Children's Books

I absolutely hated Fudge of Judy Blume's books when I was a kid. That turtle-eating little heckspawn never got punished for anything.

Turns out, I still hate Fudge.

But Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is still completely incredible; the Redwall books are like printed fond-childhood-memories-gold despite unfortunate implications; and A Series of Unfortunate Events is unbelievably brilliant.

I am currently voluntarily reading a bunch of Newbery Medal winners.

...I think I should probably go see a doctor.

However, re-reading The Devils Arithmetic is making me think of this book I had as a kid that I can't remember the name of. It was about a Jewish girl who was irritated because her birthday fell during Passover that year, so she couldn't have a big fancy birthday cake. That was pretty much the extent of the conflict.

Not particularly heavy on plot, that book I had.

edited 28th Feb '12 10:43:57 PM by FreezairForALimitedTime

The Redwall books are brilliant. The ones I read anyway. The trouble is the timeline. It makes less sense than a thing that makes no sense whatsoever. I need a concordance. Stat.

I read kids books to kids, does that count? Recently the kids haven't been interested in being read to though...I made the mistake of getting a book about going to school, that cut to close to home I guess.

So in my quest to read the old award-winners I actually remember fondly, I had a Reality Is Unrealistic moment. Basically, there's a scene where a twelve-year-old is telling the plots of different movies to some kids who have never seen movies, and one of her choices is Fiddler On The Roof. My original thought on that was, "At twelve? She's surprisingly... well-watched for a twelve year old. I'm surprised someone her age would have watched a movie like that, voluntarily."

Which made me think, "Wait, when did I first see that movie?"

I thought, and I realized:

"...Twelve."

Way to go, me.

Stop having a similar childhood!

I myself watched it voluntarily at twelve out of curiosity because my mom said "No. It's boring". I don't remember a thing about it...

edited 2nd Mar '12 7:31:55 PM by Aondeug

I actually took a class in middle school about film history, so most of my knowledge of famous movies comes from that class. We watched a lot of them.

Maybe your mom told you it was boring so you would voluntarily watch it! Forbidden fruit and all that.

I was in an amateur production of Fiddler when I was 14.

I still read the Junie B. Jones series. And write fanfiction. Occasionally. But I've never published anything.

Done the Redwall thing for years now. I heard someone talking about the series in a B. Dalton once (I think I noticed because they mentioned otters, my favorite animal) and a few months later, a friend mentioned liking it herself. Bought the first book on a whim, liked it, and decided I would buy every subsequent book at a different bookstore.

I also started reading Silverwing because I like bats. Sister bought me all the books on Amazon for Christmas. Keep carrying around Silverwing, but I'm lazy and forget to actually read it.

Found the first 3 Animorphs books at a thrift shop. I'd always meant to read Animorphs when I was a kid but never got around to it for one reason or another. And I still never get around to reading them, either.

And I've always enjoyed the stuff my grade school teachers would read to the class: Roald Dahl, Wayside School, MacDonald Hall, etc. Most of those still hold up well as an adult.

Just got finished reading Wonder Struck. It's not that long, so it was pretty much an afternoon binge for me.

...Sniffle.

And speaking of binge-books... I started reading Armageddon Summer, which I just bought this afternoon, in the car. I thought I would just read it for a little bit while my mom ran in to the laundromat to get the clothes. I ended up sitting outside on the front porch, plowing through the book while the sun set and the porchlight came on, in the cool spring wind. It was glorious.

Being as it's a book with a lot to do with religion, the Religion Is Good slash Religion Is Evil debate did come up. I liked the way the book dealt with it: The religious character loses her faith, but the nonreligious boy gains some. Both sides learn from each other, then change places. It doesn't really take a side, but it doesn't feel wishy-washy either, because both character's character development feels real and honest. I liked it a lot.

I like the Wheres Waldo books. I definitely wouldn't mind looking at The Berenstain Bears books. I'm not picky about Star Wars books in terms of them being aimed at kids, young adults, or just plain old adults!

edited 25th Mar '12 5:47:58 AM by TiggersAreGreat

Lots of classic children's books, espcially ones like Swallows And Amazons and the E. Nesbit books. And Ballet Shoes, can't forget that!

I've read Harry Potter, The Neverending Story and Momo. I also have some interest in Narnia and may read it some time. Also more of Michael Ende's stuff. I wouldn't say that he is a genius, but I'm tempted to.

edited 28th Mar '12 5:38:40 AM by Nyarly

Was anyone else into those books with alliterative titles and badly-cared-for orphans? I recall Twin in the Tower, Sparrows in the Scullery and Cousin in the Castle, but Peppermints in the Parlor was the only one that left me with a lasting impression. And it was an effing amazing one, too.

Sounds familiar, yet not. Do you remember the series' name?

No formal series title. (And no plot connection between any of the stories, as bestas I can remember.) But they were apparently all written by one Barbara Brooks Wallace.

Made an Interstellar Pig page. i remember reading it in elementary school. ^^ I think it was the game itself that fascinated me most; not very fond of alien stories, though I do like this one.

I remember Interstellar Pig, but not well.

I think I might make a page for the book I just finished reading, The Secret Of Castle Cant. Problem: The ending smacks of sequel, but I don't know if one exists. To research!

I did like that book. It was fairly clever. Though I wasn't wild about the whole "evil chewing gum" aspect. It did make sense in context, but the way it was handled was just way too hard to take seriously. The rest was pretty good, though.

Im in highschool and i recently started reading "The Familiars", a book intended for kids ages 8 to 12. (Mostly because they are adapting it to film in 2014 and i was curious.) Its actually pretty good so far.

I've had that book on my List *thunder and lightning* for a while now. I admit, I'm a sucker for animal stories, though I never could get in to Warriors... I have kind of wondered about Seekers for a while, though, if only because bears are way more badass than cats, in my book.

Roald Dahl. I've always loved them and I still do.

I'm currently re-reading ´Stories of Winnie-the-Pooh´ by A.A. Milne, and it strikes me how genuinely funny and well written it is.

edited 15th Apr '12 11:14:47 AM by Tarmstorm

Massive fan of The Seventh Tower here. Not to mention The Keys To The Kingdom, The Old Kingdom and most of Garth Nix's work.