book shop, but the writing was lousy.
Also, you might have seen it, Mint's weekend edition has a regular column of "under 15" books review. Here is the link.
Thanks for the visit Jay. My son read abridged Holmes from the 'Treasury Of Illustrated Classics' mentioned in the post. It was OK and mysterious enough to interest him:-)
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