Secular Charlotte Mason

I picked Roald Dahl for our Author Study mostly for the books that I know as movies.  I started reading two books last night on our list "Charlotte's Web" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."  And while my son liked both beginnings he was more interested in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  This makes me doubly glad I picked this Author to study.  Today I finally looked up the biography of the author and his childhood is colored with tragedy and beatings.  When studying the biography of an author do you leave out those details (which I would think are important to his writing style)?  It's one thing to read the story and know it's not real but I'm not sure how to handle it for a 6 yo.  My son isn't overly sensitive...but he sure is picking up on the violent aspects of the stories we read.  He will ask questions!  I was much more sensitive as a child, so I don't know how to handle this.  Do you have a good biography website for Roald Dahl to share? 

One thing I learned with doing biographies with children is that we often run into this issue (think Van Gogh, Degas, Frida Kahlo, etc.). In this case I would just hint at the trouble the author experienced as a child. For example, my 8yo was really into Van Gogh and through reading about him we did talk about him having psychological issues that affected his work but she heard about him cutting his ear off from someone other than myself (probably a blabby older sibling or friend). I simply don't go into the details until they are tweens. If they come across the gorier info from somewhere else then we do talk about, but only if needed. When we read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Drakon also wrote a report on the history of chocolate (for every paragraph he completed we shared a Hershey bar as motivation for both of us lol). Did you know that there is a Roald Dahl cookbook based on his books? If you can find a copy cheap it might be worth getting the Teacher Created Materials literature guide for Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. It would include a child appropriate biographical page. I'm pretty sure that is what we used. All of Dahl's books have dark components but with a 6 yo I'd definitely stick with his funniest books. I can always ask Drakon which ones he would recommend for a 6 yo if you want. I'm pretty sure he's read most of Dahl's books in the past.

Does that help?

This is very helpful, thank you.  The cookbook sounds fun.  Yes, please ask Drakon what he recommends.  I'd rather not pre-read them all.  I've picked up Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach (I know the Aunts are mean from the movie, I do wonder if they are much worse in the book?), The BFG (which he has also seen the movie from the library so this might be pretty gruesome with the other giant that swallows the main character? I didn't watch it all myself --yeah good parenting)  And The Twits, which I might pre-read because it might be a bit over the top? My son has a quirky sense of humor and loves to play practical jokes, Tom and Jerry is one of his favorite cartoons.  So you get the idea...  I thought he'd like the outrageous in Dahl's books.  And he's quick to point out when someone is doing something bad, so I think he learns from it.  Unfortunately violence is found everywhere, particularly the Bible.  And even William Bennett books are more violent that I would have thought appropriate for kids.  When David brings down Goliath with the stone he then takes the giant's sword and cuts his head off.  This is in Bennett's KIDS book.  Yeah, huge impression on my son.  He retells that one often. I get strange looks sometimes.

Then again, I could just read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and save the others for later.  See what Drakon thinks, please.

Thanks a bunch.

Interesting that this comes up now...because Jack has chosen Van Gogh for our artist study for this unit and I have been wondering the same thing.  Jack (age 6) is a pretty sensitive kid, and he was even more so at four when we read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  We didn't look too deeply into Dahl's bio at that age, so I don't have a ready answer..except as it relates to my thoughts on Van Gogh.  I am planning to close my eyes, take a deep breath and 'trust' that the authors of any authors of biographies for kids will have thought it through and come up with a way to tell what needs to be known is a sensitive way that won't be too alarming.  I may find myself with some 'plainin to do", of course, but I can't help but think that life really can be brutal and while battering my poor child with the knowledge before he's ready, sheltering him too long would be, also.  So I plan to stick with biographies for young kids and then let the chips fall where they may in our studies of Van Gogh.  Depending on how sensitive your little one is, that might work with Dahl, too?

In regards to biographies of artists we use the series from Mike Venezia (he also has a presidents series and a composers series). I don't recall any of them going into any details if a "shady bit" of the artist's background was included. We use them for the entire elementary school years and as a quick read for middle school. They are also popular enough that you can easily find them used (a big selling point since we study a lot of artists).

Chai Mama,

I asked Drakon and he highly recommends Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, it's sequel Charlie & the Glass Elevator and the BFG. He knows he read The Twits and James & the Giant Peach but doesn't remember them so he figures they must not have been as good as the others. He didn't think there was anything overly inappropriate for 6 yo unless they are very sensitive (my kids are not).

Thanks, Gina, I'll have an eye our for Venezia's biographies.  I know we have used them a few times, but not often enough to have settled on them as especially good.  That's helps a lot.

Misti,

Unfortunately I would not call them "great" biographies but it got to the point where I needed to spend far less time searching for the perfect artist bio (the girls were in a class where it was one artist per week) and just have a decent series that I could go to quickly and easily. So, we start with the Venezia series, then if the kids want to know more we go looking for one of those lengthier great biographies. Most of the time the kids are satisfied with the Venezia series though.

