GTKY Children's Stories

ivyvines6

What are you looking forward to telling your children story wise when they arrive? What movies or books were you obsessed with when you were little that you can't wait to share with them?

ivyvines6

I have to preface this by saying that if I could have gone to school just for children's literature, with a special focus on fairy tale origins I would have...

For me I'm looking forward to reading a lot of the classic stories from Grimm's as well as Hans Christian Anderson's, but in the original format, not the versions they have today >.>

I also have a collection of handwritten children's stories I've collected over the years from different cultures I'm excited to share with him. My favorite is the story of the Raven King, and my family has a story called Munksmead that I haven't been able to track down the origins from...

As far as movies go, I'm pretty huge fan of Peter Pan and Hook, but really anything Disney is my jam! I just wish I had more of them in blue ray by now lol

elasticheart13

Being Danish and all I grew up with the Hans Christian Andersen stories and will be reading them to my son. As a child some of his sadder stories made a huge impact on me like The Little Match Girl but I might wait a little with that one.

But yeah, Grimms brothers, several Scandinavian authors and the 1001 Nights stories which my dad would tell me in Arabic and I'm looking forward to sharing all this with LO.

ivyvines6

elasticheart13 said:

Being Danish and all I grew up with the Hans Christian Andersen stories and will be reading them to my son. As a child some of his sadder stories made a huge impact on me like The Little Match Girl but I might wait a little with that one.

But yeah, Grimms brothers, several Scandinavian authors and the 1001 Nights stories which my dad would tell me in Arabic and I'm looking forward to sharing all this with LO.

I was just telling my little sister about The Little Match Girl a few days ago. We talking about different Christmas alternative ballets, and I mentioned that one, but imo it's way too sad to use as a yearly production with kids. She'd never heard it, so I made her cry lol.

emgee27

I'll start with all the classic books I read as a kid - Dr. Seuss, classic fairy tales, Shel Silverstein, etc.

But being a HUGE reader growing up, I absolutely can't wait until my kid is old enough for chapter books so we can read them together, a chapter a night. Charlotte's Web is one I'm especially looking forward to re-reading.

elasticheart13

Knottie9983816 said:

I was just telling my little sister about The Little Match Girl a few days ago. We talking about different Christmas alternative ballets, and I mentioned that one, but imo it's way too sad to use as a yearly production with kids. She'd never heard it, so I made her cry lol.

Never knew it was turned into a ballet, It's one of my personal favorites along with Nightingale and it definitely affected me a lot as a child but I do agree it's too sad for a kids production. My mom loved telling me these stories along with many stories set in Greek mythology so I grew up scared of Medusa lol. It inspired my love for literature so I'm hoping to do the same for LO.

mrstrax

Anything Sandra Boynton for board books. We're definitely going to need another copy of The Going to Bed Book sometime soon.

So far DD has heard Harry Potter 3-7, some of Sherlock Holmes and The Magician's Nephew (Narnia #1) on audiobook in the car. Her first book with The Hobbit because that's what I was reading when she was born, so I read aloud to entertain both of us. She's also heard most of Peter Pan, because I love that one.

As for movies, Disney is still my jam. My favorites are the non-princess "classics": Peter Pan, Hercules, Pocahontas (ok, she's kinda a princess), Lion King etc.

RoseShadow873

I have been looking for some good kids books but I can't find any that don't seem totally lame. I am not sentimental about any from when I was a kid although I read a lot. I definitely would introduce Goosebumps eventually. For shows I want to introduce Wishbone but it has not been released to DVD! I think that show started my love for classic literature!

AmadorRose

I was a ravenous reader as a child and plan to read my girl anything and everything I can get my hands on. One book in particular that I've been searching for is called Owen; it was my favorite book as a child. The illustrations of little mice were cute, my dad's name is Owen, and the actual story was cool from what I remember. My older siblings read it to me so often that I memorized it before I could read. Until she's old enough to understand what's beimg read, she'll get to enjoy my textbooks and the little bit of pleasure reading I do. I also can't wait until the classics like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Outsiders are age-appropriate, because I desperately want to introduce her to good literature in this age of crap like Twilight!

