reading – Page 3 – On the Children's Shelf

A New Perspective on Old Favorites

I like to reread favorite children’s books because while the story hasn’t changed, I’ve changed dramatically from my original read. Visiting books that I loved as a child is like visiting your hometown that you haven’t seen since you were 11….it’s the same, but it’s different. It’s never exactly as you remembered it. Your house looks smaller than you remember it was, the big hill you raced down on your bike doesn’t seem as scary, and while it all suddenly seems a bit more ordinary than you remember it, you are flooded with memories.

You can stare at what looks like a regular tree and remember planning a tree house with your friends. You remember the time you climbed higher than anyone else and were treated like a rockstar by all the neighborhood kids. It’s the same but you are different, and you see everything through a new perspective that somehow combines with your memories.

Rereading a favorite childhood is similar. You know the story. You remember reading it, but the reread is different. You pick up new details you missed as a child. You see it from a new perspective. You might see characters that you didn’t like as a child a new way….you understand why they act a certain way or the hurt that makes them seem “mean” to a younger reader.

Like life, books are complicated, made up of layers of stories. Depending on our age and perspective we only see part of the whole. Revisiting often shows us a whole new side of things we missed before. While you might remember the basic idea of a book you read as a child, revisiting that book introduces you to those childhood friends in a whole new way. You will see so much more in the story.

If you revisit a childhood favorite, let me know which one and what you thought of it as an adult reader!

Tasha Tudor’s “A Time to Keep”

One of my favorite childhood books that I still revisit is “A Time to Keep: The Tasha Tudor Book of Holidays.” For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to climb inside the pages of this book. The illustrations are beautiful. The story simply takes the readers through the year sharing how each month is enjoyed. Some months have holidays, some months don’t but they enjoy the enjoy traditions that are part of the season.

I reread the February pages this week. They celebrated Valentine’s Day with even the corgis receiving valentines. They made Washington pie on Washington’s birthday. I looked forward through the March pages. It’s sugaring season in the book and everyone is gathering sap from the sugar maples. They make syrup and eat out in the woods by the sugarhouse. The story is simple and beautiful, but I think what draws me in most is how Tudor is so good and showing the beauty in the ordinary, the beauty in the everyday life. I think I’m so drawn to this book because it’s grounding in a way, it shows the reader that their traditions (whatever they might be) are special. In our home, we don’t gather sap, nor do we have a sugarhouse, but we have our own traditions that are so special to us.

A few years ago, I learned that Tasha Tudor lived in Redding (please note this house was up for sale years ago and is not currently listed for sale – Historic Property for Sale: Tasha Tudor’s Childhood Summer Home in Redding (hamlethub.com). Tudor’s tale of “The County Fair” was inspired by a visit to the Danbury Fair (On the Children’s Shelf: Tasha Tudor’s Locally Inspired “The Country Fair” (hamlethub.com). My mom took me to the Danbury Fair when I was small but unfortunately, I was too young to remember it. So my only memories of that fair are through Tudor’s book. Once I learned of Tudor’s time living in this area, her books took on new meaning for me because I wonder about their local roots. I saw trees on my drive yesterday with the sap buckets attached and thought of the scene in her book.

While most of this book could take place anywhere, knowing that Tudor spent so much time in this area, I like to believe the book took place here. The illustrations are how I imagine our town (and surrounding towns) looked many, many years ago.

The Grimm Fairytale Hidden for 150 Years

“Dear Mili” by Wilhelm Grimm existed only in a letter for over 150 years. The letter containing the story was sent to a young girl in 1816. Her family kept the letter for over 150 years before sharing it with the world. The discovery of this unknown Grimm fairytale in 1983 made the front page of the NY Times. It was published and illustrated by Maurice Sendak.

I grew up reading the Grimm fairytales…the versions we know today with happy endings. Cinderella falls in love with the Prince and leaves her wicked stepmother. Hansel and Gretel push the wicked witch into the oven and escape her candy house. Each tale has an element of fear of what could go wrong, but they all ended with the positive outcome. When I studied at Univeristy, I took a class reading Grimm fairytales in the original German. Those tales were darker and didn’t have the neat clean happy ending. They were incredible tales, but they definitely taught lessons…stay out of the woods, don’t talk to strangers…because something really bad can happen.

