All About Grooming & Encouraging Good Reading Habits

[tamarind]

clare:

Hi Tamarind

In IoBD, though Ramo died violently his death was described very matter-of-factly. After worrying about his disappearance, Karana spied a pack of wild dogs moving around in a circle. \"In the middle of the circle was Ramo. He was lying on his back, and had a deep wound in his throat. He lay very still. When I picked him up I knew that he was dead. There were other wounds on his body from the teeth of the wild dogs.\" From this simple description I had to discuss how people die from wounds, how deep the wounds must be etc, why animals attack people, why WE eat animals etc. :roll:

The Little Prince would definitely be a good read; I like it very much and plan to get my son to attempt it later in French. The English translations of it (I think there're four or five to-date) are lovely, but to me it reads best in the original language. ~swoon~

clare,
That book is certainly not suitable for my girl now. It is too violent even for me ! It breaks my heart to see young children die violently.

I agree that reading the Little Prince in French will be lovely. Is your boy learning French now ?

[ksmama]

Hi Clare,

For every book that I successfully got them to finish, they would have rejected about 3 to 4, \"I can't take it anymore! It is soooo boring!!!\"

In my muddled state, I was thinking of Edward Tulane when you mentioned Durrell. It is amazing that you are trying to expose your kids to all these at 5. My kids are 8 and 10 now. At 5 years old, their all time favourites were the Berenstain Bears series . If your kid likes animal stories, Dick King-Smith is a possibility but my kids did not like his books ie rejected

My p4 boy's school made their class read Charlotte's web this year. I cried when I read about the spider's death but when I asked my boy if he felt sad about her death, he said no and he didnot like the book that much. I was a little disturbed then as I thought oh dear, is my boy so unsympathetic??!!

[ChiefKiasu]

ksmama:

...I cried when I read about the spider's death but when I asked my boy if he felt sad about her death, he said no and he didnot like the book that much. I was a little disturbed then as I thought oh dear, is my boy so unsympathetic??!!

I stole my son's Charlotte's Web for an hour to read it just to find out what's the big deal and I have the same reaction as your son. Maybe my wife was really right when she calls me insensitive at times :?

[ksmama]

maybe it’s the macho hormone thing as in nan er bu liu lei. Hey but my boy has not reached puberty!! Just joking. I believe it all boils down to personality differences.

[ChiefKiasu]

ksmama:

maybe it's the macho hormone thing as in nan er bu liu lei. Hey but my boy has not reached puberty!! Just joking. I believe it all boils down to personality differences.

No lah... it's just I find it difficult to feel for a member of the arachnid family.

[Picolo]

My P1 boy enjoys Magic Tree House, Magic School Bus (when 6 yo till beginning of P1), Osborne books, Tin Tin, Young Scientists, Geromino Stilton and Roald Dahl. In fact, I realise that we don’t have to really look for titles for them at this age as their good friends all seem to like the same stuff! The only one that they like but not approve by me is The Captain Underpants series - extremely funny to them but so many delibrate spelling errors in the books. So, at most they can only borrow from the libraries because this series is not supported by mummy.


DS is crazy about MTH currently and has finished 30/40+ MTH books so far. He can read 5 in one night when his ‘catch’ (from libraries or friends) is good.

I always borrow and buy quality Chinese books for the kids so they are all exposed to them. I regularly read Chinese books to them too, but they don’t always automatically pick up a Chinese book unless it is a comic book. Place any of the series mentioned alongside with the Chinese books and you see which ones ‘sell like hotcakes’.

So, my problem is not Chinese books. My problem is for English stuff, they don’t like to read the classics. Show Charlotte Web to DS and he would say ‘I don’t read these books.’ Any advice from parents here?

[tamarind]

clare:

My ds is learning Spanish at his kindergarten but his school also offers French for the older grades so I'm teaching him myself first... KS lah, hehe.

Oh you and your family are in the USA ? You may have written it in another thread, but I cannot really remember In Singapore most kids are already very stressed with 2 languages : English and Chinese, especially when they have to know how to read and write in both languages by the age of 7.

Picolo:

My problem is for English stuff, they don't like to read the classics. Show Charlotte Web to DS and he would say 'I don't read these books.' Any advice from parents here?

Young children do not really understand what are good books, so parents should make sure that that they read the classics.

I made my 5 year old girl read out loud to me. I tell her that I love to listen to her reading, and that she makes me very happy when she reads to me. She reads everyday, and it has become a routine so she knows that mommy will not let her off unless she completes reading for the day. After she reads what mommy wants her to read, which takes 15 minutes or less, she is free to do other things. So she does not not mind. Charlotte's Web is written beautifully, and I dream that my girl will one day write as well as the author, E.B. White. I cannot say the same thing about her Rainbow Fairy series, too simplistic. But she still has all the freedom to read them.

ChiefKiasu:

ksmama:

...I cried when I read about the spider's death but when I asked my boy if he felt sad about her death, he said no and he didnot like the book that much. I was a little disturbed then as I thought oh dear, is my boy so unsympathetic??!!

