Parents

for parents · the practical and the warm stuff first · school politics is under Politics

Read these first, in this order

1. 1"Am I supposed to prove that drinking makes you happy?"He's completely in love with Erasmus Montanus and likes to try out rhetoric on his schoolmates.
2. 2From 1885, and just as exciting for itRobin Hood from 1938, a boys' book from 1931, Little Lord Fauntleroy from 1885. About old books and movies for an eleven-year-old, and what rubs off.
3. 3Nobody said it existedNever once did a teacher say to me "here's something a bit more literarily advanced that you might want to try".
4. 4Against screens — but what are you for?Only those with high social capital manage to be strict about screens and still fill the house with books.
5. 5Books that aren't at the front of the shelfOlder children's books, operas, plays and film. All tried out on a ten-year-old. Some have to be ordered through interlibrary loan.

Everything on this

2 more pieces, in the order they belong together

• The Argument · 31 August 2026But writing!?Writing in school: short reading comprehension answers, no whole stories, and what lots of practice has to do with it. From a letter to Skrivesenteret, August 2026.
• In English · 22 April 2025Opera with a ten-year-oldThe Barber of Seville as a first opera, Figaro two weeks later, then L'elisir d'amore with live translation on the couch.

Reading list

books, recordings and places · the sentences are mine, from The List, the catalog and what I've written elsewhere

• Einar Spang: Ilddåben and the Tordenskjold booksbookWe just finished reading Ilddåben by Einar Spang, a book from 1931 that tells a super exciting story about the privateering days, with adventures, heroism, and an incredible amount of nautical vocabulary.
• Rosemary Sutcliff: The Wanderings of Odysseus, King Arthur, Robin Hood, Tristan and IseultbookFantastic British author who has retold a lot of sources from Greek antiquity, English literary history etc. Great language and really nice to read together.
• The Odyssey for kidsbookAnd for kids there are lots of nice adaptations — my son liked Odyssevs reise. It's such an incredibly exciting story for kids too, and now he'll always know where the expression "Trojan horse" comes from, for example.
• Frances Hodgson Burnett: Little Lord FauntleroybookIt was actually the first book I ever read in English, in junior high. But we're reading it in Norwegian. It's actually all the way from 1885... And just as exciting for it!
• Historien om … (the biography series)bookAt Resirkula you get ten biographies for 1 kr each, so don't blame it on not being able to afford it.
• Kipling: The Jungle Book, out loudbookMine is turning 11 this week, and still loves being read to. The evening tradition is a bowl of plain yoghurt with raisins and nuts, and either me or my wife reading aloud. Currently reading the Jungle Book by Kipling.
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)filmIt was beautifully restored, and incredibly well made — completely impossible to imagine that it was that old. And my son sat glued to the screen...
• Holberg on FjernsynsteateretrecordingAnd it's through Fjernsynsteateret that I've been able to share four great Holberg plays with my son.
• The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, The Elixir of LoverecordingIf you haven't tried watching opera with your kids together, give it a try! They will love the colorful staging, the music, the exuberance.
• The library: the stacks and interlibrary loansplaceWe're so lucky that we actually have access to all of these books — sometimes they're in the stacks, they're always available through interlibrary loan, from all of Norway, incl. university libraries. But you have to know that they exist!
• Hamar Teater's youth groupplaceA little hidden gem — I think a lot of people think this is mainly interesting for the parents, but often it's very professional productions of exciting plays that are really good theater experiences, at a very cheap and local price.
• The whole ListlistEverything that gets listed on The List I've actually read with my son.