I recently found a copy of “Dear Mili” and was excited to read this beautifully illustrated, hidden for over 150 years, tale. The story begins with a mother sending her only child into the woods to hide when a war breaks out. She gives her food and tells her to go deep into the woods and return in 3 days. The child does as she is told. As she travels far into the woods, she meets an old man who lives in a hut who offers her food and shelter. She accepts and in exchange, looks for root vegetables for their meals. While searching for roots, she meets a young girl, who looks just like her, who helps her find the roots and is believed to be her guardian angel. After 3 days pass, the old man tells the young girl that she must return to her mother and the guardian angel child leads her back to the village.

The little girl is sad to leave the old man, but he gives her a rose and tells her when it blooms, they will be together again. As the little girl arrives back in the village, she notices how different everything looks. How could things change so much in 3 days? She sees her mother, but she appears much older. Her mother is thrilled to see her, as the little girl has been gone in the woods for 30 years not 3 days. The mother is very old and dying and her one wish was to see her child one more time before she died.

The next morning, the rose blooms. Read this tale to find out what happens when the rose blooms.

While the beautiful illustrations make this book appear to be a story for readers of all ages, I would take the individual reader’s personality into consideration before reading this tale to them. It is incredible but it is dark and far darker than the Disney version of Grimm fairytales we are used to. Not gory but it is a traditional Grimm twisted tale. I finished the book, put it down and just said “wow” while processing it. Definitely worth reading but should be read by an adult in the family first to see if appropriate for your specific young reader.

I wonder if there are any other Grimm fairytales sitting in letters in someone’s attic.

Visiting Bookish Locations

Last week, I shared my visit to the Boston Public Garden to see the “Make Way for Ducklings” statue https://onthechildrensshelf.com/make-way-for-ducklings/. Seeing the world inside the pages overlap with the world around you, makes reading so exciting for young readers (and honestly, readers of any age). So I thought I’d share some other books that take place in real places that readers could visit.

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving takes place in the small town of Sleepy Hollow in New York. The town embraces their ties to the legend and readers can visit the Headless Horseman’s bridge and the Old Dutch Church. Aside from being one of my favorite stories, Sleepy Hollow is a favorite bookish spot to visit. There are less scary, younger reader versions of the legend.

“Eloise at the Plaza” by Kay Thompson – I read this book when I was little and desperately wanted to live in the Plaza. Eloise is a young girl who lives in the Plaza. She shares her adventures through the hotel, visiting all her friends who work there, and the mischief she gets into. Standing in front of that building, imagining Eloise and her adventures inside, brings the book to life.

“From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler” by E.L. Konigsburg follows Claudia and Jamie who run away from home and stay at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While I’m not condoning running away or sneaking into a Museum and staying there after it closes, definitely take your reader to visit the Museum after they finish the book. There’s so much to see and so easy for readers to see the book come alive all around them.

“A Bear Called Paddington” by Michael Bond follows the adventures of Paddington Bear after he arrives in London from Peru. Visit Paddington Station and see the bronze statue commemorating the book.

While in London, head over to King’s Cross Station to visit Platform 9 3/4 from J. K. Rowlings’ “Harry Potter” series. Young wizards can jump into the book as they attempt to pass through the wall to the most famous train platform in the wizarding world.

“Anne of Green Gables” by L.M. Montgomery introduces readers to Anne Shirley who has been living in foster care and is mistakenly sent to live at Green Gables with Matthew and Marilla Chutbert. Anne is not the strong boy they wanted, but they realize she is special, and Anne desperately wants to stay with them at Green Gables. I haven’t visited the Green Gables house but a trip to Prince Edward Island to visit Green Gables after reading the book would be incredible for any reader who loves this book.

So many children’s books have direct references to so many wonderful places. When we introduce a young reader to a great book and then (when possible) take them to visit a location from that book, we are strengthening that bond to the story. The reader has then experienced the book both through the words they read, the story they visualized while they read, and the real world location they were able to stand in and look around. Visiting a location from a book gives readers an opportunity to step into that character’s shoes and see at least a small part of the book through their eyes. While we can’t literally climb inside the pages of a book we love, we can visit the places in a few favorite books.

Make Way for Ducklings

In Robert McCloskey’s “Make Way for Ducklings,” young readers meet Mr. and Mrs. Mallard who are looking for a place to nest in Boston. They stop by the Public Garden and love the area but worry it is too busy for baby ducklings. They continue on and find a more secluded area. Once the ducklings hatch and are big enough for an adventure through Boston, they make their way back to the Public Garden and decide to make it their home.