I stole my son's Charlotte's Web for an hour to read it just to find out what's the big deal and I have the same reaction as your son. Maybe my wife was really right when she calls me insensitive at times :?

E.B. White meant it that way. He did not write her death in ways that will make children and adults cry. In fact, her death comes naturally in the book, written in a very low key manner : \"\"Good-bye!\" she whispered. Then she summoned all her strength and waved one of her front legs at him. She never moved again.\" Even very young children will not be disturbed by her death. I was merely comparing her death with the way the 6 year old boy Ramo died in the book Island of the Blue Dolphins, posted by clare : \"In the middle of the circle was Ramo. He was lying on his back, and had a deep wound in his throat. He lay very still. When I picked him up I knew that he was dead. There were other wounds on his body from the teeth of the wild dogs.\" Perhaps nowadays adults and children like this type of sensational death scene better ? Personally I will shield my kids from such violence when they are still very young. I am that kind of mommy, I don't even like to let them watch Tweety Bird, too violent.

I was much more touched at the end when Wilbur tried to repay her kindness but saving her egg sac of 514 baby spiders, and when the baby spiders hatched from the egg and flew away.

It was my English literature textbook when I was in Sec 1. I did not understand why I had to read it when I was 13 years old. But now as an adult when I read it again, I was deeply touched by the story of friendship, life and death. It is no wonder that it is the all time best selling children's book through the end of 2000.

http://www.factmonster.com/toptens/childrensbooks.html

Last night I was looking through Great Expectations by Charlies Dickens, The old man and the sea by Hemingway, etc. These are even more old fashioned and boring. My hubby read Moby Dick when he was 11 years old, and he said that book is worst. I myself was made to study the Crucible by Arthur Miller in Sec 2, no book can be more boring than that. But no one can deny that they are literary classics. If we don't introduce these classics to our children, simply because we think that they are boring, then our children will be losing a great a deal.

[metz]

My ds wouldn't read the classics books too if I merely throw them to him. What I usually do is to start reading the first chapter with him, then pause for the night and continue the next following night. Once his interest is piqued, he would finish the book by himself without waiting for me.


Clare, have you tried James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small? If your son likes the old English setting, this book might appeal to him too. Besides Charlotte's web, Stuart Little by E.B. White is also another good bet. Other books that might appeal to younger kids - Tom Sawyer, Gobbolino the Witch's Cat (even my 3.5 yo likes this book), Narnia, The Wind in the Willows (hopping to start soon).

Looks like I need to set a compulsory reading time too. Left on his own, he only reads Young Scientist magazines.

[Picolo]

clare:

Picolo:

I always borrow and buy quality Chinese books for the kids so they are all exposed to them.

Hi Picolo, can you share what Chinese books your children enjoy? I'm looking for interesting series in particular. TIA!

Hi Clare,

I'm sure many other parents in this thread woud be interested to know too. My kids love Chinese books such as:

1. Elmer the Patchwork Elephant (艾玛) series - 10 books(Elmer is a playful and humorous elephant and his stories appeal to my boys. I only show them the Chinese version.

2. 我真棒series (20 books)
http://www.hongniba.com.cn/bookclub/bookinfo.jsp?bookid=10004033&module=class

3. Many translated books from different langauges to Chinese such as 小房子, 花婆婆, 是谁嗯嗯在我的头上 (this one is funny and educational on types on poop), 鼠小弟series.....

You can refer to books in this website for some idea. Many of the books are award-winning.

http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20002973

4. 宝宝成长学习绘本series (15 books)
http://www.amazon.cn/dp/zjbk559011

5. Comics books, like 小白龙 and 小叮噹.

Ok, these (more than 100 books) should be enough to fill your kids for some time. I make sure I have sufficient Chinese original writings while introducing the translated materials and comic books which are more readable usually.

If you guys are interested to buy items 2 & 4 and other books, I can refer
a Chinese lady who brings in Children Chinese books by PM.

clare:

Picolo:

[quote]My problem is for English stuff, they don't like to read the classics.

Captain Underpants would definitely be more interesting than the classics :lol:
My son is not keen on books like Charlotte's Web either, but he likes books such as E. Nesbit's The Railway Children. I know that he'll probably yawn if I just toss him the book, so I told him it was written about a hundred years ago and challenged him to see if he can understand the language, references etc. Sometimes older classics are really boring to young kids because of the language (such long sentences!), the time period etc, , so I make up games like how-many-super-long-sentences-can-you-spot. I also asked him to imagine living in a time with no TV, computers etc, and then I'll tell him people used to live like that (he couldn't believe it!) and he can get a glimpse of a very different time from these books. Basically I try to pique his interest so that he'll want to read the book himself. Works most of the time for us...

[/quote]Thanks to Clare, Tamarind and Chamonix for your suggestions. Will try them out!

[jaewee]

hi folks


try this website

http://www.epadlearning.com/epl/pages/storybookspage1.htm