Reader discussion: Five Children and It

"The Railway Children" is a wonderful book.

By orbit-eagle48

What I liked most was how fast it got to the point about them having to go away to the little white house, away from their father. A lot of other books (like “A Little Princess”) drag that part out, even though that one is really good too. Other than that, it totally feels like the time period Edith Nesbit was writing about. The way she gets every moment down—no matter if Phil, Bobbie, or someone else is talking—is really gripping, so you can’t really stop reading. Even when the kids are just chatting or bickering, it’s entertaining. And you’ll get her little personal thoughts pop in sometimes too, like she’ll mention things such as thinking the mother was doing well, or that she personally likes Ruth’s attitude. My favorite character is the mother, honestly. She always tries to make the most of everything. The kids do get sad a lot, but she still manages to keep things moving with little bits of fun. It’s definitely one of my all-time favorites, and I’d recommend it. 10/10.

The Dumbing Down of Children's Literature - Thoughts? Opinions? Recommendations?

By amberfrog40

Hey there, Bookit! I’ve been babysitting my niece a bit during the afternoons lately, and we’ve been going through the Oz books (they’re my all-time comfort reads). They’re kind of weird, but in a good way. So the other day she picked out one of those “Dora the Explorer” birthday gifts from a family friend and made me read it. It started like… “Hola! I’m Dora…” and then it was all about making wishes and “Do you see Little Star next to the Moon?” and honestly I just sat there like, are you serious? It felt ridiculously basic, and she got bored really fast too. Then we switched back to Oz, and it was something like: General Jinjur is uneasy because the Scarecrow got away, and she’s worried the king and the Tin Woodman might team up… and yeah, some words are a little above a five-year-old’s head, but it doesn’t even matter much. I feel like the Oz stuff was meant to be read *to* kids by adults, and the adult kind of carries it. I don’t have to turn it into a “point at this while I ask you questions” thing. If she doesn’t know a word or gets confused, I can just explain it, and then we can actually talk about what’s happening. That’s why I keep feeling like a lot of kids’ books today have been watered down until they’re kind of pointless. I hate seeing the junk that ends up on the shelves at her age. We’ve still got like twelve Oz books left, but what else is out there that feels similar to that old-school, actually-fun-by-itself kind of story?