Introducing classical literature early to develop an appetite for it

Early Learning Early Learning General Discussions
1

I recently talked to someone who taught her son to read as a baby (now 14 and doing amazing! - that’s what made me ask what she did with him). Something we discussed though - was that he has never been into classical literature. She didn’t really start with it until around age 7, and sometimes he was into it, but mostly - he just doesn’t have the appetite for it (topic came about from discussing age appropriate material during elementry years).

I’ve been thinking about reading classical literature aloud to my son (almost 2) for awhile to develop his appetite for those type books (and build vocabulary), but have held off because I thought it’d be better to focus on picture books that were at his level. After this conversation, I think I’ll dive in and start reading these higher level books while he plays. Any one else doing this? Any thoughts?

2

I don’t know what benefit reading advanced/adult-level literature would have if a child is taking it in passively. It probably wouldn’t hurt, and it might improve vocabulary, but I’m not sure it would help the child develop a taste for the stuff, because the child isn’t able to understand it, of course. You know, I’m sure you could ask actual reading experts about that, and they would have interesting things to say…I vaguely remember reading supportive comments about this sort of reading in some book(s) I read.

If by “classical literature” you mean classical children’s literature that your child can actually understand (on some level), then FWIW I’m totally in favor of that. I’m absolutely positive that our reading of such stuff has given my boy a taste for more of it, and has also improved his vocabulary.

We started reading chapter books regularly at bedtime just before his third birthday (a year ago). In the time since then, we’ve read the following “children’s classics” (among other chapter books that aren’t exactly “classics,” as well as some easy-to-read adaptations of more advanced literature):

Atwater, Richard. Mr. Popper’s Penguins. 4.9
Collodi, Carlo. Adventures of Pinocchio. 4.2 (twice)
Dalgliesh, Alice. The Bears on Hemlock Mountain. 3.5x.
Gannett, Ruth Stile. My Father’s Dragon. 4.8
Gannett, Ruth Stile. Elmer and the Dragon. 4.7
Gannett, Ruth Stile. The Dragons of Blueland. 4.6
Le Guin, Ursula. Catwings. 4.5
O’Brien, Robert C. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nihm. 5.8 (just finished this last night!)
Stevenson, R. L. A Child’s Garden of Verses.
Warner, Gertrude. Boxcar Children. 3.2
Wilder, Laura I. Little House in the Big Woods. 4.2
White, E.B. Charlotte’s Web. 4.9 (twice)
White, E.B. Stuart Little. 3.9 (think this was our first chapter book)
White, E. B. The Trumpet of the Swan. 5.1 (second time)

(The numbers refer to the grade level; 4.5 means equivalent to halfway through the 4th grade.)

Your child might be different, of course, but I am pretty sure mine wouldn’t have been ready for any of these books when he was just below two years old. We were still doing strictly picture books, although I think we might have been doing Winnie-the-Pooh at the time. But we were always, to a certain extent, “pushing the envelope” in terms of reading level. I mean we weren’t always reading above his head, because that really would turn him off, but we always had a good number of selections available that would “stretch” him.

What has surprised me repeatedly is his taste for advanced stuff out of the blue. It is very hard to predict. For example, a few days ago, we were looking at the books on the bookshelf, and I noticed this stack of Tintin books (remember Tintin? It might be a boy thing) that I had got at a library book sale. I got them something like a year ago, when I knew Henry wouldn’t be interested in them (and he wasn’t, then). But then we got one out the other day, “The Shooting Star,” and lo and behold, he was very curious about it and it held his attention unusually well. We’re almost done with that. Anyway, this is pretty advanced, and I’m very sure that Henry didn’t understand a lot of it, but I explained a lot of things, and asked him a few questions, and he seemed to be getting it. (For example, I asked him where the ship was going, and he said to the Arctic, and then I asked why they were going there, and he said to find the meteorite that crashed there.)

What I do is, I start reading just a few pages of a book to him and see if he likes it. I say, “We’ll read just a little of this, maybe a page, and if you don’t like it, then we’ll stop.” So for every half-dozen books that we try this, he says “yes” to just one, but that is enough for him to keep us going in books that teach him a lot, and which he is interested in. To take another example, just before his third birthday, I happened to get a copy of “Stuart Little” and tried it out on him in this way. I was pretty amazed that he liked it and wanted to read it nightly. This is definitely a book more for 8-12 year olds, and again I am very sure that he didn’t catch a lot of the nuance, and I’m sure he’ll benefit from reading it again when he’s older. But on the other hand, he must have gotten a fair bit out of it because it definitely held his attention.

