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Jerram Barr’s Booklist for Children

Update: Added to Lists of Bests!

This post is copied whole-cloth from Megan at Half Pint House. I had to visit her site from the library today to access it, and I really want to keep a copy easy to find online (in case her site ever goes down.) I'm copying her explanation and commentary, so those who see this booklist understand the context.

Jerram Barr's Booklist for Children

Filed under: Books & Culture — Megan at 8:15 pm on Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Jerram Barrs is a highly respected professor here at Covenant and Craig has the amazing opportunity to be his teaching assistant beginning this summer. Last fall, Craig took one of his classes in which he handed out a list of his favorite books for children and I’m posting it here, for others to see, and also so I’ll have an electronic version of it for future reference.

From Jerram: These are books most of which I read to our sons, and/or books I or they read as kids or as teens - with a few exceptions of more recently published books that I am discovering for myself, our sons and our grandchildren. I love to read good children’s books as some of the most creative writing and illustrating is done for children. The test of a well-written book is whether it is a pleasure to read it aloud. All children are different, and this is good - one may be ready to hear Narnia at 3, another not until 6 or 7, so don’t be bothered by this. All children like good illustrations, and all children like the rhymes, rhythms and sounds of verse. Make reading to them a habit at an early age and they will learn to love to read themselves. Many good books have filmed versions - occasionally I have noted these as a movie or TV series may be a helpful way to introduce children to a new level of literature. Books are listed as I thought of them, not in any systematic order. I have omitted many delightful books like those by Dr. Seuss with which most people are familiar. Happy reading!

C. S. Lewis:
The Chronicles of Narnia - depending on the child can be read from 3-6 and up

J. R. R. Tolkien:
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings - excellent films
The Silmarillion

Famer Giles of Ham
Roverandom - a story Tolkien made up for his own children

Meindert DeJong:
The House of Sixty Fathers
The Easter Cat
The Wheel on the School
Dirks’ Dog Bello & many other excellent books for 5 or 6 and up

Beatrix Potter:
The Tale of Benjamin Bunny
Peter Rabbit
Jemima Puddleduck & many others; don’t be surprised by death in her tales

Shel Silverstein:
Lafcadio, the Lion who Shot Back
The Giving Tree
Where the Sidewalk Ends - Poems and Drawings - & many others

Mary Norton:
The Borrowers - & series

Concordia Publishing:
The Arch Books - our favorite set of illustrated Bible Stories, many in verse

Catherine Vos:
Children’s Story Bible

Dick King Smith:
The Fox Busters - one of my favorite books
The Sheep Pig - also a movie ‘Babe’
The Mouse Butcher & several other wonderful books for 5 upwards

Lewis Carroll:
Through the Looking Glass
Alice in Wonderland
Jaberwocky & other poems - children love nonsense poetry

Julia Donaldson:
The Gruffalo - one of my grandchildren’s favorite books
The Gruffalo’s Child & other books for children 2 & up

Arnold Lobel:
Frog and Toad are Friends
Mouse Tales & many other good books for small children

Michael Bond:
A Bear Called Paddington & many others in series

Anne Holm:
I am David - this is one of the finest children’s books - also a good movie
The Hostage

Margaret Wise Brown:
The Velveteen Rabbit
Goodnight Moon
The Runaway Bunny - a great book, read by Dr. Calhoun for faculty devotion

Jan Brett:
Annie and the Wild Animals - a wonderful illustrator as well as story-teller
The Twelve Days of Christmas
The Umbrella
Jan Brett’s Christmas Treasury - & many others for 2 and up

Johann Wyss:
The Swiss Family Robinson - a classic & also a good movie

Captain Maryatt:
Children of the New Forest - a classic

J. M. Barrie:
Peter Pan - also a fine film

The Brothers Grimm:
Fairy Tales

Hans Christian Anderson:
Treasury of Fairy Stories

Michelle Magorian:
Goodnight Mr. Tom - one of the best books, an award winner, 8 and up

George MacDonald:
The Princess and the Curdie
The Princess and the Goblin
The Gifts of the Child Christ (2 volume set of short stories - Eerdmans)

R. D. Blackmore:
Lorna Doone

Nick Butterworth:
Percy’s Bumpy Ride - a friend from English L’Abri years ago
The Treasure Hunt - & many more, great for 2 and up

