Read for Free: Kindle Chldren's Classics

Monday, March 30, 2020


With sports and other extra-curricular activities cancelled, children have more time to read for fun. This is a good chance for them to explore some of the old classics that their parents and grandparents read at their age.

But the libraries are closed and money is tight, you say. I can’t afford to buy them any more books.

While it is true that physical library locations are closed, some libraries are still “open” for patrons who want to borrow ebooks or audiobooks. Check yours out.

Another option is to “purchase” Kindle books that are offered for free, which is often the case with older publications that are in the public domain. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can download the free Kindle app for your other devices.

A few cautions, however. Free versions may have typos or formatting errors, and some of them are abridged from the original. They are generally worth the price, although you may want to look at the one-and-two-star reviews first. Collections can be the exception, however. Before downloading a free collection, make sure the table of contents has links to locations within the book. I downloaded a Mark Twain collection, only to discover that I had to “guess” at the location of a particular book. The trial and error was frustrating and more trouble than it was worth.

Here are a few suggestions for free Kindle books you can get for your children or grandchildren on Amazon. (Another caution: they were free when I looked them up, but that could change.)

·       Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge


·       The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame


·       The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett


·       Heidi (Gift Edition) by Johanna Spyri


·       Black Beauty (Young Folks’ Edition) by Anna Sewell


·       Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sydney. This is the first in a series, and the others may also be available for free.


·       A Little Maid of Old Maine by Alice Turner Curtis. Many of her other Little Maid books are also available for free.


Then there are the lesser-known books written by well-known authors. For example, some middle-grade girls have read Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott but nothing else by those authors. The following are available as free Kindle books.

·       The Story Girl by Lucy Maud Montgomery


·       Chronicles of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery


·       Little Men by Louisa May Alcott


·       Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott


But maybe you would rather print off a paper copy or don’t want a Kindle version for some other reason. Next week’s post will provide additional resources.

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Frank T. Merrill drew the picture for the original edition of Little Women. First published in 1868, the illustration is in the public domain because of its age.
Kathryn
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A Silver Lining: Time to Read

Monday, March 23, 2020


Even the worst situations can have a silver lining. Being stuck at home gives me more time to read. Yes, I already read one or two books a week, but church and photo club meetings took a lot of my spare time. So I might as well take advantage of the break to catch up on some of those classics that I either read long ago or planned to read “some day.”

The illustration at the head of this post is from Silas Marner by George Eliot. She has been one of my favorite authors since high school, and it hasn’t been that long since I re-read The Mill on the Floss and Middlemarch. But I finally got around to re-reading Silas Marner, and it reminded me how much I enjoy some of the old classics.

I’m going to read Moby Dick next. I can’t remember if I ever have, but it would have been a long time ago, anyway. I also downloaded a free version of War and Peace for my Kindle, although I’m not guaranteeing that I’ll read that anytime soon.

Then there are multi-published authors like Charles Dickens. Wikipedia lists twenty “notable works,” and I’ve only read about half of them. I’ve read every book Jane Austin wrote, but if you haven’t, consider picking up Persuasion or Mansfield Park, which are among her lesser-known works.

As you sit at home trying to keep busy, consider reading or re-reading the classics. And if you have children or grandchildren, this is the time to get them interested in the books you read as a child.

That’s the subject of next week’s post.

__________

The illustration was drawn by Hugh Thomson for a 1907 edition of Silas Marner. It is in the public domain because of its age.
Kathryn
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Reading as Grief Therapy for Children: Advice from Mr. Rogers

Monday, March 16, 2020


When I was researching books to help children deal with grief, I came across one with advice from Mr. Rogers. Yes, the Mr. Rogers of television fame and the subject of a recent movie.

Dear Mr. Rogers, Does It Ever Rain in Your Neighborhood? Letters to Mr. Rogers by Fred Rogers is composed of letters to Mr. Rogers from children and parents with his replies. The book is written for parents to help them respond to their children’s questions.

The book’s pervading theme is that parents should encourage children to talk about their feelings. It isn’t good to suppress feelings, and Mr. Rogers has several suggestions for bringing them into the open. Besides talking, drawing pictures and making up stories can be therapeutic even if they are dark or fantasize about unacceptable behaviors. The important thing is to let the child express the feelings that exist right then.

Chapter 7 deals with family relationships and includes several letters about divorce. Here is an excerpt from one of his replies.

One thing that seemed to help the children was knowing the divorce was not their fault. Separating and divorce are about grown-up problems. Sometimes children worry about the bad things they’ve done, and they think their behavior made their parents want to get divorced. But . . . all children do bad things once in a while. And, even in families where there’s no divorce, there can be angry times.

It can also help to know that your parents still love you and that they will take good care of you, even if they don’t live together. [Pgs. 114–115.]

Chapter 8 is dedicated to death, ranging from death of a pet to death of a sibling. Mr. Rogers’ advice is the same in all these situations. Here are two examples.

Most people—adults and children—who have lost a loved one often feel guilty, helpless, and angry. That’s only natural. Even if we have a sense that the person who died is in the loving hands of God, there still can be painful and angry feelings because we miss that person. Letting your child know that his feelings are natural may be one of the most helpful things you can do. [Pgs. 137–138.]

