Read! Classic Adventure, Romance, Mystery

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Illustration by N.C. Wyeth

Classics! These are still around because they're compelling, fascinating, and fun. Kids have sophisticated tastes when it comes to their stories because they are exposed to a large variety due to improved tech--games have extended plots, there is a plethora of television and film options, some are actually of good quality. Let's get them into the classic books for truly profound experiences.

Kids aren't afraid to seek complicated thought processes--offer a smorgasbord of classic stories for them to consume.

1. Adventure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Illustrations by N.C. Wyeth

Wonder what Jane's thinking? Read the book.

You may as well start with the best adventure ever! And outstanding illustrations. Stevenson tells a compelling, on-the-edge-of-your-seat story. Kids love it. Don't worry about vocabulary or archaic language, this story moves. And if you don't get a word occasionally, Google it.

2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

This is better than Twilight. A grand gothic novel with a hint of feminism, Jane doesn't wilt like Bella. The character creates empathy as she goes through tragic circumstances, and the reader can make judgments as to her decisions. Jane goes from one trauma to another, dragging your heart with it.

3. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Poor Pip. What a doofus. Dickens perfected the twisted plot, personable characters, and strange happy endings.

Don't know if that's White Fang, Kiche or One-Eye.

4. White Fang by Jack London

A dog (wolf) story with a happy ending. This is another extreme adventure story--from the animal's perspective. Along with The Call of the Wild, you truly have lived in the Yukon. Great summer read, Jack London is so effective, it doesn't matter what the temperature is, the book is like an airconditioner in its imagery. Still wonder what happened to Kiche.


5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

This child is caught in such a quandary--but with a voice of clarity he proclaims the truth about the society in which he lives--the ante-bellum South. Humor and truth, Mark Twain's forte. 

Get in that canoe and glide along the Glimmerglass.

6. The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper, illustrations by N. C. Wyeth

There is an entire series about Nathaniel Bumppo, starting with his teen years before the American Revolution. This is the most famous of the series. The writing is so compelling, you will have had the experience of camping with Nattie and having hatchets whiz by your head. You really can't miss this.



And don't you dare just watch a film or mini-series and think you know the story! A reader's imagination is the best production crew.

Read! Classic Adventure, Romance, Mystery

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Illustration by N.C. Wyeth

Classics! These are still around because they're compelling, fascinating, and fun. Kids have sophisticated tastes when it comes to their stories because they are exposed to a large variety due to improved tech--games have extended plots, there is a plethora of television and film options, some are actually of good quality. Let's get them into the classic books for truly profound experiences.

Kids aren't afraid to seek complicated thought processes--offer a smorgasbord of classic stories for them to consume.

1. Adventure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Illustrations by N.C. Wyeth

Wonder what Jane's thinking? Read the book.

You may as well start with the best adventure ever! And outstanding illustrations. Stevenson tells a compelling, on-the-edge-of-your-seat story. Kids love it. Don't worry about vocabulary or archaic language, this story moves. And if you don't get a word occasionally, Google it.

2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

This is better than Twilight. A grand gothic novel with a hint of feminism, Jane doesn't wilt like Bella. The character creates empathy as she goes through tragic circumstances, and the reader can make judgments as to her decisions. Jane goes from one trauma to another, dragging your heart with it.

3. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Poor Pip. What a doofus. Dickens perfected the twisted plot, personable characters, and strange happy endings.

Don't know if that's White Fang, Kiche or One-Eye.

4. White Fang by Jack London

A dog (wolf) story with a happy ending. This is another extreme adventure story--from the animal's perspective. Along with The Call of the Wild, you truly have lived in the Yukon. Great summer read, Jack London is so effective, it doesn't matter what the temperature is, the book is like an airconditioner in its imagery. Still wonder what happened to Kiche.


5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

This child is caught in such a quandary--but with a voice of clarity he proclaims the truth about the society in which he lives--the ante-bellum South. Humor and truth, Mark Twain's forte. 

Get in that canoe and glide along the Glimmerglass.

6. The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper, illustrations by N. C. Wyeth

There is an entire series about Nathaniel Bumppo, starting with his teen years before the American Revolution. This is the most famous of the series. The writing is so compelling, you will have had the experience of camping with Nattie and having hatchets whiz by your head. You really can't miss this.



And don't you dare just watch a film or mini-series and think you know the story! A reader's imagination is the best production crew.

Mini-Series Review: Charles Dickens' Great Expectations

Gillian Anderson, as Miss Havisham, the best crazy eyes ever.

This is Charles Dickens' at his creepy best; Great Expectations is even more disturbing than "A Christmas Carol," because this isn't a supernatural story, just people being enormously terrifying and bizarre in the real world. The BBC really outdid itself in setting the tone and mood of this serving of Dickens.

This link should be good for awhile so you can see this magnificent story online.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/greatexpectations/

Ray Winstone, as Abel Magwitch

For those who were not involved in reading Dickens in school, let me say that although these stories translate well to film, Dickens really is worth reading for his personable style; his characters are alive. The setting is so compelling, you practically choke on the smoke, fog, and yuck in the London air. You can just about smell Abel Magwitch's B.O.

Dickens can really scare you, and make you worry for his innocent-victim-of-circumstance  characters. I still worry about David Copperfield (David Copperfield). Somehow that story didn't seem finished. And it was so sad about Nancy (Oliver Twist.). Dickens' own personal story is very Dickensian, so he wrote with a heart of experience as to the abandonment, terror, and anticipation of youth.

http://www.dickens-literature.com/l_biography.html

Oscar Kennedy as Pip the younger.

Douglas Booth as Pip the Elder.

Dickens, as always, is concerned about the economic class struggle of Victorian England and compares and contrasts the souls of the characters to evaluate who is noble and who is despicable. In this story, a little boy named Philip Pirrup (Pip) is lead through a series of manipulations that test the value of all his relationships and motives. He must grow into a gentleman.
Pip turned out to be a pip.

Pip's acquaintance with Miss Havisham is astonishingly awful, almost a horror flick. Gillian Anderson perfects the role. I never once expected her to say, "Mulder, is that you?" which is not a simple task when you are well known for another role. (X Files.) But she was also excellent in Bleak House by our author Dickens.

Please don't be satisfied with only the film or mini-series versions of Dickens. The books are great to teach a class, or read aloud. Dickens himself would travel giving lectures, reading his stories and doing all the voices of his characters. He came to America, too. And there are many documentaries on Dickens, at least five on Netflix.

You can also download some stories from this site, to read or listen to.

http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/

Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham

A movie version of this story is in production due the end of the year, as this is the two hundredth anniversary of Dickens' birth.  When it comes out, we can compare and contrast Gillian Anderson and Helena Bonham Carter, the two Miss Havishams. (Though the pic at the right looks a bit like Tim Burton should have produced it.)

This youtube link from PBS Masterpiece almost gives away everything, but maybe it will tempt you enough to read or watch this classic. It is just a really good story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_J4DFlyvd8