Old Books

Tagged: 

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • February 15, 2010 at 7:20 pm
    LindseyD
    Participant

    I have been a collector of old books for my entire married life. I have used them as decoration around the house for years, and only recently thought, “Hey, I wonder if any of these would be good to use in school…” (I’m sure you’re all going, “You just now thought that???” LOL)

    Anyway, in browsing through some of my collection, I found several stories/books that I’m not familiar with. I was wondering if any of you had any experience with these:

    Willy Reilly by William Carleton (My copy has this note in the front: “To Mary, Love Grandmother, 1902”)

    The Gold Bug by Edgar Allan Poe

    Tales From the Travels of Baron Munchausen by Rudolph Erich Raspe

    Don Quixote Retold by Judge Parry (I know you’re probably all surprised that I’ve never read this!)

    Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving (This and the previous three books in this list are in a collection called The Young Folks’ Shelf of Books. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and A Christmas Carol are also in this book.)

    Stories from Jack and Jill to Read Aloud

    Thanks!

    Lindsey

    February 16, 2010 at 5:45 pm
    LindseyD
    Participant

    Anyone??

    (Crickets chirp.) Innocent

    February 16, 2010 at 6:48 pm
    nerakr
    Participant

    It’s been a long time since I’ve read The Gold Bug and Rip van Winkle, but here’s what I remember about them:

    The Gold Bug–a young teen who is staying with his uncle (I forget why) falls in with some treasure hunters in search of a centuries’ old pirate treasure. The Gold Bug is the clue to finding it.

    Rip van Winkle–a man falls asleep in Colonial America and wakes up to find a lot’s changed. America is independent; his daughter is grown; his nagging wife is dead. But why did he fall asleep? That’s at the beginning of the story. Some elves (or some type of little people; I forget what they’re called) offer him some of their own special whiskey. Must’ve been pretty strong!

    And don’t worry; I was a lit major in college and never read Don Quixote. I suppose if I’d taken the third-year Spanish I would have.

    Karen

    February 16, 2010 at 7:04 pm
    LindseyD
    Participant

    Ok, Karen, thank you! 

    So, at what ages would you consider those two stories appropriate? Obviously, Rip Van Winkle would have to be for high school age, if at all, right?

    What do you think?

    February 16, 2010 at 7:39 pm
    nerakr
    Participant

    I read both of them in high school. Pre-read The Gold Bug and see what you think. You know your children better than I do. Upper elementary, possibly. Remember, it is Poe.

    Also, Rip van Winkle has been “dumbed down” quite often and passed off as a children’s story, but I doubt Washington Irving had that in mind. High school would probably be about right. It was published in the same collection as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, if I remember my American Lit, and that is definitely not for little kids!

    February 16, 2010 at 8:22 pm
    LindseyD
    Participant

    Thanks Karen! I think we’ve got a while before we can use either of those resources, but at least I know I’ve got them handy if I need them!

    ~Lindsey

    July 26, 2013 at 5:16 pm
    tarrawr
    Member

    This is kind of random, but I’ve been googling for hours now trying to find the name of a series of books I had when I was a kid. I think it might be the Young Folks collection that you mentioned. Could you tell me, does the collection have gulliver’s travels? Also, is there a story about a young boy and a gargoyle that comes to life?

    Any help would be appreciated, thank you!

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • The topic ‘Old Books’ is closed to new replies.