The Library
Summer is a great time to begin reading a new book. You can read a book while on an adventurous vacation or read of a great adventure in your own home. Whether lounging on the beach or hanging in a hammock or curled up with a lantern during a summer storm power outage you can be magically transported to any time or place - with no passport or travel expenses! We'll give you three great destinations to explore below.
There are billions of books out there for everyone's different interests and reading levels but this month we are going to pull a few titles off the shelf that are great for the whole family. No matter what the age range of your family there are creative ways to include everyone. Having little ones doesn't mean you can only read lap books. We have been amazed at what children comprehend and enjoy when regularly included in higher literary pursuits. Contemporary literature has much to offer but the classics stand the test of time. Walk into The Library and join us as we blow the dust off of a family entertainment activity of antiquity.
July 2008
No TV?????
One of our all time favorite things to do here in our home is reading aloud as a family. Several years ago we pulled the plug on television service. We found that anything we really needed to see could be found via the Internet or on dvd. It's was truly amazing to see the transformation of time in our home (not to mention the monetary
savings)! Creative endeavors began to emerge: learning musical instruments, artistic activities, research, study, learning a foreign language and reading.
Reading aloud can be done in as many ways as you can imagine. One person can read or you can take turns. Make it fun, use expressions, change voices, be creative! Let those in your family with a flair for the dramatic use their skills. We usually read between supper and bed time (typical TV time) so it's a good time to cuddle up but for those in the family with a shorter attention span it helps to let them do something with their hands while listening. Some things that we have found work well are drawing, coloring, play dough, Legos, Lincoln Logs, small quiet toys, needle work (like embroidery, crochet, knitting, etc.) or basically anything that keeps hands busy and makes no sounds.
Stop Reading?
All good things come to an end so when it's time to call it quits for the night a sneaky little thing we like to do is to not stop at the end of a chapter but instead stop right smack dab in the middle of a seriously suspenseful moment and leave 'em hangin'. Then everyone goes to bed begging for more, using their imaginations as they fall asleep and anxiously anticipate the next reading time.
Sshhhh
Although reading aloud is for entertainment everything is educational. It is an excellent practice for public speaking skills and when reading quality classics a varied vocabulary and strong sentence structuring is covertly being absorbed. We keep a little notepad and pen handy to jot down the words we aren't familiar with to look up later. If we really have no clue what it means we just stop and look it up right then! (One of the handiest little gadgets we ever found is a pocket-sized electronic dictionary.)
FREE
Another awesome aspect about classic literature is that you don't have to buy the book - unless you want to collect it (since they are classics). Almost any book can be found through your local library. Utilize the on-line ordering system. If the title is not available at your branch it will search throughout your city. Once located at another branch the library system sends that book to your branch and puts it on the "Hold" shelf. They then notify you by phone or e-mail and you can pick it up. Maybe the book is no where to be found in your town. Don't give up and go shopping yet! Choose the search option for "other libraries". First the search will extend to your local region, then the state you live in, then the U.S. (including university and national libraries!) and then if it's still not found in the states it will extend to search at libraries throughout the world! No kidding! All at absolutely no cost to you, except your taxes, but you are paying those anyway so utilize the benefits!
Easy
Let's say for sake of argument that no-cost is great but you just don't want to spend the money for gas to drive to the library. No problem. Most classic literature titles are now on the Internet in their entirety! You can read them on-line or print it out and take it with you. Perhaps you aren't able to read aloud (driving, laryngitis, floating in a pool) - some of the sites have books recorded that you can listen to on-line or even download to a cd or mp3! A few great web resources are Librivox , Project Gutenberg, Bartleby and The Baldwin Online Children's Literature Project. But wait! There's more! Most really good books have really cool websites devoted to them (including study guides, author bios, background, history and even high-tech video games).
Watch a movie?
Another way we like to make the reading a big event is to find movies about the book and watch them, too. Anything from Disney, to oldies to new releases - great classic books are always popular movies.
Put these classics in your card catalog!
Want to get your feet wet with an island adventure this summer?
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
This adventure novel, first published in 1883, narrates a tale of "buccaneers and buried gold". Climb aboard the Hispaniola with young Jim Hawkins for an 18th century adventure on the high seas. Pass the time with the perilous pirates as you cross the Spanish Main in search of buried treasure with mutinous scoundrels like Long John Silver and Billy Bones.
X marks the spot where you can find this at the library or on-line. Greedy for more? Dig these treasures! Dead Men Tell No Tales and Treasure Map. How about checking out the "classic" Muppet Treasure Island movie from the library?
Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss.
This novel was first published in 1812 and reels you into the lives of a Swiss family shipwrecked on an uninhabited island in the East Indies. The author, Wyss, was a Swiss Pastor who penned the adventure to teach his four sons about "family values, good husbandry, the uses of the natural world and self-reliance." Modeling the tale after the Defoe classic Robinson Crusoe, Wyss has woven throughout this net such themes as frugality, resignation and cooperation.
This book is also available in libraries or on-line. There are several movies based on this book, two of which are: Disney's 1960 Swiss Family Robinson and in 1998 The New Swiss Family Robinson. Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom has the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse to explore if you are theme-parking but if you can't make the trip you can now explore this exhibit via Google Earth from Disney's Website. Here are some wonderful web resources to help you survive the summer with Swiss: EasyFunSchool and Pearson'sPenguin.
The Coral Island by Robert M. Ballantyne
This is the book our family is currently devouring! We ordered it through the library and it came all the way from Anchorage, Alaska!
The Scottish author, R.M. Ballantyne, wrote over 80 books with the most well-known being The Coral Island, published in 1858, which Robert Louis Stevenson acknowledged as "the formative influence of his own love of the South Seas." This book, also inspired J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan (1904) and William Golding's Lord of the Flies (1954). Stevenson dubbed this author as "Ballantyne the Brave". Ballantyne travelled extensively to gain first-hand knowledge and to research the backgrounds of his stories, even working many of the jobs he described. Several of his books were based on personal experience and all of them were based on Christian morals and upright character.
The Coral Island is "the famous tale of adventure, courage and loyalty in the South Seas." The back cover of The Puffin Classics edition hints about three young boys, "shipwrecked on a coral reef with only a telescope and a broken penknife between them. At first the island seems a paradise". That's enough - read it for yourself!
For more information on this and other of Ballantyne's classics dive into this - BallantyneTheBrave.
Do try this at home!
Don't "throw out the baby with the bath water" if a book has a few things that may be too intense. Customize portions of stories that may be a little too graphic in detail to suit your listeners - make it work for your family.
Customize your setting to enhance interest and ambiance! How about reading these on the beach, or spread out a beach blanket on the floor! Put on one of those cd's with the sounds of waves crashing on the shore and birds chattering (they have really cool cd's at The Dollar Tree store of all kinds of "background music" for parties - of course for only $1 each!). Buy a fresh whole pineapple and a real coconut and eat them. Grill fish. You get the idea - get into the island groove, mon!
| Join our E-Newsletter |
