Rainbow Magic Fairies

Rainbow Magic Fairies, Daisy Meadows

Today I suggest a series suitable to read aloud with your kids that some will disagree with, I know some parents hate these books. I have to admit I don’t love them. But I have come to realise they serve a good purpose.

The Rainbow Magic Fairies (books 1-7) are the fairies who give colour to Fairyland and the world. Evil Jack Frost has flung the fairies into the real world, thus depriving fairyland of any colour. Newly found friends, Kristy and Rachel are entrusted to find and rescue the fairies. The books follow a formulaic solution where each fairy is found and returned to Fairyland while the girls avoid or out-trick the goblins who are sent to stop them. After this initial series, many more follow including the Weather Fairies, the Pet-Keeper Fairies, the Party Fairies, etc. etc.

The reasons why many parents dislike these books are the same reasons many children (often girls, but also some boys) love them:

• They are incredibly predictable and use a small range of vocabulary. Perfect for new and hesitant early readers.
• There are hundreds of them. Seriously. We have (graciously given to us when no longer wanted by another family) 56, all of sets of 7. There are at least 200 out now. For children that want to keep reading them again and again, there is no shortage. We always have some out of the library.
• Each only contains 6-7 chapters so even with a young one who is tired at night, a short chapter each night still finishes the book within a week.

My approach with these books has been to read the first two series – 14 books. Then after than if you want to keep reading them you have to do it yourself. This worked with our 8 year old a few years ago – we got her started and then she was off, devouring all of them. Now at 8, she is bored with them. She will read them when our 6 year old gets them from the library, but she has realised they all follow the same plot and they don’t really hold her attention any more.

However, our 6 year old is still in the grip of the world of Rainbow Fairies. Her reading has not progressed quite to her doing it solo (and we are up to book 13), so I may relent and read another series.

The advantage of this series is that if it hooks them, they have ample reading material for at least a year, until they are willing to try other things. Then I will switch to reading aloud other books to her and she can read the Magic Fairies on her own, to her heart’s content!

The Hobbit

The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

Returning to some books to read aloud with your kids, this week we come to The Hobbit.

I remember reading this myself at age 10, so it seemed the time was right to read this to our son. He loved it. Tolkien creates a wonderful imaginary world of hobbits, goblins, orcs, elves and dragons, with a quest to reach an dwarf treasure. Like many books that were written over 50 years ago, some explanation is sometimes required and some sections are rather verbose. Yet, it is a world that invites your imagination to join in the fun. It is also a great primer before attempting Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. I will not be offering to read Lord of the Rings aloud, it would take all year! But The Hobbit is a great way to whet the appetite and hopefully develop future Tolkien readers.

We loved the riddles between Bilbo and Gollum, the forest of spiders was suitably scary and the encounters with the dragon left you wondering whether they would get the treasure at all.

It is also fun to talk about how C.S. Lewis and Tolkien were friends and shared their writing with each other. It can help make an author from the past more real to today’s readers.

Another great classic to introduce to your children by reading it aloud.

Emily Rodda

Today’s author to read aloud is Emily Rodda.  Rodda has written numerous books and series for children and all are fun to read aloud.

The series my son and I started with was Deltora Quest. When he was 7-8 I read the first series to him (which contains 9 books). We both loved them. They were a great adventure story about a boy Leif who has to search the land of Deltora to fill a belt with special jewels in order to find the rightful heir to the throne and overthrow the Shadow Lord. It has great characters (the grumpy minder Barda and a feisty girl Jasmine) and it is full of puzzles and plays on words which are printed in the book and you can look at together to see if you can figure them out. There are fight scenes, evil characters and real problems.

We both loved this series and were both genuinely excited to discover who the true heir to Deltora was at the end. He then went on to read the subsequent two Deltora series himself.

He has then gone on to read the Rowan of Rin series and loved them too. There are also the Three Doors series and the Rondo series (also aimed at 8-12s). Then there is the Fairy Realm books for girls and for very young ones (new readers), the Squeak Street series is quite cute, about a street of mice who each have an individual book.

Don’t you love an author who writes numerous series for numerous age groups!

In researching Rodda, I have realised that this name is actually a pseudonym; she is actually Jennifer Rowe, author and journalist from Sydney.  That is probably why we like her writing so much, there is something about reading Australian authors that feel familiar and natural when you read them. She also has written adult fiction – anyone read any of them?

Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's Web, E. B. White

Taking a break from series in the ‘books to read aloud’ series, today I bring you a single volume book: Charlotte’s Web. Many of you will have read this yourselves as children, as may have your parents: it was originally published in 1952.

