I came from a family of book lovers so books were a most cherished gift throughout childhood. Im always saddened when people say they dont read for pleasure- to me its like having never seen the ocean or a full moon.
On my 8th birthday my Great Aunt Edithe presented me with a two volume set of GRIMMS fairy tales.
No not the sanitized Disney version but the real blood + guts, never enter the woods alone version!
Do you know the real ending to Cinderella and what happened to her step-family? Lets say mutilation played a part in that ending. And what young mind doesnt need a story where the father chops off the hands of his daughter so the Devil will give him back his soul in THE GIRL WITHOUT HANDS. Of course Hansel + Gretel never left home again!
In spite of the gruesomeness these stories always had a moral. Good was rewarded and evil punished. They taught the virtue of patient suffering and endurance when wronged. The pitiful protagonist was rewarded with restoration and abundance and the bad guy got what he deserved.
Since this was some of my foundational reading in the 3rd grade WINNIE THE POOH didnt make the list. I did enjoy its charm when I read it to my own children years later but my reading list went straight to more mature and dramatic adventures of classical literature for kids and young adults. Tragedies and dilemmas, victories and defeats, life and death for characters across the globe + the centuries, painting my imagination and giving me dreams beyond the walls of my small bedroom.
As bookstores close around the country and kids are shocked to learn that the Lord of the Rings was a book before it was a movie I wonder who will carry the tried and true literature home to a special reading nook for an afternoon of pleasure.
What your favorite or the strangest book youve ever read?
