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Original poster

A little Princess, Ballet Shoes - what age?

16 replies

Jeffa · 19/03/2009 10:31

I remember these as one of favourite books as a child, but I can't remember what age I read it at.

The youngest I nanny for is 6, with a reading age of 7.9.

Is this too young? She hasn't seen the film of little princess, although I have it. Rather she read the book first.

Current favourites are

The Worst Witch
Midnight Library series
My naughty little sister
Its not fair (etc)series
Famous Five

OP posts:
Kathyis6incheshigh · 19/03/2009 10:34

I read A Little Princess at 6. It's one of those books where the story is just so absorbing it motivates you to get through it despite not being an easy read at that age.

BonsoirAnna · 19/03/2009 10:36

My DD (4.4) adores the film of A Little Princess, and the film of The Secret Garden. And she can talk about the story from the film. I think that the stories are appropriate for quite little children - you could definitely give your 6 year old charge those books, or even read them to/with her.

LadyGlencoraPalliser · 19/03/2009 10:39

Yes, I would say she is too young to really enjoy reading these independently yet. About nine would be right for them, based on my DD1 and DD2. DD1, who had a very high reading age (5years+ above her chronological age) loved them at this age. DD2 who has just turned nine, loves them both but finds them a bit of a struggle to read alone as her reading age isn't so high - but I have read Ballet Shoes aloud to her and she has an audio book of A Little Princess.
My youngest DD who is six, and again with a very high reading age, is really enjoying the Mr Gum books at the moment. Also Enid Blyton's Naughtiest Girl in the School series - WH Smith are doing a box set of the 10 books in the series for £11 atm, which is incredible value.

Original poster
Jeffa · 19/03/2009 10:44

Ooh I didn't think of Mr Gum. She like Mr Majelika and we had a Mr Gum book from the library at the same time, but think it went back before read it.
She is 7 soon, so I may get the Naughtiest Girl ones for then.

Thanks

OP posts:
NormaJeanBaker · 19/03/2009 10:46

I read A Little Princess to DD1 when she was 4 coming up to 5 and she loved it. She plays a lot of Sara in the attic games. Hasn't seen the film yet. Couldn't read them herself for some time yet though.

LadyGlencoraPalliser · 19/03/2009 10:51

When you say your children have watched A Little Princess do you mean the 1996 one with Eleanor Bron or the Shirley Temple version?
We have both and I have a slight nostalgic fondness for the Shirley Temple version (although the 1996 film is clearly far better) but the children hate it. They quite like her in Heidi though!

BonsoirAnna · 19/03/2009 11:03

The 1996 version - she loves it.

My DD is 4.4 and I buy a lot of DVDs for her as we live in France and I want her to hear decent English on a daily basis. Had we lived in England I would have undoubtedly held out for the book first - but hey ho, these are the compromises that bilingualism makes one settle for.

It is actually very interesting to see how much vocabulary she acquires from the DVDs she watches. Now I know that it is all rubbish that language cannot be acquired from watching TV.

Takver · 19/03/2009 18:03

DD is age 6 nearly 7 and has read both, and liked them a lot. She liked White Boots even better.

Karamazov · 19/03/2009 18:29

My DD is 5 1/2 and has a similar reading age. She loves the worst witch books, but wasn't ready yet for the fanous five. She found naughty amelia jane that little bit easier to read. HTH

Takver · 19/03/2009 20:09

Will have to look out for the Little Princess film - we both enjoyed the recent-ish version of Ballet Shoes, even though they have taken some alarming liberties with the story

LilianGish · 19/03/2009 20:28

Both excellent and I remember loving both in my childhood, but had forgotten, until I started reading to dd, how complicated and old-fashioned some of the language is (certainly compared with the other books you list). I would say good for reading aloud, but possibly a bit difficult to tackle on her own. Wasn't that keen on the Little Princess film - the version I saw (Eleanor Bron?) was set in America which felt quite wrong to me. Do love the film of The Secret Garden though - another great classic book for little girls.

LadyGlencoraPalliser · 20/03/2009 11:55

We loved the TV version of Ballet Shoes too, Takver. I think it was because they got the atmosphere right, even if the plot went a bit off at a tangent.

acebaby · 21/03/2009 20:39

I think that White Boots is a little easier than Ballet Shoes. If she is sporty, she will love Tennis shoes (out of print, but available from abebooks). I don't know about reading independently because my children are a lot younger.

Another possibility is Malory Towers. I know some people don't like the Enid Blyton school stories, but I loved them at that age (and still read them now if I can't sleep )

acebaby · 21/03/2009 20:40

oh forgot to say - avoid the film of Little Princess until she has read it because the ending is very different (the father turns out not to have died).

UniS · 25/03/2009 22:05

Thank you ladies, you have just made my choice of B/D pressie for niece (10) even harder- so many good books and only one birthday a year...

Hulababy · 25/03/2009 22:08

My 6y DD enjoys reading

Horrid Henry
My Naughty Little Sister
Daisy and the trouble with.....
Worst Witch
Winne and .....

Will look into some of the others seen here.

DD has abriidged versions of things like The Secret Garden, and we recently started sharing my old copy of the prper story.

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