Children's Classic Literature Party Wrap-Up Post

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Classic Children's Literature Party! You can read all the associated posts and book reviews in the Mister Linky here!

My plan is to read over the remaining book reviews and thoughts next week and comment on them, but I'm thrilled that we had a chance to read some old favorites and try some new books. I hope you enjoyed the time spent.

I'll ponder formatting for next year's event, which will also be held in April. I'm thinking maybe extending to all children's literature instead of just classic children's literature. Any thoughts or preference on keeping it classic children's literature or extending it to all children's literature? And as I've had a chance to think about it, movie adaptations of children's literature do play an integral role in childhood. I mean, the reason I decided to read The Hobbit was because I had seen the animated film first. The same with The Princess and the Goblin, although the book for that is waaaaaaaay better. 

Ivy Miranda, I think I'll integrate your idea next year, and we can enjoy some in-depth discussions on what our favorite film adaptations are of children's literature and why!

Anyway, that's a wrap for this year! Blessings to everyone and thanks again for participating!

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CCLP Reads: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg (1967)

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is a genuinely fun read. It's also set in the year it was written, so 1967, which means that little things like cameras in museums probably just didn't exist at the time. Which is just brilliant. Thanks to an anonymous comment on my Reading Ideas post,

This is the last book I read for my Classic Children's Literature Party and I'm finally able to write about it! Work has been chaotic the last week.

Anyway, the story is about two children, Claudia and Jamie Kincaid, who decide to run away from home to New York City. Claudia, being the planner she is, doesn't want to just run away from something, but to something, so she plans for them to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And that's exactly what they do. While there, they undertake to solve a mystery of a new statue recently acquired by the museum, that may or may not be a Michelangelo. There adventure is full of twists and turns and random meals from the automat and the ability to live in New York City for almost two weeks on just around $24, most of it in change from Jamie's tendency to hoard his savings.

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CCLP Reads: The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander (1965)

To my surprise, I enjoyed The Black Cauldron more than The Book of Three. Some of my issues with the first installment weren't really a problem in the second. Eilonwy seems to be mellowing, but I suppose that only makes sense since it's been about a year between books one and two. Taran is as noble as ever. There's event a sense of Taran coming into his own, overcoming the stigma that comes along with being of a lower rank. There is more to heroism than being a warrior. Although I do still think Lloyd Alexander followed some of the same basic plot ideas as Tolkien. A fellowship of individuals who set out on a quest to retrieve an item of great power and evil and destroy it? I'm sure Tolkien isn't the first to come up with the idea, but still, I wish Lloyd Alexander had deviated just a little bit more. Even the "villainous" character of Ellidyr, who I do greatly pity just like Taran does, behaves quite a lot like Boromir.

Anyway, there is less objectionable content than in the The Black Cauldron Disney film, even with the three enchantresses who are a version of The Fates from Greek mythology. In the film, there are some serious issues, but in the book, there's no changing into frogs and no frogs falling into an enchantress's cleavage. So I was glad. It's a sad story, and a few of the companions do die, although not the main group of 4 characters from The Book of Three, so Taran, Eilonwy, Gurgi, and Fflewddur live to the end. A new favorite character of mine, sadly, didn't make it through to the end of the story, which is a shame. He was lovely, patient, and gracious.

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CCLP Reads: The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (1964)

My only prior experience with Lloyd Alexander is the rather terrifying 1985 Disney film The Black Cauldron. I've watched it multiple times and still don't really like it. I was hoping that I might feel different about the book series, The House of Prydain, that the movie was based on.

