Showing posts with label children's literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children's literature. Show all posts

April 2 - Hans Christian Andersen's Birthday

and therefore:
International Children's Book Day


 Posted on April 2, 2022

This is an update of my post published on April 2, 2011:


The Little Mermaid!


The Snow Queen!


The Ugly Duckling and Thumbelina!
H.C. Andersen seen here sculpted,
along with some of his characters, in sand.
All these familiar story characters, and many more, were created by a Danish man—Hans Christian Andersen, who was born on this day in 1805. Unlike the Grimm brothers, who collected and published fairy tales that were already oral traditions, Andersen thought up his own original fairy tales.


Hans Christian Andersen delighted children all over the world—even during his lifetime! While he lived, Andersen was praised by kids and royalty and everyone between, and since his death, his tales have stood the test of time, being translated into more than 150 languages and inspiring movies, plays, ballets, animated films, and even toys.

Thumbelina
Go to the Andersen Fairy Tales website to check out his stories—and to play games and do other fun stuff! 

Go to You Tube to see Danny Kaye acting as Hans Christian Andersen. 



Celebrate International Children's Book Day...

...by reading a book!

See last year's post for my picks of kids' books.


 



National Play Outside Day

(First Saturday of every month!)



International Pillow Fight Day

(First Saturday of April)




Plan ahead:


Check out my Pinterest boards for:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:






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February 7 - Happy Birthday, Laura Ingalls Wilder

      Posted on February 7, 2022


This is an update of my post published on February 7, 2011:



She lived in a little house in Wisconsin, then in little houses in Kansas, Minnesota, and Iowa. She ended up in the Dakota Territory - but you better believe she still lived in a little house!

Born Laura Ingalls on this date in 1867, she married Almanzo Wilder and lived in the Dakotas, Florida, and Missouri. At times as a married woman Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in a ramshackle, windowless log cabin—but eventually the hard-working couple managed build and live in a 10-room farmhouse with outbuildings.

Wilder had lived a pioneering, farming, rural life as a child and as an adult, and later in life, inspired by her daughter's writing career, she began to write about her own and others' experiences in a series of children's books: Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, and six other books. Wilder was 64 years old when her first book was published.


Above, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Below, Rose Wilder Lane


Wilder's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, wrote adult novels—and the two most successful were written about many of the same adventures in her mother's Little House series. Both women were able to achieve a certain amount of fame and fortune for their writings, although these days Wilder is far more famous than is Lane.

Apparently there is a big question mark about how much of the Little House books Laura Ingalls Wilder actually wrote, and how much was Rose Wilder Lane's work. Probably Wilder did pretty much all the writing and Lane heavily edited. At any rate, the mother-and-daughter team succeeded, however they divided up the work!
WARNING!!
Wilder's books portray horrible racism toward Native and Black characters. Some people suggest cutting out the most egregious passages, but most people agree that we should enjoy the books BUT talk about the racism. Why did Ma and Pa say such awful things? Let's deal with the racism that existed then and today, examine it, discuss it - and there lies the path toward building anti-racism!

Here is an article to help you consider the racism in the books.


Linda Sue Park wrote a book that is deliberately
parallel to Wilder's books - but her main
character is half Chinese. Well worth reading!!


Explore the World of Laura Ingalls Wilder:



  • Here are more printables and resources.

  • Here are some recipes for foods in the Little House series. 


The Little House books became the inspiration for a TV series
popular during the 1970s and 1980s.







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January 27 - Happy Birthday, Lewis Carroll

   Posted on January 27, 2022


This is an update of my post published on January 27, 2011:





A man named Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was born in England on this day in 1832.


Charles Dodgson wasn't all that famous.


He was a logician, mathematician, and photographer, and he wrote A Syllabus of Plane Algebraical Geometry in 1860, which has been described as "excruciatingly dull, fairly derivative, and long forgotten." He tutored math at Oxford University, and he wrote about a dozen more math books - but none of that made him famous.

Instead, the children's books Dodgson wrote under his pen-name, Lewis Carroll, is what made him famous. His books were Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.




Celebrate Lewis Carroll's Birthday and Your Un-birthday!

A very merry unbirthday to you, to you!

Have a tea party, watch one of the versions of Alice in Wonderland, or read one of the Alice books. You could also choose to have a full-scale unbirthday party!




Here are some Wonderland-ish games and curiouser-and-curiouser activities.

Here is a fansite with lots of resources on the Alice books.





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