My Science School

 

            This story is about a little mouse that is walking through the dark forest, who encounters a number of animals that want to eat him as a tasty meal. The clever mouse explains to the animals that the mouse is on its way to meet ‘The Gruffalo’, and its favourite food is the animal that is trying to steal the mouse for a meal. It is not until towards the end of the story that the mouse realizes that this imaginary creature is actually true!

            This is the story of ‘The Gruffalo’ written by Julia Donaldson, and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. The book has sold over 13 million copies. ‘The Gruffalo’ was initially published in 1999. ‘The Gruffalo’ is a great book to read to children between the ages of 3-5, as Julia enables the children to create an image of this mystical creature throughout the story. It is a funny, brightly coloured and interactive book.

Picture credit: google

 

          On Christmas Eve, around 1812, Pip, an orphan who is about seven years old, encounters an escaped convict in the village churchyard, while visiting the graves of his parents and siblings. Pip now lives with his abusive elder sister, and her kind husband Joe Gargery, a blacksmith. The story narrates how Pip becomes a successful man from his early miserable conditions. It depicts the personal growth and personal development of an orphan. In the end, Pip realizes that the one who helps him to achieve success is none other than the ex-convict whom he had encountered during his childhood. This novel is set in Kent and London.

          ‘Great Expectations’ is a novel by Charles Dickens written and published between 1860 and 1861. ‘Great Expectations’ is considered one of the greatest and most sophisticated novels by Dickens. The novel has had more than 250 adaptations on stage and screen.

Picture credit: google

 

            ‘Just So Stories for Little Children’ is a 1902 collection of original stories by the British author Rudyard Kipling. It is a collection of whimsical tales accompanied by the author’s excellent pen-and-ink drawings, and humorous verse. The stories are written in the first person, and addressed to “O Best Beloved”. Actually, ‘the beloved’ is Kipling’s eldest child Josephine, who died at the age of six in 1899. The narrative tone is the intimate voice of a doting father talking to his child.

            The stories describe how one animal or another acquired its most distinctive features, such as how the leopard got his spots, how the elephant got his trunk, how the whale got his throat etc.

            Kipling illustrated the original editions of the ‘Just So Stories’. Later illustrations of the book were done by Joseph M. Gleeson.

Picture credit: google

 

 

            The story revolves around the lives of four sisters growing up during, and after, the American Civil War. With their father away, fighting the war, the girls face the hardships of poverty.

            The challenges faced by these young girls, from their childhood to adulthood, make up the plot of the classic ‘Little Women’.

            ‘Little Women’ is the first book in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women series. The book has been adapted for cinema twice.

            Loved by generations of women worldwide, ‘Little Women’ is a truly universal coming of age story. Its universal theme has gained the novel global acceptance.

Picture credit: google

 

               Jess, an eleven year old, befriends Leslie, the class outsider. The children create an imaginary world called Terabithia, which is inhabited by all manner of magical creatures. Though difficulties fill their ordinary lives, Jess and Leslie rule as king and queen in Terabithia. Leslie dies in an accident in Terabithia.

               Published in 1977, ‘Bridge to Terabithia’ by Katherine Paterson, is a children’s book about the friendship between Jess Aarons and Leslie Burke.

               Paterson was inspired to write ‘Bridge to Terabithia’ when her son’s close friend was killed by lightning.

               It has been adapted for the screen twice - as a 1985 PBS TV movie, and a 2007 Disney/Walden Media feature film.

Picture credit: google

 

 

               ‘The Story of the Treasure Seekers’ is a story of six children, who really admire Kipling and Dickens, and go through various adventures to earn money. The reason behind their adventures is the poor financial condition of their family. Their mother died and their father’s business is not doing very well, so they have stopped going to school, though their father says he will send them back as soon as he can. The children come up with various ideas to assist their father and resurrect the fortunes of their family.

               ‘The Story of the Treasure Seekers’ is a novel by E. Nesbit. It was first published in 1899. It was the first novel for children by Nesbit. The story is told from a child’s point of view. The book has been made into a TV series three times. It was also made into a television movie known as The Treasure Seekers in 1996.

 

          ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’, often shortened to ‘LWW’, was written by C. S. Lewis, and published in 1950.

          It records the adventure of four ordinary English children - Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie - who found their way into the magical land of Narnia through a wardrobe that they stumbled across in an old house.

          What happens next in the land of Narnia? To find out, read the much loved book ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. It is the first book of The Chronicles of Narnia to be written and published. It is also the best known among the seven - book series.

Picture credit: google

 

             

              ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ is a children’s science fantasy novel by Madeleine L’Engle. It was first published in 1962. ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ tells the tale of Meg Murry, a high-school girl who is transported on an adventure through time and space with her younger brother Charles Wallace, and her friend Calvin O’Keefe to rescue her father, a gifted scientist, from the evil forces that hold him prisoner on another planet.

               The novel won a Newbery Medal in 1963. The sequels to the novel are ‘A Wind in the Door’, ‘A Swifty Tilting Planet’, and ‘Many Waters’. The book spawned two film adaptations, both by Disney.

