Best Kids Books

5 Comments

1. Barb Mechalke
   Posted November 30, 1999 at 2:00 am | Permalink

   A Classic, One of My Favorites as a Child as Well as a Parent

   I loved this book when I was a child. It was one of my all-time favorites and I couldn’t wait to read it to my daughter when she was old enough…We just finished it today and it is as wonderful as it was 30+ years ago.

   This is the story about the love between a father and a son. Danny and his father run a filling station and live in a very modest “gypsie” caravan next to the station’s workshop, Danny’s mother died when he was a baby. Danny’s father adores him, one night he takes him into his confidence and tells him that he been out poaching pheasants from the rich and unlikable Victor Hazell’s property. Well, of course, Danny wants to be included and masterminds a wonderful scheme to poach a record number of Hazell’s pheasants.

   My daughter and I certainly talked about the fact that poaching is stealing and stealing is wrong and that it would never be okay for someone to steal in real life…

   But that certainly didn’t stop us from rooting for Danny and his father and enjoying their triumph over the hated Victor Hazell.

   We loved the wonderful story telling, the sweetness of the love between a parent and a child and the good old fashioned triumphing of the underdog.

   If you are looking for a special book to read with your child I would urge you to try this. I loved it when I was a child and I loved reading it to my daughter, I can’t wait to read it to my son.

2. David M Fischer
   Posted November 30, 1999 at 7:00 am | Permalink

   One of My Favorite Books

   In this book Danny lives with his father in a caravan. They spend time together building flaming balloons, fixing cars, and walking to and from school. Danny loves his father so much that it never crosses his mind that his father might be hiding something from him. It turns out, Danny’s father has an exciting secret– he sneaks out at night to poach pheasants on the land of his wealthy neighbors! Once Danny figures out this secret, his father teaches him to poach pheasants with the best of them. The book culminates with Danny and his father’s attempt to spoil the pheasant-hunting event of the mean Mr. Hazel, their neighbor. If they can get all the pheasants on Mr. Hazel’s land before the event, they’ll exact revenge on Mr. Hazel. But danger lurks around every corner on this exciting mission!
   
   This is a work of fiction that runs between 220-250 pages, depending on the edition. It’s a wonderful book that shows a deep and moving love between father and son. I have read it to my 6th grade students, my own nephews, and my nieces. Every child I have ever read it to loved it for its wholesome excitement and vivid detail. This book is probably best for 8-12 year old children depending on their reading ability. Although so many children love this book, some may find that its plot is too simple. There are very few sub-plots, so the book is there’s not a lot to stretch a child’s capacity to understand complex plot structure.
   
   All in all, this is a wonderful book full of suspense, love, and excitement.
   
   Danny, Champion of the World. Puffin. Roald Dahl, Illustrated by Quentin Blake. This most recent version was published in August, 2007.
   

3. Quickhappy
   Posted November 30, 1999 at 7:36 am | Permalink

   Stellar storytelling from the master: a beautiful reflection on the child-parent relationship

   Danny is a poor child, who has lost his mother. But thanks largely to his father’s spirit and strength, Danny lives a life that is rich and purposeful. With his father Danny finds the magic in late-night snacks and walks in the wood. He learns to cherish the simple things all around him and the great joy in being with a loved one. All of these things are greatly heightened in the novel’s core pursuit: the game of poaching pheasants. Danny discovers with his father the excitement in a nerve-wracking sport: but most of all, he discovers again that, whatever the outcome, the greatest game of all is being with the ones you love. One of my top five favorite books as a kid, and now one of my daughter’s too. Like Danny and his father, my daughter and I, in reading this book, found connectedness and pleasure in the time shared together.

4. DAMike
   Posted November 30, 1999 at 3:16 pm | Permalink

   Great book for kids andeven adults

   Read this book when I was a kid, then re-read in as a parent. It’s defiantly worth a second look. Not any deep, deep new meaning reading it as a father. However, I did get a much different take on it and deeper appreciation for the story.

   The story isn’t about all right people being mean; nor that Danny’s father is right to steal from them. Not at all. Quite the opposite. I felt bad (and identified with) for Danny’s father, because of his faults, which he admitted and even tried to hind from his son. The rich land owner wasn’t bad because he was rich, but because he was selfish and unapologetic.
   
   Great book for kids, great for adults looking for some very enjoyable, but light reading.
   

5. Nicolas S. Martin
   Posted November 30, 1999 at 10:23 pm | Permalink

   Appalling

   Dahl’s writing talents far exceeded his ethics. This is a nasty, indecent book whose main themes are 1) rich people are evil, and 2) it’s not only acceptable but charming to steal from them. I didn’t know the story before reading it to my child, but now she has a lesson in class envy and the ethics of theft.