Wordful Wednesday: A Treasury of Children’s Literature
(Scheduled post whiffed again. Better late than never.)
We realized at some point that Ethan’s education in Fairy Tales and Fantasy Stories has been somewhat lacking. And then I saw that A Treasury of Children’s Literature, edited by Armand Eisen, was on our Recommended Reads list, and also in our Home Library.
So now Ethan has a nice background in American Tales, such as John Henry, Paul 
Bunyan, and (his favorite by a mile) Br’er Rabbit. He’s also gotten a smattering of Hans Christian Anderson (The Emperor’s New Clothes a clear winner here) and Aesop’s Fables and traditional tales like Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, and the Three Billy Goats Gruff.
There are also a couple of short sections of nursery rhymes, and I’ll admit I still don’t get why anyone should be interested in the goings-on of the Cat with the Fiddle or a moon-jumping cow. But it was nice that Ethan recognized Humpty Dumpty when he was featured on Ace of Cakes.
The one real sour note in the collection was a section of excerpts from larger works. I’m sure that Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is excellent, and I’d actually like to read The Wind in the Willows, but how is a young child supposed to enjoy an excerpt from something taken completely out of context?
(Okay, true, Ethan liked the short bit from Peter Pan.)
So now I guess we can go to Enchanted Forest and enjoy ourselves.
September 17th, 2009 - 18:15
Ha! I remember doing a crash course in fairy tales and rhymes just before visiting Enchanted Forest for the first time with my oldest son.
We also have a storybook land thing at our local fairgrounds around Christmas time. The first time we went it occurred to me that Levi had a serious gap in his education…
A Treasury of Children’s Literature sounds like a fabulous crash course, though I don’t care for exerpts, either. Thanks for the review!
September 18th, 2009 - 08:06
It was a lot of fun for me, too, because several of the tales were Disney-adapted at one point or another, and the source stories were somewhat different from the movies. Shocker, I know.
September 27th, 2009 - 07:33
Just a little comment here – Courtney is in the play “Alice in Wonderland” in a couple of weeks. The little community theater in town changed their lingo to include “we have dentists…” She just wanted to pursue more of her interests now that she’s not in school for the first time in her life! It’s the “traditional” Alice story – we’re all excited to see it!