Showing posts with label fairy tales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fairy tales. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Reading, The Gift that Keeps on Giving in So Many Ways

baby looking at a book with an elephant picture

Reading is a gift, a renewable, ever changing, gift that covers all ages and stages of life.

There is no doubt that many of the writers here at Review This Reviews love to read!  You just need to take a quick look at all the Book Reviews to know that there are many readers with varied tastes in subjects to read about.  There are even some authors on our Review This Reviews pages too!

What I am most interested in sharing with you today is  some timely ideas to help youngsters become avid readers.  

Why?  Well it is well known that reading is the basic building block for a lifetime of learning.  No truer words were ever written, and it bears repeating!  


READING IS THE BASIC BUILDING BLOCK FOR A LIFETIME OF LEARNING!

What's the best way to start a child on this road to learning?

That's an easy one to answer!  There is no time like the present to begin a child on a path to explore and learn new things.  Children are magnets for learning and giving them the tools can't start too early.  One of the best gifts you can ever give any child, is books.  You night not expect that books would be a great Baby Shower Gift, but I'm here to tell you differently.  So many times the new parents are inundated with cute outfits, booties and all the paraphanalia needed for their babies.  Give them a gift that will stand out!  Books, Classic Books that will become favorites for their children as they years go by.  Books that can be read by the parents and grandparents.  Books that will fuel their creativity and at the same time become the basis for their language skills.

Here is a list of Classic Books that will be a great start to any child's library:
  1. The Tale of Peter Rabbit
  2. A Bear Called Paddington
  3. Little Golden Books
  4. The Velveteen Rabbit
  5. A Treasury of Curious George
  6. Elmo's Big Book of Friends
  7. My Favorite Berenstain Bears Collection
  8. Classic Storybook Fables
  9. On the Night You Were Born
  10. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The last two books on this list are "modern" classics.  The other 8 suggestions are stories that have been around since you were a child.  They are the "Classics" that really should be in every child's library.  They have withstood the test of time and are still found to be entertaining and full of great life lessons. 

How to keep your child entertained while reading:


Our goal as parents and grandparents is to keep our children motivated to enjoy the story we are telling them.  At the end of a long day, make time for reading.  Set the children's bed time for a half hour earlier than when you actually want them to close their eyes.  This time is set apart for reading!  Unless they are sick, make sure that you do this on a regular basis.  If not every day, then maybe 3 days a week.  Make the reading time not just a page turning experience, but be expressive in reading so that by your tone, they will know something exciting is going to happen.    Using the pictures in the story to keep our children's imaginations fueled will go a long way in them wanting you to turn more pages.  


book with pop-up drawings


What happens when they have a favorite book and they just don't want you to read another?


First of all don't worry, that is perfectly normal.  Certain books just have that quality that makes children want to hear the story again and again.  This is actually a great time to teach them to sight read certain words, because they already know the story off by heart.  Pointing to the words and showing them how the word sounds out, will help them to recognize that word in other stories too.  When our children would ask for the same story over and over and over again, we got creative in telling the story so that we would not be bored to tears.  I can remember one night in particular, when it was Dad's turn to read, he was so tired of reading story the way it was written, that he took the book and read it backwards.  Starting at the last page, he worked his way to the front and the children laughed and laughed so hard, that I needed to get up and see what in heaven's name was going on.  Well, needless to say from that point onwards, the children wanted the book read forwards and backwards.  Bedtime or reading time was just increased another 15 minutes to accommodate the extra reading.  What a great way to make them enjoy their stories in a whole new way.

Other Great Ways to Get Children Started on Reading!  


Reading starts with children grabbing a book and turning the pages.  As I said earlier, you can't start this habit too early.  So get your babies/children books that are make especially for them.  There are soft books made of fabric, that can be put into cribs or playpens.  They are usually filled with colorful pages and pictures.  Even babies love to turn pages that have something special on them.  Books with flaps that lift, tabs to pull and bits and pieces of sensory friendly fabrics are a must have for little hands.  Tactile fabrics, squeakers  or buttons that you can push are extras that little hands just love to play with.

soft cloth book


So much fun in a book for little hands and growing minds.

 For Parent's Who Love to Tell Stories


For Parent's who are natural story tellers, there are also some really great picture books that will help you tell stories and get your child to interact at the same time.  Our children loved the "Where's Waldo" books.  They would sit for long periods of time looking at all the different pictures and looking for Waldo, who, you knew, was hiding in the pages somewhere.  What made these fun and interactive was the places and situations that Waldo would find himself in.