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings:
The Yearling

Thomas Hughes:
Tom Brown’s School Days

Mary Rayner:
Garth Pig and the Ice Cream Lady - & many more, for 2 and up

Richmal Crompton:
William - almost two dozen in boys’ series, very English and lots of fun

Barbara Euphan Todd:
Worzel Gummidge - the main character is a scarecrow

John White:
The Tower of Gerburah & other stories in his series - a believer

Roald Dahl:
Danny the Champion of the World - this is a wonderful book
George’s Marvelous Medicine
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - & many more

Rudyard Kipling:
The Jungle Book
The Second Jungle Book
Just So Stories

Ursula Leguin:
The Wizard of Earthsea
The Farthest Shore - & many others

Brian Jacques:
Mossflower
The Bellmaker
Lord Brocktree - & many more in series, wonderful books

Collections:
Tales from the Arabian Nights
The Adventures of Robin Hood - many versions incl. one by John Steinbeck
Aesop’s Fables

Tove Jansson:
Moominsummer Madness
Moominland Midwinter & others in series

Fred Gipson:
Old Yeller

Kenneth Grahame:
The Wind in the Willows

T. H. White:
The Sword in the Stone - & series, excellent
Mistress Masham’s Repose

Jonathan Swift:
Gulliver’s Travels - find an edition with good illustrations

John Bunyan:
The Pilgrim’s Progress

B. B.:
The Wizard of Boland - & several others

Charles and Mary Lamb:
Tales from Shakespeare

Anna Sewell:
Black Beauty

Enid Bagnold:
National Velvet - also a famous movie with young Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Speare:
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
The Bronze Bow & many more

Frances Hodgson Burnett:
The Secret Garden - also a movie - a truly wonderful book
The Lost Prince
A Little Princess

E. Nesbitt:
The Treasure Seekers
The Railway Children - good movie version
Five Children and It

R. M. Rallantyne:
The Coral Island

Ed. Sara & Stephen Corin:
Stories for under 5’s, for 5’s, for 6’s etc. up to 10’s and over

Noel Streatfield:
White Boots
Thursday’s Child
Theater Shoes - & several others

H. F. Brinsmead:
Pastures of the Blue Crane

William Horwood:
Duncton Wood - a wonderful book

Henry Treece:
The Road to Miklagard
Viking’s Dawn & many others

Rosemary Sutcliffe:
The Eagle of the Ninth
The Rider on the White Horse - & many more excellent books

Baroness Orczy:
The Scarlet Pimpernel

Lloyd Alexander:
The Book of Three
The Black Cauldron - & many more in series

Owen Barfield:
The Silver Trumpet

Robert Louis Stevenson:
Treasure Island - this gave me nightmares for years as a child when read
Kidnapped
The Black Arrow

Ted Hughes:
How the Whale Became and Other Stories

Richard Adams:
Watership Down - this is an outstanding book
Shardik

Gerald Durrell:
My Family and Other Animals - an outstanding funny book & BBC TV series
The Bafut Beagles
Beasts in my Bed - & many more about his work collecting for zoos

Jean Lee Latham:
Carry on Mr. Bowditch - a true story & fine book

J. Meade Faulkner:
Moonfleet

Alan Garner:
Elidor

Katherine Patterson:
The Bridge to Terabithia

A. Rutgers van der Loeff:
Children of the Oregon Trail

Quentin Blake:
Clown
Nursery Rhyme Book - many others, wonderful illustrator

Patricia St. John:
Treasures of the Snow - also a movie
The Tanglewoods’ Secret
The Mystery of Pheasant Cottage
Star of Light
Twice Freed
Runaway - the author was a missionary & also a fine writer

A. A. Milne:
The House at Pooh Corner
When We Were Very Young
And Now We are Six - & others - fine Milne’s own version

Ian Seraillier:
The Silver Sword - an excellent book
There’s No Escape

Robert Siegal:
Alpha Centauri

Andrew Lang:
The Blue Fairy Book
The Violet Fairy Book - & Red, Green & many others in this series

Arthur Ransome:
Old Peter’s Russian Tales
Swallows and Amazons - & many others in this series

John Masefield:
The Box of Delights - made into an excellent BBC TV series
The Midnight Folk

