More Book Talk
We arrived home last night to a fun package from Suse of Pea Soup. Suse and I had been corresponding about our children's Waldorf experiences. It was fun to compare Australia to Vermont and discover that our children (who are about the same age) are having very similar educations. I asked her if she or her sons had read any good stories about Robin Hood, King Arthur, or tales of Medieval life as that's next for Hels in school. She suggested some Enid Blyton for Hels and A Year of Wonders for me.
I read Enid Blyton's entire "Famous Five" series when I was a child. My parents would bring them back whenever they went to England. I loved how this pack of children would head out on grand adventures with delicious picnic baskets and torches to solve various mysteries. We read one last summer and the girls were on the edge of their seats as much as I had been as a child. This set I found at a local thrift shop and am saving for our summer vacation.
It's really hard to find Enid Blyton in the U.S.A. A few months ago, Suse wrote that she had found some Enid Blyton tales of Robin Hood and King Arthur at her local op shop. Yesterday, they arrived all the way from Melbourne. Not only had she sent tales of Robin Hood, but another volume filled with Greek Myths and tales of the Arabian Nights. What a treat!! I'm really, really happy to get Hels out of contemporary fantasy fiction and into these books for awhile.
Suse--thank you so much. We're saving the chocolate for the airplane tomorrow. And to all the commenters about books for me--thank you too! I've got a nice little stack for the beach. I CAN'T WAIT TO GET AWAY FROM MUD AND SLOPPY SNOW!!!
What a lovely package to get in the mail! I just looked back at all the comments on your last post- I'm sure glad you asked that question, there are so many interesting titles people listed. Have fun at the beach!
Any time you can't find a book, check out BookMooch. Lots of people are willing to mail stuff from overseas...I've gotten some wonderful books from Australia, for example.
The Famous Five looks great. I may have to scope those out.
Have a wonderful vacation!
Always a relief to see things arrive safely. And in time for your holiday to the sun!
Enjoy them.
What a cool exchange. I loved Enid Blyton books, especially the Mallory Towers series. I was living in the Cook Islands at the time, it was balmy and tropical and there I was reading about English boarding schools with snow and ice!
I'll be looking Enid Blyton, especially the Robin Hood one-- my guy would LOVE that. We need a good historical perspective for that little boy obsession with good guys/bad guys and the inevtiable interest in weapons. The more you lecture against weapons, the more interested they become in it. It's really a delimna. I'm wanting to get him a nice wooden bow and arrow set. I think it would be a good outlet and really good for motor skills and concentration. Especially since he watched much of the process of my partner building a real bow last fall.