Since The Classic Horror Stories which was going to be my last Halloween read, hasn't arrived yet, I'm moving on to November's Marathon which is Children's Literature.
Lesley over at WordsofaReader is hosting this marathon for the 3rd year, I think, and I'm taking part this year as well.

I see this marathon as a chance to read more from my spinster books (books with a long shelf life) and hence reduce my TBR.
Lovecraft can wait in the vaults of Cyprus Post for the time being.

The Books:


Hors d'oeuvre


It's the first part of this nostalgic series that takes place in a magical forest and we see forest animals (woodland folk) enjoying their lives in the woods. They build an apartment complex on a rotten oak tree, they convert a giant's shoe into a cruise ship and more.


In this second part of the series the woodland folk meet the gnomes (dwarfs in Greek, since we don't have a different word for gnomes) and the gnomes have more clever ideas on how to live (wine, elevator, medicine &c.)


The Giants arrive and everybody is scared, but one of the giants just wants their help so there's no need for panic. I was always wondering whether the giants were normal men or really tall men that look gigantic in front of the gnomes and the animals.


This is one of the few children's books I've read that has deaths in it. A pretty bold move which made this book one of the favourites in this series. Now we are introduced to the fairies that come from an even more magical land.


In the fifth book we meet the elves who are pretty naughty but they're pretty clever also. In this book we meet the only true antagonists of the series. The Guzznags. They're black and smaller than the gnomes and really bad, not just naughty.


The 1st half of the last book of the series takes place mainly in the Dragonland and the 2nd half is the war between all the previous characters and the dragons/dinosaurs.


Main dish


A Mole, a Rat, a Badger and a Toad live like humans (motorcars, caravans) and this sounds pretty interesting. An Edwardian children's book that was written by Kenneth Graham who wrote less than 6 books.



I started reading this book back in 2010 but for reasons unknown I dnf-ed it, so I'm going to finish it this November, 6 years later. I don't think I need to say more about Treasure Island which is written by Robert Louis Stevenson the author of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It's a story with pirates!


Not many people are happy with this book, because many say it has some controversial /religious themes in it, but I'm going to read it anyway because I need to clean my TBR. Charles Kingsley was a priest, so I'm expecting tons of religious views in this book.


So, if you are thinking in taking part in this marathon, please use #ReadKidsLit (on YouTube, Instagram) in order to see who's participating and what they're reading.
Happy Reading, K.