I love when books take place in actual identifiable locations. Growing up reading books that took me to actual places made me want to see the world. Through books, I visited London, France, Boston. I traveled through time and visited stories of times past and what the future might be like. While the time travel books are more challenging to visit in real life, visiting the different locations I discovered through books is possible.

I love that you can visit the place and imagine the book happening all around you, so I’m sure you can imagine where I needed to stop on a recent trip to Boston…the Boston Public Garden to see the ducklings.

The Boston Public Garden is extra special because not only does the book take place in the park but they brought the ducklings to the park with the amazing ducklings statue. To see the statue ducklings walking in a row through the park with the city in the background, it’s like a page of the book came to life. Taking young readers (or really readers of any age) to see the location of their favorite book helps them appreciate and experience the book in a whole new way.

Waiting for the next book in a Series

I love a good series. I like that there is another book to look forward. I often read series after multiple books are out which is nice because I can run and grab the next book as soon as I finish one. Over the past few years, I’ve gotten into a few series as they were being written, so I’ve had to wait for the next book.

While I may not be the most patient person, I recommend reading a series while it is being written, and to follow the author on social media during that process. Following the author is great because they give little glimpses into the next book. One author we follow has shared small bits of conversation from the next book giving just enough to make you really curious where the story is going. Sometimes they share a few deleted scenes from the book as well.

The authors tend to do a lot of buildup on social media prior to the release of the next book. If the previous books are already best sellers, the authors may do pre-order incentives. We’ve preordered multiple books in Shannon Messenger’s “Keeper of the Lost Cities” series and Messenger does a great pre-order incentive (which has been different for each book so it’s worth pre-ordering all of them). When you pre-order the book and send in your receipt, you may receive a signed book plate sticker, other stickers related to the book, a drawing of a character, or other items that make young readers excited about the book to come. The authors also will share social media if they are doing a book tour or online book discussions.

While it is exciting to be able to race through an entire series, reading one as it is being written brings its own excitement. All of these things build anticipation for a book and make young (and older) readers so excited to read the next book. Waiting for the next book builds anticipation and teaches readers like me patience.

Reading children’s books

The designation “children’s book” means a book is appropriate for a child reader. It does not mean the book is only meant for children. A good children’s book is both appropriate for a child reader and enjoyable for readers of all ages.

I feel like this is an important topic because there are so many great books that are written for young readers but should not be limited just to that age group. A great children’s book covers important topics ranging from friendship, family issues, loss, and more. Readers of all ages can relate to these topics.

A few weeks ago, my mom and I visited the library book sale. As we searched through the stacks, I picked up a copy of Holly Goldberg Sloan’s “Counting by 7’s.” I handed it to my mom and said, “I loved this book. You should read it.” She added it to her pile to buy.

My mom read it, immediately understood why I thought it was so good and recommended it to someone she knows. You can visit my review of the book here: https://news.hamlethub.com/coscob/life/4099-on-the-children-s-shelf-counting-by-7s-by-holly-goldberg-sloan?tmpl=component. My mom and I are both older than the target audience for this children’s book, but as readers (and humans) we can appreciate this incredible story. If we focused on it simply being a children’s book, we would have missed out on a great read.

As an adult, I never let a book’s category deter me from reading. Some of the books that have had the biggest impact on me have been children’s and young adult books. What children and young adult books have had the biggest impact on you?

Holiday books, holiday decorations

Every December when I was small, my mom would pull out the holiday bins to decorate. Ah, I loved holiday bin day. She would begin decorating and I would look through all the boxes finding my favorite holiday things. We had this little toy bus with Santa riding on it…his head would move back and forth as the bus moved. I don’t know why I thought this was fabulous, but I did.

In between the decorations and ornaments were books…a few favorite holiday books that we packed away the previous January. Books I had forgotten about all year until I found them buried boxes. Books that suddenly pulled me in as I flipped through all the pages.

I’ve continued this tradition in my family. I pack a few favorite holiday books in the bins with the decorations to pull out the next year. When my children were small, they loved when I would pull the books out of the bins. They would flip through the pages. As they got older, they didn’t pick up the books to look through but occasionally would see one in the bin and say, “remember how much I loved that book!”

It’s just a few favorites (not hoarder level of books). The ones you don’t want to give away. The ones your children loved that you hope they read to their children someday and say, “this was my favorite book when I was your age.” While there will be years that you simply move the books to the side and don’t unpack them, just seeing those couple favorites in the bin will make you smile.

