Books every geek should read to their kid

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M

makare

Anyone read the Fablehaven books? I enjoyed them. The characters were a little annoying but the story was good.
 
Mathias

Mathias

LittleSin said:
I just remembered something about The Giver.

Did anyone else have to read it in junior high or high school? I think I had to read it for grade 10 english. The project we had to do based on it was either supply and ending or write a story about what happened when they left the city.

I chose the former and wrote about Fiona (?) leaving the city in search of the main character. I think I may need to read the book again to remember my own story.

It was the first fan fic I ever wrote. :p
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That's why I love that ending so much. It's a classroom book and shows kids how to decipher their own endings; create their own ideas about how it should end. Instead of being a bunch of spoon-fed dummies.
 
LittleSin

LittleSin

Bonus: I had the best friend kill himself in that story and got sent to the counsellor.

My husband had similar experience when he wrote a depressing poem and we bonded over it when we first met.
 
M

makare

The second one is in the same universe and the last one is more of a sequel. But it doesn't really feel like it because she doesn't clarify much.
 
M

makare

If the guy in the second book is interpreted as the kid from the first book, which is how I see it because it makes me happy to think so, then it all kind of flows together. If not it is just a series of somewhat dystopian futures. Which is ok. But I feel the story could have been less disjointed if there were more flow to it.

Gathering Blue, is so horrific at parts. At least for me, I was pretty much reading it thinking oh my god something good has to happen eventually, these people suck.

It's still a great series. Especially the last book. That one I really enjoyed. I enjoyed Gathering Blue but I almost feel guilty doing so. It's like enjoying watching someone be tortured lol.

edited because i confused myself
 
Bowielee

Bowielee

Sorry for the disagree, but man, the idea that all stories have to be wrapped up with a bow is completely off base.
 
LittleKagsin

LittleKagsin

I personally wasn't a huge fan of The Giver. Part of it stems from the ending and part of it had to do with the story itself, and part of it had to do with the writing style. Just didn't jive with me over all.

If you're going to have Clifford, I also think Berenstain Bears needs to be on that list as well.
 
M

makare

It doesn't have to end with "and they all lived happily ever after" or anything. But good story telling has the story end at a point where the story has some resolution. It doesn't have to complete the characters story it just has to complete the event sequence. If the giver had ended with him seeing the village or something I would have been satisfied. Because it was the end of one part and beginning of the other. But as it ended it was just nowhere.

HHGTG doesn't end with them all at home growing old, they are heading off on a new adventure but the first one had a resolution point.

LittleKagsin said:
I personally wasn't a huge fan of The Giver. Part of it stems from the ending and part of it had to do with the story itself, and part of it had to do with the writing style. Just didn't jive with me over all.

If you're going to have Clifford, I also think Berenstain Bears needs to be on that list as well.
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Hell yes Berenstain Bears! I love those books to this day. I intend to own them all someday.
 
LittleSin

LittleSin

Man, there's no Robert Munsch on that list? Hoiw can they forget The Paper Bag Princess? I'll Love you Forever? Pigs? Murmel, Murmel, Murmel? ANY of his books, really.
 
Bowielee

Bowielee

I still completely disagree. Resolution is a construct that is not in any way necessary to have an awesome story. We've just been conditioned to believe that things need to be resolved. It's not realistic to the way things work in real life and is actually more lazy on the part of the reader than on the part of the author.
 
M

makare

It's like Stephen King. Now there is a guy who should leave his endings ambiguous because they suck. It is difficult to write an ending to a story and a bad ending can leave the reader with a big wtf. I get that. But I still think the choose your own adventure format is lazy.
 
Adam

Adam

All books have a beginning, middle and end. Sometimes the end comes too soon, sometimes it comes too late. In the end, if the reader leaves satisfied, it came at exactly the right time.
 
M

makare

For that.. we need a zen tag.

What the Dickens is supposed to be good too. My friend recommended it to me. I wasn't really engaged by it, but I bet kids would love it.
 
fade

fade

Staff member
It's escaping me, but there's a literary name for stories that intentionally don't "end" in the sense that they don't wrap up the plot. ElJuski?
 
Adam

Adam

fade said:
It's escaping me, but there's a literary name for stories that intentionally don't "end" in the sense that they don't wrap up the plot. ElJuski?
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I don't believe it's an eljuski. I believe ElJuskis are stories that believe they are better than the reader.
 
Frank

Frank

LittleKagsin said:
I personally wasn't a huge fan of The Giver. Part of it stems from the ending and part of it had to do with the story itself, and part of it had to do with the writing style. Just didn't jive with me over all.

If you're going to have Clifford, I also think Berenstain Bears needs to be on that list as well.
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I loved the Berenstain Bears. This was my favorite.

 
M

makare

I loved the true story of the 3 little pigs!

The art was a little creepy but the concept was so fun.
 
Cheesy1

Cheesy1

This is the first book I memorized:


I was three, and I took the book to my dad and started pretending I was reading. I knew what was on each page, so I was turning the pages at the right times and everything. My dad was ready to declare me a freaking genius! My mom finally started busting up laughing and told him what was really going on.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
I learned to read along with my older sister (I'm 3 years younger). At first my parents thought I was just memorizing the books, but I guess I proved otherwise. I don't remember any of this; I've been able to read for as far back as my memory goes.
 
Bowielee

Bowielee

When I was in first grade the teachers put me in a remedial reading class because I was so bored by the books I just skipped them for my own. By then I was already reading Superfudge and the like (BTW, how great is Judy Blume). When you're already reading narrative stories, "the dog chewed the ball" doesn't quite cut it.

When my mom found out, she freaked and had the teacher actually test my reading comprehension. That was when they recommended I skip the second grade. My mom held me back, though. Thought it would impede my development.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Mathias said:
ITT: Impress everyone with how early you began to read. :awesome:
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Started reading at 3. The Thorndike Barnhart dictionary was my first favorite book. I loved that thing. It had the answers to all the "what's this?" questions when other people didn't know.

Danny Dunn was amazing for a kid growing up who wanted to know more about everything. I devoured every volume of that series I could find, and even bought a copy of The Magic Grandfather just to see how they did with Fantasy (pretty well, actually).

I have never read A Mouse and His Child, but I remember loving the movie.

Two other series I don't see on that list whose omissions are positively criminal: The Three Investigators and Encyclopedia Brown.

--Patrick
 
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