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Books for little girls

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Ed_McCarron:
The Magic Treehouse series.

Dervacumen:

--- Quote from: SavannahLion on March 06, 2012, 07:49:37 pm ---
--- Quote from: shmokes on March 06, 2012, 12:58:09 pm ---
--- Quote from: Dervacumen on March 06, 2012, 11:52:15 am ---Barbara Park - Junie B. Jones series about a 1st grade girl.

--- End quote ---

I read two of the Junie B. Jones stories recently. I sort of detested them. For one thing, I think the protagonist is a spoiled brat. She has a horrible attitude about everything. Page after page I'm thinking to myself, pretty much non-stop, "Oh god . . . please don't let Maddy get any ideas." Junie B. just an absolute spoiled rotten nightmare, nonstop. And the author bugs me with what I perceive to be constant little nods to the parent-readers, meant to have the parents chuckling to themselves about the silly way children interpret their world. Only . . . most of it doesn't seem authentic to me at all. It feels really contrived--not the least of which being Junie B.'s annoying speech patterns.

Moreover, it doesn't seem to me that Junie B. is the hero of her stories. Her bad attitude and dysfunctional behavior get her into messes and instead of having her, like, stop and think about the situation and overcome the conflicts, she just ends up being rescued by an adult or coincidence or something.

My daughter seemed to like them fine, though.

--- End quote ---

I dislike those books.for exactly the same reason. Worse, in an interview with the author, she admits to having no desire to writing children's books. She continues for no other reason that it's a cash cow.

--- End quote ---

--- Quote from: SavannahLion on March 06, 2012, 07:49:37 pm ---
--- Quote from: shmokes on March 06, 2012, 12:58:09 pm ---
--- Quote from: Dervacumen on March 06, 2012, 11:52:15 am ---Barbara Park - Junie B. Jones series about a 1st grade girl.

--- End quote ---

I read two of the Junie B. Jones stories recently. I sort of detested them. For one thing, I think the protagonist is a spoiled brat. She has a horrible attitude about everything. Page after page I'm thinking to myself, pretty much non-stop, "Oh god . . . please don't let Maddy get any ideas." Junie B. just an absolute spoiled rotten nightmare, nonstop. And the author bugs me with what I perceive to be constant little nods to the parent-readers, meant to have the parents chuckling to themselves about the silly way children interpret their world. Only . . . most of it doesn't seem authentic to me at all. It feels really contrived--not the least of which being Junie B.'s annoying speech patterns.

Moreover, it doesn't seem to me that Junie B. is the hero of her stories. Her bad attitude and dysfunctional behavior get her into messes and instead of having her, like, stop and think about the situation and overcome the conflicts, she just ends up being rescued by an adult or coincidence or something.

My daughter seemed to like them fine, though.

--- End quote ---

I dislike those books.for exactly the same reason. Worse, in an interview with the author, she admits to having no desire to writing children's books. She continues for no other reason that it's a cash cow.

--- End quote ---

This causes me to take notice.  I must admit I have a different sleep pattern than most so I don't read to my kid at night, it's more during the day and most of our interactions are about learning the way the world works.  I'll read through these and decide, and thanks for putting it on my radar.  I still think that exposure to this gives tons of teaching points.  Reading about others' actions gives so many opportunities to have genuine discussions with your child.

shmokes:

--- Quote from: Ed_McCarron on March 06, 2012, 09:30:22 pm ---The Magic Treehouse series.

--- End quote ---

I read one of these recently too. It was fine; I liked that the book was overtly educational, but still had plenty of adventure and so on. But, honestly, I'm really looking for books that can step into the shoes of Charlotte's Web. The Magic Treehouse is for my daughter to read by herself. I'm hoping to find some more books that I'll enjoy reading to my daughter on account of the quality of the book.

Ginsu Victim:
Bring a laptop or iPod with a text adventure and get her involved in the story. Read it to her and ask her what you should do.

Or just get some old Choose Your Own Adventure books.  :D

shmokes:
Have any of you ever actually read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator? I had read the Chocolate Factory multiple times in my life but this is the first time I've ever read its sequel. It is garbage. I can't understand it. It's as though it is not even written by the same person. Or maybe Dahl suffered a head injury and for a time his sense of humor and imagination were drastically, though temporarily, compromised. Slogging through the chapters every night has been painful.

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