Author |
Message |
Scout
Member
01-20-2005
| Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 10:38 am
Just out of curiosity, what would you say was your favorite children's book to read to your kids?
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Yesitsme
Member
08-24-2004
| Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 11:57 am
OK, I admit it. I still love Dr. Seuss and Maurice Sendak! I love all kinds of kids books. I loved the Bobbsey twins, and stuff by a British author named Enid Blyton, but I think my all time favorite was Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parrish. Appealed to my weird sense of humor. I worked in SC one time and was visiting a tire store in a small town that the insurance company I worked for insured. As I was driving through the town there was a banner going across the street that said "Home of Peggy Parrish, author of Amelia Bedelia." I was so darn excited I couldn't contain myself....I think the people at the tire shop thought I was a bit nuts. I kept asking people if they knew her. Europe for spring break is darn cool. My biggest regret of my college years was that I didn't find ways to travel. I am trying to make up for it, but could have seen so much more of the world if I had started younger finding ways to travel cheap.
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Terolyn
Member
05-06-2004
| Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 12:44 pm
My favorite was (and still is) Beverly Cleary. I devoured the Ramona & Beezus series 
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 1:00 pm
My daughter loved strange books. Her very favorite book while growing up was Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak. My son loved just about everything. I have a few books that I read to them that still to this day, I cannot get through without crying. I'll Love You Forever and The Polar Express got me every time. As with myself, when my kids were young, I belonged to a few book clubs. Parents, Weekly Reader, Dr. Seuss. We have always had a plethora of books.
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Scout
Member
01-20-2005
| Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 1:00 pm
Loved Amelia Bedelia! Her literal sense of humor was so funny - when asked to give a baby shower she would give the baby an actual "shower" etc. I loved those stories that could make you laugh. One of my all time favorites was just a little book called, "The Yellow Cat". I can still recite the whole story. "The strangest thing that ever could be, said Jonathon, Wonathon, Higgins McGee"... Does that book sound familiar to anyone else? Two other books that I loved most to read to my son were: "Love You Forever" and "When I'm Sleepy" by Jane Howard. I also loved Beverly Cleary books. I especially loved series books - Little House, Boxcar Children, etc. Yesitsme - I never could afford to go anywhere on spring break in college. I've never been to Europe, so it's great he gets to go. (he's still in high school and is going with some relatives who invited him along!). I finally finished up the last of the Shopaholic series. Loved all of them.
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Scout
Member
01-20-2005
| Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 1:02 pm
Mamie - how weird we both posted a favorite - the Love You Forever book at the same time!
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Roxip
Member
01-29-2004
| Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 1:06 pm
Right now we are reading a lot of Junie B. Jones at my house...and I love them. That Junie B is a girl after my own heart.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 1:08 pm
LOL Scout, great minds..... I also loved the books that made you laugh. The ones that had a little differentness about them. Don't even think that's really a word!
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Scout
Member
01-20-2005
| Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 1:30 pm
Did you ever read "Mr. Floogle's Christmas Tree"? Or how about "Elizabeth, Larry and Ed" where Elizabeth was a Florida retiree, and Larry her alligator friend that lived her? Unfortunately, the swamp land was being lost to new subdivisions, so a swamp monster named Ed came to live with them. We loved this story - and yes anything with "differentness" or off-beat humor, we loved! It still makes me laugh to think about these stories.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 1:40 pm
Yes we did! We used to go to the library regularly and those were some that the kids loved. We used to watch Reading Rainbow all the time. They had some funny ones on there too. My kids love The Napping House, King Bidgood's in the Bathtub, The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate The Wash. Good memories!
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Scout
Member
01-20-2005
| Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 1:47 pm
What was fun, too, was how their interests would progress. From the early days of reading, "The Pokey Little Puppy" at least ten times a day, every day, to when they start chapter books. My son loved (as did I) Gary Paulson books. Then later it was the Harry Potter series, The Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, then sci-fi series like Redwall. I especially liked introducing him to some of the Newberry books!
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 1:50 pm
My kids just loved the PBS version of The Chronicles of Narnia! I really need to get the dvd for them.
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Scout
Member
01-20-2005
| Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 2:03 pm
I've never seen that, but I'm sure it's good. Their versions of movies are usually very good. I loved "Pride and Prejudice". My son played the part of Peter in their school's production of "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" this past fall. The critics (me) thought he was brilliant!
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Landi
Member
07-29-2002
| Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 2:04 pm
i have the entire set of "anne" books by lucy m. montgomery. i felt such a kindred spirit in anne. i still pull out one of the books when i just want to feel good inside. and i loved the pbs series when it was on also. i always thought colleen dewhurst made the most perfect marilla.