Movies are not my thing, but I'm sure DH will expose her to all of the "greats" from the 80s that he grew up with, just like he did for me when we started dating.

mrstrax

RoseShadow873 said:

I have been looking for some good kids books but I can't find any that don't seem totally lame. I am not sentimental about any from when I was a kid although I read a lot. I definitely would introduce Goosebumps eventually. For shows I want to introduce Wishbone but it has not been released to DVD! I think that show started my love for classic literature!

Classic PBS shows FTW. I loved Wishbone. (Nerd alert) I watch Jeopardy every afternoon and there are so many classic lit questions I can rock because of Wishbone, even if I haven't read the book.

RoseShadow873

mrstrax said:

Anything Sandra Boynton for board books. We're definitely going to need another copy of The Going to Bed Book sometime soon. So far DD has heard Harry Potter 3-7, some of Sherlock Holmes and The Magician's Nephew (Narnia #1) on audiobook in the car. Her first book with The Hobbit because that's what I was reading when she was born, so I read aloud to entertain both of us. She's also heard most of Peter Pan, because I love that one. As for movies, Disney is still my jam. My favorites are the non-princess "classics": Peter Pan, Hercules, Pocahontas (ok, she's kinda a princess), Lion King etc.

I still love Disney too! I can't wait til my kid can enjoy Disney and some of the other cool kid movies from the '90s like Land Before Time and Fievel Goes West!

AmadorRose

@elasticheart13 are there any kid versions of Greek literature? I have a medusa tattoo on my chest and an Athena half-sleeve!

mrstrax

AmadorRose said:

@elasticheart13 are there any kid versions of Greek literature? I have a medusa tattoo on my chest and an Athena half-sleeve!

The Percy Jackson series is based in it to some extent. It's middle school level YA fiction and a couple movies. I've only read the first one though, so idk how dark they get.

@RoseShadow873 YES! No one's ever heard of Fivel! I kinda wanna find all hundred million Land Before Time movies to marathon now... Ooh and Rescuers! I feel a kids movie marathon coming for nap time this next week.

Poppy16

Sharing books that I loved as a kid with my children has been one of my favorite things as a parent. I loved Roald Dahl and Beverly Cleary when I was a kid. I read several of these books to my boys (9&8) when they were little. Now they are old enough to read them themselves and it is seriously very cool to see them fall in love with the characters.

emgee27

Poppy16 said:

Sharing books that I loved as a kid with my children has been one of my favorite things as a parent. I loved Roald Dahl and Beverly Cleary when I was a kid. I read several of these books to my boys (9&8) when they were little. Now they are old enough to read them themselves and it is seriously very cool to see them fall in love with the characters.

Beverly Cleary for sure! All of them! If baby is a girl, we are also reading Little House In The Big Wood and all of the Anne Of Green Gables, which I still have saved.

@NOLA520 oooh yes, Alice in Wonderland!

St0v3s

My parents did not read to me as a child. I honestly do not remember in books being in the house, so I don't have a favorite story to teach the kid. i remember my kindergarten teacher reading Love You Forever but that is it. The DH and I plan to start a mini library in the kid's nursery and most of those books are children's books from different cultures and Dr. Seuss

elasticheart13

@AmadorRose they were all in Arabic sadly as my mom would buy them in Syria in her favorite libraries. They were very true to the mythology while making it somewhat appropriate for children. She also got me cartoons on VHS to watch based on the stories as well, along with many historical events based stories. I owe my mom a lot of my knowledge lol.
If I manage to find any of the stories in English I'll definitely share with you, I am a sucker for mythologies.

cmjenkies

@RoseShadow873 @mrstrax nobody knows Fivel? Blasphemy! It was one of my favorites! Growing up, movie-wise I loved Land Before Time, Fivel, Lion King, Nightmare Before Christmas.

We grew up with books and I still love reading, Slinky Malinki (about a mischievous cat, I swear actually nobody else knows this one but it's the best!), I'll Love You Forever, the Giving Tree.. those are my jam. I was never much a fan of classic fairy tales.

