#ArmchairBEA Day Four: Children's Literature

Hello again and thanks for coming back.

I have been waiting all week for this topic and still somehow managed to not schedule this post earlier LOL!

As the mother of a 14 month old, one of the biggest things I am looking forward to, as she grows up, is all the fantastic books I plan to introduce her to.  In this post I am going to talk about what we are reading now, what I plan to introduce her to in the future  as well as my childhood favourites and what YA I read now.  Sorry, but I did mention that I was really excited about this topic :-)

We have been going to the library since B was about 6 weeks old and when she was about 6-7 months I started borrowing books to read her.  Now I read to her every night and often before her naps (if we are at hoime ) as well.

At the moment we are on board books.  For those who don't know what a board book is.  It is basically a book with cardboard or more sturdy type pages (rather than paper).  At this stage B is more likely to eat or scrunch or even scarier, rip out the page of a regular paper page picture book so board books are much better choice right about now.

At the moment B likes books that have bright pictures, pictures of babies and in particular books with different sorts of textures for her to feel.  Some of her favourites ( and by favourites these are the books she will flick through the pages and make me read to her 6-10 times in a row) are Rockin Babies, That's Not My Elephant, Busy Baby and really any of the That's not my... collection.

At this age, she is not particularly interested in the story and its all about the pictures and feel of the book and really the less words the better though she is slowly starting to pay more attention to the words and understanding the fact that in books, the words stay the same no matter how many times it is read.

I can't wait for her to get a little older and start to enjoy the story a little more.  I already have a number of Little Golden books for her to read from the more Modern ones (i.e. Thor, Captain America, Incredible Hulk) to the classic Golden Books such as The Saggy Baggy Elephant, Pinocchio and Peter Pan.

There are also a number of authors that I definitely would like B to get to experience as she gets a little older e.g. Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl.  Stories such as the Magic Faraway Tree, Secret Seven, Famous Five (all by Enid Blyton) and books by Roald Dahl such as Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Witches, Not to mention Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes that wetted my apetite for fantasy and magic and adventure and well...reading

There are so many other amazing children's books out there that i got to read while growing up that could literally spend forever listing them all so I will now list 5 of my favourite authors or series growing up






1. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

I adored this series as a tween/early teen.  I read and re-read this series over and over again.  I think this might be where I first got my interest in King Arthur and Wales.  When I found out we were going to study this book in Eighth grade, I was over the moon as I already knew it back to front and virtually every word of it.  Needless to say, that was definitely one of my better English marks :-) I also re-read this series a couple of years ago so it certainly stands the test of time




2.  Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

When I was young, you have no idea how much I longer for Peter Pan to choose my window to fly in and to take me to Neverland.  This was one story that fired my incredibly vivid imagination like no other.  I love all incarnations of Peter Pan and read all sort sorts of incarnations and seen most of the related movies including both seeing and reading the book Hook by terry brooks :-)






3. Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery

Another one of those series that stays with you forever.  I loved and re-read all 8 books in the series time and time.  This series starts with little red headed orphan Anne who is taken in by Marilla and Matthew of Green Gables and spans all the way through to the lives and loves of her children during World War I.  This is set in Canada on Prince Edward Island and you can actually visit Green Gables !  Unfortunately I have never gotten to visit myself but I got a postcard from Green Gables from a good friend who visited in 2011.  I also loved her other series Emily of New Moon.




4. Enid Blyton

Enid Blyton wrote so many amazing series that I enjoyed as a child, The Magic Faraway Tree, The Secret Seven, The Wishing Chair, Mallory Towers, The Naughtiest Girl in School and the Famous Five among other series igniting my love of mysteries and of places far away and magic and well boarding school stories :-).  The Widget below shows just some of her marvellous stories

5. Roald Dahl

Another amazing and prolific author I loved growing up was Roald Dahl.  I adored Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Eleveator and meeting Oompa Loompas and Vermicious Knids and then reading about Witches and Big Friendly Giants and Boys named James who gets stuck in a giant peach not to mention the very smart matilda who learns to move things with her mind.  Ropald dahl had an amazing imagination which he brought with the broad range of books he wrote and even more awesome sense of humour which we see with his Revolting Rhymes which tell the classic fairy tales like the three pigs and red riding hood but with a twist and in Rhyme.  These are stories I will definitely be passing down to my daughter.

I have missed so many great children's books like What katy Did by Susan Coolidge and Little Women by Louisa may Alcott, author/illustrators like Beatrix Potter and classics like Wind in the Willows, Black Beauty by Ann sewell and I could literally spend a day listing all of them but I would never finish this post so I will leave it here.  What are your favourite children's books?  Which ones will you pass on to your kids or would you recommend to get a child into reading?  I really hope my daughter continues to read so she gets to experience all the wonderful worlds and roads I have travelled in the books I have read.