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Scout
Member
01-20-2005
| Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 2:10 pm
She was the definitive Marilla! And so was the Matthew actor. All of that movie was well-cast.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 3:49 pm
Love it! I watch it every time it's on. When my daughter Elizabeth was young, Disney had a series title Avonlea and we loved to watch that together. She still brings it up from time to time.
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Yesitsme
Member
08-24-2004
| Thursday, March 24, 2005 - 6:39 am
OK, once again you had me yelling "Yes" when I was reading your messages. I also absolutely loved Beverly Cleary's books. And the Anne books and PBS series...I have those on tapes and have watched them over and over. Scout....you need to find a way to get to Europe yourself. So many wonderful places to visit there. Italy is my favorite place, but with my mom from Wales I have a soft spot for the UK, too. I know especially with kids in school it's tough to find time and money, but if there is a way to do it you must! I hope your son has a good experience and that this inspires a passion for travel in him.
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Scout
Member
01-20-2005
| Thursday, March 24, 2005 - 7:21 am
That is so cool that your mom is from Wales. I read so many British, Scottish and Irish authors that I almost feel as if I've been there myself! Have you been up to Scotland, or over to Ireland, also? I imagine myself in Italy. There was a movie once and I can't think of the name where four English woman answered some type of vacation ad and ended up in sunny Italy in a house together. They were fed up with the rain, among other things. It was so good. It's rained here for five days in a row, and I'd sure like to find a place like they did! Maeve Binchy made her last book about Greece sound awfully inviting as well.
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Scout
Member
01-20-2005
| Thursday, March 24, 2005 - 7:49 am
I just remembered the name of that movie about the four women - Enchanted April. Joan Plowright was great in it. I just looked on Amazon and they have the book version.
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Yesitsme
Member
08-24-2004
| Thursday, March 24, 2005 - 8:10 am
I love UK writers, too. I was talking to my sister about it the other day and we realized that part of it is that we recognize our family in the family dynamics you often see in those books. There's just a quirky humor that I know we got from our mom's side of the family. I think I have been to Scotland and Ireland very briefly, but not enough that I have memories. I really haven't spent much time anywhere in the UK except S. Wales and London. It's on my "to do" list. Italy I am passionate about. I really feel a special kinship there. From my first trip I felt like I belonged. A friend and I were traveling around Florence a year or so ago and at one point she said to me "How do you know where everything is? Have you been here before?" And I hadn't, but I just have a natural affinity. Weird even to me, but nice. And the food is incredible and the people wonderful. Greece...I liked the islands, but spent 3 days in Athens and it was enough. Enjoyed it, but didn't love it. It was the hardest place ever to get around. The hotel gave us a map in English and all the signs were in Greek (this was pre-Olympics, so I suspect there is better signage now.) I kept walking around muttering "I should have joined a sorority." We got incredibly lost and couldn't even get a cab to take us back to our hotel or people who spoke English for directions. I finally figured it out, but it was the most lost I have ever been anywhere!
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Thursday, March 24, 2005 - 8:13 am
You world traveler you! I've been out of the country once, to Canada, and I don't even really think of that as being out of the country! I just love the history that is in Europe. We really don't have that here. I really want to go to Tuscany after seeing Under The Tuscan Sun. Just beautiful.
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Scout
Member
01-20-2005
| Thursday, March 24, 2005 - 8:59 am
Under the Tuscan Sun was the same for me. What a great movie, and incredible scenery. The long history of Europe is fascinating. To think how long some of those buildings and sites have been there. The timelessness of it. The way that things endure, but people don't. The Red Violin was a movie that brought that point home with me. Yesitsme, did you find the people in Italy were actually like they are portrayed in books and movies? The quaint, friendly towns. Is it really like that?
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Yesitsme
Member
08-24-2004
| Thursday, March 24, 2005 - 9:21 am
I'm the queen of cheap travel and will give up almost everything else before I will give that up. I am always planning the next vacation and generally will go wherever I find the best deal!
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Thursday, March 24, 2005 - 10:57 am
I wish I could be like that. Maybe after college tuition is done and the kids are on their own. My husband and I can become world travelers....sigh...
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Thursday, March 24, 2005 - 10:45 pm
I just loved A New Lu and I highly recommend it. I started reading By Summer's End by Pamela Morsi. Liking it a lot so far. It's about a woman who goes back to her deceased husband's parents with her two young daughters after finding out she's sick. They were married very young because of pregnancy and they never approved of her.
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