Christmas Reading from the Claremont Institute
Posted in Literature, Poetry, and Books by Julie Ponzi
The Claremont Institute offers a reading list for Christmas with contributions from 28 different writers and scholars (including ME) and ranging from biography, philosophy and history to novels, children's books and even television programs and CDs. (Perhaps "reading list" is a misnomer in this digital age and it should be replaced with "intellectual stimulation list"?) In any event, have a look at the offerings and the descriptions therein and enjoy! My contribution includes two wonderful books I have enjoyed reading aloud to my children during the last year along with an explanation of why I think you will have similar experiences with them if you have children about who are in want of good stories--as, of course, they all are. Happy reading and Merry Christmas!
12:58 PM / December 8, 2009
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But we've read those two already (Phantom Tollbooth and Anne of Green Gables). Give us something else!
Are you reading the sequels to AoGG? We're reading the second now and Santa will be bringing the rest of them (there are several). Planning to try some Dickens (starting with "A Christmas Carol"--the new Disney version of which, by the way, is very fine) before Christmas. Some here have suggested Austen . . . but I don't think so, yet. Some good things are spoiled when taken in too early. Maybe that's why Twain didn't work out when I tried to read them Tom Sawyer. Though, probably, it was because of dialect and my own inability to do that credibly. I am hunting around for a good recorded version to try instead. I loved the Librivox version for my own listening, but it did not have the same effect on the kids . . . On the other hand, they loved the bits of "Roughing It" that I read to them as we traveled this summer through those parts of the country it discusses.
We also had a fine time with "Treasure Island" over the summer.
Anyway, Ken . . . you should be giving me ideas! Your kid is older than mine are!
Too early depends on the child; you know yours best. Do not forget fairy tales for reading. I prefer the Andrew Lang versions to the Grimm Brothers'. Fairy tales are all about the benefits of being good and intelligent. If your children enjoy the magic of Harry Potter they might also enjoy the older magic.
Fairy tales always . . . and they have the additional virtue of being short when you are rushed which, sometimes, it is impossible not to be.