The opposing items on Harry Potter raise another question. What else do kids want to read?
Do kids really want to read the social issues books so beloved of their educators? Should we be pushing them to read confrontational material about AIDS, death, refugees, sex abuse etc etc in a fictional form? If kids only spend a limited amount of time reading should that time be put to 'good use' or should kids be allowed to read for the sheer pleasure of reading?
There's a small publishing company in Scotland called Fidra. Fidra is re-issuing books from the 50's and 60's - with a heavy emphasis on Scottish books but others are being included. Fidra seems to think there is a market. Hay-on-Wye (the secondhand book mecca in the UK)also seems to have more than one shop which specialises in children's material.
What did you read and enjoy? Has this sort of thing been denied the children of the 80's onwards and why? Is it the right thing to do - what is kid's literature for? Is it always to teach or sometimes for the sheer joy of losing oneself in "the willing suspension of disbelief" Potter style?

ccat, the world changes, and very fast, lately. young people have to make their way in today, not your day. give them all the help you can, then stand aside and let them get on with it.

i suspect my generation had a better world to work with, but we buggered it up, out of laziness, ignorance, and greed. sorry, young 'uns, not intentional on my part.

i am very sorry kids relate to fantasy and violence more easily than sailing(swallows and amazons) and detectives (nancy drew) but whose fault is that?

So you would deny them Swallows and Amazons even if they might enjoy it? (Had a kid tell me once just a few years back that it was a "great book"?
I was questioning whether kids get the opportunity to read these things or whether adults are demanding that they read to be informed about social issues - if the latter, is this right? Or, do kids have the right to read just for pleasure?

don't see a problem- they'll read what they want for fun, what they are assigned, as a task. some of the tasks will turn out to be fun, or at least interesting. but society is determined to continue itself, and reading lists are part of that.

i copped some terrible turgid 'improving literature' as a kid- but i had nerve enough to say so, and was pleasantly surprised when teacher explained that 'interesting' books were too controversial for parents in 1950's florida, so we got the 'safe' stuff. still had to read it, but it was easier.

no prizes for guessing what my children read and read!

Demos, what if it is not there on the shelves because the adults have decided that the kids can only read the social issues type confrontational literature?
That's the problem...the other literature has been abandoned in favour of 'you need to know about this issue so we will dress it up in a nice big chocolatey vitamin pill and you will drink it Freddy, drink it!'

I knew it. I was always suspicious of the way the Very Hungry Caterpillar turned into a butterfly at the end. Too Utopian by far. And after a whole book of standing its ground the Bad Tempered Ladybird ends up sharing aphids with the other ladybirds.

Obviously they're all communists.

Thanks for the alert Ccat. I'm off to purchase the kiddies something sensible like a baby seal clubbing instruction manual.

Perhaps one of the problems is that reading at school is so directed. By that I mean that teachers/libararians push books at kids based on their age, not seeking to give them stimulating material. I'm not so old (still in the 20's for a bit longer), but LOVED Nancy Drew. However, was told that it was a book for 15-16yo's. I read them aged 9-11. I was lucky that my mother taught to read very early, so that I was capable of reading something that appealed to my maturity at the time. I loved Enid Blyton too, but again, read them aged 4-6. By late highschool, whilst friends were reading Mills and Boone, I was into Wilbur Smith and Bryce Courtney (and going through them at the rate of one a day). Given that school-based reading is so directed, I also count myself lucky that I was a rather pig-headed child, and not prone to following directions, particularly when given by teachers. My distain for the majority of teachers was cemented in Year 2, when I was disciplined for protested that the teacher had "corrected" the spelling in my school diary - from the right spelling to the wrong. I say the majority, as I have had and have seen some brilliant teachers.

But I digress. Basically, give kids something that challenges them enough to pique their interest, but not enough to kill it, and they will be interested in reading. Dont give them something that it recommended for their age. And DONT give them a social issue prettied up as a fiction book. There are books out there that tackle social issues as a by-line to the main story and if kids read enough, they will pick up everything they need to, without having to have it force-fed to them.

Yes you can pick up a lot by reading Country Gal. I should have read more. My neighbour could read long before she went to school. She read everything that came her way long before she was the 'right age'.
Came to the point where she had to do externally assessed exams at school and, in the subject list, saw a couple of history subjects not taught at school. She put her name down for those as well - much to the alarm and consternation of her teachers. They tried to dissuade her from sitting them, told her she would fail because she had not studied for them. She said she had 'read the books' - sat and passed both exams with good marks on the strength of the historical novels she had read and a one read through of the text book. (True story - I know one of her former teachers and he still cannot believe she did it.)
Being told you 'must' read something or that it is 'good for you' is surely the fastest way to put a kid off - oh, and don't call something a classic or great literature...tell 'em it's a great story?

green eggs and ham by Dr Zeuss-the pother Dr Zeuss books were ok
-the pictures particularily held hours of fascination for me_his compilation of roads , mountains, precipous pathways etc(the danger in it?) and thet funny scruffy bear /human like charactor!
Every myths and legend book we had in our library_from every country
encyclopedias
National geographics
and crappy romance
girly adventure/tomboy stories
and current magazines(any) held fascination and my attention
are you going to write something
and whom for_what age?
a particular sex?
good luck, reading is the best escape whilst also a fantastic link to life and history_information etc.

I completely believe the story about your neighbour, Communicat. Have done similar things myself. One highschool teacher got thoroughly sick of me correcting her on the Boer War history, so got sent off to the library during the next segment - WW1 - to research and compile a report, instead of having to sit through class. Which I must applaud as a attempt to try a different method by that particular teacher!

Readers Digest magazines are a great thing to have lying around for curious kids. They have a variety of articles, written about varying subjects and at varying levels, so most kids would be able to find something in there that they can take in and be interested in. Even if they just start with the jokes pages, it gets them into the habit f picking it up and flipping through the pages, which is a very good start.