Name: Spreading the Feast Gathering
Start: 2025-07-11T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-07-12T23:59:59-05:00
Location: LaGrange, KY

Tagged: Howard Pyle, King Arthur, Robin Hood, roger lancelyn green

This topic has 9 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 10 years ago by cedargirl.

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

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February 23, 2014 at 12:25 am
Joanne Downing
Participant
I have just been looking through the copies of these two books I have by Howard Pyle – having never read them myself i didn’t realise how ‘old’ the english is in them – I think I will struggle to read them aloud effectively – much less the boys understand them- I wondered wether i could use Roger Lancelyn Green’s versions instead – has anyone any thoughts on if this is a good or bad idea? My boys are 11 and 12 but werer in public school till 3 yrs ago so are not used to rich literature.
Any thoughts appreciated
Thanks! Jo in the UK
February 23, 2014 at 3:08 pm
albanyaloe
Participant
Hi Jo
I have read the Howard Pyle one, Robin Hood and others to my son, and he was about 9yo when we read it. I cannot describe how much he loved it. I also thought the language may be a stumbling block, but it was really worth it. He followed beautfiully. I must add here that he has been brought up hearing good literature, and there are very few books we have stopped. (we’re trying Tom Brown’s Schooldays now and I am finding it is our biggest challenge so far)
We had the Green version but I got rid of them eventually. Sort of felt Robin Hood couldn’t get better than out of Pyle’s pen 😉

Hope that helps somewhat,
Lindy
February 23, 2014 at 4:02 pm
missceegee
Participant
We’ve enjoyed the Pyle versions very much, but haven’t tried the others.
February 23, 2014 at 7:10 pm
Gem
Participant
We read Pyle’s King Arthur and Green’s Robin Hood and my kids loved them both. 🙂
February 23, 2014 at 9:17 pm
RobinP
Participant
Pyle is worth the effort. Just doesn’t seem authentic without the olde English. 🙂 We are listening to Men of Iron read by Jim Weiss and it is wonderful! He makes it sound so much better than my southern accent!
February 23, 2014 at 9:46 pm
Bookworm
Participant
I agree, the Pyle is more than worth the trouble. I let my boys read the Green on their own, but the Pyle is just a whole step above. May have been one of our favorite books. The way to read rich literature is just to read it. Dive on in. The water might seem cold at first, but you’ll adapt beautifully. Don’t sell yourselves short.
February 24, 2014 at 12:13 am
sheraz
Participant
My oldest children were in PS until a few years ago. Don’t let that stop you – we enjoyed Pyle’s version very much. If you are uncomfortable trying to read that aloud, you can find an audio version and use that.
June 3, 2015 at 9:02 pm
Wings2fly
Participant
So would the Pyle versions of these books be too difficult for an 11/12 yo to read to himself? Would the LibriVox audio be better, or maybe to follow along with? I see Beautiful Feet uses the Green versions, so I am not sure which to get for this age, for independent reading. It sounds like Pyle is superior to Green, but I don’t want him to get frustrated either.
June 4, 2015 at 10:12 am
HollyS
Participant
I looked at many reviews of both for this coming year, and there are good reviews for both versions. I ended up getting the Green one for Robin Hood and Pyle for King Arthur…DD can decide which author she likes best. 😉 She will be 13 next month, so I’m hoping neither will be too difficult.
June 5, 2015 at 11:43 am
cedargirl
Participant
I love how all the things I am wondering about get answered often, all I have to do is open up this forum. I checked our copy, bought it about 15 years ago; it is the Pyle version and one of the first books DD (10 at the time ) carried around with her to read because she loved it. So that says a lot to me about it.