Entries in children's literature (8)
Just Peachy
The peach tree on the southern wall
Has basked so long beneath the sun,
Her score of peaches great and small
Bloom rosy, every one.
A peach for brothers, one for each,
A peach for you and a peach for me;
But the biggest, rosiest, downiest peach
For Grandmamma with her tea.
—Christina Rossetti in Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book
Hooray! It’s peach season again. Here are my previously posted instructions for putting up peaches.
rebecca
in children's literature, poetry, Christina Rossetti
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Dog Stories
When youngest son was in grade 7, one of the novels read aloud to the class was Where the Red Fern Grows. As a discussion question before she introduced the book, the teacher asked, “What makes a dog story good?”
My son’s answer? “The dog dies at the end.” She thought he was being a smart aleck and reprimanded him, but he says he was dead serious. You have to admit that he had a point. If a story breaks your heart, will you ever forget it?
In a pleasing piece of irony, the same teacher, reading aloud to the class, had to call in the principal to finish the last chapter of Where The Red Fern Grows for her because she couldn’t stop crying. I bet that’s an incident and a dog story that’s forever etched in her memory.
What are some memorable dog stories that you read as a child, that you have read to your children, or that your child has read? If you aren’t yet an adult, why not tell me what dog novels you love?
I’m asking for your help in compiling a list. Let’s make this one a list of chapter books and save the picture books for separate list some other day. Add your dog books in the comments and I’ll move your additions up to the body of the post.
If you wish—and I hope you do—tell a little bit about your experience with the book as well. Why did you like or not like it? Have you read it to your children? Did they enjoy it? Feel free to add your comments about someone else’s addition to the list, too.
I’ll start by listing two books, and I’m leaving the rest up to you.
- What else? Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls. I read it as a teenager, I think. I’ve also seen the movie. I couldn’t tell you a whole lot about the plot, but I do, of course, remember that the dog died in the end.
Update: Threegirldad adds that this book “is set in the part of the country where I’m from (the 1974 movie was filmed in and around my home town, and I have relatives and friends who were extras), so naturally I think it’s a great story.” - Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes. I read this book to youngest son and he was squirmy-yet-riveted as only a seven year old boy can be. Simple story; happy ending. It’s a long book for the age group targeted—300+ pages—but the prose is charming and perfect for reading out loud.
And it doesn’t hurt that it is illustrated by Louis Slobodkin.
Update: Leslie says Ginger Pye “was on our read-aloud list for this school year. We all enjoyed it. My kids were so concerned about who took Ginger that they couldn’t wait for our reading time!”
- Leslie remembers crying to both Where the Red Fern Grows and Old Yeller. We can’t leave out Old Yeller by Fred Gipson, can we?
- Hannah, Leslie’s daughter adds Henry and Ribsy by Beverly Cleary to the list of good dog books. I’d have to agree. Any book that included Henry was a big thing at our house. And it’s illustrated by another Louis—Louis Darling.
- Leslie suggests True Dog Stories: “It’s a bunch of stories about dogs who were heroes.” (This seems to be a series of books, so the link will take you to a page with more than one True Dog Stories on it.)
- And one more from Leslie: Follow My Leader by James Garfield, which is “about a young boy who is blinded in a firecracker accident and has to learn how to live with and love his seeing-eye dog.”
- Karen adds the classic Lassie Come-Home, which she read in sixth grade, to our list.
- Pam tells us that Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor was a favorite of her boys.
- Also recommended by Pam, for older readers who love dogs: Marley and Me by John Grogan
- Pam’s favorite from her youth? The Call of the Wild by Jack London.
- And one more from Pam: The Old Man and the Boy by Robert Ruark, which she says is “a classic among hunters” and “an excellent read about the relationship of a grandfather and grandson.”
- Sherry, who really knows kid’s books, suggests Cracker by Cynthia Kadohata. She tells us “it’s a great story about a boy, young man, who is sent to Vietnam as a dog handler and about his dog, Cracker.”
- Threegirldad adds several to our list: White Fang by Jack London,
- Sounder by William H. Armstrong,
- The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford,
- James Herriot’s Dog Stories,
- Kavik the Wolf Dog by Walter Morey and
- Sasha, My Friend by Barbara Corcoran. About these last two books Threegirldad says, “Both of these books won the William Allen White Children’s Book Award when I was in grade school, so they have a special place in my heart.”