DS *loves* to read, and is quite ahead in that area for his age and I attribute that primarily to our reading traditions (okay, and the video games he plays with his dad).

misstopsail

Santa Mouse! I'm so excited to read him the books (which I have from my childhood).

Also, my dad use to tell us a story he made up over weeks.. I hope to do that for our little guy!

UnbreakableKimmySchmidt

My mom read the Little House on the Prairie series to my sister and I when we were growing up, I loved it and hope my daughter enjoys the series as much as I did! 

RoseShadow873

I love Little House! I would think boys could enjoy them too.

crazyliblady

I'm already reading The Little Prince to both my DH and LO.  It is never too early to start with the classics in my opinion.  Chronicles of Narnia was also formative to me long before I caught the Christian storyline.

jonesl12

AmadorRose

jonesl12 said:

I saw this a couple months ago and wanted to get it so badly! DH vetoed it...something about needing to try to act normal or something...

mrstrax

jonesl12 said:

Have you seen this one? It's about books compared to technology.
https://www.amazon.com/Its-Book-Lane-Smith/dp/1596436069

Here's the last page:

linaboop

I am obsessed with children's books. My girls and I go the library weekly in the winter. My mom saved all of my books, so we have a robust home collection as well. It is so much fun to share my books with my girls! A few of our favorites, so far, are:

-Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny
-Sandra Boynton books
-The "How Do Dinosaurs" series by Jane Yolen
-The Maple and Willow series by Lori Nichols (about two sisters)
-Winnie the Pooh box set
-The Real Mother Goose
-Shel Silverstein's poetry
-Roald Dahl (4-year old just started his books with my husband)
-Calvin & Hobs (even funnier to read now that we are parents)
-Grimm's Fairy Tales
-Hans Christian Anderson
-Wild by Emily Hughes
-Jan Brett books, especially for winter and the holidays

I know Christmas is gone now, but I was so excited to share "Who is Coming to Our House" by Joseph Slate and "Another Night Before Christmas" by Carol Ann Duffy with them. We read those two a million times this December.

I also found a great resource for interesting children's books. They make a list each year:  https://www.brainpickings.org/?s=children%27s+books

spicedice

How have people not heard of Fivel? As the great-granddaughter of a family who immigrated from (then) Russia (modern day Belarus), this movie 100% happened during my childhood.

I buy DS books all of the time. Once he's a little older and has a better attention span, I plan on reading him the Harry Potter books before bed.

One of my favorite Grimm's fairy tales is "Snow White and Rose Red," which is fairly uncommon. I always liked it because one of the main characters is a red head. Most of the people I know have never heard of it before.

RoseShadow873

Did anyone else read Nancy Drew?

Poppy16

RoseShadow873 said:

I love Little House! I would think boys could enjoy them too.

My boys liked the Little House series, but their favorite was Farmer Boy. Likewise, my nieces' least favorite was Farmer Boy. 

ivyvines6

RoseShadow873 said:

Did anyone else read Nancy Drew?

I read a few, but didn't like them very much tbh. By the time I discovered them I was already reading more young adult fiction behind my mom's back so that might have more to do with it >.>

ivyvines6

Also @fbanke42 I loved both of those movies growing up. I used to sing "Somewhere out there" all the time, as well as the spider's version of itsy bitsy spider from them XD Awesome movies! And I did learn a lot about immigration for that time period from the first movie.

RoseShadow873

Knottie9983816 said:

Also @fbanke42 I loved both of those movies growing up. I used to sing "Somewhere out there" all the time, as well as the spider's version of itsy bitsy spider from them XD Awesome movies! And I did learn a lot about immigration for that time period from the first movie.

"Somewhere out there" is such a great song! I love it! I like Fievel Goes West even more than the first movie.

mrstrax

Apparently I'm talking to the wrong people! I love that you all know Fievel!!

@RoseShadow873 My sister was really into Nancy Drew. I read quite a few but not with the same enthusiasm. I may have purchased a Nancy Drew pc game within the last month purely for the nostalgia though, and am currently re-reading Secret of the Old Clock. They don't seem to be nearly as well written as I remember from childhood, which is sad.