Roger Lancelyn Green:
The Tale of Troy
Myths of the Norsemen
Tales of Ancient Egypt - & many other similar collections and adaptations

E. B. White:
The Trumpet of the Swan - this is my favorite of his books
Stuart Little
Charlotte’s Web

Henry Williamson:
Tarka the Otter

Barbara Sleigh:
Carbonel - & others

Scott O’Dell:
Island of the Blue Dolphins

Wilson Rawls:
Where the Red Fern Grows

Norman Hunter:
Count Backwerdz on the Carpet - & others

Laura Ingalls Wilder:
Little House on the Prairie - & the whole series

Madeleine L’Engle:
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wind in the Door
A Swiftly Tilting Planet

J. K. Rowling:
The Harry Potter Books - children of all ages love them

Edward Lear:
The Owl and the Pussycat - wonderul illustrated editions - & other works

Mother Goose:
Nursery Rhymes - find good illustrated editions, many available

Teenagers - many of these can be read earlier than the teens if your child loves to read

Stephen Lawhead:
Taliesin
Merlin
Arthur - & several other good books

Madeleine L’Engle:
The Young Unicorns - & several other good books

Homer:
The Odyssey - find a good illustrated edition, in poetry - for 10 and up
The Illiad

Seamus Heaney:
Beowulf - an excellent poetic tranlation of the Anglo-Saxon classic

Charles Kingley:
Westward Ho - & many others

Gene Stratton Porter:
The Girl of the Limberlost - one of my favorite books as a young teen
The Harvester
Freckles
Michael O’Halloran - & several other fine books, now being republished

Anne McCaffrey:
Dragonflight - & series

Jack London:
The Call of the Wild - & movie
White Fang - & others

C. S. Forrester:
Captain Hornblower - & excellent series

Paul Gallico:
The Snow Goose
The Silent Miaow
Snowflake - & many other wonderful books

Sir Walter Scott:
Ivanhoe - & many others

James Fennimore Cooper:
The Prairie
Last of the Mohicans - & several others

Charlotte Bronte:
Jane Eyre

Emily Bronte:
Wuthering Heights

Anne Bronte:
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Jane Austen:
Pride and Prejudice - TV series perhaps the best film adaptation of any book
Sense and Sensibility - excellent film and TV productions
Mansfield Park - filmed versions inadequate
Emma - two good films; Kate Beckinsdale the better; also Clueless!
Northanger Abbey - TV series and film
Persuasion - excellent filmed version

Charles Dickens:
Bleak House
Oliver Twist
Great Expectations
A Christmas Carol
A Tale of Two Cities -& many others

Thomas Hardy:
Under the Greenwood Tree - the only light-hearted of his novels
Tess of the D’Urbevilles - sad; others more miserable, but excellent

L. M. Montgomery:
Anne of Green Gables

Louisa May Alcott:
Little Women - & others

Mark Twain:
Huckleberry Finn
Tom Sawyer

James Herriot:
The Lord God Made Them All - & many others in series

H. Rider Haggard:
King Solomon’s Mines
Alan Quartermain
She - & others

William Shakespeare:
Henry V - start Shakespeare with this play & the outstanding movie
Much Ado about Nothing - another great movie
Romeo and Juliet - several movies including Leonardo de Caprio
Julius Caesar
Twelfth Night - fine movie with Ben Kingsley
Hamlet - great movie with Kenneth Branagh

George Orwell:
Animal Farm
1984

A. B. Patterson:
The Man from Snowy River - Australian verse story & excellent movie

Ellis Peters:
The Brother Cadfael Mysteries - about 2 dozen excellent books, also filmed with Derek Jacobi as Cadfael, a medieval Benedictine monk and sleuth - the author declared that she was converted through her character

John Donne:
Collected Poems - dean of St. Paul’s, excellent preacher and great poet

George Herbert:
Poems - a wonderful pastor and great poet

Herman Melville:
Moby Dick

Nathaniel Hawthorne:
The Scarlet Letter

Steven Crane:
The Red Badge of Courage

Edgar Allen Poe:
Tales of Mystery and Imagination

L. B. Graham:
Beyond the Summerland
Bringer of Storms - a fine series recently begun by one of our graduates!

Edgar Rice Burroughs:
The Tarzan books - well worth reading

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:
Sherlock Holmes - many in the series

C. S. Lewis:
Out of the Silent Planet
Perelandra - excellent presentations of human glory and Satan’s temptation
That Hideous Strength - excellent science fiction series

Other good booklists:
Ambleside Online
Sonlight
Veritas Press

September 29, 2007  |  Comments (12)  |  TrackBack (0)  |  Permalink

 

 

Grace and Two Year Olds

A discussion started here:

"I've read Kimmel. But how do you do that with a two-year-old?"

