May KiddyCAT: YA/Children’s Classics

"LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 1 Spaceman vs Classic Space" by wiredforlego is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0

(It was hard to find generic images for classic children’s/YA literature; most of what comes up when I searched just “classic” for images is cars. I also found some Lego “classics”!)

And here is a month to take us back. I don’t reread very often, but as an adult, I have reread some kids’ books I read and enjoyed when I was younger.

Some Suggestions:
Charlotte’s Web / E. B. White
Black Beauty / Anna Sewell
Anne of Green Gables / L. M. Montgomery
Little House on the Prairie / Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little Women / Louisa May Alcott
The Lorax / Dr. Seuss
The Call of the Wild / Jack London
Heidi / Johanna Spyri
Treasure Island / Robert Louis Stevenson
The Swiss Family Robinson / Johann David Wyss
Lord of the Flies / William Golding
Beezus and Ramona / Beverly Cleary

Series:
Trixie Belden mysteries
Nancy Drew
The Hardy Boys

Don’t forget to post to the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2023_KiddyCAT#May:_Children.2FYA_Classic...


"Classic Car" by Martin Pettitt is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=openverse.

I am planning on reading Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski. It was first published in 1945, and won a Newbery Medal in 1946.

Readers here should be able to 'kill two books with one stone', so to speak! ClassicsCAT for May is the same topic. (How did we do that??) LOL

>4 LadyoftheLodge: I thought I was seeing double! Will be reading a Bobbsey Twins book from my shelf.

>4 LadyoftheLodge: LOL! I think I asked for this one to move to May so we could do them both the same month. Makes it a bit easier to fit everything in! (Although I'm not really doing ClassicsCAT, but I had also hoped it might increase participation a bit.)

>6 LibraryCin: Well duh! That is a great idea. I guess we did this planning a few months ago . . .

I have a few options myself:

The First Four Years / Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents / Terry Pratchett
The Dog Who Wouldn't Be / Farley Mowat
Beautiful Joe / Marshall Saunders

Are you There God, It's me, Margaret has been made into a movie that comes out April 23. I've never read any Judy Blume books, so maybe it is time?

Oh, so many choices indeed! I will probably use this prompt to continue with my Narnia reread.

>9 soelo: Oh, I should have thought of Judy Blume to add to my list of suggestions above! Good idea!

>2 DeltaQueen50: I have this on my shelf as well. And it would tick off one of my 'reading through all the book prizes'. Perfect!

>2 DeltaQueen50: I liked that one.

>12 JayneCM: Glad to have the company!

>13 fuzzi: I am looking forward to it.

I have never read Anne of Green Gables and am planning to read it for this CAT, ClassicsCAT, and GeoCAT (since it takes place on Prince Edward Island.

>15 sallylou61: oh, I am so happy for you. I also didn't read Anne's stories as a child but discovered her when my children did.

>16 fuzzi: I visited the Anne of Green Gables house at PEI before the pandemic. I enjoyed it quite a lot and could picture the action in the story as I walked through the house. There was also a really nice museum there. (Not having read the story, it was far less meaningful for my hubby, but he was a good sport about the visit and my enthusiasm. "What is the big deal about puffed sleeves?")

>17 LadyoftheLodge: Yes, it's a great place to visit! And my husband was a good sport as well.

Probably Aesop's Fables.

>17 LadyoftheLodge: I looked it up, got me all teary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHNYItAZlkQ

I'll be reading The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry.

I have several on the shelf, just need to pick one/some.

>15 sallylou61: >16 fuzzi: >17 LadyoftheLodge: >18 NinieB: >20 fuzzi: I have read Anne of Green Gables many times but not recently. Thanks for sharing the memories and the video. This may be my choice for the month along with movie watching! Thanks to you all!

We started listening to Hachet with the kids on the way back from a family exploration weekend. Both Hubby and I read it as kids and it made a big impact on me. In fact, I carried around a waterproof matches case for a decade because of this book.

>24 dreamweaver529: When I taught middle schoolers, we read that one and my students acted out some of the scenes. it was hilarious and also touching, they were so earnest at it. They also loved the book.

I read Sarah, Plain and Tall which is one of my all time favorite books. I always get a little teary when I read it.

Today I read Aesop's Fables by Charles Santore. The book is as large as a picture book and has 24 fables. The fables appear on one page and the facing page has a beautiful illustration of the fable by Santore. 4*

I finished Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt.

>28 susanna.fraser: good to see someone else read Irene Hunt! I haven't found anything but good reads by her.

I think I'll take this opportunity to re-read The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. It was one of my favorites growing up and the 1980's movie was one that my Dad and I both loved. The camera work on it was just stunning.

