FOAK: Books for (bright) 7-yr-old
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From: sweller on 21 Jun 2010 05:33 TOG(a)Toil wrote: > > ...anyway, in your mythical 1930s existence, how many children went > > round solving mysteries involving "people who look a bit foreign" or > > even, for that matter, set up an island home in the Lake District. > > I think this misses the point as well. How many kids would not like > their own island home? It's fiction: wish-fulfilment. True, but it may explain why I hated them - I had no desire to be like any of the Enid Blyton characters or go to Ransome-land. Did you ever read "The Endless Steppe"? That's a book I would recommend for children but probably not to a seven year old. -- Simon
From: TOG on 21 Jun 2010 05:38 On 21 June, 10:33, "sweller" <swel...(a)mztech.fsnet.co.uk> wrote: > TOG(a)Toil wrote: > > > ...anyway, in your mythical 1930s existence, how many children went > > > round solving mysteries involving "people who look a bit foreign" or > > > even, for that matter, set up an island home in the Lake District. > > > I think this misses the point as well. How many kids would not like > > their own island home? It's fiction: wish-fulfilment. > > True, but it may explain why I hated them - I had no desire to be like > any of the Enid Blyton characters or go to Ransome-land. Fairy nuff. Plenty did/do, though > > Did you ever read "The Endless Steppe"? That's a book I would recommend > for children but probably not to a seven year old. > Never heard of it <Googles> Blimey. Yes, rather heavy going for a seven year-old, I'd have thought. Start them off on something milder, like Kitty Hart's Return to Aushwitz.
From: TOG on 21 Jun 2010 05:39 On 21 June, 10:27, Colin Irvine <l...(a)bottom.of.home.page> wrote: > >But isn't that sort of the point of reading - to venture into other > >worlds? > > Indeed. My favourite books as a boy were by GA Henty. And even I'm not > that old. > <fx: raises quizzical eyebrow> And you graduated to Sapper?
From: Colin Irvine on 21 Jun 2010 06:03 On Mon, 21 Jun 2010 02:39:26 -0700 (PDT), TOG(a)Toil squeezed out the following: >On 21 June, 10:27, Colin Irvine <l...(a)bottom.of.home.page> wrote: > > >> >But isn't that sort of the point of reading - to venture into other >> >worlds? >> >> Indeed. My favourite books as a boy were by GA Henty. And even I'm not >> that old. >> > ><fx: raises quizzical eyebrow> > >And you graduated to Sapper? No, although I'm not sure why. The Hentys I'd inherited from my father. The books I got hold of myself tended to be by the likes of Nevil Shute, WE Johns and Hammond Innes - and Richmal Crompton of course. -- Colin Irvine ZZR1400 BOF#33 BONY#34 COFF#06 BHaLC#5 http://www.colinandpat.co.uk
From: stephen.packer on 21 Jun 2010 06:18
Champ <news(a)champ.org.uk> wrote: > On Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:46:44 +0100, stephen.packer(a)gonemail.com wrote: > > >I'm really not sure that Swallows and Amazons works now. It seemed a > >little dated (in retrospect) when I read it close to 40 years ago; and > >to be honest I don't think that 70-80 year old books will encourage a > >voracious reader. > > <shrug> > > They were already a complete anachronism when I read them, and the > class they were set in (upper-middle class in the country) was so > different from my life (lower-middle class boy from the suburbs) that > they might have been set on another planet. Hmm. I kind of managed to associate with the characters but didn't do anything around boats. > But isn't that sort of the point of reading - to venture into other > worlds? Well, maybe. I just think the language and social context is too far removed. Try reading Rider Haggard now, it grates. |