How do you screen your childs non Jewish books

amother

Babypink

Fri, May 18 2018, 1:48 pm

amother wrote:

How old is this child? Are you screening because he asked you to?

He just turned 14. No he did not ask me to screen them I am doing it because I want him to be able to read and enjoy books he is interested in but filter out what I feel he isn’t ready for.

Thank you everybody for the
suggestions!! I didn’t realize O’Reilly had so many books. The Avi books look great. I am going to order Crispin and if it is too babyish for this DS there are a few younger ones who will enjoy.

I wish his school had a library but only the elementary grades have one.

Orchid

Wed, May 23 2018, 7:12 pm

amother wrote:

Some Avi books have teenager male/female attraction stuff going on. The ones I mentioned above do not.
Also -if Jewish historical fiction is your son's cup of tea, The Ruach Ami series by Avner Gold cannot be beat. I know they were out of print for like 20 years and I read they just recently redid The Promised Child (book 1) but I don't plan on reading it. The old version was just perfect in every way. Literally my favorite books.

amother

Cyan

Wed, May 23 2018, 7:57 pm

OP, I also have a little 14 year old history buff. He just finished reading Inside Delta Force and has been quoting it to me for the past few days. He loved it.

Some books that he'll open and peruse often are The Historical Atlas of WWII, and a huge tome called World War II Day by Day. Also technical books like Tank Recognition Guide, US Military Aircraft Recognition guide, etc.

He's read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich--that's at your discretion.

Loves loves Tom Clancy, read all the ones that dh would allow; you definitely need to review them first.

Enjoyed, Crusade, the Untold story of the Persian Gulf War.

For the poster who mentioned scifi and fantasy, as an aside, I tend to agree with you but ds loves those too.

OP, I mentioned some of these because you said, ex military history buff over the age of 50 Very Happy

amother

Periwinkle

Wed, May 23 2018, 9:02 pm

A quick google search makes me believe that Vanished sounds very interesting.

I'm quite chasidishe now and the books that I enjoyed as a child would never find their way into my home. But I will tell you some that I loved and you'll see if it is interesting for you or him. Not including the Gary Paulsen books as we know he's already read them, but I loved them...:

The Chronicle of Narnia series
The Hobbit
Farenheit 451
The Westing Game
And Then There Were None
My Side of the Mountain (if he hasn't yet read this, he will love it. It is about a boy who runs away and lives in the woods, training a peregrine falcon to help him hunt, etc.)
Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Cristie

amother

Babypink

Thu, May 24 2018, 2:05 am

Thank you everybody for all the great suggestions. Yep, he read My Side of the Mountain already and loved it! Spot on. I will check out the other suggestions, Promised Child, Delta Force and Crusade. He should be busy for a little bit. Smile

Aylat

Thu, May 24 2018, 5:14 am

amother wrote:

There are myriad other issues with that genre, and not much to gain - whereas the books OP describes have actual useful info.

Scifi and fantasy often contain s-xuality, varying in extent. You have to check the individual book.

Apart from that I think there is loads to gain from that genre - explorations of cultural implications of technological changes, of human nature in different settings. Obviously not every book is quality, some are junk as in all genres.

What do you see as the problems with the genre in general?

amother

Cyan

Thu, May 24 2018, 5:19 am

amother wrote:

Asked ds about Tom Clancy, he said he enjoyed The Hunt for Red October and it was approved by dh.

Good luck!

anon for this

Thu, May 24 2018, 5:19 am

If you are interested in sci-fi but prefer to avoid s-xuality, most of Asimov's work should be fine (The Gods Themselves is one exception). Also almost anything by Bradbury.

Aylat

Thu, May 24 2018, 5:22 am

anon for this wrote:

If you are interested in sci-fi but prefer to avoid s-xuality, most of Asimov's work should be fine (The Gods Themselves is one exception). Also almost anything by Bradbury.

Asimov got more s-xual as he went along Rolling Eyes

Avoid the later written ones in the Foundation series (which are actually prequels), also his time travel one (can't remember title, something with Eternity I think). His robot stories are fantastic and all clean as far as I remember.

Reality

Thu, May 24 2018, 6:01 am

Did he read The Iceberg Hermit? It is short but based on a true story. It is clean and quite a story. I read it as an adult and coudnt put it down.

For fiction survival I also really liked Far North. Also clean but a lot about native American culture which may bother some people I.e. talking about spirits in the animals etc.

Reality

Thu, May 24 2018, 6:10 am

Also did he read Minik? Its about a native boy who is brought to NY and ends up living at the museum of natural history. Its a non-fiction book. I read it a while ago and think it was clean. It was all about exploration.

How strong a reader is he? Would he be able to handle David McCullough's books? He has a book about teddy Roosevelt's childhood and also the building of the Brooklyn bridge. His other books on the presidents maybe too hard.

Orchid

Thu, May 24 2018, 6:46 am

amother wrote:

(Just to reiterate, the Promised Child is the first of the Ruach Ami series, and you should try to get the version that was not put out this year).

amother

Babypink

Thu, May 24 2018, 7:00 am

OP here. DS who will graduate middle school this year was tested going into 6th grade and was reading at a college level then so nothing should be too difficult just possibly not appropriate. That’s my biggest issue. Adult books withouth the shmurz. The only copy of the Promised Child I have find for less then $70 is the new one. They changed the actual story in the new edition? The new one is like $25. I have Hunt For Red October now in my cart as well as Crusade and Inside Delta Force. I hope thats the right one. My DS just doesn’t enjoy sci-fi so unless that changes I won’t explore that genre. Minik sounds very interesting. You guys are the best!! Seriously this thread has been super helpful.

Aylat

Thu, May 24 2018, 7:30 am

vandaorchid wrote:

Biggles books by Captain W E Johns. Boys in my family loved those

I loved them too! For a certain period in my life it was my ambition to be a fighter pilot.

amother

Periwinkle

Thu, May 24 2018, 7:45 am

amother wrote:

OP here. DS who will graduate middle school this year was tested going into 6th grade and was reading at a college level then so nothing should be too difficult just possibly not appropriate.

I had the same story -- tested in 6th, reading at college level.

So I just want to the thank you, for him, for being proactive and supporting that burning desire to read!

It is a worthwhile investment, btw. I am now a professional writer.

PinkFridge

Thu, May 24 2018, 7:48 am

Orchid wrote:

(Just to reiterate, the Promised Child is the first of the Ruach Ami series, and you should try to get the version that was not put out this year).

Why the original and not the new one?
The author's reworking the originals. Though I assume just the first few.
The first was written as a fundraiser, in under a week.

Ruchel

Thu, May 24 2018, 8:05 am

Yeah, lists are life savers.
Pre-read even what you read before, as memory fails.
As older teens we teach that when something is bad we put down the book, or we skip the paragraph/chapter etc depending on how bad and how frequent. My mom removes pages. I use black or typex or remove if the whole page is bad but the book per se as value. It's a job!! But I want to offer lit to my children.