What Do Our Kids Read?

I recall writing about how I got hooked on reading seriously with the help of Enid Blyton Mystery Series - The Five Find-Outers and Dog. It is a series of children's mystery books first published between 1943 and 1961.

The stories were set in the fictitious village of Peterswood (Bourne End), close to Marlow, Buckinghamshire. The children encountered a mystery almost every school holiday, always solving the puzzle before Mr Goon, the unpleasant village policeman, much to his annoyance.

There were 15 books in the series and I had read them all. I remember the suspense made me read and read oftentimes finishing the book in one day. They were books from the class library. You see, back then each class had a collection for its own little library displayed at a corner of the class. I believe the books must have been distributed to all the classes according to age group material. The proper school library was for the secondary students only.

Occasionally, I would pick up my dad's novel after he and mum had read them. I would know if it was interesting from the discussion they would engage in earlier. That was how I came to enjoy biographies such as those of Churchill, Hitler, Rommel and Soekarno, and the Lobsang Rampa series by the time I was 11 or 12. When I was 13, while many of my classmates were into Mills and Boons stuff, Barbara Cartland, Georgette Heyer, Denise Robins and the likes, I preferred Leon Uris. His Exodus was ultra moving.........and I used to ask "Why?"

When our two kids were little we tried Enid Blyton with them but they ended up collecting the Belgian Georges Remi's The Adventures of Tintin series and French René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo's The Adventures of Asterix Series.

Both had something in common - they were comic strip series. I tried reading some of them but believe me, there was quite a load of reading involved!

Tintin is engaging, well-researched plots straddle a variety of genres: swashbuckling adventures with elements of fantasy, mysteries, political thrillers, and science fiction. The stories within the Tintin series always feature slapstick humour, offset in later albums by dashes of sophisticated satire and political/cultural commentary.

The Asterix series is one of the most popular Franco-Belgian comics in the world, with the series being translated into over 100 languages, and it is popular in most European countries.

The protagonist, the titular character Asterix, along with his friend Obelix have various adventures. The main setting for the series is an unnamed coastal village in Armorica, a province of Gaul (modern France), in the year 50 BC. Julius Caesar has conquered nearly all of Gaul for the Roman Empire. The little Armorican village, however, has held out because the villagers can gain temporary superhuman strength by drinking a magic potion brewed by the local village druid, Getafix.

Asterix, who, because of his shrewdness, is usually entrusted with the most important affairs of the village. He is aided in his adventures by his rather fat and unintelligent friend, Obelix, who, because he fell into the druid's cauldron of the potion as a baby, has permanent superhuman strength. Obelix is usually accompanied by Dogmatix, his little dog. (Except for Asterix and Obelix, the names of the characters change with the language. For example, Obelix's dog's name is "Dogmatix" in English, but "Idéfix" in the original French edition.)

Asterix and Obelix (and sometimes other members of the village) go on various adventures both within the village and in far away lands. Places visited in the series include parts of Gaul (Lutetia, Corsica etc.), neighbouring nations (Belgium, Spain, Britain, Germany etc.), and far away lands (North America, Middle East, India etc.).

The series employs science-fiction and fantasy elements in the more recent books; for instance, the use of extraterrestrials in Asterix and the Falling Sky and the city of Atlantis in Asterix and Obelix All at Sea.

The distinctive nature of the stories is the humour often centering on puns, caricatures, and tongue-in-cheek stereotypes of contemporary European nations and French regions. There are 34 books in the series.

My first grandchild, Anyssa is now turning 8 on 11/1/2012 and has announced that she wants a book for her birthday....not just any book, definitely not Enid Blyton (I tried!)but the Italian Geronimo Stilton's Series. She insisted she had read the first 7 books and would now wish for No.11 instead. Curiosity drove me to further research Geronimo.

The books are intended for readers in the 8–16 year old age range. The prints prove it so, quite unlike Enid Blyton's Five Find-Outers which is in the same sized font throughout. "Boring" she said of Enid Blyton. Oh my, I thought that was quite blasphemous!

The title character is a talking mouse who lives in New Mouse City on Mouse Island. A best-selling author, Geronimo Stilton works as a journalist and editor for the fictional newspaper, The Rodent's Gazette. No wonder Anyssa was talking about publishers the other day. I had wondered how come she knew the word!

Geronimo has a younger sister named Thea Stilton, a cousin named Trap Stilton and a favorite little nephew, nine-year-old Benjamin Stilton. Geronimo is a nervous, mild-mannered mouse who would like nothing better than to live a quiet life, but he keeps getting involved in far-away adventures with Thea, Trap, and Benjamin. The books are written as though they are autobiographical adventure stories.

There are 50 books in the series. I reckon she would probably move on to other genre before she completes the series.

As for today No. 11 is ready to be wrapped up.....Happy Birthday Anyssa!!