A friend of mine asked me the question. . . She read Kimmel's Grace-Based Parenting. Appreciated what he had to say! But then she wonders, "How does that look in the day-to-day life of parenting a toddler?"

So . . . how do you answer that question?

Your thoughts?

September 28, 2007  |  Comments (6)  |  TrackBack (0)  |  Permalink

 

 

Yeah. What She Said.

Quoting Devona, about Lutherama:

Discipline? Means of Grace?

I try not to meddle in the parenting of others. It’s their business, but I obviously have my opinions. I mostly have oppositions to the “Christian Parenting” giants who like to write books making generalizations about how to parent my child unto godliness, all the while knowing nothing about me. I don’t just disagree with their methods, I disagree with their theology and their lack of discretion. How do they know to whom they are teaching? How do they know their methods are being properly prescribed? And mostly, how can they not see that this method of “discipline” obscures the person and work of Christ when a parent cannot forgive their chid until there has been punishment for their sins? Are not our Christian children under the Fount of Grace as much as we are?

Here is a wonderful take on the topic over at Lutherama. Don’t just read my post on it. I have only skimmed the subject since she has done such excellent work, I would only be repeating, so make sure you click the link.

(Yes, I'm still Presbyterian.)

September 20, 2007  |  Comments (13)  |  TrackBack (0)  |  Permalink

 

 

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Arrrrrr! Thankee, Jago.

September 19, 2007  |  Comments (0)  |  TrackBack (0)  |  Permalink

 

 

Instructor and Teacher

Be gracious, O Instructor, to us Thy children,
Father, charioteer of Israel,
Son and Father, both in one, O Lord.
Grant to us who obey Thy precepts,
that we may perfect the likeness of Thy image,
and with all our power know Him
Who is the good God and not a harsh judge.

And do Thou Thyself cause that all of us
who have our conversation in Thy peace,
who have been translated into Thy commonwealth,
having sailed tranquilly over the billows of sin,
may be wafted in calm by Thy Holy Spirit,
by the ineffable wisdom,
by night and day to the perfect day;
and giving thanks may praise,
and praising thank the Father and Son,
Son and Father, the Son, instructor and teacher,
with the Holy Spirit,
all in one, in whom is all, for whom all is one,
for whom is eternity, whose members we all are,
whose glory the heavens are;
for the all good, all lovely, all wise, all just one.

To whom be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

--Clement of Alexandria

September 15, 2007  |  Comments (0)  |  TrackBack (0)  |  Permalink

 

 

P.A .Vay-Cay

The last week of August we had a family vacation to Pennsylvania. Hubby went further north to Maine with his dad, brothers, and a few other guys to go bear hunting. The boys and I stayed in Pennsylvania with relatives, and had a relaxing, restful country holiday. One of the reasons I started blogging was to keep a family journal. Pics and notes of the trip will be backdated to help us with our stories and pictures and memories.

Friday * Saturday * Sunday * Monday * Tuesday * Wednesday * Thursday * Friday * Saturday * Sunday * Monday

Note: The rest of this is delayed because the pics are on the computer that crashed, and Hubby hasn't had time to get the data off of the hard drive.

September 08, 2007  |  Comments (4)  |  TrackBack (0)  |  Permalink

 

 

Shepherd of Tender Youth

Shepherd of tender youth, guiding in love and truth
Through devious ways: Christ, our triumphant King,
We come Thy Name to sing;
Hither our children bring, to shout Thy praise.

Thou art our holy Lord, the all-subduing Word,
Healer of strife: Thou didst Thyself abase,
That from sin's deep disgrace,
Thou mightest save our race, and give us life.

So now and till we die, sound we Thy praises high,
And joyful sing: infants, and the glad throng,
Who to Thy church belong,
Unite to swell the song to Christ our King. Amen.

--Clement of Alexandria

September 02, 2007  |  Comments (0)  |  TrackBack (0)  |  Permalink