Tomorrow is World Book Day. We are supposed to take a favourite book in to school and say why we like it. I don't think I could get away with taking in my Bible - although it is obviously my favourite book, and I read it every day...
Bob suggested I take 'Little Women' on the grounds that I was one of them!
Actually that isn't a bad suggestion. I love the book and have done since childhood. I introduced it to my two when they were quite young as well - and in 2004 we actually went to the Alcott home in Orchard House, Concord, Massachusetts. We saw the very desk where Louisa sat to write this wonderful story.
The four sisters are Meg, Amy, Beth and Jo. Meg is the sensible homebody, Amy the youngest, is an artistic, fashion conscious girl, Beth the pianist, is sweet and shy and dies young - and Jo is the tomboy who is outspoken and has a passion for writing. I always wanted to be Jo!! And I loved the 1933 film with Katharine Hepburn in that role. You can see the Little Women Trailer here
One colleague suggested that it probably wasn't a book we could recommend at primary school because it was rather long and the language was too difficult. I didn't like to say that I gave it to my daughter when she was only seven and she loved it!
But then my two went to school dressed as Bobby and Phyl from "The Railway Children" on World Book Day when they were at Primary School [that was their choice] and even then [1990] the teachers said they were unusual - most of the children were Disney Characters like "The Little Mermaid" or "Snow White".Children didn't seem to realise that books were around before films!
Let's have less of this dumbing down, and more proper, CLASSIC children's literature!! I shall be interested in what books my class turn up with [hope I don't have to endure a whole day of High School Musical!]
As children my 2 daughters loved acting out "Little Women" with their 2 girl cousins. On the he other hand my younger daughter hasn't really progressed much past "Anne of Green Gables" and "Little house on the Prairie" . We went to see Kate Winslet in "The Reader" last weekend which I thought was an indcredibely moving and well acted film but she found terribly depressing.
ReplyDeleteHear Hear! When I was young my favouriate books were very varied, but I can't remember any that had Disney characters in them! I think if I had dressed up for World Book Day at age 7, I would have been an Enid Blyton character - I was obsessed!
ReplyDeleteOh, I loved--and love--Little Women so much. In fact, I still read it every few years. My favorite film version is the one with Margeret O'Brien. She seems like a perfect Jo to me.
ReplyDeleteThere weren't as many Disney films around when I was young, but I saw Snow White at an impressionable age and loved playing the Wicked Queen at home, just so I could say, "Mirror, mirror on the wall ..."
frances