Books about children who don't go to school
So, this article appeared in the Guardian today entitled
Except they do. My friend Mel has a comprehensive list here (but you'll need a password to read it)
I was certain I'd seen a more contemporary list recently but maybe it was a list of authors who didn't go to school I was confusing it with - Agatha Christie, Beatrix Potter, the author of the Eragon series Christopher Paolini' that's a very good list for discussion too.
#HomeEdHour on Twitter often lands up with a book focus, sharing tales of overspend on paperbacks and "shelifies" but after googling and asking and not finding the contemporary list I was after I decided to start a new one.
#HomeEdHour on Twitter often lands up with a book focus, sharing tales of overspend on paperbacks and "shelifies" but after googling and asking and not finding the contemporary list I was after I decided to start a new one.
I'll list out the books S (which are pretty much all written this century) has read, a few I've read with O then add those contributions by others from Twitter at the end - hopefully fleshing them out with one sentence type reviews in time.
Saff (10) likes YA contemporary fiction and settings of home ed she can relate to so again that's modern contemporary fiction - it's the technology that does it I think. As a background these are the books she read in 2014
On holiday last year we read "Wonder" by R J Palacio which is the story of a home schooled boy transitioning into school in America. It's a really wonderful book about a boy called August and was published in 2012
S says
"It was good for August to go to school. It showed him that people would accept him once they got to know him. For August it was hard but worth it."
S says
"It was good for August to go to school. It showed him that people would accept him once they got to know him. For August it was hard but worth it."
S (10) mentioned Cathy Cassidy's "Scarlett" to me recently as the main character in the story is briefly Home Schooled when other things in her life change. S really likes Cathy Cassidy books as they are again very modern and this one is published in 2012.
S says
"I liked Scarlett because although I didn't relate to her character much before I did when she was home schooled. Now I am a bit older I know kids are overloaded with homework and when she said "Yes. No homework." I got that."
S says
"I liked Scarlett because although I didn't relate to her character much before I did when she was home schooled. Now I am a bit older I know kids are overloaded with homework and when she said "Yes. No homework." I got that."
S also tells me that Artemis Fowl pulls himself out of school since his Mum goes nuts and his Dad is dead. She read the whole of the this series last year and they were published from 2011 to the present.
~~~
The characters in Roof Toppers, (written in 2013) a book we read for our book club last year, don't attend school. We also read Pippi Longstocking with our book club and Pippi is educated otherwise.
In the historical fiction series the "Roman Mysteries" Flavia, Nubia, Lupus and Jonathan don't go to school. That was another book club read.
It's not all about books though, there are movies too (some of which are the books above!) and this list from Joyce is ace. And also famous YouTubers S likes the Kittiesmama channel about a home schooling family.
Orin is six so a different kind of book appeals to him
O (6) and I have read the beautiful "The Boy who climbed into the Moon" by David Almond several times and it features a great line about not feeling like going to school. I mentioned on the blog last year that David Almond is known for Mina who is home educated
O and I also reviewed "Who's not in School?" recently and that is a book written specifically about a child not going to school rather than an aside to the main plot. It is aimed at much younger children. There are other books like this egThe Day Amala Didn't Start School and Freya and Heath are Home Educated but they are more about home education specifically rather than a featuring a character who is home educated.
These books have been contributed by twitter but are not necessarily ones we have ourselves read - reviews of these titles welcome. An blog carnival? Or in the comments is fine.
@Keris "My Name is Mina" David J Almond
@liveotherwise Kingdom of Silk (Tiskin Silk) , One by Sarah Crossan
@mamacrow Many of the Enid Blyton books are set in the school hols, Tracy Beaker (Jacqueline Wilson) Rosemary Sutcliffe, Biggles, Jungle Books, Kim (also Kipling) Secret Garden, Silver Sword
If you add to this article and are on twitter the following people have expressed an interest in this subject area
@liveotherwise @keris @playbythebook @mamacrow @miriamhcraig @janelevicki @rmountney @davidjalmond @cathycassidyxx @louiestowell @rossmountney7 @birdsnestbooks
21 comments:
Thanks Taryn - I have just checked your website and I think that ties in with the "I know there is a South African one" tweet I received! http://tarynhayes.com/
Also from Elizabeth Foss on Twitter The Precious One http://www.amazon.co.uk/Precious-One-Marisa-los-Santos/dp/0061670898/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439394626&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=The+Precious+One+by+marisadlsantos
The list behind the password stretches the not going to school point rather, it includes things like Harry Potter. I think the point made in the original article and one that I would agree with, is that home education is either a plot point or a passing fad, it's rarely presented just as a normal thing, and that is what we are missing.
Saff has said many times that she will never go to school but if a Hogwarts letter was to turn up she would consider it (she is 11 in November)
One has had lots of positive reviews already Keris - I hope this post has boosted it's preorders I know we have!
The volume of books purchased by home educators often comes up on #homeedhour as a topic and I would imagine it larger than the numbers of home educated children might suggest!
I have 2 book fans and one who is much keener on movies which is why I included the movie list too.
It might also be handy to split into secular and religious
Thank-You so much to everyone who has taken the time to comment and share
Another add this time an audio book aimed at younger children
The Railway Children (E Nesbit) and Little Women have both been mentioned a few times - they are also in the Books Without School link that you need a password to read
Its very in tune with home-ed, or indeed just the natural way that we have raised our children for 1000s of years!
She also has 50 pages left of One which arrived (and was released) yesterday I'll link to her review and Jax's when I update this post.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/books/dp/1408863111/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442071156&sr=1-1&keywords=one+sarah+crossan
She has also read more Emily the Strange books and discovered that Emily is now Home Schooled and has lots of other angles http://emilystrange.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Nellie-Flight-Stephenie-Wilson-Peterson/dp/0692617701/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452834604&sr=8-1&keywords=nellie+nova
Thanks again for the mention and happy reading! :)
Stargirl - although she gives school a try in the book