- Also from Threegirldad: The Cruelest Miles by Gay Salisbury and Laney Salisbury, “which commemorates the amazing 1925 serum run to Nome, Alaska,” and
- Greyfriars Bobby by Eleanor Atkinson, which, “although it embellishes and alters the actual event quite a bit…is still a poignant and heartwarming read.”
- Brandon adds Lad: A Dog, by Albert Payson Terhune.
- Candyinsierras remembers reading “a neat story about Gary Paulsen running the Iditarod.” I think that would be Woodsong.
- And while we’re on the subject of Gary Paulsen books, how about Dogsong, too?
- How could we get this far down the list without Big Red? Candyinsierras says her mother gave her this book when she was a kid.
rebecca
in children's literature, monthly theme, books, lists
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The Chicken Wins by a Head
…with the rabbit on the tail end.
Most of the interesting search queries in this blog’s stats still have something to do with poor old headless Mike. Queries on the subject of potty training come in a close second.
Today, the stats recorded a few queries for “peter rabbit jams and jellies.” Searching back through the other results for that search, I didn’t find any Peter Rabbit jams and jellies, but I did find Peter Rabbit’s Carrot Marmalade.
I also found out, in a Trails.com blurb about Massachusettes’ Briar Patch Conservation Area, that Thornton Burgess created Peter Rabbit.
Bzzzzzzzt! Wrong answer!
Beatrix Potter created Peter Rabbit. Thorton Burgess, inspired by Beatrix Potter’s animal tales, created Peter Cottontail. (A more cynical person might call it shameless copying.)
Here are a few other rabbits in children’s literature:
- Rabbit, in A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh stories.
- In addition to Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter has Benjamin Bunny, and Peter’s siblings: Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail (with a hyphen).
- Brer Rabbit in the Uncle Remus stories.
- The Velveteen Rabbit.
- Update: Brian adds Barrington Bunny to the list.
- Candyinsierras reminds us of Margaret Wise Brown’s Runaway Bunny.
- Update 2: Rose contributes the Snuggle Bunny.
- Lisa J adds a few: Little Nutbrown Hare from Guess How Much I Love You
- and Hazel, Fiver, and BigWig from Watership Down.
- Update 3: We can’t forget The White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, says Missmelliflous.
rebecca
in children's literature, tidbits of no consequence
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Small Vocabulary
n.
The quality or state of being rapid; swiftness; celerity; velocity; as, the rapidity of growth or improvement.
Synonyms: Rapidness; haste; speed; celerity; velocity; swiftness; fleetness; quickness; agility.
“Tiggers never go on being Sad,” explained Rabbit. “They get over it with Astonishing Rapidity. I asked Owl, just to make sure, and he said that that’s what they always get over it with. But if we can make Tigger feel Small and Sad just for five minutes, we shall have done a good deed.”
From The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne
rebecca
in children's literature, words
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Small Vocabulary
m-plôr
, -pl
r)Peter gave himself up for lost,
and shed big tears; but his sobs
were overheard by some
friendly sparrows, who flew to
him in great excitement, and
implored him to exert himself.
From The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.
rebecca
in children's literature, words
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Children's Poetry: Wrapping Up With Emily
The last two contributions to Children’s Poetry Month are poems by Emily Dickinson, so I’ll join in and contribute one from this hauntingly mysterious poet, too. - Jen of joythruChrist has The Daisy Follows Soft the Sun.
- Kim from Hireath posts one she learned along with her son a few years ago.
- And here’s one of my favorites from Emily:
I’m nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us — don’t tell!
They’d banish us, you know.
How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!
I’ll entertain guesses as to what March’s theme will be. Except from Pam, who already knows.
rebecca
in children's literature
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Children's Poetry: Swinging and Sailing
- Rosemary posts a children’s classic from Robert Louis Stevenson.
- Billy the Blogging Poet has written a whole blog of kid’s poems. Try this one: The Great Gravy Boat.
rebecca
in children's literature
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Children's Poetry: Nash and More in the Morning
Morning Prayer
Now another day is breaking,
Sleep was sweet and so is waking.
Dear Lord, I promised you last night
Never again to sulk or fight.
Such vows are easier to keep
When a child is sound asleep.
Today, O Lord, for your dear sake,
I'll try to keep them when awake.---Ogden Nash
Other contributions of children's poetry:
rebecca
in children's literature
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