It might be many years before my children flip through the pages of the books in our holiday bins again, but I will save those favorite children’s books for that day. Maybe they will read it to a younger cousin or a niece or nephew or someday their own children. I just hope someday, in their holiday decorations box, they keep a couple favorite books from their childhood that will remind them of Christmas years ago when we read those stories.

Thanksgiving Parade books

My birthday is at Thanksgiving which is a weird holiday to sometimes share a birthday with, simply because I share the day “sometimes.” My family always made a big deal of my birthday on Thanksgiving whether it was that specific day or not.

One year when I was small and my birthday was really on Thanksgiving, my mom took me to see the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. As we walked to the parade route, I saw the first balloon go by from afar. Down the street, between the buildings, I saw a giant balloon and it was more amazing that I ever imagined. TV didn’t do it justice. They are huge and that first balloon will always be one of my favorite Thanksgiving birthday memories. The parade was amazing, but that first balloon sighting was the best.

The Thanksgiving parade is still one of my favorite parts of the day (along with pie, obviously). I’ve been to many Thanksgiving parades since and even lived my dream of being a giant balloon handler in the Stamford parade a few years ago. Yes, I walked a giant dragon through the streets of Stamford!

As we get closer to Thanksgiving, here are a couple amazing Thanksgiving parade books. My first pick is Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade by Melissa Sweet. I love this book (and the illustrations). Sweet introduces readers to the true story of Tony Sarg, who invented the giant balloons we see in the Thanksgiving Parade.

Another favorite Thanksgiving parade book is Milly and the Macy’s Parade by Shana Corey. While the characters and Mr. Macy’s involvement in starting the parade are fictious, it is based on the creation of the parade. Prior to reading this book, I didn’t know that Macy’s employees from other countries who were feeling homesick as the holidays approached brought traditions from their countries to the parade.

Both of these beautiful picture books based on the history of the parade are wonderful additions to your Thanksgiving traditions. Read the books then watch the parade (on tv or in person). Both stories bring even more magic to the Thanksgiving Parade.

Reading should be fun!

Every parent has experienced the battle between “do this, it’s good for you” and the child’s “but I don’t want to!” So how do we encourage reading without pushing too much and facing resistance? Here are a few suggestions:

Avoid commenting on the level of the book.

Yes, there are times when your child will need to push themselves to read something harder or at their appropriate level for school reading, but if you child is choosing to a read a book on their own….let them! They chose to read. Maybe the book is too young for them, but maybe they find comfort in revisiting a favorite character. One of my children read the same book many times. I tried suggesting something else, but if she was going to read for her own enjoyment, she liked visiting those characters again.

Do a family read aloud.

Take turns reading the book out loud. See who can come up with the best voices for each character. Have your child sit next to you so they hear the story while looking at the words on the page. This is a great way to start a book a child might be hesitant to read because there are more words on the page or bigger words than they are used to seeing in books. If you don’t know how to pronounce a word, mispronounce it. Let them know it’s ok to not know how to pronounce the word. The first time I read Harry Potter, I struggled with Hermione. I had never seen that name before and had not yet seen the movies.

Check out library programs.

The library is an incredible resource. They have so many classes and programs that revolve around books. Tell a librarian your favorite book and they will have several suggestions of other books you will likely enjoy. Libraries have family reads, crafts revolving around books, prizes for summer reading, and it’s free!

Ask your child for a book recommendation.

Whenever one of my children would see me reading a book they recommended, it made them so happy. It reinforces that you value the books they enjoy, that you enjoy those books as well. It makes them feel pride in their book selection.

Read the book…watch the movie.

I love this one because a good movie night is always fun. Make popcorn (a special treat in our house is to put some m&m’s in with the popcorn) and watch the movie after you finish the book. Depending on the movie, you can take the theme as big or as small as you would like. Make a meal from the book if there is a lot of food mentioned throughout the story. Take advantage of pinterest…so many great ideas there to make the book come alive through some simple (and some complicated for those who like a challenge) decorations.

Model reading.

Read. Children notice what we do. They notice a lot of things we don’t think they see. Let them see you reading. Tell them about your book. Maybe the story line is not small child appropriate but tell them something about your book. Simply “my book is so good; I can’t wait to see how it ends!” Let them know you are excited to read your book. Children remember the things you dread and the things you enjoy. Showing them your love for reading helps foster their love of reading.

If you have other suggestion on how you make reading fun, please share them!