Richard Scarry books are also great for young readers.  They can learn about trucks and trains, planes and places.  His wonderfully illustrated books make it easy for parents to tell the story and sometimes segue into stories of their own.  Your imagination and the help of these books will fuel your child's world and widen their perspectives on everyday things around them.

We are our children's first educators and we teach them by spending quality time with them in a number of activities.  Reading is one of the most important activities.  It's the start of a life long love of books, that will see your children expand their horizons and will help educate them too.

It all starts with ABC and it will take them anywhere their minds can imagine and more.  Avid readers are the start of a life long love of learning new things.  They will develop a critical mindset that will help them in their everyday lives as they grow and mature.  Reading will never ever go out of style or popularity either.  Books will remain part of their lives from now until they are reading to their children too!

Will your favorites as a child, become your children's favorites too?

It could happen, but they might also find a story that is their own favorite and that is okay too!  There isn't one book that is "better" than another.  Everyone needs to find their own favorites and expand from that point on!  Books will give your child more than a 30 second sound bite of information.  Let's encourage our children to make good choices in how they spend their leisure time by having some great books for them at all stages of their reading skills.











Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”


Monday, January 11, 2016

A Treasury of the World's Greatest Fairy Tales Vintage Book Review

A Treasury of the World's Greatest Fairy Tales Vintage Book Review
Adapted by Helen Hyman, A Treasury of the World's Greatest Fairy Tales and A Second Treasury of the World's Greatest Fairy Tales are both beautiful hardcover books filled with some of the best fairy tales. Both the text and the pictures were created by three brothers and their publishing company in Italy under the name of Fratelli Fabbri Editori.

The stories are closer to the original story lines than they are the Disney versions. If you want to expose your children to fairy tales that are not defined by Disney, these books are worth considering.

Possibly more important to some individuals than the actual stories in this case are the detailed pictures. The images were so important to people who grew up with them that these books defined the way those fairy tales look in their minds. One reviewer says that for her they defined exactly what fairy tale princes, princesses, dwarves, ogres, and even some animals looked like.  Another says that the pictures in the book are more like paintings than they are pen-and-ink cartoons. 

Both of these treasuries are suitable for both girls and boys. They are not just princess stories but also include stories where the young male character is the hero.

Published in the 1970s and held dear by many adults who owned them when they were young, these treasuries are now out of print and in demand as people search for copies to share with their own families and with which to replace worn out volumes that they own. Unfortunately, the fact that they are vintage and out-of-print makes them slightly more expensive than the average new, modern fairy tale book.

A Second Treasury of the World's Greatest Fairy Tales Vintage Book ReviewThe following fairy tales are included in the first volume of the World's Greatest Fairy Tales treasury:
  • The Ugly Duckling
  • Puss-in-Boots
  • Hansel and Gretel
  • The Wild Swans
  • Seven in One Blow
  • Snow White and Rose Red
  • The Frog Prince
  • The Three Little Pigs
  • Rapunzel
  • Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
  • The Three Dwarfs in the Wood
  • Prince Kamar and Princess Budur
  • Hans in Luck
  • The Three Musicians
The stories included in the second book, A Second Treasury of the World's Greatest Fairy Tales, are:
  • Cinderella
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
  • Aladdin and the Magic Lamp
  • Sleeping Beauty
  • Little Red Riding hood
  • The Lion and the Carpenter
  • Beauty and the Beast
  • The Seven Ravens
  • The Little Goldfish
  • The Little Tin Soldier
  • The Emperor's Nightingale
  • Thumbelina
  • The Three Hairs of the Ogre
  • The Pied Piper

A Few Closing Thoughts from Readers


One fond reader says that the stories in these books are full of food for you and your child's imagination and that the words will stretch it farther. Another reader says that this was one of two things that he really loved when he was growing up. 

The Poisoned Martini says these books "have got to be the best illustrated collection of fairy tales." 

If you are searching for a copy of one or both of these books, you will find both of them on eBay by clicking right here.

Do you have a children's book that you remember fondly? Perhaps one that defined forever how a character looks in your mind?

Happy Reading!
Brenda


Quick Links:

New, used and vintage children's books in my eBay store.
The Pink Dress by Anne Alexander.
Controversial Anne of Green Gables book cover.



Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”


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