>30 threadnsong: If you love 80's horse movies, have you ever seen The Man from Snowy River? My mom, who has always loved horses, absolutely adores that movie.

I have read Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery.

I have finished The enchanted castle by Edith Nesbit.

I read

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
I can't say I'm a fan.

>34 dreamweaver529: I am with you there. I thought the movie was frightening and disturbing.

I listened to The Pushcart War. I was kind of waiting for something magic or fantastic to happen, but it never did.

Beautiful Joe / Marshall Saunders
3.5 stars

Beautiful Joe was a dog (apparently a real dog) who was abused by his owner (along with his mother and siblings, who were all killed), but was rescued by some local kids after Joe’s owner cut off his ears and tail. Joe hit the jackpot with his new family, especially soft-hearted Miss Laura who took good care of Joe and all the other animals the family had. When Miss Laura went off to a relative’s farm for a summer, Joe went with her and learned about the farm animals, as well.

The book was told from Beautiful Joe’s point of view. I enjoyed this (mostly), but it did get preachy at times. I completely agree with it all, but even so, it still felt a bit preachy to me. Many of the characters in the story were almost too good to be true, but at the same time, I think the book (originally published in 1893) was trying to teach kids not to be cruel to animals – they have feelings and feel pain, too. Interesting that it is actually a woman who wrote this: Margaret Marshall Saunders.

>37 LibraryCin: I loved that book as a child. I couldn't get past the preachiness as an adult...yet have no issues with Black Beauty's preachiness. Go figure.

>38 fuzzi: Ha! Same with "Black Beauty"!

June thread is up:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/350894

I did a reread of Nancy's Mysterious Letter from the Nancy Drew series, one of my favourite series when I was young.

I read Romulus and Remus (Children's Classics Book # 3) by Peter Wright

Read little men and had some trouble staying with it, because its definitely for YA. I did love it as a child and still have images in my head of the character and stories in it. This time around I paid more attantion to the education these little men were getting and realized how muc LMA learned from her own father about edcuating young children. As a teacher myself, I smiled alot . Wondering if there was ever a movie made of this, or of Jo's Boys

I have completed my read of Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski and although quite dated, I found this an interesting read.

I re-read Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren for this challenge. I had not read the book since my childhood.

I finished my series read with Wombling Free. They have dated very little, the environmental message remains relevant.

I read The Dragons of Blueland by Ruth Stiles Gannett, the last of her trilogy that starts with My Father's Dragon.

>46 Helenliz: >47 antqueen: Both series that I love! I am glad that they rereleased the Wombles although I do still love my original 70s copy of the first book. Pretty sure I got it from the Scholastic school book club, back in the day!

>48 JayneCM: Scholastic school book club, that brings back happy memories! My sister and I would eagerly look over the fliers with the book listings, then ask my mom which ones we could buy. That was never a problem, as we were encouraged to read. Then there would be the classroom suspense when our teacher came into the classroom with the Scholastic box. This prompted good behavior by all, for fear that she would not open the box and hand out the books before going home time. I still own many of the books we bought through Scholastic school book club.

>48 JayneCM:, >49 LadyoftheLodge: I loved Scholastic books as a child and now have the privilege of working as a customer service rep for the Scholastic book clubs. Helping put books in the next generation of readers.

>49 LadyoftheLodge: I loved the book fairs we had at school every year...wandering around a classroom or the library, with piles of books on tables waiting to be picked up, and possibly purchased. I still have my Avon paperback of White Fang that I bought when I was nine.

there was always one or two kids that couldnt afford them. always felt so bad for them. I asked all parents to donate the price of a book for those kids to be able to buy one. no names were mentioned, they were told how much they could spend and I had very happy kids

>49 LadyoftheLodge: >50 lowelibrary: >51 fuzzi: Definitely many happy memories!

>52 cindydavid4: I don't know about the US catalogues but the Australian one always has six books (three in each of the age categories) that are priced at $2, so that hopefully everyone can afford a book.

I read The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley, which won the Newbery in the 1980s. I'd definitely consider it more YA than children's fiction, yet I'm pretty sure I first read it around age 9 or 10. I loved it as a kid and love it just as much upon rereading!

I finished The Black Stallion and while I loved it, and read it through this time (I usually stopped when he started training The Black) I was struck by the date when he published it: 1941. The writing of it, the travel by steamship, and the wreck all happen *before* the US enters WWII.

It is definitely a book that could not take place now, and I am nostalgic for remembering green expanses of farms where horses were kept in and around the Atlanta area up until the 1970's. Would life have been slower if we had kept to the four-legged? Yes, and then there would be folks unable to own a horse, and the ambulance that just sped by is saving lives and traveling faster than a horse could ever run.