Fall is here again. The air is cooler, the light whiter, the maple that I planted last year for some fall color is doing its job well. What little monsoon rain we had this summer (hardly any) is now gone for good and I am watering with a hose to keep things alive until the first snow.
The husky perfume of green chilis tumbling in their roaster fills the air outside of our little local grocery. Pumpkins are appearing everywhere, as are spooky decorations from early and eager Halloweeners.
The now frosty night air smells of pinyon and cedar smoke. The stars shine brighter and the Milky Way is visible between the tall pines like a sparkling river.
The children are eager for snow and skiing and the imminent winter closure of the golf course behind our house. This vast expanse will become their winter playground for nature exploring, chilly hikes followed by hot chocolate, sledding, snowmen, and frisbee games with the dog.
Although not a natural baker, even I begin to dream of pumpkin bread, muffins and homemade caraway rolls.
Can you tell that fall is my favorite season?
Thank you to on-the-ball “Mom” of Mom and Kiddo for reminding me that this is Banned Books Week sponsored by the American Library Association. Between last week’s Turnoff Week, our weekend trip to Phoenix, and my littlest home with the flu, I just plain forgot.
Since Banned Books Week doesn’t end until Sunday, October 3rd, there is still time to read a banned (or almost banned) book to your children. Remind them that they have a right to read!
Did you know that there are some fantastic children’s and young adult books that have either been banned, or attempted to be banned?
(TIP: I love these books, but obviously please make make sure that the subject matter meets with your child’s maturity level before offering as a reading choice. My children are still too young for some of these, but I have most of them saved from my childhood - or later - because I enjoyed them so.)
Here’s a list of some of my favorites:
- 1984
by George Orwell
The oddest ban that I found?
or maybe
- Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
(you can get one of these dictionaries for as little as $0.01 plus shipping on Amazon if you want to read through it and try and figure what all the fuss is about)
And in my opinion, the most hypocritically banned young adult book of all time:
There are many more:
MORE BANNED BOOKS LINKS:
Challenged Children’s Books
Books Banned at One Time or Another in the United States
Amazon: So You’d Like to Read Banned Children’s Books
Banned Books: From Harriet the Spy to Catcher in the Rye
S-Collection: Challenged Children’s Books
There it is. The Enchanted Bookshelf. It looks pretty ordinary, doesn’t it? And believe me, it is not usually that tidy. Despite its modest appearance, this humble bookshelf has been key in inspiring my 7 year-old son to read.
The bookcase is right next to his bed, within arm’s reach. He doesn’t even have to get out of bed to pull a book off the shelf. I keep it well-stocked with a varied supply of books of different degrees of difficulty.
Obviously I make sure that there are many books at his reading level. I also throw in some that are more difficult in order to pique his interest and tempt him to challenge himself. I add a few that are below his level for those days when he wants to breeze through an old favorite. I’d rather have him read something a little easy on occasion, than read nothing at all. On the bottom shelf I put a few big, heavy kids’ encyclopedias and books with lots of photographs that are fun and interesting to leaf through.
The shelf’s spell has brought my son’s reading level from barely Bob Books
last fall to beyond the Magic Tree House Series (by Mary Pope Osborne) in just one year. In fact he recently devoured Vacation Under the Volcano
non-stop and proudly announced that he has now read all 28 books in the original Magic Treehouse Series. For the last few nights, he has read The Children of Noisy Village
(by Astrid Lindgren). Now he appears to have moved on to Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking
, which is one of the more challenging temptations on the shelf.
If you want to give this a try, here are some tips:
- Shelf must be within arm’s reach of bed and preferably facing the bed so the titles are easily visible.
- Vary the reading level. Most books should be at your child’s current level, plus some more difficult books, and some easier books.
- A basket of children’s magazines on the top is a nice touch and adds even more variety to the reading selections.
- Don’t let the shelf stagnate. Keep restocking with new books as your child’s skills improve.
- If there is a TV in your child’s room, get rid of it so reading is the ONLY available activity in bed! (Plus, the electromagnetic waves from the TV will suck all the magical energy out of the Enchanted Shelf. :-) )
9 year-old daughter using the turkey quill pen and sepia ink.
I just found out about a Children’s and Infants’ Tylenol recall and thought I’d pass along the link so that you can all check your medicine cabinets. A friend of mine had two of the recalled products!
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by Maurice Sendak
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
by Roald Dahl
also by Roald Dahl
by Dr. Seuss
by Tomie dePaola
by E.B. White
by Shel Silverstein
, yet again by Shel Silverstein (you naughty boy!!)!
by Louisa May Alcott
by Anne Frank
by Mark Twain
by Mark Twain (again)
by Aldous Huxley
by William Golding
by John Steinbeck
by J.D. Salinger
by Daniel Keyes
by J.K. Rowling
by Madeleine L’Engle
by Ray Bradbury
Themocracy