Children's Classic Books discussion

Starting a new thread for 2025 for Book of the Month nominations:

Wow, I have to remember I made this new thread, lol!

So the books nominated for February 2025 are:

Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

or

City of the Golden House by Madeleine A. Polland

You still have time to vote until midnight tonight (January 27, 2025)

So the winning book is (by weighted vote: 3 points per vote for active participants; 2 points per vote for 1 or more comments but not active; 1 point per vote for non-active participants):

Daddy-Long-Legs 3 + 3 + 2 = 8 points

The Sign of the Beaver 1 + 1 + 1 + 3 = 6 points

City of the Golden House 1 + 3 = 4 points

So by weighted average, the winner is:



If anyone wishesto read and discuss The Sign of the Beaver or City of the Golden House please let me know and I'll set up a thread in the buddy reads section as I'm going to be reading both of these books in February.

If it's ok, I'd like to go ahead and nominate The Moffats for next month. It caught my eye while browsing price drops today, and also still seems pretty available at least in my local libraries. I only saw it mentioned in this group in the lists section.

Sounds good, Marianne. I'll add it. I haven't read it but my daughter has and she enjoyed it.

So since Marianne has been so nice to start us off, are there any other nominations for our March 2025 read? I will take nominations until February 12th and have the poll up by Feb 14th.

I'll nominate The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White.

Rosemarie wrote: "I'll nominate The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White."

That's a good one! I'd never read it until the past year or so; I think I listened to it. Then I gave it to my son the trumpeter to enjoy (my son's an adult, but still found it fun given the topic.)

Thanks Rosemarie! I haven't read that for ages but I have fond memories.

I'm going to nominate Theras and His Town by Caroline Dale Snedeker

Does anyone else have any other nominations? If I don't hear anything by tomorrow, I will go ahead and create the poll.

The poll for the March 2025 book of the month is posted so please go and vote! : https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/3...

So the winner of the March book without my weighted calculation because so many people voted for it is:

The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White

I haven't read an E.B. White book (or essay) in awhile so I'm looking forward to it!

Excellent :)

Alrighty, let's start the nominations for May!

I'm going to nominate either

Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, or

Theras and His Town by Caroline Dale Snedeker

I'll decide in a couple of days which. I'd like to read the first but if I have too much on-to-go in May, the second might be better.

I'm nominating Just David by Eleanor H. Porter.

Cleo wrote: "I'm going to nominate either

Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, or

,

I liked McGrawl's , but I was wondering about the next book in the Moffat series. Could I nominate The Middle Moffat?

Just David is a lovely book, Rosemarie. Great choice!

Of course you can nominate it, Karin! I've included it in the poll.

The May poll is live! https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/3...

Thanks!

Here are the results from the May poll. The winning book is (by weighted vote: 3 points per vote for active participants; 2 points per vote for 1 or more comments but not active; 1 point per vote for non-active participants):

The Middle Moffat 3 + 3 = 6 points

Just David 3 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 7 points

Theras and His Town 1 + 1 = 2 points

Since it is so close with The Middle Moffat and Just David, and since we just read The Moffats, I'm going to make a unilateral decision and slate in The Middle Moffat for May and Just David for June. That way we get to read both!

This sounds like a good plan.

Let's get a head-start with our July and August books. I think choosing two at a time works well, so please nominate a couple of books for our summer reads!

I'm not even thinking that far ahead right now--I still have to pick books for June. Sadly the only copy of Just David in my library network is on Libby, so I'll have pass. I only read books that way during Covid as I prefer to keep my reading off-screen.

So do we have any nominations? We don't have to include two months, we could just nominate for one. I'm going to put forward:

The Hoosier Schoolmaster: A Story of Backwoods Life in Indiana by Edward Eggleston

and

The King's Fifth by Scott O'Dell

Ok, moderator's choice! A surprise!

Cleo wrote: "Ok, moderator's choice! A surprise!"

Ah, there's my answer, but I can't get my hands on it. I'm not sure how I missed the nominations!

Do we have any suggestions for August? Sorry for the late post. I can either pick the first suggestion or choose one myself.

I've been trying to come up with ideas but so far have drawn a blank. The only author I can think of is Rosemary Sutcliff. I've read a number of her books and enjoyed them all.

