Fairy tales have always been a fascinating genre for me.  As children, we are typically presented with the "happily ever after" versions.  However, many fairy tales did not originally have those happy endings.  Fairy tales were passed down orally as precautionary tales, so that people were on their guard.

My favorite fairy tales were those that had the prince who was smart enough to fall in love with the brave, intelligent (and typically beautiful, of course) girl, who may or may not have been a princess.  Beauty and the Beast has to rank as one of my all-time favorites.  The amount of bravery, compassion, intelligence, and caring that the heroine displays impacted me as a child.

This link will take you to a short powerpoint for fairy tales.
 Fairy Tales

There are many arguments that I can make about what fairy tales teach.  The truth of the matter is, fairy tales, like many children's tales, can help teach many lessons that are relevant today.  There are also messages in fairy tales that can be negative, if the reader chooses to pull those out as well.








What is your favorite fairy tale?  Why? 
Is there a particular fairy tale you don't care for?

The littlest reader in our family

Here is a little movie I am sharing with my son, who is almost as addicted to books as his mother is! 

Children's favorite stories

I had planned on using this part of my blog to share several pictures from favorite stories drawn by children.  I do have several pictures I am sharing.  I have several of the pictures that are from books based on commercial characters, which in turn, are based on stories.  You will notice several fairy tale princesses, and while I would like to say they are princesses straight out of Andersen's or Grimm's fairy tales, they are based on the Disney versions.

Snow White

When I first received the pictures, I was only going to post the ones that were based on "real" books.  It has taken a few days, but I decided to post them all.  One reason, the most obvious, is that I asked the children if they would draw a picture for me to use based on their favorite books, and they worked hard on them. 

Frozen

Another reason, these pictures are a response to the question I had teachers ask:  What is your favorite book?  So, indeed, they did draw their favorite book. 

Ninja Turtle

Still yet, another reason I decided to post all of them is because we do live in a world where commercialism runs rampant.  The fact that the many of the children's responses were based on commercialized characters should not have surprised me, but it did.

When I first saw this picture, I thought perhaps a gingerbread house.  This picture is from the Lego Movie.

The final reason I posted all of these is to pose these questions:  Are parents reading to their children?  Are children exposed to literature besides commercialized books of the characters?  How do parents decide what books to buy children?  How do we influence parents who do not understand the importance of early literature experiences understand the impact literature choices make on reading development?  What place, if any, do commercialized characters have in literature? 
My children have Disney movies and have had toys based on characters from their favorite movies, television shows, and yes, even video games, but I always stopped short of buying books based on them.  Was I wrong? 
My big question for you to answer this time is:  Where do you stand on commercialized literature? 

Dora the Explorer

She could not remember the name of the book.

Frozen

The Little Mermaid

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the actual book!)

Sofia

Cinderella side 1

Cinderella side 2

Ninja of Guardian  (I don't think he could remember the actual title).

Dumbo

SkippyJohn Jones

Inkspell

One of the teachers in our building heard me asking the younger children to draw me some pictures.  He asked what I was doing it for and when I told him, he said he would like to incorporate it into a lesson for the upcoming week and would have his students draw for me, as well.  He teaches our 9-12 year old children.  I must admit, I am intrigued with this thought.  Hopefully I will get some more pictures to share and they may stimulate another topic to write about. 

Children's Books

I think people are never too old for children's books.  Even older children and teens love children's books, though as children age, they may not admit it for a while.  But, if you are sitting in a room with a group of mixed ages (and adults) and you begin to read aloud, magic happens.  A good reader pulls everyone in.  They become part of the story.  This is how a love for reading begins, with someone who shows a child how to be part of the story.  Television can never replace the feeling of getting lost in a book.


I read to my 11 year old son.  He reads to me, as well.  We also do audio books on our drive to and from school (this is a 35-45 minute drive one way depending on traffic).  Within the past year, we have read and listened to Artemis Fowl books, The Mysterious Benedict Society, Magyk, several Cornelia Funke books, James Dashner books, James Patterson, Grimm Fairy Tales and so many more.  He loves these types of books and novels.  However, just this week, he came to me and said, "Mom, you know what we haven't read in a while?  SkippyJohn Jones.  I really think I want you to read those to me again."  My heart soared!  He loved those books when he was younger.  I am planning on pulling them out this weekend from our huge library.  

Now, I know I sang the praises of my Nook in my last post, however, I do not have children's books on my e-reader.  I tried it once.  It definitely is not the same as reading the story from the book.  It is a different experience.  Today, I am going to see if I can get some children to draw some pictures for me of their favorite parts of their favorite books.  I plan on posting them on my blog.

For today, my questions to everyone are:
1.  What is your favorite children's book and why?
2.  Is your favorite children's book as an adult different from when you were a child?

Favorite books

Today I am going to talk about favorite books. 
I adore books.  I will admit, I have an addiction.  I do not necessarily see it as a problem, but bookstores for me are like Coach and Tiffany's for women who love purses and jewelry.  I walk in spending much more than I intended, and leave wanting more.  A few years ago, my boyfriend purchased a Nook e-reader for me in hopes that my tangible collection would stop growing.  Unfortunately for him, it was another way for me to enjoy books on the go and at bedtime (he calls it my pacifier), but has done nothing for my passion for finding treasures in print and paper!

I love my e-reader for the simple reasons that it is compact and portable, and I can read favorites over and over without the books falling apart!  I have friends who read, but they don't typically read a book more than once.  They cannot fathom why I would read something over and over and likewise, I can't understand why someone would not revisit the books they love.  I feel it is similar to revisiting a place you love.  You find something new to rekindle your love for it every time you visit, but the familiarity that brings you back is still there as well.

In any case, I want to blog about books.  If you love books, I hope to hear from you.  If you have books to recommend, please do so!  If you can't remember the title to a favorite book, describe it and I will see if I can find out.   I am not sure where this blog will go.  I may start reviewing books and looking at books others suggest.  I am willing to go where ever it takes me.

I love children's books, fairy tales, teen books, mystery books, romance books, historical romance, historical mysteries, classics, and several other genre in between.

A book series that I have read several times is the Discovery of Witches trilogy by Deborah Harkness.  I love this series.  I like the aspects of the supernatural element, the unlikely romance between the main characters, the mystery element, and all of the wonderful historical facts.  I have learned more about real history through the pages of fiction books than any history book has ever taught me.
  http://deborahharkness.com/
The series I am currently reading is the Mortal Instruments series.  I have finished the first two books and am working my way through the third between my college classwork, my full-time job, and being a mom (another full-time job).

I have decided that I need to inventory and categorize my books.  My next blog will hopefully discuss how this goes for me.

For now, I want to ask...  What is your preferred method of reading?  Are you a big fan of the e-readers or are you paper and ink only?