The youngest girls and I are reading the Little House Books as part of our morning school work this year. It's been about 8 years since I read the series. Today, we were reading Little House in the Big Woods when Laura gets a spanking from Pa for slapping Mary in the face.
After I finished reading the chapter aloud, my youngest two daughters immediately mentioned that Mary was mean and deserved to get slapped because she was trying to make Laura feel bad. Yes, Mary is a bit of a snot, but Laura deserved to get punished because of her actions. The girls and I spent about 20 minutes discussing Mary and Laura's behavior. Great children's literature provides wonderful opportunities for families to discuss situations that occur in people's lives. More and more, I'm finding that many of the current best-sellers or popular children's book series are shallow and simplistic in content and style. The phrase, "Well, at least they are reading SOMETHING." is regularly touted to defend book series that contain little or no plot, minor character development, and poor grammar. I'm not even going to get into the book series that feature the current child star of the day.
There are many living children's authors who write wonder books. By no means do I believe that the only good children's literature was written before I was born. I just wish the publishers would spend more money promoting quality that glitz.
1 comment:
The Little House books lead to A LOT of discussion that is for sure. The parents can be a little oppresive at times if you ask me.
I am always delighted when other people give me book titles of newer books to read. SO much to read, so little time.....
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