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| celisnebula |
 Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 2:36 pm |
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Joined: 31 Dec 2004
Posts: 312
Location: USA
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The other day at Barns and Nobel my son picked up a book called Lightning Theif by Rick Riordan.
Summary:
Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson learns he is a demigod, the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea. His mother sends him to a summer camp for demigods where he and his new friends set out on a quest to prevent a war between the gods.
I just finished reading it and was highly impressed. So impressed that I bought the second book of the series, Sea of Monsters in hardback for the bratlet (and me).
So what kid books do you recommend as an engaging read? |
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| Mimmy |
| Posted: Wed May 03, 2006 10:04 pm |
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Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Posts: 29
Location: Azkaban
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I suppose it all depends on the kids...
here are some examples of what my two (10&13years old) loved...
Narnia... I don't think I need to go into the content here.
Artemis Fowl...a genius kid with a big heart and criminal tendencies tries to steal gold from the fairies.
sounds cheesy but it isn't. Eoin Colfer's fairies aren't you're average magical creatures...these guys can get nasty and they will fight back.
there are currently 4 books available in the series.
strangely we also loved the Darren Shan vampire series which is written like a diary... a young boy makes a deal with a vampire in order to save his best friend. He gets turned into a "half vampire" and goes on to become their prince etc.
In total there are 11 books each up to 200 pages long.
what the kids also seem to love are Roald Dahl books, "a series of unfortunate events" and "horrible history" books with funny names such as the "ruthless Romans" or the "gruesome Greeks"
lt me know if you want more details on the books
~Mimmy |
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| celisnebula |
| Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 3:39 am |
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Joined: 31 Dec 2004
Posts: 312
Location: USA
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| Aside from your kid loving these books, do you, yourself, personally enjoy them. That's what I meant in the above post -- what kids books do you personally enjoy. My son reads voraciously, from the Inheretence series to the Pendragon series by DH MacHale. I personally am not too hyped about the Pendragon series, my son loves it, but Artemis Fowl is more my cuppa. |
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Celis~~~
And they say we're crazy
http://www.livejournal.com/users/celisnebula/
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| Mimmy |
| Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 7:36 am |
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Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Posts: 29
Location: Azkaban
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yes, I did enjoy reading those books and I still read parts of them when I'm in a particular mood.
If I didn't like those books I wouldn't have mentioned them on here even if the kids swore that they were amazing.
~Mimmy |
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| snapeophile |
| Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 10:51 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2006
Posts: 4
Location: MA, USA
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Have either of you read the Silverwing/Sunwing/Firewing Trilogy from Kenneth Oppel? The characterizations and descriptions are just great and the kids and I got sucked right into all three stories.
Also, I will always have a soft spot for Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit. I was horrified when the story was Disney-ized. The book is much, much better! Babbit's prose is nice and gentle and very descriptive and there's lots of symbolism to chat about--life cycles, the wheel of life, etc.
Cheers! |
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| Elisabeth |
| Posted: Sun May 14, 2006 11:45 pm |
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Joined: 27 Feb 2006
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Location: U.S. (NJ)
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celisnebula wrote: Aside from your kid loving these books, do you, yourself, personally enjoy them.
Here are some children's books I still like all for myself, although of course I'm trying to convert my two daughters:
"Half Magic" by Edward Eager (Three children find a medallion that grants wishes, but only halfway).
"Calico Captive" and "Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare (Two great adventure stories of Colonial-era North America with strong heroines).
"Up a Road Slowly" and "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt (Really, really well-written coming of age stories -- the second one is set during the U.S. Civil War -- but I have to say that I didn't really 'get' these two books until I was nearly in college, even though they're technically young adult lit). |
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| abyt42 |
| Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 12:24 am |
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Joined: 18 Aug 2006
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My kids are little, so we're still in picture books most of the time. Doreen Cronin's Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type (and the rest of those books, including Dooby Dooby Moo) are big favorites.
Lobel's Frog & Toad books are also frequently in demand, and I'm a sucker for The Phantom Tollbooth, which we're rereading right now.
