Why reading the classics with your children matters.

Published in The Age newspaper

Why reading the classics with your children matters

Date

June 13, 2014

Nova Weetman

“These were grand adventures, often written in language I didn’t understand, and about events that seemed ancient but intriguing.” Photo: Getty

There are more books being written and targeted specifically at children than ever before. There are bookshops dedicated entirely to children’s books. And there are books to cater for pretty much every imaginable taste and ability. And what a wonderful thing, that our kids are literally swimming in stories.

It wasn’t always like this. When I was a kid, there were some books written specifically for my age and ability, but they were pretty limited. And so once I’d exhausted everything pitched directly at me, I read whatever I could find, and this often meant reading the classics. Charles Dickens. Jules Verne. Mark Twain. Books my parents had on their bookshelves that seemed to feature characters that were around my age. And I loved them. These were not stories I’d found in the pages of contemporary novels. These were grand adventures, often written in language I didn’t understand, and about events that seemed ancient but intriguing.

My children have been reluctant readers of classics. Maybe it’s because they are spoiled for choice, but I suspect it’s because they like the slightly larger font of newer kids books, or the flashier covers, or the more kid-friendly layout of contemporary fiction. So in an effort to take them on the journeys I loved as a child, I’ve been choosing classics to read them at night. We started with Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. They were terrified but engrossed. These are kids raised on the world of Harry Potter, and yet an old drunk pirate can scare them. And they were terrified because the characters and the world (even though it’s historic) are so real. But they loved it. The boldness of it. The fear of it. The fact that it felt just a little more adult than reading a kids book, even though it would have been read by kids when it was first written.

12 classic books every child should read

Peter Pan by J.M Barrie

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Then we went onto (an abridged version of) Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift. The younger one, who is only six and barely reading himself, was engrossed. He didn’t understand the satirical aspects of the book, or some of the language, because a lot of it is invented and complicated, but he loved the large scale of the adventure. He loved how ludicrous it was. How elaborate and fanciful it was. And how totally foreign it was to his world. And he didn’t care at all that it was about an adult protagonist rather than a child.

My daughter has now dived headfirst into Grimm’s Fairy Tales, admittedly preferring the new Philip Pullman adaptation than the original, but for her, these stories are dark and wild and tap into territory similar to Paul Jennings. She reads them without me and is so totally engrossed in the stories that she has paused the contemporary novel she was reading to finish Grimm.

Both children loved Arabian Nights, because the stories are so rich and wonderful. And not like anything written today. My son borrowed The Magic Pudding from the school library himself, and couldn’t wait for me to read it to him. We’ve read (and loved) Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland,Wind in the Willows, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Winnie the Pooh and Pippi Longstocking. We’ve started reading (and stopped), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Railway Childrenand the Jungle Book. Obviously not all classic novels will appeal.

It’s so easy to overlook the classics with kids because we have so many extraordinary books to choose from. But what is great about venturing down the classics path is that it introduces kids to a whole new world of storytelling. Old books are structured differently. They’re often slower in pace. The language is harder and more complicated. The world is foreign and unusual. The lead characters are not always kids. And they require something different when you read them.

My daughter has been amazed at how many contemporary stories seem to be based on the classics. And she’s right. I forget that so many of these stories underpin so much of our children’s worlds. The films they see, the television they watch, the stories they read are often directly or indirectly inspired by the classics.

So while I love my kids reading anything they want and choosing the contemporary books that reflect and explain their world and their experiences, I’m also going to keep pushing a few classics into the mix. Just so they have a sense of where stories come from, and of the changing nature of storytelling throughout history and across cultures. There are good reasons why these classic stories are still in print. They are rich and diverse, challenging and rollicking. My kids may not like always like the books I read them, and we may not make it all the way through Charles Dickens or Mark Twain, but we can give it a go. And hopefully learn something about where literature comes from and about the history of great and sustaining stories.

This is my rough (and brief) guide to attempting classics with kids – in no particular order:

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Grimm’s Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (adapted by Philip Pullman)

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Peter Pan by J.M Barrie

One Thousand and One Nights or Arabian Nights

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay

Do your children have a favourite classic novel they love to read?