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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   2612 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 19, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Can you guys recommend some really good, wholesome, non-CW children’s books?

I’ve been reading “the giant jam sandwich” every night and loving it, and would love more like that. Thanks!

I'd recommend Pancakes for Findus. It has beautiful art, a fun story and it's been hugely popular among kids in Sweden (and some other parts of Europe I think) for decades. It seems to be temporarily out of stock at Amazon at the moment, but other stores seem to have it, but check out the excerpt at Amazon to get a feel for it.

Corgiville Fair is a treasure!

https://www.amazon.com/Story-Little-Mole-Search-Whodunit/dp/081094457X

One of the best children’s books I’ve encountered. Warning: lots of poop.

How old are your kids? We've been loving Oliver Jeffers' books lately, especially Once Upon an Alphabet.

The Brownstone Mythical Collection and Fan Brothers books are really beautiful too.

Oh, I almost forgot a book that still makes me laugh whenever I think about it: Still Stuck.

Maybe I'm too far out of the loop, but what are examples of CW books?

Flipping through my memories of childhood books, I'm getting

-- EDIT: Wow... A cursory search suggests 3/4 of these have been banned somewhere at some point in time (annotated below) so maybe I'm cruelly out of touch on this.

  • Where the Wild Things Are; hard to imagine anything controversial here -- banned in 1963 (immediately after publication) for promoting witchcraft and supernatural events

  • The Giving Tree; religious and secular interpretations and adoptions abound, nothing political -- banned in a public library in Colorado 1988 for sexism

  • The Little Prince; maybe vaguely cynical, reflecting de Saint-Exupéry's disenchantment at the time of writing

  • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; a classic written over a century and a half ago, little to be controversial here, surely? -- banned in New Hampshire for allegories of sexual fantasies

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; a classic written over a century and a half ago, little to be controversial here, surely? -- banned in New Hampshire for allegories of sexual fantasies

I read this for the first time a couple years ago, and I'd describe it as more bizarre and surreal than anything else. I tried to think of what could have been allegorical of sexual fantasies in what I read, but I couldn't come up with any, and it does look like, if this link is correct, this had entirely to do with the author rather than the text itself:

In the early 1900s the state of New Hampshire banned the book from all public schools because the novel was accused of promoting sexual fantasies and masturbation. This accusation most likely refers to the questionable sexual activities of the author, not the novel’s content.

Everything old is new again, I suppose.

Perhaps not the text, nor the author, but the audience.

I used to read Garth's poetic translation of Ovid's metamorphoses and Dutt's translation of the Mahabharata and Ramayana when my niece and nephew were too young to actually understand it. I enjoyed it, and they were lulled by the beauty of the language.

Is Chronicles of Narnia too CW?

I loved Encyclopedia Brown as a kid. They're short mysteries where you're supposed to find the clues and solve the mystery. They have new versions but I haven't read those.

Where the Red Fern Grows was one of my favorites, it's maybe not for everyone. Similarly Bridge to Tarabithia.

Other good ones include: Tom Sawyer, Winnie the Pooh, The Jungle Book and Just So Stories. Treasure Island and Iron Will (or Call of the Wild), Secret of NIMN with a good Don Bluth animated version.

Older Golden Books and Berenstain Bears are pretty CW free or favor the other side.

I always hated the Little Prince and Phantom Tollbooth but they're both classics for good reason.

Well it was written by a filthy Protestant…

(Just kidding)

If you're going quite young, The Wolf's Chicken stew has excellent illustrations, a moral about friendship, and no culture warring. My family read it to me a lot growing up.

It depends on the age -- I like basically nothing aimed at toddlers. As a toddler, I liked The Little Fur Family because it had a furry cover, but the new edition no longer does, so I haven't bought it. My three year old daughter likes Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, Jack and the Beanstock, and books with flaps and hidden doors.

Favorites that hold up for both children and adults:

  • The Wind in the Willows

  • The Princess and the Goblins & The Golden Key

  • The Little Prince

  • The Hobbit (obviously)

I remember liking Little House on the Prairie, or at least my father liked reading it to me, but didn't feel any interest in revisiting it afterwards, so am not sure if it would hold up or not.

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