It is the story of Wilbur, a runt pig saved from an early death by a young girl Fern and raised on a barn. Even amongst the other animals on the farm, Wilbur is lonely and becomes friends with Charlotte, a large grey spider. When Wilbur discovers than most pigs end up on the dinner table, he is traumatised, until Charlotte promises to save his life by writing messages about him in her web. What ensues is a lovely story of friendship, animals that talk (which Fern can understand), farm life and fun. When Charlotte dies towards the end, our children have been quite moved and yet love to hear of her babies hatching in the final chapter.

We have found about age 8 is perfect for this book, it captures their imagination (animals talking!) and the story keeps moving with interest. There are serious things at stake (Wilbur could still be made into dinner), and I think for many children who often are fearful of spiders, it’s a lovely way of learning about arachnids that opens up their minds to their positive traits.

When finished it provides a great entree into a family movie night with the 2006 movie by Paramount pictures with Dakota Fanning as Fern and the voice of Julia Roberts as Charlotte. It’s a lovely film version, suitable for the whole family.

Ranger's Apprentice

This week’s books to read aloud are the Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan. Now I have to be strictly honest here and admit we did not read them aloud. Our son (10) discovered them before we did, devoured them, decided he wanted to re-read them so often he wanted to own them and has since been buying them at second-hand bookshops or with birthday money. An online article reminded me that I want to know what my kids are reading and why it captures their attention, so I started reading them. Then my husband started. We have all enjoyed them.

It is the story of Will, an orphan raised as a ward of Redmont Castle in the country of Araluen. Having reached 15 he is to be apprenticed to learn a trade. He is chosen by the Rangers – a secretive group of men, who loyally serve the King by protecting the country. As Will comes to know and love his trainer, Halt, he is trained in archery, battle, horseriding and any skills a Ranger may need.

Reasons these books are good:

1. The author, John Flanagan, is Australian. Therefore we appreciate the humour in them. It is a dry wit and the characters don’t take themselves too seriously, most of which (I was pleased to note) my son understood and enjoyed.

2. While the entire setting is fictional, it is clearly an adaptation of England and Europe with Gallican knights over the sea, Skandian raiders over the sea to the north and Scotti raiders which come down across the land. In later books we meet nations who bear marked similarities to the Middle-East and Far East. For readers who understand the links there is humour here also. I would have loved to have read the Gallican knights voices in Book 2 with a Monty-python-esque French accent.

3. There are 11 in the series! You’ve got to love a good series for children. It has taken me weeks of solid reading to work my through them and I have really enjoyed them. Then there are three Brotherband novels set in Skandia when you finish.

4. They are very appropriate. Even though by half way through the series, the main characters are all adults and beginning to date and marry, their courtship is modest and gentle. It is also not the main part of the story, so boys stay very interested because there are lots of battles and problems to solve. I suspect this series would also appeal to girls who like some adventure, but who appreciate a little romance along the way.

5. There are strong themes of friendship, loyalty, honesty, courage and bravery. The Rangers are people you would be happy to have your children model themselves upon.

6. It seems that Flanagan first starting writing these books to encourage his son to read. There aren’t many better reasons I can think of to write children’s books.

A fun series – either to read with your children or read alongside your children.

Harry Potter

Today’s books to read aloud are J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. In the past two years I have started reading these to my son. He was 9 when we started the first: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

He wanted to start reading them as many of his friends already were, so I went back and re-read them all again to decide whether I was happy for him to do so. I know people have varied opinions of the Harry Potter books. My personal decision was that I was happy for him to read some of them for now. The earlier ones are shorter, less dark and less evil, and the children are younger. By the end when the kids are 17 they are dating one another and the evil & magic they are facing is quite unpleasant.

So last year I started reading them to him, partly because I enjoy the books and so was happy to read them again, but also to slow down his rate of consumption! He would have sat down and read the whole book in 2 days, whereas with me reading a chapter at a time stretched it out over about a month. So last year we read the first 2 and this year we have read the 3rd. We have stopped for now. I now need to decide whether to continue reading them aloud (they do get very long from here on, so it would be a few months of reading at night for each book), to let him continue on his own, or to continue to wait a bit longer. At the moment we are tied up in other books, so we have ended up waiting. We will probably return to the fourth towards the end of the year.

Anyway, that’s a long explanation! Back to the point - they are great books to read aloud. They are exciting, fun and interesting. My son loved the quidditch matches and was always on the edge of his seat to know what happened, he loved the magic & humour and all the interactions between the students. He loved the fantasy and imaginary world that Rowling has created, yet how it still seems realistic to a boy of his age. I enjoyed reading them aloud, they are easy to do so and I loved watching his reactions and excitement.

Roald Dahl

Today’s author to read aloud is Roald Dahl. Did anyone not love his writing when they were a kid?   He just seems to understand a child’s sense of humour. He gets that they love for kids to win, for the nasty people to lose and for it all to happen in a rather funny way.

We start our kids on Fantastic Mr Fox (~age 6-7). It’s short, easy to follow and fun to read.  Everyone hates the three farmers and wants the foxes to win.

Then we move on to James and the Giant Peach or perhaps Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In time we include The BFG.  My daughter (8) was rather scared of The BFG for a while, until she picked it up on her own recently, got through the first few chapters and was hooked.

What’s good about Roald Dahl books is you can continue to read them into teen years and adulthood. His short stories for older readers are great, with twists and turns that few can predict. I always enjoyed The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar as a teenager, I found it so wonderful I wanted it to be real.

For those who like ‘nice’ stories, Roald Dahl is not for you. But if you are happy with dark humour, horrible adults who get what they deserve and good kids who always win in the end, his books are great fun.  Also, we should not forget the wonderful collaboration he had with Quentin Blake, the illustrator who made the books come alive.

There are also collections of his rhymes and verse, one of the presents I still remember loving as a child was Revolting Rhymes, a nastier version of many fairy tales. Great fun!

What are your favourite Roald Dahl books?

Patricia St John

Today’s author to read aloud is Patricia St John. St John (1919-1993) was a Christian woman who worked much of her life as a missionary nurse in Morocco. Her great gift was telling children about Jesus in a way they understood and was appropriate, yet without dumbing down gospel truths.

Having not grown up with these books, I had no idea they existed until a dear friend told me about them. We have since bought 6 of them and I have read 2 to our older children (Treasures of the Snow and Rainbow Garden).  They have worked our children in age range 7-11.

These books are a delight to read aloud. They are full of rich descriptive imagery, realistic characters, serious situations and the gospel. Children have to make real choices with serious consequences, these are not light situations. In Treasures of the Snow an older boy is responsible for an accident which permanently injures a younger boy, whose sister now hates him with a vengeance. Both must decide when presented with the truths of the gospel how they will respond – will they seek forgiveness? Will they seek restoration of the relationship? Will they try to fix what has gone wrong?

In both books we read, there were some excellent adult role models who were able to explain the gospel clearly to children and in each case, living in faith meant serious changes to the child’s life and attitude. I found myself choked up reading sections of both books, especially when the children accepted Christ as their Saviour.

My friend gave me a hint with these – just start reading them to your kids and wait until they get hooked, it takes a couple of chapters. I think the realism yet difference to their own world draws them in and they realise these are serious issues being presented. My eldest two loved these and I will continue to read St John’s books to them in the future. They are perfect for having conversations about the gospel and how it changes lives so therefore they are definitely books to read to your children, rather than give them to read alone.


Update 2016:

We have now read Star of Light, The Mystery of Pheasant Cottage, Where the River Begins, and I Needed a Neighbour.  All of these have been excellent, although Star of Light has been a clear favourite with all of us.  We have also since discovered two books aimed at a much younger audience (~5-7), Friska my Friend and The Other Kitten - these are simpler stories with animals, still good and address how to think about loving others.

Enid Blyton

Enid Blyton, that prodigious children’s writer who many of us are familiar with, is the author for today’s ‘books to read aloud’ series. It is astonishing that one author wrote so many books (~700 estimated) which have spanned three generations so well. Our parents read them, we read them as children and now we find ourselves reading them to our children.

There are a number of factors which make Enid Blyton books so appealing both to read aloud and to read alone:

1. There are so many of them! Children love series and reading more about the same characters. For example The Famous Five series has 21 titles, The Secret Seven and the Five Find Outers both have 15 titles. Once a child is interested there are so many more to move on to. It also means you can get them interested by reading the first one or two aloud, then encourage them to read the rest themselves.

2. There are gentle stories yet realistic. The relationships are real, the friendships are genuine and the descriptions are fun. Children play the key role in all books, adults are present but they sort of fade into the background. The children have real adventures, and boys and girls have equal fun and abilities.

3. The imaginative ones are so much fun – how good would it be to climb a tree, find magic people living in it and then magic lands that always changed at the top of the tree? It was the Magic Faraway Tree series that got my kids hooked on Blyton books at the beginning.

4. I know they are appropriate. I do not have to worry about them reading about inappropriate relationships or teen love and angst; there is no bad language; people who behave badly always get caught and the kids always solve the problems.

5. They present a picture of life in the 1930s-50s in England in great detail. My children have realised how different life was then to the life they know now. It is entirely foreign in their experience for children to be sent off on the train to visit relatives for months so they get better from the pollution of the city (The Children of Cherry Tree Farm). Similarly, for them to read in detail about rural life and an animals throughout the English countryside is very different from any farm stay we could do here!

