Time to kick off our inaugural edition of Ready Read
Tuesday! If you missed the introductory post yesterday, see this post
for the background. In order to save time, let’s just consider this as good of
a reason as any to spend some time reading with the burgeoning young geniuses
in your life. To help navigate, I've added an index page for this and all future Ready Read Tuesday posts here. So what are you waiting for? Grab one of these great books and let me know what you've been reading with your kids!
Now for this week’s book challenge – the theme to get us
started is “Other-Worldly Classics.” In other words, this is a selection of
books most of us so-called grown-ups should remember fondly that take the
reader through adventures on new worlds.
1. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum
- Where to get it? Gutenberg.org eBook, B&N/Nook, Amazon/Kindle
- How does it inspire? The book takes Dorothy and her new-found friends farther than the classic movie that we all know and love. Did you know that there was a dangerous river in Oz that the group had to cross, or that Dorothy actually met the king of the winged monkeys? I thought not. Throughout the story, children learn how friendship, loyalty, and self-confidence can help them overcome any obstacle they face.
2. A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle- Where to get it? Amazon/Kindle, B&N/Nook
- How does it inspire? L'Engle, ever a brilliant story teller, gave us this masterpiece that celebrates and embraces the uniqueness of her characters. At first, the characters are shown as misfits with no understanding of what makes them special. Through their journey across both time and space to save their father, it is the extraordinary abilities of Charles Wallace and his sister Meg and the natural leadership of their school friend Calvin O'Keefe that protect the trio in their adventure.
3. A Princess of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs
- Where to get it? Gutenberg.org eBook, B&N/Nook, Amazon/Kindle,
- How does it inspire? This one is for the slightly older children and all of us who are young enough at heart to still appreciate a story about heroes, princesses, loyalty, and, well, martians. You won't find it on many reading lists for young adults, but it is a fabulous early example of 20th century pulp fiction and offers everything from swashbuckling to air-borne ship battles. It gives the reader characters who exemplify principle, loyalty, justice, and honesty. What person, young or old, couldn't look up to a hero like that?
Great choices Ashley. When I was a kid I couldn't get enough of the Baum books, but maybe it was the cute illustrations that drew me in....
ReplyDeleteOk, so why didn't I know that the lame-named John Carter movie was actually based on a book? And a book by the author of Tarzan?!
ReplyDeleteHollywood kinda missed something there, I had no idea! *goes to download* Thanks, Ashley; you just gave me a reason to go see JC.
Thanks! (Left a response on my blog as well; thanks for stopping by!)
Eve - Tik-Tok was always my favorite part of the Baum books. Maybe that's partly why I grew up to be a robot nerd!
ReplyDeleteVeronika - you just completely blew my mind. Would you believe I am so unhip that I hadn't even seen the previews for John Carter yet? I just checked it out on IMDB. I hadn't heard of it, and it has friggin' Willem Dafoe??? I'm so behind, but I'm going! I wanted to marry Captain John Carter when I was a little girl. There's plenty more of him to read... A Princess of Mars is just the beginning of the Barsoom series :-)
I'm dying to read the Wizard of Oz! I've heard its so different than the movie.
ReplyDeleteBy the way I have given you an award on my blog! Come over and check it out!