"Classic" Children's Novels I Recommend To Patrons and Friends
All of A Kind Family
by Sydney Taylor
First in a series about 5 little girls growing up at the turn of the century on the Lower East Side of New York. I learned a lot about Jewish culture from these books, but above all they're great family stories.
Anne of Green Gables
and all other books by L.M. Montgomery
They are aimed at children, but the picture of life in turn of the century Prince Edward Island is a delight for adults!
Ballet Shoes
by Noel Streatfield
Very English and very charming.
Betsy-Tacy
First of the series, by Maud Hart Lovelace
My older daughter(10) loves these too.
The Story of Doctor Dolittle
First in the series by Hugh Lofting.
Don't settle for the movie messes made of these wonderful books!
Heidi
by Johanna Sypri
This is not that easy for a kid to read--and some may find it saccharine. But it's always enchanted me...
Little House in the Big Woods
first in the series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Another series my daughter loves as much as I do!
A Little Princess
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
There's only been one good version of this on film--a BBC mini series. If you haven't seen that one, you don't know this story!
Little Women
and all other books by Louisa May Alcott.
I read this first in 6th grade, but I didn't understand a lot of it until college..
The Moffats
by Eleanor Estes
A family you'd love to belong to.
Pinky Pye
also by Eleanor Estes
You don't have to be a cat lover to love this, and if you're not, Pinky just might convert you!
Mr Popper's Penguins
by Florence Atwater
The tone is deadpan but the humor is pure slapstick.
A well loved read aloud.
The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
There have been good films of this, but nothing beats the book, especially with the delicate Tasha Tudor illustrations!
The Trumpet of the Swan
by E.B. White
I love Charlotte's Web , but kids should also meet Louis the mute swan who gains a voice and a love. And if you liked Make Way For Ducklings (another favorite of mine) you'll recognize one of the settings......
The Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame
Not a young child's book at all,but a beautifully written book about friendship, greed, self centeredness and love.
The best illustrations are by Ernest Shepherd. He was also the first (and only REAL!) illustrator of Winnie the Pooh!
Blueberries For Sal (& One Morning In Maine)
and other books by Robert McCloskey
The Nutshell Library
4 book set by Maurice Sendak
The music to go with the books is on:
Really Rosie by Carole King
Where the Wild Things Are
also by Maurice Sendak!
The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge
by Hildegarde Swift
(A beloved NY landmark!)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
and every other book by Eric Carle
Caps For Sale
by Esphyr Slobodkina
Madeline
by Ludwig Bemelmans
Beloved by little girls long before the toys or the movies!
Yes, I Read "Grownup" Books Too--When They're Worth It!
And These Are:
Silver Pigs
(1st of the Marcus Didius Falco mysteries) by Lindsey Davis
Welcome To Temptation
(and all other books) by Jennifer Crusie
Breakup
(Kate Shugak mysteries)by Dana Stabenow
And Ladies of the Club
by Helen Hooven Santmyer
The Cazalet Chronicles
(4 books) by Elizabeth Howard
Poldark
(the whole series)by Winston Graham
The Mitford Years
(series) by Jan Karon
Stranger In A Strange Land
(& just about any other book) by Robert Heinlein
Giving Back--Or Why the Alumni Association Can Go To Hell
Both the Man and I attended a prestigious public high school in NYC that specializes in science and mathematics. It has produced doctors, scientists and engineers. Actors, writers, statesman. Several Nobel Prize laureates attended this school.
Students have to pass a difficult entrance exam. It's a place for "the best and the brightest"--many of the students there truly are gifted--not just economically and socially advantaged like many of the children in so called "gifted and talented" programs I see today. Indeed, a lot of the kids there were and are NOT economically advantaged, but thanks to their education at this school, achieve and succeed in the world.
I enjoyed my time there hugely. Though science and math are NOT my specialties, being among so many interesting, interested people was hugely stimulating. I also got a good lesson in how smart I was and how smart I wasn't. Being in regular schools had allowed me to coast on what brains I have. But at my high school there were people smart enough to get full scholarships to MIT, win national science competitions, get perfect scores on their SATs.
In other words, I'm smart, but I'm not THAT smart! It gave me a sense of proportion about my talents, something that many so called "gifted and talented" kids never get.....
It was a place filled with all kinds of people from all sorts of backgrounds. There was no worry about fitting in--if you wanted to, you could and I did!!
Mind you, the TEACHERS weren't always that great. In fact several were useless and at least one was downright senile. People held onto their jobs there, because unlike most of the other high schools then (and unfortunately now) the students generally WANTED to learn and wanted to be taught!
So why am I ready to tell off the Alumni Association?
Because I am sick, sick, SICK of the appeals for money, all on the basis that we "owe" it to our school to donate all we can as payment for the education we got there!!
Okay, if any of you folks are out there, hear this:
I don't "owe" a durn thing. The City of New York, to which my parents paid taxes, was expected to provide me with a good education. I attended the school I did because there was no regular local school where I could have gotten what I got there.
What I have done with that education was to become a public servant. For 4 years I worked in NY libraries and gave back to the community in my work as a children's librarian. Now I try to do the same for the community I now live in.
Because I am a public servant, as is my spouse, we have public servant salaries. Not palatial by any extremes. We are not lawyers, doctors, dentists,scientists or engineers. The services we do are not valued by a good deal of the people we serve, but we take pride in our jobs and do them well.
We also take pride in raising our children to be good, productive citizens, and more importantly, human beings with empathy towards others. (Sorry, that's pretentious, but the only way I can put it!) Frankly, I hope they go into professions that they love, no matter what the salaries, and that above all they are loved and can give love. To me, that's worth more than any Nobel Prize or executive office.
I have concern and empathy for the students at my alma mater. But I would far rather see the alumni association worrying about the other students, be they in NYC or the furthest reaches of the world, who are NOT students at such a school. Students who do not have the advantages a truly excellent education gives. Students who may be as gifted and talented as the students at my alma mater, if only given the means and the opportunity, and the belief that they CAN do it!!!!
For better or for worse,the large majority of the students at my high school leave NYC behind, and move out into the world, the world we all share. We owe it to ourselves and our school to give back something of ourselves, be it time or money, or just raising our children, to the world. Wherever we go, we can take the gifts we were given of our time there and make the world richer for them.
If we don't learn that lesson, if all we focus on are "class gifts" and local needs, what was it all for?