Taran is an assistant pig-keeper for a pig named Hen Wen who can somehow tell the future, so she's called an oracular pig. Long story short, the Horned King is a terrifying enemy and a servant of Arawn, Death-Lord of Annuvin. When The Horned King comes close to Taran's home, all the animals make a run for it, including Hen Wen, and Taran, loyal boy that he is, chases her. He has one adventure after another, bumping into the cornw prince of Prydain named Gwydion. They travel together for a while, still searching for Hen Wen, but also now needing to reach Caer Dathyl, a home castle base as it were, of the Horned King's movements. Enter Gurgi, a bizarre, half-human and half-animal creature who is surprisingly loyal to Taran and Taran's develops a fondness for him, especially when Taran provides him with his "munchings and crunchings" as a reward for his help. There's a capture that happens, Taran's locked up, he meets a girl named Eilonwy who is by far one of the most annoying female characters I've ever encountered, but she manages to free him. It really just goes on and on, so for such a short book, it crams a lot into it.

I really wish I could say that I liked it, but all the way through I couldn't stop thinking that it was a poor substitute for Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. I mean, it really is a bit of a knock-off. Maybe that wasn't Alexander's intent, but that's what happened, even down to these flying creatures who serve the Death Lord and Gurgi, who's a slightly tamer version of Gollum. It's interesting, but as a child if I'd read it, I wouldn't have liked it much. I don't like the idea of oracular pigs and word sticks being used to tell the future, especially not in children's fiction. And I genuinely disliked Eilonwy, the lone "good" female character. That girl prattles and rattles and believes she knows best and holds grudges, and is just downright obnoxious. She's arrogant and insufferable and one of the reasons I dislike her is because some of her traits are some of the ones I don't like about myself, so yeah, they always say the characters we dislike the most are the ones we resemble (even if it's just slightly), so there you go.

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CCLP Read: The Borrowers by Mary Norton (1952)

Yay, The Borrowers is my first read for the Classic Children's Literature Party that I'm hosting!

If you've never read this delightful book then I highly encourage it! I just bought the boxed set of the first four novels last year and did read them last year, and I can honestly they are some of my favorites, with the first book, The Borrowers, being an absolute classic. I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading it this month.

The story follows a family of tiny people, known as Borrowers, who live in the houses of big people, meaning us. This family has Pod Clock, his wife Homily, and their only daughter Arrietty. They're probably the size of 1/12 dollhouse people, and so their belongings are a hodgepodge of items they've created, such as Arrietty's bedroom that's made of two cigar boxes, or things they've borrowed and repurposed, like the cog they use for their fireplace. They live under the kitchen floor in an old Victorian house, and their only entry too and from their home is under the enormous Grandfather Clock that must never be moved or it might stop working.

Arrietty is a lover of adventure, and a quite educated girl, for a Borrower. She even knows how to read and to write, and she has tiny Tom Thumb editions of certain books that she peruses regularly. Unfortunately for Arrietty, she has reached that frustrating age of feeling stifled, so just hitting the teenage years, which I myself remember quite well. Arrietty so desperately wants to be allowed to go borrowing with her father. Except, only boys are trained as borrowers. 

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Children's Literature Party Reading Ideas!

This post is written for the Classic Children's Literature Party for 2023!

Ok, so if you're anything like me, then there's a good chance when you try to think of classic children's authors, you draw a bit of a blank. Actually, anything that's more than 50 years old is pretty much considered to be a classic, and that widens your reading options considerably! If you also have a list of suggestions, I encourage you to share it on your blog and then add your link to the party!

I've read quite a few books from the Newbery Medal list and am always pleasantly surprised by the results. Here's some I gleaned from the list, names that I know, some of my sister's favorites, and a few of my own!

• Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel (1973)
• Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (1973) 
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien (1972) 
• Sing Down the Moon by Scott O'Dell (1971) 
• Sounder by William H. Armstrong (1970) 
• The High King by Lloyd Alexander (1969)
• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg (1968)
• The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander (1966)
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (1963) 
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (1961) 
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (1959) 
• The Family Under The Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson (1959) 
• Old Yeller by Fred Gipson (1957) 
• Charlotte's Web by E. B. White (1953) 
• The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli (1950) 
• Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski (1946) 
• Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (1944) 
• Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (1936) 

And of course, there are always old series standbys like, some of the following series of children's books.

• Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
• Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• The Borrowers by Mary Norton
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
• Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald

We mustn't forget those incredible classics that we've probably read so many times that we forget about them being children's books.

