Friday Favourites – childhood stories
Okay so today I am letting the English major in me loose to discuss my favourite childhood books that I am looking forward to sharing with my daughters!
1/ Little Women
I have a copy that has been read so many times it’s yellowed and has no cover or back. The girls are so sweet and I love Joe’s spunk and independence. I’m worried about the lesson of death in the book but if they are too small to understand we can always skip that bit and field the questions later.
2/ Charlotte’s Web
I love the sweetness of this story. It makes me cry at some parts but I think the lessons and story is beautiful and will give me lots to talk about with my girls when we read it.
3/ Harry Potter
I didn’t start reading these until well into high school, I think just before or after book 4 came out. I really enjoy the theme of good vs evil and the friendship that endures all the struggles and horrors they go through. I also like the books start off easy to read and get a bit longer or more challenging as you read on.
4/ The Berenstain Bears
I had so many of these books as a kid and I just loved them. We only have like three left from my childhood, so for Lillian’s birthday and the girls’ Christmas gifts they are getting 21 books. So now Lillian has gotten 8 for her birthday, one of which is a book that has 6 stories in it.
5/ Lord of the Rings
It took me a few attempts to read these so I think reading them to the girls when they are a bit older would be a nice way to reread them. Though I am thinking this might take a whole year to get through. 🙂
6/ The Brothers Grimm fairy tales
I love these stories, but I like the original versions not the watered down wussy versions that most people get. I love the stories even if the original versions are a little bit dark. They will turn out fine with them, I did!
7/ A Christmas Carol
Having a late December birthday Christmas is a big deal in my family so I want to make it an annual tradition to read the story to the girls. We’ll start with a short version while they are small and move up to the full Dickens edition when they are old enough to understand most of it.
8/ Frankenstein
This book is one of my favourites, and while it has some violence in it, the innocence of the monster and simple love of his father is touching to me and I think is something that I can explain to the children. There are a lot of lessons of acceptance and love in the book with the violence.
9/ The Bible
We’re Catholic, so this is a duh. We even have a cartoon, child friendly version that we’ve read to Lillian and Steve is already reading to Katrina. I think it’s important to share your faith (whatever it may be) with your children.
Books I won’t be reading them
– Alice in Wonderland (my name is Alice and I’ve been called this one time too many)
– Black Beauty (never could get into this book)
– others will be added later!