After I wrote the last blog about good children's ebooks I found myself spending a week at my family's cottage. A perusal through the book shelf there found even more great works of children's literature that I can hardly recommend as reading for your own kids any time of the year.
'Gentle Ben.' This coming-of-age story of a sickly, lonely Alaskan boy who makes friends with an Alaskan brown bear. In the end this relationship helps mend his relationship with his authoritarian father. There was also a television series made in the sixties about this bear.
'Tom Sawyer.' Written by Mark Twain this great book follows the adventures of Tom, his girlfriend Becky and his friend Huck Finn also makes an appearance.
'Anne of Green Gables.' At a time when young ladies were supposed to be demure and polite, Anne emerged to become one of the strongest and most precocious of girls to ever be described in literature. Her upstart ways appeal to even the hippest and most jaded girls of today.
'The Dog Who Wouldn't Be.' This is a funny poignant and exceptionally well-written reminiscence of childhood on the Canadian prairies. It is definitely a classic that most kids find very entertaining.
'Little Lord Fauntleroy.' This classic spawned is responsible for the Blue Bo=. An American boy from a struggling family turns out to be heir to an irritable and fabulously wealthy old English lord. He goes to England where the challenge is for the boy to endear himself to the old curmudgeon.
'On to Oregon.' This outdoor saga, written almost a century ago, is loosely based on the true story of the Sager family journeying by covered wagon in 1848, in the early days of the Oregon Trail. The parents die on route, and the seven children — the youngest just an infant — keep rolling the wagon onwards towards the homestead. They are led by the heroic 13-year-old John who is steely but has a heart of gold.
'The Prince and the Pauper.' Most kids encounter Mark Twain through 'Tom Sawyer,' but this work is at least as funny and offers unforgettable images of English history.
'Lad, a Dog' is a book about a collie.. The book was published 90 years ago. Lassie is the poor man's Lad. This work of literature is based on the life of a real life dog who has a grave in New Jersey that has become a very popular tourist trap!