• A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• The Princess and the Goblin by George Macdonald
• The Princess and Curdie by George Macdonald
• The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
• Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
• Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery

These are only a few humble suggestions, for my own benefit as well as anyone else who needs a handy list. Enjoy browsing through your bookshelves or raiding your public library or used bookstore for some new reads! Happy Reading!

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Welcome to the Classic Children's Literature Party for 2023!

Welcome to the Classic Children's Literature Party of 2023!

If it goes well, I may host it every year.

My personal experiences with children's literature when I was an actual child pretty much stayed in its own little wheelhouse of Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Trixie Belden. And I read a lot of wonderful Christian children's series that I would check out from my church library. I honestly don't recall reading much else, and I really never delved into what we would now call classic children's literature. I did read Narnia, naturally, and I plan to read at least one book for this party, and I read The Princess and the Goblin, one of my favorite children's books by George Macdonald. But nothing else that would fall into the classic children's literature bracket.

My reading has expanded in recent years, and thanks to my sister, I have actually found a lot of wonderful children's classic literature that I wish I had read as a child. But there's something special about reconnecting with children's literature as an adult, finding a new story that sparks our imagination. That's my goal with this party, that your imagination would be sparked and that you would just feel warm and comfortable and joyful as you proceed through your reads.

I have some guidelines below that have been tweaked a little bit from my initial Announcement post, and we've got a Mister Linky for you to add your blog posts to the Party list. It's going to be very casual and I hope hope you have a wonderful time! 😘

• I consider children's classics to be in the Jfiction arena, so probably for elementary or preteen age groups.
• A common measuring tape using for classic literature is that it must be at least 50 years old. So let's stick with that measure, only books 1973 and older. I'm good with the publication month being after April in 1973. 
• Go wild with books from other countries and translations other than English.
• Since Ivy Miranda asked about movies based on classic children's literature, I will give that the green light. If one of your favorite movies is based off classic children's literature, by all means, please feel free to write about it.
• Once you've written your blog post, add the link to the Mister Linky below and comment this post.
• The party runs the entire month of April to give you ample time to schedule your reading and so we don't feel rushed!

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Announcing the Classic Children's Literature Party April 2023

Updated April 2023: Join the Classic Children's Literature Party!

I cannot lay claim to the idea. A lovely blog called Simpler Pastimes hosted CCLE for quite a few years, but the last one was in April 2017 so I have decided to begin hosting my own version with a slight name change to Classic Children's Literature Party or CCLP. I have dearly missed the event for a few reasons. One being that reading really is a simpler pastime and it's lovely to take a break from the hectic race of life to read children's literature. Another is that classic children's literature reminds us of a more innocent time for children. And finally, I discovered so many amazing children's books by participating in the event and I wish the same delight for other readers.

So let us begin as we mean to go forward. 

Classic Children's Literature Party 2023 - Basic Guidelines

Throughout the month of April, read children's classics, as many or as few as you like. There are no minimum or maximum expectations. Post your thoughts and impressions about each of them on your blog and leave a comment with your link on the main Event page that I will post on April 1st (no fooling!). I'll also compile a link-up page and publish that at the end of the month.

Use your own judgement for what fits the idea of being a "children's classic" but here are some helpful guidelines:

• Children's classics are not going to be picture books, as in primarily pictures with very little text. So keep with the idea of the book being children's fiction in the elementary or preteen age bracket.
• A common measuring tape using for classic literature is that it must be at least 50 years old. So let's stick with that measure, only books 1973 and older. I'm good with the publication month being after April in 1973. 
• Go wild with books from other countries and translations other than English. I'm partial to British literature myself so that will likely be my focus.
• You can join at any time during the month of April. 

This is intended to be a fun, relaxing party with no pressure or expectations other than to enjoy reading. If you like, you can always post a list of anticipated reads on your blog and share that here so others might be inspired with your ideas. If you read one book or 10, you are welcome to participate. Classic children's literature is inspiring and I hope you will delight in the time spent reacquainting yourself with old favorites and even finding some new ones. 😘

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