I can understand that, Gina.  I usually choose two -- based on what gets the best rating on Amazon, sadly -- just to get a more balanced view if that's possible.  But I don't spend a lot of time on picking titles for author, artist, or scientist bio searches.  Mostly I want to make sure jack knows these people to be people.  High achieving people, yes, but humans.  I think I was 30 or 35 before I really grokked that detail!    (Kidding.)

Thank you for the recommendations and asking Drakon.  We are halfway through Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the Glass Elevator would be great.  He's loving the silly details in the book.  The cookbook is in my cart at Amazon too. I think I will skim/pre-read the others before starting them.  Thanks!

Sweet!! 13th September- Roald Dahl Day!

We have also just started reading Charlie and the Chocolate factory and my kids are loving it. They have seen the movie once before so it's easy for them to relate to it and are enjoying the details now.

1.  I plan to read couple more books for sure to celebrate his day or our author study.

2.  I plan to go briefly over his biography and not into details.

3.We may use some pages to color his silly characters and may make a collage of familiar characters and put them on a page for fun. or puppets on pop sitcks and play and save in their files.

4. I also plan to make some chocolate at home witht he kids and wrap them up in foil or golden foil "IF" I find them somwhere. Give them our own silly, funny names.

5. My hubby already purchased some Willy Wonka chocolates for the kids as a treat.

6. We will use the map to locate where he was born and traveled and use arrows to point from one place to another.

7. We wil also look at his website and play some games. It's quite colorful and entertaining.

Please share your ideas! I'd appreciate that!

8. And, ofcourse watch his movie!! I love that movie.. Is there a way we can get his songs of the Chocolate factory to listen to more often at home so we get more aquainted withe the lyrics? Would library carry them? Hmm.....

Throw me your ideas how you plan to do it, please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oooh, great ideas!!  I was opening a candy bar the other day and Ham excitedly said "I wonder if there is a golden ticket inside!"  And yesterday he tried putting gum behind his ear.  This is a wonderful children's story.

Gina mentioned the cookbook and that looks fun too.  Thanks for letting me know it's Roald Dahl day on the 13th!

I also want to go to the play which is in pdx. Ham is excited to go to it.  We are going with our homeschooling group which gets us a school discount (I think).

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Oregon Children’s Theatre- Newmark Theatre, Portland

November

Best for grades 3-5 , approx. 1 hour

A golden ticket is Charlie bucket's passport to a daring adventure. This Roald Dahl classic illustrates the good, the bad and the just plain spoiled. Follow five lucky ticket holders as they each earn their just rewards, and discover the incredible and  astounding sights that lie beyond the gates of the Wonka factory.

This theatre only allows children 5 and up for school shows.

Other author studies? What are the other names of the authors appropriate for age five, six yr olds? Please recommend some..

1. Eric Carle

2. Jan Brett

???

Authors for young children:

Beatrix Potter

Trina Schart Hyman, though she was mostly an illustrator her books are still fabulous. (She died recently, sad to say.)

Crockett Johnson (Harold and the Purple Crayon)

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Peggy Parish (Amelia Bedelia)

H.A. Rey (Curious George)

Lois Lenski (Strawberry Girl and many others)

Langston Hughes

Marguerite Henry

Dr. Seuss

Margaret Wise Brown

Robert Louis Stevenson

A.A. Milne (and or Christopher Robin)

Ezra Jack Keats

Neil Gaiman (Wolves in the Walls and Coraline and The Day I sold My Dad for Two Goldfish.)

Leo and Diane Dillon

Faith Ringgold

Lawrence Yep

Excpet for the last three and Langston Hughes, this is a very Eurocentric list.  But Google turned up some lists of African American authors pretty quickly, and there has been a real effort in recent years to assemble and publish lists of non-Eurocentric fiction for all ages online.   It's also been a great many years--or at least it feels like it! since I had such young children, so I'm sure I'm missing some obvious ones.  If you have a local bookstore with a good kids' section, the main clerk for that section should be able to help you come up with some ideas, as well as your children's librarian.  They LOVE these kinds of questions.

Lisa, butting out now.  ;-)

Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt is a handy annotated book list  by age.    Additional books by the same author are also suggested.  

Five in a Row has a nice book list too. 

Robert McClosky would a be good one and could be our next Author Study    I've already read my 6 yo many of these books but want to Homer Price and I would to check out Burt Dow, Deep Water-man.  

Bibliography: author and illustrator

Lentil (1940)

Make Way for Ducklings (1941), a Caldecott Medal Book

Homer Price (1943)

Blueberries for Sal (1948), a Caldecott Honor Book

Centerburg Tales: More Tales of Homer Price (1951, also titled More Homer Price)

One Morning in Maine (1952), a Caldecott Honor Book

Time of Wonder (1957), a Caldecott Medal Book

Burt Dow, Deep Water-man (1963)

KodyGirl would add Gail Gibbons (nonfiction), Leo Lionni, Dick King-Smith, Jim Arnosky and Jean Craighead George to that list. Once my family library is functional again I will try to remember to flesh out the author study lists.