Thursday, June 03, 2010

Learning from Children's Books - A Fun Way to Spend the First Part of the Summer

Hi everyone,

I am hoping everyone is back from their adventures away and have resumed reading blogs. I read a book in May that gave me a really fun idea, so hopefully there will be some interest. The book was Everything I Need to Know I Learned From a Children's Book: Life Lessons from Notable People From all Walks of Life edited by Anita Silvey. As soon as I finished it I thought it would be a fun idea to make a blogger list around the same idea. So, this post is to see if there is any interest.

Everyone has a favourite book from childhood that has stayed with them for their entire life, right? The people in the book Anita Silvey edited credit the books that read for the careers they chose later in life, but there was also just appreciation of a good book. A few of the people even chose books that they learned to appreciate while reading to their own children. They were from all walks of life, and bloggers are really from all walks of life, so I thought it would be an interesting list. It doesn't have to be children's books, either. The definition is open to interpretation, of course. The original book included everything from picture books to books that would be classified as adult, but the reader discovered them as children.

If there was interest in the idea I was thinking it would work like this:
1. You would choose a book and post about it in June and July. Then, in August, I would post a complete list of all the books chosen with links to the posts.
2. The posts would consist of the title of the book, the author, a brief synopsis of the book, a picture of the cover of the book that you had as a child, and then a post about why you chose the book. Length would be entirely up to you.
3. Then, you can either post a link in the comments or email me your link at kellyreads (at) gmail (dot) com.
4. The important thing is to be creative. You can write an essay, tell a story, etc. Whatever you think would work best for you. One of the things I really liked about the book I got this idea from is that there were books I had never even heard of before.

What does everyone think? I think if it has enough interest I would probably need a button, but graphics are not my strong suit. I also need a good title...

14 comments:

  1. Sounds very interesting! Do you want us to think of books that we read during a certain age range, or just books that stick out in our minds when we look back?

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  2. Just when you look back, I think. Some people may choose a book there parents read to them, but someone else might have been in high school before they found something. I don't want to limit anyone.

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  3. I love the idea, but the book I'd like to post about is not available in English :\ Would that be okay?

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  4. I've saved your blog in my list, coz yours is cool!!! but I've no time to read now... see ya soon! :)

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  5. Ana: Of course! Language shouldn't be a barrier.

    Zeb: Thanks!

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  6. I think this is a very good idea. I'm game!

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  7. Vasilly: Glad to hear it!

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  8. I love the idea but the books most influential in my childhood are not in English and the one I would have talked about is not even in print anymore! it's amazing though:)

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  9. Amy: Yay, that's great!

    Valentina: That's okay! Out-of-print and language shouldn't stop you. People would still want to hear all about it, I am sure!

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  10. I think this sounds great! I would join in for sure!

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  11. Melwyk: Great! I am getting excited now...

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  12. I'll join in Kelly! What a clever idea. :)

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  13. I'm in too, the only problem is choosing one book which struck me so meaningfully! I'm sure I can come up with something. Shall we just post as we see fit in June and July, or are you thinking of creating a schedule?

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Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

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