This is going to be one of those all over the place sorts of posts because believe it or not, I don’t have any books to share today. February, at least the last couple of weeks of it, has been sort of topsy-turvy, with out-of-the-house appointments at odd times of the day which have made our normal schedule impossible to keep. Thus, we haven’t been reading as many picture books as usual, and the last week or so I’ve just been focusing on finishing A Little Princess during what read-aloud time we’ve had.
With that introduction, I want to ask a question of you Maud Hart Lovelace fans in particular. March’s Reading to Know Bookclub selection is anything by Maud Hart Lovelace, and while I plan to read something for my own enjoyment, I was wondering if any of the Maud Hart Lovelace novels I haven’t read yet to my girls are age-appropriate for an almost 9 year old and a 7 year old. So far we’ve read
I read BTT Go Downtown to my 3 girls (6, 7 and 8) and I thought it was fine. It wasn’t my favorite BTT book but not because there was anything objectionable — the storyline just didn’t grab me as much as in the previous stories. My girls enjoyed it though. In this story, the girls are about 12 years old and that wasn’t a problem at all. The story involved the B,T and T seeing their first automobile and my girls got a kick out of that. I believe this was the book where an older sister had a boyfriend but I didn’t find it inappropriate. There may also have been a hint of B,T or T being interested in a boy but I don’t remember needing to skip any parts of the book I try to be conservative about not letting my girls hear much about romance yet (even though they seem pre-programmed as girls to be drawn to it!). My disclaimer is that I read this last summer so my memory may be forgetting some details 🙂
From what I remember, and from what I have recommended to others, I think it would be fine for the girls. I usually tell folks to read the first four now (+ Winona) and save all the rest for later on. : ) We’re reading Winona here. : )
I had hopes of having something up today since we finished The Railway Children by E. Nesbit and the day’s not done yet … but I don’t know that I’ll make it. Blogging has slipped to the side in the urgency of what needs to be tackled. : )
I agree with the other commenters…I think there’s a much bigger jump between Downtown and the high school books than between big hill and downtown, as far as maturity/audience. That being said, my daughter did recently say she enjoyed Downtown much more on a recent re-read than when we first read them (when she was about six). 🙂
I’m reading MHL’s Gentleman from England right now for myself. I’m liking it, but maybe not as much as I hoped.
I agree, go for it with B and T Downtown! This is one series my boys had no interest in and I can’t wait to read with my daughter.
I think BT Downtown was my last favorite in the series. (I didn’t care for them so much as teens but they were still somewhat little girls then.) But I don’t have any remarkably detailed memories of the book and your other commentors do, so you are likely set.
It also makes me feel a little better that you also didn’t have any books to share this week. I need to get crackin’ on writing up some posts!