How about the next Moffat book?

Rufus M. by Eleanor Estes

I'm reading that right now. Great idea, Karin!

Rosemarie wrote: "I'm reading that right now. Great idea, Karin!"

Thanks. I can get it from my library network and I've enjoyed the first two books.

I'm enjoying Rufus's adventures.

That sounds good, Karin! I've slotted it for the August book of the month. I can't get it from my library and it's too expensive on Kindle for me but I'm sure I can find it online somewhere. It's good that Rosemarie is reading it already as well.

Cleo wrote: "That sounds good, Karin! I've slotted it for the August book of the month. I can't get it from my library and it's too expensive on Kindle for me but I'm sure I can find it online somewhere. It's g..."

Sounds good. I'll put a hold on it now.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer! Are there any requests for a September book or should I just pick one?

I'd personally like to read through the rest of the Moffat books, so whichever one comes after Rufus M. Have you found a copy of that yet?

So let's go with The Moffat Museum. I think that's the last of the series, isn't it? So it makes sense.

I haven't fixed my library card yet. There's been too much going on. And I won't be able to get The Moffat Museum so maybe Rosemarie will keep you company or you can please let us know how the read went and how you enjoyed it. Both books are too expensive on Kindle which is a shame because the second book was very reasonable. I'm going to try to fix my card and at least I can read Rufus while you're reading this one.

I hope you find your library card, Cleo.

Thanks for the sentiments, Rosemarie. I have my card and they gave me a password. I can get in, but when I attempt to order any ebook, it says that it cannot process my order. So I have to go in again and try to figure it out and who knows how long that will take. But it needs to be done.

Do you use Overdrive or Libby? Libby is much easier to navigate.

I use Libby but the library still has to have the books. Strangely my city library doesn’t have it but a rural one I belong to does. Sadly neither have The Moffat Museum.

I do like Libby.

Cleo wrote: "I use Libby but the library still has to have the books. Strangely my city library doesn’t have it but a rural one I belong to does. Sadly neither have The Moffat Museum.

I do like Libby."

That's the challenge with classics. Once again I'm thankful to live in such a spoiled area for this stuff.

Is your library part of BC Library Interconnect? Both Rufus M and The Moffat Museum are in it. Four libraries have the latter and at least some of them are hard copies. If you can't get your card to work online, hopefully you can get to your library and see if they can help you with that.

I once used that once with my mother's card and borrowed a book with her information so it would be there when I was there.

My card is connected to the Fraser Valley library system and none of the 20+ libraries have either. I could do an inter-library loan but i have to go into the library to request it and it typically takes 3-6 months to arrives so it seems rather pointless. Sadly ….

Cleo wrote: "My card is connected to the Fraser Valley library system and none of the 20+ libraries have either. I could do an inter-library loan but i have to go into the library to request it and it typically..."

Wow, 3 to 6 months? That's crazy! I didn't have to wait nearly as long for the one I made through that system, but that was back in the teens. I'm not sure how long it takes now.

I know I'm extremely spoiled where I live, plus this state is much smaller than BC land-wise. Everything is relatively close.

There are two networks. The one in this part of the state, and then the Commonwealth one but I'm not sure if the western half of the state is part of this.) I can even find other ways to get interlibrary loans but those take longer and I've only ever done that once because I think it costs the library money.

Karin wrote: "Wow, 3 to 6 months? That's crazy! I didn't have to wait nearly as long for the one I made through that system, but that was back in the teens. .."

They told me one person is doing ILL, and that she only does them occasionally, so if I order, say, 7 books over a 3 month period, they will all show up at once and I'll have two weeks to read them all with no renewals. It's just terrible here.

Their policies are as if they don't want people to read.

Cleo wrote: "Karin wrote: "Wow, 3 to 6 months? That's crazy! I didn't have to wait nearly as long for the one I made through that system, but that was back in the teens. .."

They told me one person is doing IL..."

Wow, that's not very efficient and quite sad, really.

What Eleanor Estes titles can you get?

I can only get The Moffats and The Hundred Dresses. Pretty bad, huh?

And that’s over 26 libraries. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Does anyone have any nominations for October? Ginger Pye perhaps, or should we save that for another time?