I was debating which blog to post this on, and decided since I have some readers who read only one or the other to put it on both.
One of the great things about being a homeschool mom is that reading books is part of my job. I have been able to revisit some of my favorites from childhood and young adulthood, as well as encountering many wonderful books for the first time as an adult.
I love book lists because they help jog my memory; they remind me of those books that I want to read or reread, or that the kids have not yet read. Tonight as I was catching up with things at Mere Comments, I came across this post. This is a nice book list and the comments have more suggestions.
What books do you think are necessities that didn't make this list? Any on the list you think don't belong? On my book list that I used for my children's literacy talks I included a list for preschool. What would you put on that?
What books do you think are necessary for basic cultural literacy?
2 comments:
It's becoming apparent to me that the books often currently recommended for children (excepting that NEH list; that's a great collection of books)are books that adults think kids will "relate to." A previous generation felt that children's books should give children stories to be "inspired by" and "aspire to."
Of course, there should be room in everyone's reading for what Charlotte Mason calls "twaddle," but it's sad that the current generation of educators seems to feel that twaddle is all children can handle.
This is such a great topic, Jane--I have been wanting to really look at the list and give it some thought and jot down some ideas, but I just haven't had the time that I would like to do so. So here are a couple of "off the top of my head" observations: I would put more McCloskey and add Cynthia Rylant (Mudge, Poppleton) to the first list (and to a preschool list). I think the other lists are excellent--it's so hard these days to identify absolutes when it comes to cultural literacy because there is just so much to choose from anymore. But I think you have to have Shakespeare and Huckleberry Finn (they're both on the list). For the high school list I would probably add Paradise Lost (at least an excerpt).
There. That's all I can come up with right now. I'll be back if I think of more!
(P.S. I started The Road on vacation but then got sidetracked--hoping to get back to it soon!)
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