Birthday Monsters
I want to start actively recommending children's literature that we enjoy. One of our favorite children's authors is Sandra Boyton.
One of Elisabeth's favorite books is Birthday Monsters, a silly, clever rhyming story. Elisabeth loves them it for it silly characters, charming illustrations and memorable rhymes. She has almost the whole thing memorized. Today she recited most of it for me while we were out - and we didnt' even have the book with us!
Boynton books are great because they're clever enough that parents aren't immediately bored after the twelfth reading.
(I have at least six of them memorized.)
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4 comments:
I haven't read Birthday Monsters, but I just wanted to second the recommendation of Boynton's books in general. Zoe, at 8 months, already enjoys these books. She kicks her feet and squeals with delight to hear the rhyming that is becoming more and more familiar to her. And as you said, the books are clever and fun for adults as well.
I would love to hear from others about good Christian children's books that employ clever rhyme. So far the ones that I've found haven't had much depth.
I find it so curious that top-quality Christian kids literature is so difficult to find. Any speculation on why that is? I, for one, am quite puzzled (and saddened, because I strongly dislike poorly-written and poorly-illustrated books). I don't like to read things that are badly written, so why would I want to give such a book to a child who is just beginning to discover books and having their first encounters with learning about Christianity? Why are Christian publishers sometimes satisfied with second-rate work, especially when it comes to children's lit?
Haley
I would say that really good contemporary Christian literature is hard to find because we have a dwarfed appreciation for literary beauty (probably in large part because we don't expose ourselves to it) and a miserably inadequate theology.
So we don't have much meaningful to express because of our shallow understanding and experience - and we don't express it beautifully because we aren't acquainted with gifted authors.
As to why Christian publishers settle for junk? It sells and they make money. I'll post on a merchandising effort that I HATE today.
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