My notion is that if you continue to “push the envelope” in this way, while of course focusing most of the reading on stuff that is right at the child’s level, then you can make relatively quick progress, if you want to.

The way I figure it, if the child is reading literary classics written for children, and has good experiences with those, then they make a nice stepping stone all the way up to adult literature. He began with Winnie-the-Pooh, and after a year was able to take Stuart Little on board, and lately he again surprised me with his enthusiasm for Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. After this it’s an easy step to The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, The Jungle Book, A Wrinkle in Time maybe, and the first couple Harry Potter books. Then after more time and reading, he’ll be ready for Tom Sawyer, Johnny Tremain, the Narnia books, the more advanced Harry Potter books, etc., and after that Watership Down, David Copperfield, Treasure Island. After that it’s really not so much reading and vocabulary level that matter as accessibility of themes. If a kid can like Treasure Island, and get past the maybe archaic-sounding language (it’s archaic-sounding only if you’re not used to reading that), then he’ll soon be plenty prepared to appreciate things like Shakespeare and Austen.

3

Wow - I’m very impressed at your list of bedtime books for a three year-old. And, yes, I was thinking classical children’s books, such as the ones you have listed. I suppose I still underestimate what a 3 yr-old can do/understand. I still wonder, though, how you made the bridge from colorful picture books to chapter books at such a young age. Was it hard for him to not always have a picture to look at? Did he have a time limit at first - maybe, get fidgety after 10 minutes or so?? Did you (or do you) still run your finger along the words?

I assumed we wouldn’t be at the point of reading these type books side-by-side for quite a few years! Actually, I might have assumed we wouldn’t be reading longer books exactly side-by-side much at all…more that he would just be drawing or something while I read. I never really had longer books read to me growing up (parents read the picture books to me and I read the longer books - sounds very backwards!), so I don’t have an good example of what’s that’s like (at school, of course, we listened from our desk or something similar).

When I first read your response, I thought “Well, it still can’t hurt at all to be exposed to the language of the higher level books - just like listening to adults having a conversation and picking up on the vocabulary.” Now…I’m wondering if I would be starting some sort of habit of tuning out?? Do you think that’s a possiblity? I’m still just very impressed a 3 year-old can pay attention to a non-picture book next to you for that long! Maybe I just don’t give a 3 yr-old enough credit. My 1 yr-old can pay attention to picture books for over an hour at a time…so who knows what next year will be like! If you can give any detials about making the transition or what your bedtime reading looks like, that would be great!

4

my tina would sit from around 3 years of age and enjoy chapter books read to her . picture books she memorized them and recite them while i read them now for her brother . i was about to write to dad dude when i saw your post TheyCan .
you rlist of books has been big help for me . i am very unfamiliar with english classics , i grew up on french literature . so when i was pregnant i asked an english friend who homeschooled all 4 kids and are now in university what titles she would recommend and i had my first amazon big order , many of the books i got were not baby books but more classics for parents to read to their kids , some tina was interested in at around 2 and some i waited till she was three to introduce .to save me on shipping and cost i try to get a whole collection of a specific author , like when i first heard about curious George from you dad dude , before i had 2 board books but than i went ahead and bought the whole series in one book .
tina loved your charlotte web presentations , and we listened together to the audio book , she asked for the book and a friend got it for her on her birthday , i was very disapointed the words were so small hard for me to read and i have no eye problem, i wouldn’t enjoy reading this book myself at bedtime so i returned it and went online and found the read aloud version , tina is alright with not many pictures but still like to have some , so i doubt she will enjoy books with no pictures at all . i like to buy more of your list of classics but we often find different versions of the same classic and will be very helpful if you say which one you enjoyed with your son .
the books i read for tina are not the simple picture books , are long with many chapters but still have lots of beautiful illustrations TheyCan , maybe you should look for those .
viv

5

Thank you for your response! I’m really excited now about what I’ll get to enjoy with my son in about a year! You’re right that I didn’t think about how many classic chapter books have great illustrations. Question though - do you point to the words while you read?

There are a lot of good lists out there to get familar with classic titles. I got this book - http://www.amazon.com/Hand-That-Rocks-Cradle-Children/dp/0974531545. It certainly helps though to see what another little boy was interested in reading!

On a different topic - the boy I mentioned in my first post…the mother said she only focused on reading when he was little and didn’t worry about math. When he was about six, he was tested and they said he was outstanding in math - she expected them to say reading. It really shocked her and she put a focus on math from them on. He took AP calc at 12 and now, at 14, is taking calc 3 at the local college. Just thought I’d share!

