Children's Books

I was inspired today to go to Barnes & Noble to buy the Little House on the Prairie Series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I had been thinking about getting them, and I chatted today about them with Amy Thomas, our Religious Education (RE) director and sweet mother to three lovely girls--Zoe, Bronwen, and Gemma. I adore the wholesome, intelligent, and innocent quality that her girls seem to have, and I feel sometimes that Fiona, in her impressionable 6 year old state, is negatively influenced by more superficial media.

I loved Wilder's books as a girl, Amy says that her girls love them, and I think that Fiona's old enough now to really enjoy and appreciate them fully.

Therefore, while Fiona played at Lillian's house today, Michael, Alex & I went to Barnes & Noble to look for the collection. I was entertaining doubts, however, thinking about how it was going to add up to a good bit and that I might be able to order them online at a discount. When we went in to the children's section, though, the Little House books were actually on display at a Buy 2 get 1 free deal! In my superstitious way, I took it as a sign that I should get them now and bought all 9 books! I'm a little daunted by the sheer volume of the collection--but excited, too. We have some quality bedtime stories to last us quite a while. I'm a little worried about Alex's reaction to these, though, since I read them bedtime stories together... Luckily, the second book is entitled Farmer Boy, so hopefully he'll believe it's not entirely for girls.

Actually, Alex has lately been reading on his own while I read to Fiona, as he impatiently snuck our current bedtime book and finished it on his own right after we started it! We're reading The Cat Who Wished to Be a Man by Lloyd Alexander, which has a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor (as well as quite a bit of the slapstick variety).

I hope that the kids enjoy Wilder's books. I'm a little concerned that I may have developed a taste in them for more sophisticated writing with some of the profound, philosophical novels that I've exposed them to--such as Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass) trilogy and The Water Mirror (of the Dark Reflections Trilogy) by Kai Meyer. I love those books, but I'd like to offer the kids some simpler, wholesome books to foster positivity and family values. Wilder's books are the epitome of that!

Also, while we were at B&N, Michael spotted a children's novel by Stephen and Lucy Hawking. Stephen Hawking has written some of the best theoretical physics books for the layperson and is renowned as a great genius--very inspiring, especially as he is also paraplegic. Anyhow, despite my heartfelt wish to read his wonderful books, I haven't brought myself to read such dense, scientific writing for quite some time. Of course I snatched up that novel by the Hawkings, and I expect to expose myself and the kids to some amazing new insights to the universe in a light-hearted fashion. I'll report on those revelations as we go!