Throughout their lives, children will find themselves dealing with death. It’s not our constant smiling that will help them feel secure. Rather, it’s their knowing that love can hold many feelings, including sadness, and that they can trust that there will always be people who love them and who will care about them through all kinds of times—the painfully sad times as well as the joyful times. [Pg. 145.]

A blog post can’t do Mr. Rogers’ advice justice. Read the book for more.

I highly recommend it.
Kathryn
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Reading as Grief Therapy for Children: Fiction to Help Older Children Deal with Divorce

Monday, March 9, 2020


Although death is the ultimate loss, is isn’t the only one that affects children. Today’s blog post will list fiction for older children in which the main characters are dealing with their parents’ divorces.

As with the books on death in the last two posts, I have read each one myself and have left off several that I did not think would be helpful. Unfortunately, none of these works well for boys. But here is my list of recommended books for girls.

·       Big & Little Questions (According to Wren Jo Byrd) by Julie Bowe—A nine-year-old girl tries to keep her parents’ divorce a secret from her friends but discovers that honesty is a better choice.

·       The Twelve Dares of Christa by Marissa Burt—For the first time in her life, Christa must spend Christmas away from her father after her parents separate.

·       One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia—In this classic novel taking place in 1968, Delphine’s parents have already been apart for seven years, and she and her younger sisters are used to living with their conventional father and conservative grandmother. When they are sent to spend the summer with their mother, Delphine must learn to live with the unconventional woman she barely remembers and doesn’t respect.

·       Two Naomis by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich—This is a contemporary story about two unrelated girls with divorced parents. When one Naomi’s father begins dating the other Naomi’s mother, both girls must learn to accept new people into an expanded family.

·       It’s Not the End of the World by Judy Blume—When Karen’s parents announce that they are getting divorced, she tries to find ways to keep them together. This book was published in 1972 and is dated, but it shows how divorce affects everyone in the family, which hasn’t changed.

Next week I’ll talk about a helpful resource for parents.
Kathryn
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Reading as Grief Therapy for Children: Fiction to Help Older Children Deal with Death

Monday, March 2, 2020


There are probably a lot of good non-fiction books to help older children deal with death. In my experience, however, fiction tends to have a greater impact at this age, so my list is limited to middle-grade novels.

Parents should read these books first and decide whether their children are mature enough to handle them. Everyone grieves differently, and you may be the best person to judge which books will help with your child’s grieving process. For example, If Only is an excellent book for older girls, but it deals with the death of a mother. If your daughter has lost a friend or a sibling, that can trigger fears that her mother will be next. In that situation, If Only is not the right book for her.

There is another reason why parents should read these books first. Knowing the story will help you answer your child’s questions and can lead to meaningful discussions.

As Mr. Rogers says in a book I’ll discuss in two weeks, “When people read about things in a book, things that they’re going through, it can be comforting to know others are living through times like that, too.” (Dear Mr. Rogers, Does It Ever Rain in Your Neighborhood? Letters to Mr. Rogers, pg. 120.)

Girls often read books with characters from either gender, but boys are usually interested in only those stories that have a male protagonist. My summaries identify books that may work for boys.

I have organized my list by the relationship between the person who dies and the main character, but each one may help with other relationships, as well.

Some of the following descriptions include spoilers.

Death of a Friend

·       Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson—This classic middle-grade novel is of interest to both boys and girls. The first three-quarters of the book develop the friendship between Jess and Leslie. Then Leslie dies and Jess has to come to terms with both his grief and his guilt at not being there when the accident occurred. Caution: Sudden death comes as a shock in real life, and it comes as a shock here as well.

Death of a Sibling

·       Mick Harte Was Here by Barbara Park—The narrator’s brother is already dead when the book opens, but it is his story. Although the narrator is a girl, her style of telling and her dead brother’s presence throughout the pages make this a good read for both boys and girls.

·       Planet Grief, which is described below under “Death of a Parent,” has a secondary character who lost a sibling.

Death of a Parent

·       If Only by Carole Geithner—This contemporary novel covers the first year after thirteen-year-old Corinna’s mother dies of cancer. It is an excellent book for girls whose mothers have died and for those who want to understand a grieving friend. Caution: This book might be too intense for girls who are dealing with the death of a friend or sibling and now fear that their mother may die, too.

·       Planet Grief by Monique Polak—In a contemporary novel for both boys and girls, two young teens attend a grief workshop after each has lost a parent. Caution: One of the secondary characters lives in a family with two mothers and had a sibling who died of SIDS. The book neither endorses nor rejects the lifestyle but shows that people in all types of families grieve when a member dies.

·       Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan—After the unexpected death of Esperanza’s father, her mother moves them from Mexico to California. Esperanza must discover how to handle her mother’s grief as well as her own while adjusting to a new place and a different lifestyle.

·       Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech—In this classic middle-school novel, a girl takes a road trip with her grandparents and learns how to deal with the death of her mother. The book includes themes about mothers who leave home.

Next week I will move on to divorce.
Kathryn
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