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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to be completely hing up on wanting a series of books.

36 replies

Kafri · 08/05/2013 10:34

I know I should just move on but I can't get them out of my head.

I had a set of books as a child which I absolutely loce and really want the same set for when my ds is old enough but I know my chances of finding them are slim

it was a set of kids versions of classics like tom sawyer and huck finn in hardback.

it will be at least 15 years ago now - more like 20 id guess but I just can't shift the idea that i want the same set. Silly i know....

OP posts:

thegreylady · 10/05/2013 10:24

Stig is wonderful and most of the Nesbits. I never said all the old books are tired-I specifically avoided saying that. I also mentioned reading aloud as being a good way for dc to enjoy books. I was an avid reader and at seven was dipping into Dickens. I read lots of 'classics' because that, along with Angela Brazil is what I was given. Obviously many are terrific but not all. Look at the 'one off wonders ' and ask why that author only ever had one memorable book. I challenge you all to go back and read an unabridged version of Children of the New Forest or especially Coral Island and honestly say a child would enjoy it today. Mark Twain I give you (maybe) :-) How about Swiss Family Robinson or Uncle Tom's Cabin?Neither is a book that I'd be comfortable offering to a child.

magicstar1 · 10/05/2013 10:27

I have those ones too Hobbes8...I have the What Katy Did series in them too.

snuffaluffagus · 10/05/2013 10:34

I have that set of books too, they're all on a shelf at my parents' house. I loved them! They did come out as a series with magazines as mentioned so I'm not sure if they'll still be available to buy.

Original poster

Kafri · 10/05/2013 10:35

reading back about the magazine red, blue covers. They didn't have leather (real or otherwise) covers. They had thick cardboard covers and no sleeve. They had a bright coloured covers with a colour picture depicting the story. Defo not helpful at all as a heck of a lot of books have all this on them.

OP posts:

twirlyagogo · 10/05/2013 10:56

Absolutely get what thegreylady is saying. Bought my youngest a beautiful set of Narnia books, lovely new covers, really engaging-looking books - started to read them . . . they're awful. Really, really bad. I don't remember them being like that, but maybe that's just because I devoured anything and went through every book the library had, possibly not recognising what was good or what wasn't .

Am currently going through my shelves as part of decluttering and rereading everything, only keeping what I know I'll go back to - can't believe how awful some of the 'classics' are, but I still feel that pull to them that the OP describes.

DoubleMum · 10/05/2013 11:08

Twirly I'm with you, I had a box set of Narnia books that I desperately wanted, and treasured, but with the exception of the first they are not that good. Children's publishing is so much better now, Harry Potter opened the floodgates and allowed editors to commission so much more than they were able to before, as there's money in it now.

valiumredhead · 10/05/2013 11:12

I have a hardbacked edition of Tom Sawyer - let me just say I had to do some serious editing when I read it to ds!!

I agree about the Narnia books - LWAW and the Magician's Nephew were great but the rest are just wordy waffle.

twirlyagogo · 10/05/2013 11:16

valiumredhead - the frantic editing while reading . . . recognise that all too well, but I was really stretched with Narnia as there's nothing left once you start doing that!

I agree that there is a lot of fantastic stuff about now. When you start reading your kid's books on your own it's a good sign . . .

valiumredhead · 10/05/2013 11:20

I have up in the end and just read it as it was written twirly but ds was so horrified even at 6 years old we gave up, it's an outdated book imo for today's kids. The only thing it did do was open discussion for they way we do NOT treat people nowadays so not all bad

FlouncyMcFlouncer · 10/05/2013 13:24

Have you tried a Google image search? For example keying in 'Tom Sawyer hardback' and then searching by image may bring up one you recognise and from there you can go on to identifying publisher etc.

5Foot5 · 10/05/2013 13:37

I think many of the "tired old tales" can be tackled much better as bed time stories rather than giving them to the child to read themselves. We had some wonderful times re-visiting our old favourites when reading to DD. Not everything worked - but some of the books we abandoned were "modern" . (Edge Chronicles - yeugh!)

I am not just talking about "classics" either. We have revelled in Jennings stories, Narnia, Little House on the Prairie - oh and the wonderful "The Children Who Lived in a Barn".

Our DD has been an avid reader all her life and I think has a fairly open mind about what she will read.

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