S/O Fairy tales and fables, do your kids read them.

MagentaYenta

Thu, Jun 15 2017, 9:21 pm

I'm talking about Grimm, Anderson, Baum, Aesop, Barrie, and Carroll. Do your kids read them?

I had them all when I was growing up including some Andrew Lang and Afanasyev. I made sure that the kids had their own copies growing up so that they could pass them on.

I don't see very much of the PCing of fairy tales here, we liberal boomers did try to pass the originals on. And reading both the PC and classic versions made for some interesting dinner table discussion. What about your house?

amother

Sienna

Thu, Jun 15 2017, 9:36 pm

Personally I found Grimm stories to be creepy and bizarre.

My kids have read Alice in Wonderland (Carroll) and The Wizard of Oz (Baum), and other classics that are not fairy tales, like Huckleberry Finn, Mary Poppins, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Treasure Island, Swiss Family Robinson, Robinson Crusoe.

MagentaYenta

Thu, Jun 15 2017, 9:56 pm

amother wrote:

Little Match Girl was the one that gave me the creeps (Anderson).

What did you think comparing the Mary Poppins books to the film? PL Travers hated the film. Travers herself is a fairly interesting and quite a sensational character.She had a Boston marriage for many years with Madge Burnand. I heard some tape of her on the BBC where she mentioned the origin of Mary Poppins.

MagentaYenta

Thu, Jun 15 2017, 10:00 pm

zaq wrote:

I probably inhaled every fairytale ever written or translated into English. But when my kids were small I wanted to read new stuff I never read before.

Check out 'It Could Always be Worse', 1990, a wonderful 'new' Yiddish folk story.

amother

Mistyrose

Thu, Jun 15 2017, 10:01 pm

MagentaYenta wrote:

If you're the type, watch the movie Saving Mr Banks. It's about Travers, her childhood, and how Mary Poppins became a movie. It's excellent

iluvy

Thu, Jun 15 2017, 10:05 pm

I inhaled everything. My grandmother used to buy me all the old editions of all the authors you mentioned (except Afanasyev), and books about Japanese, Russian and Jewish folktales and Greek, Roman, Egyptian myths. I could name every god in every pantheon when I was little, and I knew all the stories. I don't know if it's a chicken or egg, but those stories fed a fascination with magic that is still a huge part of me. I would have loved to take that class, sequoia!

Now that my oldest has learned how to read I am almost painfully excited about introducing her to all the books I love. We've started with the Little House books, the Great Brain, and Encyclopedia Brown, but I haven't brought over my old fairy tales yet. I don't know if she's old enough yet, but thanks for reminding me about them!

iluvy

Thu, Jun 15 2017, 10:07 pm

MagentaYenta wrote:

The movie is garbage compared to the books. (But I think that is true of most book-movies.) I watched it for the first time as an adult and was shocked. I kept saying, "Mary Poppins isn't nice!"

MagentaYenta

Thu, Jun 15 2017, 10:34 pm

iluvy wrote:

The movie is garbage compared to the books. (But I think that is true of most book-movies.) I watched it for the first time as an adult and was shocked. I kept saying, "Mary Poppins isn't nice!"

Thank you. I'm of the generation that seems to feel that Disney did a dreadful job with most of the movies they made from books. And it follows that once Disney purchased Saving Mr. Banks it was turned into a piece of Disney propaganda.

Mary Poppins was not a nice lady, and the character that Andrews portrayed in the film was far from how the original character was written or developed over 7 books.

Ok this is the end of my anti Disney rant.

MagentaYenta

Thu, Jun 15 2017, 10:42 pm

iluvy wrote:

You have exciting times ahead with your new reader. I used to have so much fun with the kids. We would take time out from reading and do little plays and vignettes from the stories. Who cared about housework if there was music and literature.

As an adult I don't read sci fi nor do I read fantasy only a few Neil Gaimans works entertain me. Ok I did enjoy the heck out of 'The Bad Fairies of NY'. embarrassed

But to this day I'll pick up a new/old book about fairies and the pantheons of the Greeks and Romans and be engrossed.

tigerwife

Thu, Jun 15 2017, 11:05 pm

I loved fairy tales growing up and still do: fantasy is my favorite genre. My library picks every week were usually about magic. That said, I'm a happily ever after girl and some of the originals did disturb me.

I had a Rabbi in Sem who said that he read Greek mythology for the entertainment factor.

MagentaYenta

Thu, Jun 15 2017, 11:13 pm

tigerwife wrote:

To the bold: Do you mean the bodice rippers?

Greek and Roman mythology are the tops, action, adventure, lust, betrayal, the pantheon has it all.

amother

Sienna

Thu, Jun 15 2017, 11:17 pm

MagentaYenta wrote:

Ita, there's no comparison.

For my ninth birthday, my mother gave me the set of Mary Poppins books that she had found at a used book store. Pure magic.

This summer, I'm hoping to start reading The Hobbit with my nine year old, and see how far through the LOTR we can get.

amother

Sienna

Thu, Jun 15 2017, 11:20 pm

MagentaYenta wrote:

To the bold: Do you mean the bodice rippers?

Greek and Roman mythology are the tops, action, adventure, lust, betrayal, the pantheon has it all.

Are you familiar with the Rick Riordan books? He puts a contemporary kid into the world of Greek mythology. I have very mixed feelings about it for teens.