One of our teens is really into the Percy Jackson books.
I can't believe how well the popular series have my kid pegged. He has been riveted by the absolutely obvious: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Bad Guys, Big Nate. If it is a twenty-eight volume, ultra-popular series, my kid is right there for it.
He was briefly puzzled by a stand-alone a while back, asking me where the volume number was.
Which also means that I don't have much to recommend for you.
Obviously, the books where the feral cats fight each other as told through the eyes of an escaped pet cat are the best.
He was briefly puzzled by a stand-alone a while back, asking me where the volume number was.
That's hilarious.
In the olden days, sweet child, books only came one by one.
2: We also chew up those books like nobody's business. They don't seem quite as charming for me to gift, though.
I don't think we own Percy Jackson, but I know Pokey at least has read them. Is it a single series, or are there multiple within that world?
Very, very many multiple in the Percy Jackson universe. He branches out into other mythologies as well.
I think Percy Jackson is itself just a single series, but Riordan also has other series that are similar? There might be multiple series though.
Ah, okay, Megan knows more detail. There certainly are a lot of them.
I find the series I mentioned uncharming in general, not just for gifting. I don't have to read them though. I just have to keep them coming.
I'm guessing Pokey just read the main PJ series? Any particular favorite other series' of his?
For those who are shopping for a Hawaii-type child, she loves all things Grishaverse, which includes the Shadow & Bone series and the Six of Crows series. I think.
My kid loved Hank the Cowdog, which as a bonus is set in Texas.
Also the Six of Crows series, but I see you've found that one already! And the Warrior Cats were beloved by all my young writers -- every time I mention them in workshop, they go OFF -- but I don't know if I'd recommend them, as they've got some squicky relationship stuff going on. (Yes, among cats. Don't ask me, I didn't read them myself.)
I like the Enola Holmes series, but my kid did not.
My kid loved Hank the Cowdog, which as a bonus is set in Texas.
Also the Six of Crows series, but I see you've found that one already! And the Warrior Cats were beloved by all my young writers -- every time I mention them in workshop, they go OFF -- but I don't know if I'd recommend them, as they've got some squicky relationship stuff going on. (Yes, among cats. Don't ask me, I didn't read them myself.)
I like the Enola Holmes series, but my kid did not.
I remember Newt liking a series by Garth Nix, but I couldn't tell you much about it.
We tried Hank the Cowdog, but quit after one of the characters spoke in something offensive - a ching-chong pidgin, or fake native pidgin? I don't remember. The rest wasn't good enough to carry us past that.
15: I think it was all the cats under age 16 having sex.
Oh man. Rascal got his hands on one Warrior Cats and loooooved it. I may have to go for that, despite the grossness.
(I had forgotten all about that. Thanks for the tip!)
19: Thanks for making the joke explicit.
In the dark, all cats are squicky.
I personally like all of the Garth Nix "Abhorsen" books (Sabriel, etc), but didn't enjoy the "Keys to the Kingdom" books as much. They might also like the Cynthia Voigt series that has been rebranded "Tales of the Kingdom."
I only remember the Cynthia Voigt book Izzy, Willy-Nilly, about the cheerleader who loses her leg.
And had it replaced with a shotgun?
With a wheelchair! Even more practical.
I don't know anything about recent YA books, but have I recommended Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy here before? I read it like ten years ago, but I remember liking it a lot.
xelA (9 years old) went through all of the Rick Riordan books. He loved the Percy Jackson books, but also the Egypt focused series. He also really liked the Spirit Animals series: https://spiritanimals.fandom.com/wiki/Books
The Artemis Fowl books are also worth a read. He enjoyed those, too.
Right now, he's reading Lord of the Rings, which I don't think anyone needs a recommendation for. He's about 3/4 the way through the Fellowship, and he's enjoying it, but occasionally he gets bogged down by Tolkien's longueurs.
Less fantasy focused and maybe a bit more literary, but really good, are Katherine Rundell's* books: The Wolf Wilder, and The Explorer. He really enjoyed those.
* she just won a prize for her book on John Donne.
The Rundell books are definitely OK for older kids, too, I think.
For some reason George MacDonald just occurred to me. Did anyone's kids enjoy The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie?
They're fairy tales, and in that kind of Christian space that Narnia is, although less straightforwardly allegorical. But I liked them a lot as a kid.
Oh, I read all those fairly tale books* like George MacDonald as did my mother who is 87 now. It's been nearly 50 years though. I wonder how they hold up in this modern age.
*and many many many more.