There's a great deal that's published for little kids that's not worth the paper, IMHO. . . |
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| Pennfana |
| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 7:52 pm |
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Joined: 07 Dec 2004
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Location: Ontario, Canada
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I remember reading Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting when I was about twelve; I've still got a soft spot for it.
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman was one of my favourites around that time as well. This book is in the form of a diary; it's basically a year in the life of the young daughter of a knight in England in the late thirteenth century. Once in awhile I still pick it up when I need a good laugh; Birdy really is a mischief. 
When I was a child my mother used to read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (she had an edition with all three parts under one cover) to my brother and I, but I think that might not have been typical... |
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| abyt42 |
| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:41 am |
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Joined: 18 Aug 2006
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Pennfana wrote:
When I was a child my mother used to read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (she had an edition with all three parts under one cover) to my brother and I, but I think that might not have been typical...
Seems normal to me! |
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| wonga |
| Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2006 3:45 am |
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Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 95
Location: Australia
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Tomorrow when the War Began series- John Marsden O.k, these are more young adult. A group of teenagers go camping when they return to their homes they discover the country has been invaded.
Snugglepot and Cuddlepie- May Gibbs A truly Australian book about little gumnut children. Too cute!
The Magic Pudding- Norman Lindsay A pudding that regenerates itself travels the country with a penguin, a koala and a man being chased by 'pudding nappers'.
...And of course anything by Paul Jennings, Morris Gleitzman and Roald Dahl. |
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| mouseII |
| Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:26 am |
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Joined: 05 May 2005
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Quote:
Penfanna: When I was a child my mother used to read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (she had an edition with all three parts under one cover) to my brother and I, but I think that might not have been typical...
abyt42: Seems normal to me!
Not to me! I tried to read Lord of the Rings when I was a child, and had to stop because the Ring Wraiths were scaring the cr@p out of me! So was the ring itself, for that matter; I was frightened of wearing rings for a few years afterward, in fact.
Honestly, those books read like horror novels to me when I was young. I wouldn't read them to a child. |
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| abyt42 |
| Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 3:55 am |
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Joined: 18 Aug 2006
Posts: 16
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It gave me nightmares: my mom loved it, though. Of course, I got nightmares from The Three Little Pigs, as well (I was younger, but always ended up in a soup pot in my dream. . .).
Honestly, a great many movies and books meant for kids scared me when I was young. I didn't recover from the pink elephants in Dumbo until I was well into my 20s.
I absolutely adore the Artemis Fowl books (but haven't shared them with my kids yet.) And I'm looking forward to Gregor the Overlander (it's my guilty treat when I finish grading this stack of essays.) |
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| wonga |
| Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:59 am |
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Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 95
Location: Australia
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I have to say that most Disney movies/ books STILL scare me, and I'm 19.  And lets not even go near The Brothers Grimm, whoever decide it would be a good idea to convert them to children's books was completely mad! |
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| where'smymuse? |
| Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 2:16 am |
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Joined: 28 Mar 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Dreary Ohio
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My son is going on 14 months and I just read to him the Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black. There are five books altogether, each about 100 pages with beautiful sketches throughout them.
On the back of each book, there are bold letters scribbled over it, so you cannot read what it's about. It says simply: Go away, close the book, put it down, do not look.
It's basically about three very different siblings, Jared, Simon and Mallory Grace. Their parents divorce, leaving them and their mother to move into their senile great aunt's rundown house where they enter into the faerie world.
My son loved to be read to, the characters are really sweet and can be quite funny in how real they are. I loved this series and am trying to convince my nieces to read them and anyone else who will let me bend their ear. 
Also, there is a movie coming out next year about the books.  |
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| Faraday |
| Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 6:39 am |
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Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 10
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| Just read The Amulet of Samarkand by Johnathon Stroud. Enjoyable and easy read with an interesting take on magic and demons (or djinni as they prefer). I'd say it was a kid's book only in that they'd have no trouble reading it rather than it being specifically aimed at a younger reader at the exclusion of an older reader. I think it's the first in a trilogy. |
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