Thursday, November 30, 2006

The Second Thursday Thirteen (with a Bit of a Caddie Woodlawn Theme)

I have a lot of great memes to catch up on, most importantly the poetry meme, for which I was tagged by Bikeprof. Not that the others aren’t important, but I’m going to be meeting him (lucky me! This means I’ll also be meeting Dorothy) for the first time next weekend, and well, to be blunt about it, I want him to like me. Ignoring a “tag” doesn’t seem like a very good way to accomplish this goal. However, before he tagged me, I promised a Thursday 13 of children’s classics to read in 2007 to accompany my Thursday 13 of adult classics, and it’s Thursday, and I’m sure everyone’s been waiting around with bated breath for this list, so the poetry meme will have to wait a tad bit longer. Here’s my list:

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
My aunt gave this book to me as a gift, but for some reason, I wasn’t interested in it as a kid. I never got past the first ten pages or so. I thought I’d see if I can at least make it to page 11 at this point in my life. Besides, it sounds like a really good book.

Diddie, Dumps and Tot by Louise Clarke Pyrnelle. A completely un-politically correct book (whose subtitle is Or Plantation Child Life). I remember my sisters enjoying it when we were young, but I don’t recall ever reading it myself. I’m very interested in it now from a historical point of view.

Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
I read it when I was around the daughter’s age. Time to read it now that I’m around the mother’s age to see how my perspective has changed, don’t you think?

The Golden Age by Kenneth Grahame. I’ve never read anything by Grahame other than The Wind in the Willows, and this one has the added bonus of being illustrated by Ernest Shepherd. How can one go wrong? (If you’ve read it, and are so inclined to do so, please don’t disillusion me before I get a chance to read it by telling me how wrong, actually, one can go.)

Hans Brinker by Mary Mapes Dodge
I’ve never read this one and don’t really know anything about it except that it involves some silver skates, and I love ice skating.

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
I’ve been reading Doreen by Barbara Noble which is bringing this one to mind. I want to see if the connection is as strong as I think it is.

The Moffats by Eleanor Estes
I adored Estes when I was a kid and probably re-read this one dozens of times. I’m positive I had excellent taste back then (despite my inability to get through Caddie Woodlawn) and will enjoy it just as much this go-round.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O’Brien
I’ve never read this. I wasn’t a big fan of Newberry Medal winners (Caddie Woodlawn being a prime example) when I was young. I’m still not sure I am, so this will be a test. Anyone else experience this bias against the award? It always seemed to me the awards were very often given to books that didn’t really seem to understand children, but were, rather, ideas of what adults thought children should like with maybe a little too much moralizing to boot. Even those chosen that were written by my favorite authors tended to be ones by those authors I always considered different and not quite as good (I mean, Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright, who wrote all those far-better Melendy family books? Beverly Cleary’s Dear Mr. Henshaw?) I’ve liked some, though (like A Wrinkle in Time, which almost made it onto this list), so we’ll see.

Stuart Little by E.B. White
Believe it or not, I’ve never read this one. When I was young, I couldn’t get through Charlotte’s Web, because my sister gleefully informed me when I was barely into it (still wobbly over the trauma of Wilbur’s near-death for the crime of being the runt of the litter), that Charlotte died, and that was it for me. I finally read it a few years ago, loved it, and now it’s high time for this one.

Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes
My introduction to professional theater was a performance of this in London when I was eight, I think. I've never read the book, though. It'll be a nice excuse for me to go back and re-read some of the Flashman books, which I loved when I read them a while back (and new ones have been published since then, to dismal reviews, of course) when I'm done.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
I wept over this while reading it at age 13 (I vividly remember doing so while lying on the living room couch in one of the homes where I frequently babysat. I can't believe I babysat at this age, but I began that "career" at age 12). I'm hoping it will have the same effect at this point in my life at some point when I'm feeling in need of a good cry. Also, I'm often recommending this book to friends of mine when they're looking for gifts for girls who are around age 13. I ought to make sure I still really think it's an appropriate gift.

Under the Lilacs by Louisa May Alcott
Because I’ve got to have one by her, and this is one I don’t remember reading more than once, even though I loved it.

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
I just grabbed all the Oz books, which I clearly remember helping me get through some horrible childhood bout with the flu, off my parents’ shelves when I was at their place for Thanksgiving. Good idea to start with the first one, and I know what I’ll be reading this winter when I get my yearly cold.

Anyone want to join me in reading thirteen children’s classics in 2007? If so, I’d love to hear what you’ll be reading.

8 comments:

Anne Camille said...

Oh, I shudder when I see the title Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh (read under duress when my son had to read it for school in 2nd grade -- he was not a willing participant in the assignment!). But I always liked A Wrinkle in Time. That's a book I keep thinking that I'm going to re-read. Maybe in 2007!

BikeProf said...

Oh yes, I am certainly going to hate you for not doing the meme IMMEDIATELY! I think I'll toss a Border's coffee in your face or something like that. But seriously, it looks like a fun list of books. I do have to ask, though: no Beverly Cleary?

Anne Camille said...

And have I said how jealous I am that you get to meet Dorothy & Hobgoblin? And that they get to meet you?

Emily Barton said...

Well, Cam, I can see why you're jealous. Wouldn't it be nice if ALL of us could meet in some physical spot? And you make me wish I'd chosen A WRINKLE IN TIME, but what's done is done.

Hobs, I probably should have chosen a Beverly Cleary, but I've re-read her quite a bit as an adult already, so I chose not to (of course, that didn't prevent me from choosing Louisa May Alcott). That's also why I didn't choose Laura Ingalls Wilder or Elizabeth Enright. Another one I recently swiped off my parents' shelves, though, is ELLEN TEBBITTS, which will probably get read in 2007 (a bonus #14).

Anonymous said...

what a great idea Emily! I'm completely with you on the Newberry books. I don't like the way some writers (and award givers) hijack children's books and make them into teaching vehicles. My sons can see those books a mile away and they hate, hate, hate them. Good books should catapult you into another world, and keep you breathless with excitement, and make you think and feel new things, and give you visions of places they'll never, ever forget.

I can think of lots of books like that, and not one of them intentionally sets out to teach you a lesson about diversity, or divorce, or sex, or how to deal with a new baby coming into your house. Which is not to say that many great works of children's literature don't actually do these things, but it's a byproduct of good writing and storytelling, not the aim of it.

Rebecca H. said...

I'm looking forward to the book club meeting, Emily -- Doreen has been fun to read.

litlove said...

I so wish I could meet Dorothy and the Hobgoblin too! Ah well, I shall wait with bated breath until the event is recorded here for posterity! This is a wonderful idea - I really loved The Wizard of Oz when I read it to my son a few year's ago. It wasn't at all what I was expecting (that's to say it was much better). I'm amazed how few authors on that list I've read - well, hardly any in fact. I can see I had better take some notes!

Emily Barton said...

Bloglily, you do a much better job of expressing exactly what I meant than I did. Thank God children are always wonderfully suspicious of such well-meaning arbiters of what's best for them.

Dorr, me too. Haven't quite finished it yet, but what a good read it's been thus far. I can't wait to discuss it.

Litlove, yes I'm sure we'll let everyone know all about our first meeting, and I'll keep you posted on which of these children's books is worth reading if you haven't read many of them. The problem with The Wizard of Oz is that we all have such vivid pictures from the movie, don't we? But I remember the book being much different (as well as darker) than the movie. Meanwhile, thanks for spelling "bated" correctly, which caused me to note my typo, so I could go back and correct it.