::A repeat from three years ago, with a (very) few new additions, mostly in the “Something New” section::
(There may be some wonky links — I noticed some hiccups moving the old Blogger post to WordPress. Let me know in the comments if you find anything odd and I’ll see if I can fix it.)
How to Read (for Children and Adults) and How to Enjoy Reading
The ABC’s and All Their Tricks by Margaret M. Bishop
McGuffey’s Eclectic Readers by William Holmes McGuffey
Why Johnny Can’t Read: And What You Can Do About It by Rudolf Flesch; recommended by Flesch, and still available secondhand, is the old textbook Reading with Phonics by Julie Hay and Charles E. Wingo [I used this as a supplement with Daniel to great success, having found a copy on eBay]
The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Reading by Jessie Wise, co-author of The Well-Trained Mind. The WTM website also has a number articles on reading; “Games to Play with Phonics“; “Teaching Reading: Phonics Programs That Work“; “Why Whole Language Seems to Work for Some Children“; “Our Favorite Books by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer“; and “Our Readers’ Favorite Books“
The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease
Educating Esmé: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year and How to Get Your Child to Love Reading: For Ravenous and Reluctant Readers Alike by Esmé Raji Codell; she has a nifty children’s literature website, too, Planet Esmé, and a blog.
How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren; you may decide you require the study guide How to Read “How to Read a Book”, by Maryalice B. Newborn.
How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom
The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer
Deconstructing Penguins: Parents, Kids, and the Bond of Reading by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone
How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas C. Foster
How to Read Novels Like a Professor: A Jaunty Exploration of the World’s Favorite Literary Form by Thomas C. Foster
A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel
Something Old
The SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages
Loganberry Books’ Stump the Bookseller
Flying Point Press (which I wrote about here)
The fabulous “horizontal history books” by the fabulous Genevieve Foster
The Little Bookroom: Eleanor Farjeon’s Short Stories for Children Chosen by Herself by Eleanor Farjeon and illustrated by Edward Ardizzone
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
A Child’s Delight by Noel Perrin
A Reader’s Delight by Noel Perrin
Onward and Upward in the Garden by Katharine S. White
Clementine in the Kitchen by Samuel Chamberlain
The Reader’s Encyclopedia: An Encyclopedia of World Literature and the Arts by William Rose Bénet; my old edition was published by Thomas Y. Crowell in 1948. As handy as a dictionary by a reader’s elbow, especially with little ones asking all the questions they do.
Oxford Companion to American Literature by James D. Hart; I knew my edition was old (1941) but I didn’t realize it was a first edition until I checked for this blog entry. Makes me like it even better.
Something New
The Way We Work: Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body by David Macaulay (Houghton Mifflin, October 2008). By the way, did you konw that Houghton has an online page of Homeschool Resources?
Arthur of Albion by John Matthews (Barefoot Books, September 2008)
Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Harry Bliss (HarperCollins, September 2008); Susan, head’s up!
Peter Pan: A Classic Collectible Pop-Up by Robert Sabuda (Simon & Schuster, November 2008)
Champlain’s Dream by David Hackett Fischer (Simon & Schuster, October 2008)
BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking by Shirley Corriher (Scribner, October 2008)
Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer: A Golden Treasury of Classic Treats by Jane Brocket, a cookbook inspired by children’s literature
The “kidlitosphere” is new, at least since I first wrote this post. I was looking around for a comprehensive list and discovered this list of children’s book related links — from Bound To Stay Bound Books, which is, according to the website, the world’s foremost prebinder of juvenile books as well as a third-generation family-owned business. I was surprised and delighted to see that Farm School is on their blog list, too — for which, many thanks.