If there is anything about Blyton books that you might occasionally hesitate about it is that a fair amount of it does need to be ‘translated’ or explained to children today. It is just so far from their own experience. But we have discovered that once you have read a few of them, they get used to the language and the terminology and are fine. My 8 year old daughter is currently reading all The Secret Seven and my son (age 10) still returns regularly to The Famous Five.

We have enjoyed reading The Magic Faraway Tree series aloud, as well as The Children of Cherry Tree Farm and The Children of Willow Farm. Which ones do your family enjoy?

Wonder

Wonder, R. J. Palacio

This is a brilliant book. I cannot recommend this one highly enough for parents to read with their children, especially those around age 10. August Pullman is a 10 year old boy about to start Year 5, he loves his parents, his dog and Star Wars. He has good friends and a loving sister. Yet starting school presents a challenge – up till now August has been home-schooled and so has never attended a regular school. Why? He has no learning difficulties – he is very smart; he has no disability or special needs that prevent him, but he does have a severe facial disfigurement so that he looks really different.

I know I’m not an ordinary ten-year-old kid. I mean, sure, I do ordinary things. I eat ice cream. I ride my bike. I play ball. I have an xBox. Stuff like that makes me ordinary. I guess. And I feel ordinary. Inside. But I know ordinary kids don’t make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. I know ordinary kids don’t get stared at wherever they go ... My name is August by the way. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse. (p3)

This book is in 8 sections, all told from different people’s perspectives, including August, his sister Via and his new friends Jack & Summer. The chapters within the sections are really short – only 1-3 pages, so it’s very easy to read either small snippets or large amounts, and very easy to have your child read some sections to you as well.

I was incredibly impressed with the way Palacio has written this book, I think she has accurately presented how life is for people with physical disfigurement – how people stare, how children (& adults) can be cruel and insensitive, and yet how it doesn’t matter how you look to close friends and family. She has wonderful portrayals of cruel kids, loving parents, excellent supportive teachers, and protective siblings and friends.

It gave my son and I lots of things to talk about and I am very glad we read it together and digested it slowly over a lot of nights and had a chance to talk about the issues raised in it. Age 10 is probably the minimum age for this one, but it is appropriate for quite a few years older than that. For those who are also familiar with Star Wars, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and some other attractions of this age group, they will appreciate the references to them within.

I warn you though, if you read this one aloud to your children, chances are you will end up in tears yourself at points. At a number of points, I got so choked up I either had to hand it to my son to finish the section or he got to see me really affected by the story (which is not a bad thing, by the way!).  I should emphasize, it's not all serious and emotional!  It is also laugh-out-loud funny and very clever.

I am sure this book will end up on set reading lists for upper primary and lower high school students. After reading this one from the library, I have ordered a copy – I know my son will read this again and again and I will want to read it to both the girls when they are older.

Books to read aloud

On Mondays for the next few months, I will be reviewing a selection of good books to read aloud to your kids. Aimed mainly at the 7-12 age range, I will be reviewing novels rather than picture books. There are so many good books available; sometimes it’s hard to know where to start.

Also, just because a book is a good read, does not mean it is always great to read aloud. Sometimes long explanations can make it hard, following complicated details of maps or directions, or even complicated character names make it hard to follow along while listening. Other books seem to have been designed to read aloud – they are easy to pronounce and add voice variation (for the one reading aloud) and easy to follow and appreciate (for the one listening).

I read aloud to our kids most nights – usually individually, but sometimes with two or all three. For a while I didn’t – the older two had learned to read and love reading, so were just as happy curled up in bed on their own reading. But as I have started to read to them and continued to make it a priority – I have come to realise the great benefits of reading aloud to older children:

1. You can enjoy a story together. If neither of you have read the book before, you both are excited about finding out about what happens. When my son and I read the Deltora Quest series 1 (9 books) together – we both loved discovering what happened at the end, it was really exciting for both of us. When you have read it previously, you enjoy seeing how they respond. When my son and I first read Charlotte’s Web, he was stunned to realise Charlotte died, and I remembered my own reaction to the same thing as a child.

2. You can talk about it together. Any book will raise things to talk about – whether it is the characters and how they act, the world events the book is set in, how you would feel in the same situation, etc. As Christians, we can also then talk about how God thinks about such things and how we as Christians might react in the same circumstances.

3. You understand how your kids think and what appeals to them. If they love the book you are reading, you can ask why. If they don’t like it, again you can talk about why. You learn what they find funny and what they don’t understand.

4. You can pick up gaps in their own reading and vocabulary. Most nights I try to hand one of my kids the book we are reading and they read aloud a few pages. It gives them reading aloud practice, and helps me see how their decoding, comprehension and expression skills are coming along.

So, lots of good books are coming up. As usual, I would love your ideas too – there is no way we have read all the good books to read aloud out there – so let me know you favourites too!