A family friend recently gave my daughter a few (revised) Nancy Drew books. What a thrill! I remember reading these, and the Hardy Boys, as a child. While I have been reading to her from other classics, she is hearing the stories, but not understanding enough to get "lost in the book," so to speak. She can hear the words, but she doesn't feel connected to them or the story. I hope these Nancy Drew classics help my daughter gain more interest in reading (she dislikes both reading and writing) and expose her to well-written literature she can understand.
Most of the modern kid's "literature" I've been previewing is not well written even if popular. Many also describe innapropriate behavior, attitudes, and scenes. I thought, at first, that if she got interested in reading, she could progress to better literature. There is a fad she has gotten into, and I let her get the book... But when I ask her about the story, she only desecribes fashion, make-up, and worry about boys. The kids in the story do not have relationships with their parents, and they do not deal with real issues, but just various forms of giving into peer pressure and group acceptance. She also never asked me about new words while reading that modern book. But, in the first chapter of a Nancy Drew, she has already asked me about several words and what a sentence means.
I found an intersting article on the womanly example of Nancy Drew (Nancy Drew and True Womanhood) that confirmed my feelings on the difference between the young woman in this series compared to the young women portrayed in many of the popular modern children's books.
I loved Nancy Drew growing up! :) My boys haven't made the jump to her stories yet, but they have enjoyed the Hardy Boys, lol.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand your need for finding stories that will motivate your daughter to WANT to read. I had the same problem with my son a couple of years ago. One of his biggest hold-ups was physically holding the books he wanted to read. He disliked how heavy or thick they were, and he was always intimidated by how many pages were left versus how many he had already read. We solved that problem by getting him an eReader. :D
Another bump - he enjoyed popular series recommended by the librarians, but the main characters (or at least the ones that were children) were always public school kids. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but he couldn't exactly relate to all the talk of classes, homework, etc, lol.
I found a website called Homeschool Literature (http://www.homeschoolliterature.com), and it's been a fantastic resource. Their tagline is "books about homeschoolers, and by homeschoolers." My son found a few books about homeschoolers that he liked, but he also found some great inspiration and motivation in checking out the authors that were homeschooled.
Sorry...that was long winded. I never have been able to figure out how to "cliff notes" anything, lol.
Happy reading to you and your daughter! :)
Katie