AGK2015

I loved the Anne of Green Gables series, Nancy Drew, The Boxcar Children, and the Judy Bolton books. Also, everything Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume!  Husband flipped out over Where the Sidewalk Ends when we saw it in Buy Buy Baby this afternoon, which I can totally get behind. Harry Potter was also a big one for my family; Joe's never read them, but has admitted that he thinks it'll be fun experiencing them for the first time with the kiddo.

Completely drawing a blank on little kid books, though; I started reading chapter books before kindergarten and never looked back, so I'm not nearly as familiar with them. Luckily, my little sister is a freaking amazing children's librarian (certainly the best in Iowa, if not the entire Midwest and possibly the nation), so I'm sure she'll help us out in that department!

Totally remember Fievel, but surprised at all the love he's getting here. I'm looking forward to sharing some classic Disney with our daughter, but I have no love for any of Don Bluth's movies at all.

mrstrax

AGK2015 said:

I loved the Anne of Green Gables series, Nancy Drew, The Boxcar Children, and the Judy Bolton books. Also, everything Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume!  Husband flipped out over Where the Sidewalk Ends when we saw it in Buy Buy Baby this afternoon, which I can totally get behind. Harry Potter was also a big one for my family; Joe's never read them, but has admitted that he thinks it'll be fun experiencing them for the first time with the kiddo.

Completely drawing a blank on little kid books, though; I started reading chapter books before kindergarten and never looked back, so I'm not nearly as familiar with them. Luckily, my little sister is a freaking amazing children's librarian (certainly the best in Iowa, if not the entire Midwest and possibly the nation), so I'm sure she'll help us out in that department!

Totally remember Fievel, but surprised at all the love he's getting here. I'm looking forward to sharing some classic Disney with our daughter, but I have no love for any of Don Bluth's movies at all.

Where in Iowa is this sister? Or is that too creepy? I'd love a great children's librarian to visit with DD if they're close. Our library is newly renovated with great facilities, but the story time stuff is pretty lame.

RoseShadow873

I had to get this one because it looked so cute!

AGK2015

mrstrax said:

I loved the Anne of Green Gables series, Nancy Drew, The Boxcar Children, and the Judy Bolton books. Also, everything Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume!  Husband flipped out over Where the Sidewalk Ends when we saw it in Buy Buy Baby this afternoon, which I can totally get behind. Harry Potter was also a big one for my family; Joe's never read them, but has admitted that he thinks it'll be fun experiencing them for the first time with the kiddo.

Completely drawing a blank on little kid books, though; I started reading chapter books before kindergarten and never looked back, so I'm not nearly as familiar with them. Luckily, my little sister is a freaking amazing children's librarian (certainly the best in Iowa, if not the entire Midwest and possibly the nation), so I'm sure she'll help us out in that department!

Totally remember Fievel, but surprised at all the love he's getting here. I'm looking forward to sharing some classic Disney with our daughter, but I have no love for any of Don Bluth's movies at all.

Where in Iowa is this sister? Or is that too creepy? I'd love a great children's librarian to visit with DD if they're close. Our library is newly renovated with great facilities, but the story time stuff is pretty lame.

If there's one thing I know about Little Sis, it's that the only thing equal to her hatred of sitting still is her love of programming... I know she regularly runs a few different storytimes, baby bounce, a weekly playdate, science events for the littles, a Lego club, and all sorts of other random goodness (a "spy training camp," a Harry Potter lock-in for the older kids, that kind of thing).  She's about 15-20 minutes northeast of Des Moines; If that's near-ish you, drop me a PM and I'll be happy to give you the actual location! 

RoseShadow873

Is anyone else disappointed in the lack of books on the Trojan war for small children? I can't find one for below age 8-12.

mrstrax

RoseShadow873 said:

Is anyone else disappointed in the lack of books on the Trojan war for small children? I can't find one for below age 8-12.

There's a Phineas and Ferb episode... 

ivyvines6

RoseShadow873 said:

Is anyone else disappointed in the lack of books on the Trojan war for small children? I can't find one for below age 8-12.

I don't want to creep you out, but I think I'm developing a girl crush on you ha-ha!