 

 

          The title character of the book ‘Pollyanna’ is Pollyanna Whittier, a young orphan who goes to live with her Aunt Polly. Aunt Polly is not fond of children. She does not want to take Pollyanna in, but feels it is her duty to her late sister. Sending the servant, Nancy, to fetch Pollyanna from the station, and then banishing her to the hot attic room, Aunt Polly is always negative to Pollyanna. But good-hearted Nancy readies the room for Pollyanna and loves her.

            However, Pollyanna always finds a way to be positive and finds a way to be glad about her situation. Pollyanna’s cheerful ways begin to win over the neighborhood. Pollyanna’s philosophy of life centres on what she calls ‘the glad game’, the game involved always finding something to be glad about.

            ‘Pollyanna’ is a 1913 novel by the Eleanor H. Porter. The title character’s name became a popular term for someone with the same very optimistic outlook. The book was such a success, that Porter soon produced a sequel, ‘Pollyanna Grows Up’ (1915).

 

            ‘Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm’ is a delightful children’s novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin that tells the story of Rebecca Rowena Randall and her two stern aunts in the village of Riverboro, Maine.

            Rebecca’s family has fallen upon hard times, and the story opens with her leaving her childhood home to live with her two aunts Miranda and Jane Sawyer. Despite her early hardships, Rebecca has an infectious joy for life that inspires her aunts, as she faces the trials and tribulations of growing up.

            The story was adapted for the theatrical stage, and was filmed three times, once with Shirley Temple in the title role.

 

               ‘Amelia Bedelia’, is the first book in the Amelia Bedelia children’s picture book series about a housekeeper who takes owner’s instructions literally. It was written by Peggy Parish and was published in 1963.

               Amelia Bedelia is hired as a maid for the wealthy Rogers family. Despite meaning well, Amelia cannot seem to do anything right, because she does not understand the vernacular used by her employers.

               Mrs. Rogers once gives her a list of chores to complete, while the family goes out. After choosing to make a pie to be nice, Amelia proceeds to take all the chores literally: she ‘dresses the chicken’ in clothes, ‘drawing the drapes’ on a piece of notebook paper, and ‘puts out the lights’ by hanging them on the clothesline.

               When the Rogers return home, Mrs. Rogers is bewildered that none of the chores are done. On the verge of firing Amelia, she has a bite of Amelia’s pie, and finds it so delicious. Mrs. Rogers forgives Amelia and vows to write down instructions explicitly in the future.

Picture credit: google

            Anne Shirley is an orphan who dreams of being part of a family. She has many dreams that have helped her cope with a harsh life. She is part of a programme to place older orphans with families that can use a young person’s assistance. Anne is placed at Green Gables, a farm on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, the brother and sister, who run the farm where Anne is placed, are getting older, and thought a young orphan boy could be helpful.

            Instead, they get Anne. Matthew is alarmed initially at finding Anne instead of the desired boy to help out as a farmhand. Marilla has run the household on her own for years. Anne’s day-dreaming ways bump into Marilla’s practical habits, to the benefit of both.

            ‘Anne of Green Gables’ is a children’s novel by the Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. It was first published in 1908. It is the first of eight books about Anne Shirley, her children, and the many people whose lives she changes.

Picture credit: google

 

            ‘The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes’ tells the story of two orphans, Margery Meanwell and her brother Tommy, and their escape from the poverty into which the death of their parents has cast them.

            Dressed in rags and having only one shoe, Margery is given two shoes by a charitable gentleman.

            Through hard work she becomes a schoolmistress, before making a good impression on the local landowner and marrying him. This prosperity serves as proof that her virtuousness has been rewarded.

            ‘The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes’ is a children’s story published in 1765. The story was later attributed to the Irish author Oliver Goldsmith, though this is disputed.

Picture credit: google

 

 

            After having found gold with his friend Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn goes to live at the home of the widow Douglas.

            Her sister, Miss Watson, and the widow’s slave, Jim, also live there. Huck and Jim run away together, travelling on the Mississippi.

            ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in England in December 1884, and in the United States in February 1885.

            It is told in the first person by Huckleberry Finn, a friend of Tom Sawyer and narrator of two other Twain novels (‘Tom Sawyer Abroad’ and ‘Tom Sawyer, Detective’). It is a sequel to ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’.

Picture credit: google

 

            ‘The Phantom Tollbooth’ is a children’s adventure novel, and modern fairy tale by Norton Juster. It was published in 1961, with illustrations by Jule Feiffer.

            It tells the story of a boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth one afternoon. He decides to drive through it in his toy car.

            The tollbooth transports him to a land called the Kingdom of Wisdom. There, he acquires two faithful companions, has many adventures, and goes on a quest to rescue the two princesses of the kingdom (Rhyme and Reason) from the castle of air.

            ‘The Phantom Tollbooth’ is undoubtedly one much-loved book. It is translated into many languages.

Picture credit: google