I remember the Spirit Animal books. I was slightly resentful that something so blatantly commercial was largely well written.
We had a previous discussion of the Warrior Cats which I have never forgotten. I think a couple of their ghostwriters are responsible for Wings of Fire, which is super violent stuff, but I'm not sure about the sexual mores. I feel Elke wouldn't have tolerated too much female submission, and she was (is?) a superfan of those ghastly books, lol
No recollection of that thread, but I laughed out loud when I got to T"R"O's and Teo's contributions.
re: 36
Yes, they recruited some decent writers, clearly on a $ basis, to write some of them. My son is a total sucker for anything that involves humans and animals bonding in some way. He still imagines he'll grow up to be an animal biologist who lives in the wild tending to wolves, and the wolves will somehow mysteriously become his friends.*
* obviously I'm not shitting on this dream. He's 9, and it's quite cool to imagine running across the frozen wastes accompanied by your wolves.
If you have a kid who prefers sci-fi over fantasy, Kevin Emerson's "Last Day on Mars" and its two sequels are good.
If your kid likes "kid finds out they are a wizard and goes to wizard school" books, but you don't want ones by You Know Who, try "Akata Witch" by Nnedi Okorafor and its two sequels.
Metro 2033, maybe? Postapocalyptic Moscow subway, mine liked it at maybe 10 or 11? Author now in exile fwiw. Also Eragon, dragon-themed, a few years earlier.
41: Has he read Farley Mowat's Never Cry Wolf? It's written for adults but I bet he'd like it.
He still imagines he'll grow up to be an animal biologist who lives in the wild tending to wolves, and the wolves will somehow mysteriously become his friends.
This is Rascal, except underwater sea creatures. I still cherish the book he wrote me a few years ago, called Whale Sharks Are Not Whales.
28: I definitely had a copy of Izzy, Willy Nilly and the Tillerman Cycle, which was much better. The Kingdom books held up well, though. Your kids are also the right age for one of my fave YA authors, Tamora Pierce.
Wales Sharks was a 50s street gang in Cardiff.
41, 45: the movie is also pretty great. bob hughes, who i played for quite a bit when i was absurdly young, wrote & performed the frame drum music at the end of the movie & was the bassoonist.
our son also loved dersu uzala both book & movie.
both v sad though so discretion re age & sensitive-soulness!
& just found out that bob died last month. what a fabulous artist & impresario, what a life. will always remember fondly the time his hangover caused him to lose his way during a rite of spring performance on tour in italy - he caught back up with us by the end. 💓 & working with lou harrison & laurie anderson & so many others. he was really a tremendous guy.
Calabat is a big fan of Percy Jackson and Epic Zero and something... Michael Vay? Veigh? Kids with electric powers. He also just discovered the children's classics list at the library and read The Secret Garden. He's nine, so close to your kids' age.
I always get The Secret Garden confused with Flowers in the Attic.
Ranger's Apprentice? Pretty standard fantasy, but Kid Three tore through all twelve or thirteen books some time during elementary school, and I think even returned for re-reads.
Maybe also The Last Dragon (wiki tells me it's The Last Elf in the UK because reasons) by Silvana De Mari. It looks like there are seven books in the series, but only one has made it into English so far.
I still reckon the best magic/magician books for older kids (bright 10-year-olds to adults) are Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea books, and the first one, A Wizard of Earthsea, remains the best.
Also, xelA has really enjoyed the various SF Said books: Varjak Paw, and Phoenix.
45 Seconding Farley Mowat's Never Cry Wolf
Alistair Reynolds has got into YA stuff - it is, as you might expect, dark gothic SF with plenty of spacecraft, alien skulls, sibling rivalry and LONG-PLANNED REVENGE but rather good. "Revenger", "Shadow Captain" and a third one which I haven't read yet called "Bone Silence".
Also these are great and thank you all so much!! This thread is always so fruitful and appreciated.
Books Atossa likes: Cleopatra in Space, Witches of Brooklyn, Princeless, Big Nate, and anything by Dav Pilkey. All graphic novels appropriate for a 7-year-old. She also likes Tintin but sometimes I have to steer her away from the racist stereotypes or try to contextualize them. She'll read Junie B. Jones books and Dory Phantasmagory without too much complaining.
I appreciate this thread because I've been trying to get her away from graphic novels. Not that I have anything against the medium; lord knows I own enough. I'm also not exactly worried about her ability to read at grade level. No, it's mainly just because I think reading chapter books would keep her busy longer.
That is the true problem with graphic novels. They can be high quality and gorgeous and still only last 45 min.