6

I was also surprised to find that my daughter enjoyed small chapter books at 27/28 months. We had been reading the picture books of Little House on the Prairie, and then I found some small abridged chapter books of Little House on the Prairie. I would read a chapter at bedtime and she loved the small chapter books. It might have helped that she was familiar with the characters and the content from the small picture books, so it was a natural transition. When we finish all the small chapter books - I have 3 more - then I might try moving onto the full unabridged versions of Little House on the Prairie.

I read a book on the ‘Trivium’ concept of home schooling. It discusses encouraging an early love of classical literature by finding children books of the classics and then slowly working they way up to the original book. I like the idea, but other than Little House on the Prairie, have yet to pursue it further.

Thank you DadDude for your list of classical books.

7

TheyCan - I’ve actually read that it is beneficial to read all sorts of things to your child, regardless of whether you think they will understand it or not. It helps them understand the flow of the language. I definitely think early exposure helps to create interest. My son has loved books since he was very little. He is surprisingly good with the pages, too. Aside from two books which he destroyed, he was very good with all his other books. He flips gently through them because I’ve always taught him to respect his books.

I cultivated my son’s interested in reading by focusing on stuff he enjoyed. He was mad about Thomas the Tank Engine - still is! - so I bought him the entire original series by Rev W Awdry, and even the follow up book written by his son Christopher Awdry. My son can sit down and listen to several books at a time and this was before he was two. The original stories aren’t exactly easy children’s reading material either. In fact, my son loved the series so much that I bought the BBC audio recording by Michael Angelis to play in the car. It keeps my son entertained for the entire journey and gives us some peace!

I have wanted to get him interested in the classics - I am starting to read Chapman’s Homer out loud while the kids play. I also have Hans Christian Andersen’s entire works. My older son’s interests are very focused so I don’t really know how well it would go. If it is train related, I’m sure he’d listen. Anything else is questionable. Then again, we did discover that he was also open to Dr Seuss books, so I guess the key is exposure. Just keep offering and have it running in the background. If all the stuff I’ve read about right brain goes, then they are absorbing it like little sponges even if they seem to be busy with other things.

8

Thank-you for the great list! I found a few of them at a garage sale this past weekend. And I started to read my almost 5 year old Charlotte’s Web. He seemed to focus if I had him read words he knew, but if I just read it to him he lost interest fast. I’m going to try doing a chapter a day and see how it goes.
Thanks again to yu Dadude and everyone else. Karma to you all!

9

Shirley Hughes english author has beautifully illustrated books not really picture books , could be used as a bridge between picture books and chapter books , my daughter loves them , we started when she was 2 with simple ones , and now she can sit for long stretch for longer more advanced stories . her books are available individually but to save on cost and shipping i bought the whole collection in one book . i highly recommend them . your kids would love them .
viv

10

Thank you for the responses! I have two Shirley Hughes books on hold at the library to take a look at them!!

Also…I know this is crazy…but I just “discovered” bedtime reading. We’ve been doing most of our reading during the day and didn’t think twice about it since we were doing so much of it! However, I just found that I can read books with longer text to him right before bed. I’m excited :).

11

my son let’s me read almost anything to him at bedtime. Part of it is he just wants to stall bedtime, but hey I’ll take it!

12

around 2 to 3 we read a lot during the day but my daughter is really physical and suddenly with her physical abilities growing she is too busy to sit and read . i felt bad missing on those 30 + books reading all through the day but understood it is a developmental stage . sometimes i joke and say our books are filling our shelves and we are too busy finding time to read them , maybe we should pack them away . and she was almost in tears how could you mama think of that don’t take my books away please , she said mama please no i love my books i love to read i will do it later, when i am not too busy . and for her she was really busy, busy jumping on the trampoline , busy pretending she is a princess, or a doctor , or fire fighter , busy cooking in the kitchen , busy teasing her little brother, moving toys from one room to the other, playing school , and she is so cute saying I am going to work . for a while recently the only time she would settle for a book is when she is exhausted . even than she started choosing an educational dvd like signing time , or brain pop junior, and when we are done with all that she lays down in bed with a book and even though she does look tired she wants to read and it was going on till after 10 pm . than i had to put on some rules . she has to figure out time to read earlier and lights should go off by nine thirty maximum . it was hard to understand and broke my heart that i would put the light off before we even had the chance to read. but our kids need our help sometimes they cannot figure it out on their own . with my husband’s help we try to get int o the bedroom earlier and start reading . and now i try to just hold a book and read even if she is not sitting with me , she can be playing in her room i just grab a book and read aloud . just to keep the reading going .
good luck let me know how do you like shirley hughes but remember they are different levels , so choose according to your son’s interest.
love
viv