I Want My Hat Back

i-want-my-hat-back

I Want My Hat Back

by Jon Klassen

Candlewick Press, 2011

33 pp.

Age: 3+

Interests: animals, mystery, crime and punishment, bears and rabbits

Also by this author: This is Not My Hat

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The Kissing Hand

thekissinghand

The Kissing Hand

text by Audrey Penn

illustrations by Ruth E. Harper and Nancy M. Leak

Tanglewood Press, 1993

30 pp.

Age: 2+

Interests: animals, family, raccoons, school, dealing with change, separation

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The Water-Babies

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The Water-Babies

by Charles Kingsley

originally published in 1863

144 pp.

Age: 6+ (read to)

Interests: fairies, magic, animals, nature, religion, bad behaviour

Next: other Victorian fairy stories – The Magic Fishbone (Dickens), The Princess and the Goblin, The Cuckoo Clock, Alice in Wonderland

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The Incredible Journey

IncredibleJourney

The Incredible Journey

by Sheila Burnford

Hodder and Stoughton, 1961

127 pp. – 11 chapters

Age: read to – 7+               independent reading – 9+?

Interests: pets, cats, dogs, wilderness, adventure

Next: 1963 Disney movie The Incredible Journey

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Positive Role Models for Girls

I don’t watch much tv these days (who has the time?), but here’s a list of current TV shows with Positive Girl Role Models from Commonsense Media.

My six-year-old is in turns fascinated and mystified by the world of teenagers. She loves to mimic their catchphrases, and even tries on their ‘world weary attitude’ for size. Her classmates are starting to pay attention to teen pop stars and other young celebrities. One problem with this is that so much tween and teen media is rife with girl vs. girl antagonism, gossip, rivalry and catfights. It takes some effort to find shows in which girls are thoughtful, nice, loyal and true friends to each other. And that show girls who have interests other than boys and the mall.

We may have come some distance in media depictions of women. At least we can see women in a variety of non-traditional careers now, but there still remain insidious stereotypes about how girls treat each other and these still need to be turned upside down. And don’t even get me started on the depiction of women in comic books and computer games…

We’ve still got a long way to go, baby.

See also: Commonsense’s list of Strong Female Characters in Books.

And on this blog, type “strong girls” into the search box above to see my list of great female characters in books and movies.

Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse

Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse

Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse

by Ursula Moray Williams

originally published by George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., London, 1938

253 pp. – 19 chapters

Age: (read to) 4+ ; (independent reading) 7+

Interests: horses, toys come to life, travel, adventures, pirates, circus

by the same author: Gobbolino the Witch’s Cat, The Further Adventures of Gobbolino and the Little Wooden Horse

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The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

True Story of the 3 Little Pigs - cover

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs

text by Jon Scieszka

illustrations by Lane Smith

New York: Viking Penguin, 1989

28 pp.

Age: 6+

Interests: twisted fairy tales, crime and punishment, wolves

Next: The Three Pigs by David Wiesner (another weird take on the story); The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon by Mini Grey (a modern rewrite of a nursery rhyme with lots of crime and violence)

Also by this author and illustrator: The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales; Squids Will Be Squids; Math Curse; Science Verse

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Swallows and Amazons, Pigeon Post

Cover of "Swallows and Amazons"photo of Jonathan Cape edition of Arthur Ranso...



Swallows and Amazons

by Arthur Ransome

London: Jonathan Cape, 1930

363 pp.

Pigeon Post

CARNEGIE MEDAL WINNER – 1936

by Arthur Ransome

London: Jonathan Cape, 1936

433 pp.

Age: (read to) 6+, (read independently) 9+

Interests: boats, sailing, camping, adventures, summer vacation, maps, exploring

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More recommended books of 2012

I just keep coming across these things…

Quill & Quire – Books of the Year 2012: Books for Young People for 5 great titles (2 picture book and 3 chapter books)

Kids Review Books for Kids, from the National Post – I love these reviews. So direct and straight to the point!

Canadian Children’s Literature Award Winners for 2012

And a big batch o’ books from Pinterest.

There. Now you can get your Christmas shopping done!

For Wizard of Oz book fans…

Title plate of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (not...

Title plate of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (not the cover, it’s the interior title page), 1900 Wizard (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The blogger Maple Leaf Mommy (aka Deanna) is a hardcore fan of the original Wizard of Oz books. We’ve only read the first and most famous (see my review of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz here), but if you’d like to learn about the other Oz books, check out her commentary and book list. She’s even included links to free electronic versions; since the books are largely in the public domain, they can be found for free online.

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All writings posted here are © Kim Thompson, unless otherwise indicated. For all artwork on this site, copyright is retained by the artist.