Something Borrowed
Quotations about libraries and librarians
Access to the New York Public Library for non-New Yorkers: for Readers & Writers; for Children
Burnaby, B.C. Public Library Children’s Literature Page, with lots of links
Multnomah County (Oregon) Library’s book lists for readers of all ages; if you live nearby, sign up for their Read the Classics discussion series
Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk
Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes
Please Bury Me in the Library by J. Patrick Lewis, illustrated by Kyle M. Stone
Our Library by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Maggie Smith
The Library by Sarah Stewart, illustrated by David Small; new in paperback this month
When I Went to the Library: Writers Celebrate Books and Reading by Deborah Pearson
Richard Wright and the Library Card by William Miller
The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel
Library: An Unquiet History by Matthew Battles
Quiet, Please: Dispatches from a Librarian by Scott Douglas
Free printable bookplates from Anne Fine’s nifty website
A Passion for Books : A Book Lover’s Treasury of Stories, Essays, Humor, Love and Lists on Collecting, Reading, Borrowing, Lending, Caring for, and Appreciating Books by Harold Rabinowitz
Patience and Fortitude: Wherein a Colorful Cast of Determined Book Collectors, Dealers, and Librarians Go About the Quixotic Task of Preserving a Legacy by Nicholas A. Basbanes; and just for fun, here are the real Patience and Fortitude as well as Nicholas Basbane’s website
The Librarian of Basra written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter
The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski
Something Blue
Peter in Blueberry Land by Elsa Beskow
Pelle’s New Suit by Elsa Beskow
Uncle Blue’s New Boat by Elsa Beskow
Blue Trout and Black Truffles: The Peregrinations of an Epicure by Joseph Wechsberg
The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is? by Robert E. Wells
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
Book Lists
The New York Review of Books Children’s Collection
1,000 Good Books List for Children, arranged by reading levels (K-12) and by author, from the Classical Christian Education Support Loop; not entirely secular but great good stuff
Searchable Database of Award-Winning Children’s Literature
Caldecott Medal & Honor books, 1938-Present, awarded to the artists of the most distinguished American picture book
Newbery Medal & Honor books, 1922-Present, awarded to the authors of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children
Horn Book Magazine’s annotated reading lists for children
Waterboro Library’s complete list of book lists and bibliographies, for adults
Waterboro Library’s complete list of book lists and bibliographies, for children
The Good Books list, from The Great Books Academy
The Baldwin Project: Bringing Yesterday’s Classics to Today’s Children
The Well-Trained Mind K-4 Reading List
The Well-Trained Mind High School Reading List
Junior Great Books/Readalouds (from Mortimer Adler’s Great Books Foundation)
Junior Great Books, Grades K-8 (from Mortimer Adler’s Great Books Foundation)
The Great Books; also GBF’s/Penguin Book’s free online discussion guides for various classics
Miscellaneous “Great Books” sites and lists
Project Gutenberg: Fine Literature Digitallly Re-Published
Bartleby.com: Great Books Online
Reading List for the College Bound, compiled by the Center for Applied Research in Education and online courtesy of St. Margaret’s School, Tappahannock, VA; for more, get this from your library
Online version of Clifton Fadiman’s New Lifetime Reading Plan (4th edition)
A state-by-state book list for children (not comprehensive but still some good things and a dandy idea); this is one of the only times you’ll find a link on this blog to anything at the NEA’s website, so enjoy it…
Canadian literature links, from Northwest Passages bookseller
Reading with your eyes closed (or while you’re driving) (but not both at the same time, please)
Kiddie Records Weekly, to take you back to your childhood, for free
Just One More Book! children’s book podcast
CBC Radio’s “Between the Covers” podcast and “Writers and Company” podcast
BBC Radio’s “Book Panel with Simon Mayo” podcast and “World Book Club” podcast
Poetry Speaks and Poetry Speaks to Children, both edited by Elise Paschen
Poetry Archive, “the world’s premier online collection of recordings of poets reading their work”
Storyteller Jim Weiss’s audio books/Greathall Productions
Odds Bodkins, another storytelle
And finally
For my father, and in honor of the Rev. James Granger
——–
Don’t forget Part 2 of Celebrating International Literacy Day over here, with quotations about books, reading, libraries, and librarians.
Filed under: Audiobooks, Books, Children's Books, Cybils, Education, Great Books, Knowledge & Wisdom, Literature
Wow! I think I’ve hit the motherlode & found a kindred spirit all at the same time! Thanks for all your hard work!
I’ll second that! I’m wrapping up week one of homeschool with my 7 year old and your blog has been my spine. I’ve spent endless hours digging through your links and resources – I’m also a regular visitor at the Secular CM group. I can’t thank you enough – sorry it’s taken so long to say hello!
Speaking of How To Read A Book…
Http://johndeweyhateschristmas.blogspot.com/2008/03/celebrate-no-child-left-behind.html
A-mazing list. And I must find Louise, A Chicken. Merci.
Glad to oblige, Amy and Rachel : ).
JS, ha!
Susan, de rien, bien sur!
[...] enough of the celebration — how about doing something about literacy and reading? Start out with this great post from Farm School, with dozens of links to and about good, mostly sorta new books you ought to be reading and giving [...]
We have recently made an exciting discovery–three years after writing the wonderfully expanded third edition of How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren made a series of thirteen 14-minute videos on the art of reading. The videos were produced by Encyclopaedia Britannica. For reasons unknown, sometime after their original publication, these videos were lost.
When we discovered them and how intrinsically edifying they are, we negotiated an agreement with Encyclopaedia Britannica to be the exclusive worldwide agent to make them available.
For those of you who teach, this is great for the classroom.
I cannot over exaggerate how instructive these programs are–we are so sure that you will agree, if you are not completely satisfied, we will refund your donation.
Please go here to see a clip and learn more: