Life is sweet | Chessalee
25/06/2008 by Nikita Update: August 2011 – In this photo you can see the REAL Lompie! Since I have my photos with me – at last! – I’m updating some posts with the actual photos. Now you can see how close I was on finding a pic on the internet similar to Lompie and Nikki! In the next photo, you can see MY cat…Nikki. Lompie was hubby’s cat. Two wonderful pets we had. Look at Nikki in the first pic. She used to do that!
The following three books- by Anne Fine – are really the most hilarious cat-books I’ve read!! Yes, if you’re a teacher…and a booklover!! you DO read books that children read too…well, that’s me…I’m a lover of children’s books!! They are the best!! If you want to spoil a child, this is really THE book(s) to have! I’ve got the first two books and have used it with children in Primary and even with slow readers age 12/13 and they just LOVE these books!! Children in Primary had begged me to continue reading from these books, as I’d always kept it for that last 10-15 min of the day. They couldn’t pack their stuff away fast enough to sit quietly and ready to listen. I’ve used it with a slow reader, age 12 and she wasn’t really very keen to listen/read from the books and once I’d started it, she couldn’t wait to read the entire book. You can get any child to read, it all depends on your enthusiasm and the example you as an adult set for the child. Children that don’t love reading, would love reading if they are allowed to read comics! As long as they read!! You can buy them Asterix and Obelix to get them into reading… make it fun for any child to enjoy reading! I always say to children that tell me they hate reading…the reason is..that they’ve never been introduced to good stories/stories THEY like and interesting books. As a qualified library teacher it was part of my job -the first nine years of my teaching, -to spend the library’s budget on books to be used by teachers in subjects and for children to read. I can still recall books children had big fights about and there were always endless waiting lists for all those fiction books. One way to get them into reading was to read only the first two chapters and then watch the fighting! hahaha…sometimes when their name was on a waiting list and they forgot to get the book, when it was their turn, there were some really big sparks, but if you snooze…you lose! that was our slogan in the library!! One particular book that is still fresh in my mind, is a book written by Jenny Seed…”The 59 Cats”…this is really a funny/good book and any South African reading here…should try and get hold of this book for your child age 6-8…it’s about an old lady with all these cats…59 of them! and the people of the town want her to get rid of them and they even went to the Mayor! Sadly, she had to get rid of them, but there’s a happy ending to this story! She got her 59 cats back! Get the book and see why!! Jenny Seed is one of South Africa’s most prolific and widely published English children’s book authors.and was of the first to be published internationally. Since the publication of her first book in 1968 in the UK, Mrs Seed was for quite a while one of a handful South African English children’s book authors that produced indigenous children’s books of an exceptional quality. Many of her books had been translated into Afrikaans (and some into German). Professor Elwyn Jenkins considers her to be presumably the most widely read English children’s book author in the country and certainly one who had a considerable didactic impact on children because she was so widely published. It is therefore no wonder that Jay Heale calls her “the mother or perhaps grandmother of South African English children’s literature”.
In Jenkins’ book, Children South of the sun, he refers to the fact that Jenny Seed is moved by her liberal view of history and the urgings of Christian compassion to convey to her young readers, through the personal story of individuals, what she sees as both sides of the story. She impresses upon them how personal values can make a significant mark for good in the midst of great historical events over which the individual would seem to have little control. In keeping with her concern for objectivity, she bases her novels on meticulously accurate historical detail. Because her historical novels are widely published, prescribed and read, her work occupies an exceptional place in the forming of the historical sensibilities of white South Africans (Jay Heale).
Posted in animals, books, cats, Children's stories, Edward Lear, fiction, furry animals, how to draw a cat, Jenny Seed, John Cunliffe, poems, Poetry, reading, South African Children's story writers, South African writers, stories, The Owl and the Pussycat | Tagged animals, Anne Fine, Anne Fine biography, Bobbi Katz, books, Brian Morse, cat art, Cat books, cat fun-stuff, cat images, Cat in the Window, Cat Kisses, cat pictures, cat poems, cat poetry, Cat Warmth, cats, Cecile Eugenie, Chess cat, Children's fiction, Children's stories, Drawing and Illustration, Edward Lear, fiction, furry animals, how to draw a cat, Jenny Seed, John Cunliffe, Peter Gray, poems, Poetry, reading, South African Children's story writers, South African writers, stories, The Owl and the Pussycat | 10 Comments	10 Responses
on 26/06/2008 at 06:49 | Reply Reisiger
Ek is ‘n “firm believer” daarvan dat mens vir kinders van ‘n baie jong ouderdom af moet stories lees! As ek eendag die voorreg mag hê om ouma te wees, sal ek seker maak dat my kleinkinders ook met storieboeke groot word! Hierdie katboeke lyk darem maar baie oulik en ek’s mal oor die illustrasies op die voorblaaie!! Ek het Anne Fine se biografie ook gaan lees – interessant!
on 26/06/2008 at 09:07 | Reply Wipneus!
Sjoe maar dit was nou lekker lees. Nikita jy het ‘n groot liefde vir katte!! Pragtige gedigte! Ek het jou inskrywing geniet!!
on 26/06/2008 at 12:46 | Reply Braam
Heerlik aan die gedigte gelees. Net jammer my kat wil nie lyk soos die een in die skets. As die oog nie skeel is, dan hang die oor. Wonderlik hoe ‘n mens se troeteldiere jou lewe kan verryk!
on 26/06/2008 at 13:52 | Reply boerinballingskap
Ek is ook ‘n katliefhebber.🙂
on 26/06/2008 at 20:21 | Reply Nikita
hi Reisiger… ja, jy’s reg, mens kan nie te vroeg begin nie. Ek het met my kinders so vroeg as wat jy kan (baba) begin en hulle is beide vandag lief vir lees en my dogter maak my grys! sy is hopeloos verslaaf aan lees en beskuldig altyd my en se dis my skuld!😉 sy lees hierdie verskriklike dik boeke waarvoor ek net so 1x per jaar kans sien…AS ek tyd het… in ‘n japtrap deur…en boonop Engels! maar ek moet se, ek is nooit spyt nie…toe ek begin skoolhou het, het ‘n ma vir my gese dat sy ‘n reel met haar kinders het en dit was dat sy hulle NOOIT iets sou vra om te doen as hulle lees nie, dit was nogal vir my oulik.
Hi Wipneus… en ek se weer…ek wil elke keer “Wippie” skryf as ek vir jou iets skryf! Ek dink ek moet dit nou maar begin doen! lol! ek is bly jy het dit geniet…ek vrek oor katte en dan ook katte/honde stories. Ek het ‘n boek in SA gekoop – in my beginjare van skoolhou…Anita du Plessis was die skryfster en die boek…”Koningskind”…kyk of jy dit by Tafelberg kan kry…jong, dis oor ‘n Engelse bulhond en jy lag vir jou ‘n papie as jy daardie boek lees…ek het hom vir kinders voorgelees en die trane het geloop en ek moes soms ophou lees, soos ek gelag het…nodeloos om te se, ek het vir my twee van die boek gekoop…daardie boek is ‘n “treasure”…
hi Braam…aanhouer wen!😉 en Boertjie…ek is bly jy is lief vir katte…ek dink altyd daar is iets “besonders” as mans lief is vir katte…my man is ook ‘n katliefhebber en hy is ‘n spesiale persoon…
on 26/06/2008 at 20:34 | Reply RoosMaryn
Katte het ‘n klamerende uitwerking op mens. (Behalwe vir party😉 ) Ek het ook ‘n kat, liewe liewe diertjie en ons het ‘n baie goeie verhouding. Sal baie swaar kry as hy die dag nie meer daar is nie, ek kan sien hoe hy daagliks ouer en ouer word. Dankie vir jou “katte” dag!
on 26/06/2008 at 23:04 | Reply Nikita
Hi RoosMaryn! wat jy se is waar! Daardie katjie van my (was ‘n miniatuur enetjie) was so erg oor water (Nikki) en jy kon haar natgooi met die gietertjie, dan was sy in die sewende hemel…ek het haar by ‘n kwekery opgetel. Lompie was reeds my man s’n voor ek hom ontmoet het en die twee was baie groot maats.
on 27/06/2008 at 16:53 | Reply ejh
on 27/06/2008 at 17:00 | Reply Nikita
hi ejh! thanks!! That kitty is soooooo cute! she knows exactly what’s good for her and she’s now on my blog too!!😉 and…your link has led to my next post!!😉
on 21/12/2008 at 02:18 | Reply Cats « Chessalee
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