Children’s Literature

Cats are King!

2 Comments / 2005, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites /

Yes, I admit it, I spent yesterday evening and a wee bit of this morning reading Carbonel: The King of Cats instead of some other “real” book. Sue me. I like children’s fiction and I don’t read enough of it (let’s not count Harry Potter, ok?).

What’s weird is that I really enjoy children’s fiction that has cats in it – talking cats, flying cats, magical cats. Cats here, Cats there, Cats and Kittens Everywhere! Hundreds of Cats! Thousands of Cats! Millions and Billions and Trillions of Cats! Oops, sorry, I got carried away.

The weird part is that I really no longer like the real thing, cats I mean. When I no longer have a single cat living in my house I will be one supremely happy woman. So why do I enjoy cats in literature? Millions of Cats is my favorite! Catwings and all of the sequels is awesome! And Carbonel is one cool cat!

Besides being a cool cat, this little version was a really nicely bound piece of reading. Nice, quality, old fashioned cover and binding. Paper that felt good to the hand. It even ummm smelled good!

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I Love Nancy Drew

2 Comments / 2005, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Mystery, Non-Fiction /

When I picked up this book from the shelf, I was afraid I would be disappointed. But I wasn’t. And I knew I wasn’t going to be from the first page of the Introduction. Not only do I love Nancy Drew. I love “Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her.

I mentioned in my Books That Say Something About You post that Nancy Drew says something about me. She does. I started reading Nancy’s in the early 70’s. The books with the yellow spine and interesting covers. (I do have one old one with a paper jacket and another with a solid turquoise binding) I remember when there was some controversy over who wrote the Nancys. And I remember the move from G&D to S&S.

This little book answers all of the questions I had about Nancy Drew and Carolyn Keene, and some I never wondered about. And it did it in a way that left me satisfied and not disillusioned with either Carolyn Keene or Nancy.

If you prefer the Hardy Boys or Bobbsey Twins or Ruth Fielding or Rover Boys was, you might still want to pick up this little book because the world of children’s literature, the 50 cents books, were linked in one way or another.

Whether you loved Nancy or hated her, she still had some kind of an impact on your life – if it wasn’t for Nancy, were would children’s literature be today? Girls’ literature in particular?

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MuggleCast

Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Fiction, Harry Potter /


The folks at MuggleNet are bringing us MuggleCasts!

We’re enjoying episode one at the moment. The guys are pretty good at sharing their thoughts and ideas about all things HP. If you’re interested in speculating about what happens next and what clues have been given thus far then I think you’ll enjoying giving these podcasts a listen. If you don’t have an iPod or other MP3 player, you can download the segments to your computer and listen that way.

I do take exception to the early part of this particular podcast. The guys seem to think that younger children don’t actually read HP books. They think that the length alone is too daunting for an eight year old and parents are actually reading these to their children. Do these guys know any eight year olds because our children definitely read the books when they were eight. We didn’t read them outloud and we didn’t buy audio versions. Don’t underestimate a kid’s ability to get into really good reading material!

Warning! Spoilers abound!

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Looking Back

2005, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Non-Fiction /


I saw this reviewed on some book blog (I’m sorry for not remembering which in order to give proper credit) and promptly reserved it at the library. I was surprised to see that I was first on the reserve list, I assumed it would be more popular than that because of Lowry’s popularity among kids, parents and teachers alike.

TW read it on Saturday and kept laughing and I kept saying “what???!” so she’d read parts to me all the way through it. I picked it up early on Sunday morning and enjoyed it immensely. Though I’d have enjoyed it more if TW hadn’t read me almost all ofthe good parts the day before. 😉

This is the way a children’s author, or any author, should write a biography. I really loved it and would happily recommend it to anyone who is a Lois Lowry fan or even someone like me who likes her books well enough but isn’t as enthralled by them as the rest of the world seems to be.

I actually thought about re-reading some of her books just because I enjoyed “Looking Back: A Book of Memories” so much. (And if anyone knows where I can find the Anastasia books on CD, let me know. E loved the only one we could find and NEEEDS more Anastasia!)

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Childrens Books – Heir to the Throne

Books in Bed, Children's Literature /

I realized just now that I might need to somehow keep track of books I’m buying for my nephew , otherwise known as “heir to the throne”. So, I think I’m going to track that in this blog too. (And if you have ideas for great children’s books, share them. I particularly am interested in non-mainstream or often overlooked books.)

So far here’s what we’ve sent:
Pat the Bunny (because it was my sister’s favorite book)
On the Day You Were Born (because TW has some weird fondness for it. I do not.)
My Good Night Book and My Good Morning Book because these were my children’s favorites)
Babies (another of my children’s favorites)


I am considering, for this Christmas, Everyone Poops and The Gas We Pass. What do you think?

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