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Category Archives: Children’s Classics
A children’s series that ages with its audience: Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill captures 10 year old life well
Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill is the third in Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy series. The girls are now 10 years old and the largely standalone chapters of the first two books smoothly transition into larger story arcs … Continue reading
Posted in 10 years and up, 20th Century Children's, 7 years and up, American, Children's, Children's Classic, Children's Classics, Coming of Age/Rites of Passage, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Novel, Uncategorized
Tagged Betsy-Tacy books, childhood, children's classic, early 20th century, fiction, friendship, good out loud, growing up in America, historical, humour, illustrated, imagination, Maud Hart Lovelace, mid-western United States, play, school, semi-autobiographical, siblings, society, starting school
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Climbing trees, cutting your own hair and making messes with all the things you find in the kitchen: Maud Hart Lovelace’s second Betsy-Tacy book beautifully captures the experience of being 8 years old
Betsy-Tacy and Tib continues Maud Hart Lovelace’s engaging series of early 20th century American childhood. Betsy, Tacy and their new friend Tib are now 8-year-olds. Life is full of adventures, often with their genesis in Betsy’s fertile imagination. In this … Continue reading
Posted in 20th Century Children's, 5 years and up, American, Children's Classics, Novel
Tagged 5 and up, American, Betsy-Tacy books, childhood, children's classic, early 20th century, fiction, friendship, good out loud, growing up in America, historical, humour, illustrated, imagination, Maud Hart Lovelace, mid-western United States, play, school, semi-autobiographical, siblings, society, starting school, well written
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Capturing childhood: Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace
I recently discovered Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy series doing a literature-map search of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Similarly, Lovelace’s series draws on her own American childhood and the target audience ages with the protagonists. In the first book, Betsy-Tacy, the girls … Continue reading
Posted in 20th Century Children's, 5 years and up, American, Children's Classics, Coming of Age/Rites of Passage
Tagged 20th Century, 5 and up, American, Betsy-Tacy books, childhood, children's classic, early 20th century, fiction, friendship, good out loud, growing up in America, historical, humour, illustrated, imagination, Maud Hart Lovelace, mid-western United States, play, semi-autobiographical, siblings, society, starting school, under 7s, whimsical
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The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
E.B. White is better known for Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, but my favourite of his books is The Trumpet of the Swan. It tells the story of Louis, a trumpeter swan who can’t trumpet, which has grave implications for … Continue reading
Posted in 20th Century Children's, 7 years and up, Children's Classics, Fantasy
Tagged 20th Century, 7 and up, action, adventure, American, animal behaviour, animals, birds, boats, children's classic, disability, fantasy, fiction, food and fighting, good out loud, honour, humour, impressively pompous character, literacy, mild romance, music, muteness, nature, overcoming adversity, summer camp, swans, trumpet, whimsical, zookeeping
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Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder continues the Little House books. The Long Winter is over, the prairie is filling up and Laura is old enough to get summer work sewing in the growing town. When winter … Continue reading
Posted in 10 years and up, 20th Century Children's, 20th Century YA, Children's Classics
Tagged 10 and up, 19th Century, American, character-driven, children's classic, coming-of-age, education, farming, good out loud, historical, Little House Book, North Dakota, pioneering America, prairies, school, semi-autobiographical, young adult
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Goodnight, Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian
Goodnight, Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian is a historical novel and modern children’s classic set in World War II Britain. Billeting arrangements bring together Mister Tom, a gruff and grieving old man, and Willie Beech, a starved and abused child … Continue reading
Posted in 10 years and up, 20th Century Children's, Children's Classics
Tagged 10 and up, 20th Century, adoption, billeting, British, character-driven, children's classic, dogs, domestic abuse, fiction, friendship, good out loud, growing up, historical, home front, London's East End, mental illness, poverty, the country, wartime, well written, widowhood, WWII
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The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis is the 6th Chronicle of Narnia. As a child it was my least favourite Narnia book, despite containing a favourite character and a favourite scene. The drawbacks are that the main human characters spend … Continue reading
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis was my favourite Narnia book as a child – an exciting ocean journey discovering new lands in a quest to find seven missing lords of Narnia. It again features King Caspian … Continue reading
Posted in 20th Century Children's, 7 years and up, Children's Classics, Fantasy
Tagged 20th Century, 7 and up, action, adventure, animals, boats, British, C.S. Lewis, children's classic, Christianity, fantasy, fiction, food and fighting, good out loud, grace, Narnia, The Inklings, there be Dragons
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When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr is a semi-autobiographical account of her family’s flight from Germany in 1933 because of her father’s opposition to the Nazi party. They move to Switzerland, then Paris and finally England. The story … Continue reading
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder is the 5th of the Little House series about Laura’s pioneering childhood on the American prairies. It tells of the winter when the blizzards are so early, long and severe that the trains … Continue reading
Posted in 20th Century Children's, 7 years and up, Children's Classics
Tagged 19th Century, 7 and up, adventure, American, children's classic, classic, good out loud, hardship, historical, Little House Book, overcoming adversity, pioneering America, prairies, semi-autobiographical, survival, winter
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