books of value in the school and home

I thought we could review books for children and youths which we or our children have read and found useful either in topic or teaching. Most of my reviews will be older books, because I get a lot of used books.

The Truthful Harp A children's fable. Well written with whimsy. It has a great lesson on truth, as in not stretching it, but also in loving your neighbor. The illustrations are very imaginative and would be a great art lesson involving Japanese brush painting as well as printing. c. 1967

Margaret Embry wrote a book called Shadi (the touchstones won't come up because I can't type the accents above the a and the i). Written for youth, the subject matter may be objectionable to some, but I felt it was useful in explaining the difficulties that Dine (Navajo) children have living in two cultures. It also illustrates the different views of the two cultures. It is helpful if you know more of the Dine, but this would be a good start. The subject matter includes alcoholism, some discussion of the parentage of a child, neglectful parents and a mis-representation of the Gospel. I would recommend this as a book to read together with children 10 and older and have discussions with them. It may be somewhat out of date, as the copyright is 1971

Virginia Haviland wrote Favorite Fairy Tales Told Around the World and there are individual volumes for each country, such as Ireland, Spain, France, Norway, Italy, Russia, China, Japan, Greece, etc. I have the one highlighted above which has a few stories from each country, this is wonderful!

There just aren't many multi-cultural collections of fairy tales, myths and folklore out there. Between this and Jane Yolen's Favorite Folktales from Around the World (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library) I feel like we have a great selection right at home when we're studying an area. Yes, I'm one of those that firmly believe in keeping a number of books on hand, ready to use (just look at my library!).

Other books that I feel are worth having are Ten Kings: And The Worlds They Rule by Milton Meltzer as well as Ten Queens.

I'm very big on having biographies, fairy tales, myths and folklore available!

: ) Jessica

Great topic, Mrs. Lee! I could probably list almost all my books. Love them y'know. Have way too many-according to my hubby. He has picked up one book in our ten years of marriage.

I love the Scholastic series, "If you were there when.......". I have several, signing the Constitution, pioneer life, etc. They really give the kids a nice wiew of life during that time period.

I also love the book Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt. It has really refocused my love for reading and reading aloud with my family. As the little ones get a little older, I'm hoping that I will be able to get my hubby more interested in reading also.

Slightly swerving the subject a little, I teach at a Saturday School so have to make my own teaching resources for children from five to sixteen. The books I've found of value have been exciting ones, like The Worst Case Scenario series. Even boys who don't like reading adore the book and beg me to let them take it home and read it at their leisure. I don't 'do' moral lessons, I leave that up to our Pastor. :)

I've been keeping an eye on this group, because I think I probably go through the same stuff as you, though I deal with roughly ten kids at a time. I used to only teach teens, but I'm amazed at how much fun it is to teach five year olds how to read. Fascinating, too. It's also a great excuse for me to start buying kids' books again.

When my children were young, they loved anything nonsensical or adventurous, Paddington Bear, Homer Price, by Robert McCloskey, Mrs. Pigglewiggle, the Narnia series, by C.S. Lewis.
I think the books that inspire children to read are different from those we use to teach them certain subjects, though there can certainly be crossovers. I love to find books for reading to take the place of textbooks, so that whole learning can take place. I hope this thread will include books from both categories.

Hi Hera! Good to "see" you here :) Teaching children one day a week can be a real challenge, but fun too. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a child wake up to the world of books!

I just finished The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong. It is about some children in Sweden who learn about storks and want to lure some to roost in their village where there have been none for ages. I was dubious about this book on the first page because the author stated that the old people in the village were not important! The rest of the story is spent showing how the children's view is enlarged as they meet these old people and begin to see them as people. Full of humor, suspense, excitement and morals which are not preached. Great read, I'm going to go back and see if I can find more of this author's work.