Recommend a Childrens Book - Fantasy to Mythology-based Fiction

My eight year old son needs to read a chapter book and then write a report and build a mobile, sculpture or diorama. His friends are reading D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths, and his big brother has read some of the Percy and the Olympians books. Being a clueless dad, I actually started reading The Lightning Thief with him before I realized that, hey, it’s The Lightning Thief and it’s too much for a young boy. So… I get to help him pick another book tomorrow.

So, how about some suggestions for this book? We’re reading way too many Bailey School books and I’m not as well-versed on childrens literature as I’d like to be. Someone suggested Castle in the Air, and while I’m sure he’s up to it, it’s a bit too long to read in the time that we have before the report/diorama is due. I would like for us to read something that is heavy on imagery, and a fantasy adventure seems like the right sort of book for him.

I don’t know if you are looking for classic literature or just a good book for him, but my 8½ yo boy loves the Warriors series. I have read them and they are well written and enthralling. There are definitely lessons to be learned, but not so much that you feel you are reading “a book with a moral”. Plenty of characters/settings to make a diorama or mobile.

Probably the wrong genre, but “The 13 Clocks” tops my list of children’s books because it’s just so bizarre and creative, and it has some really great parts for reading aloud. I’d recommend reading it even if it doesn’t fit this assignment.

Here are some reviews at Amazon: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/customer-reviews/0440405823/sr=1-4/qid=1174793091/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/702-1644562-3657600?ie=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort_by=-SubmissionDate&n=916520&qid=1174793091&sr=1-4

Andre Norton’s Dragon Magic is an excellent younger-reader fantasy book. It’s about four boys of different ethnicities who find a puzzle in an old house, which leads each of them to experience an adventure concerning a dragon from each of their backgrounds (African, Welsh, Chinese and Scandinavian).

The only real problem may be in finding it in time. It’s an older book and is probably out of print.

Mary Pope Osborne wrote some short chapter books of adventures in The Odyssey; lots of monsters and dead people. Or you could try the longer books by Rosemary Sutcliff: Black ships before Troy (The Iliad) or The adventures of Odysseus. Illustrated wonderfully by Alan Lee, lots of monsters and gore. Or try D’Aulaires book of Norse Myths instead of the Greek one; it’s generally considered their best work and has plenty of great stuff (if your library only has the older edition, it will be called D’Aulaires Norse Gods and Giants). They also wrote a nice book on Trolls.

Or, read Diana Wynne Jones. Or Alan Garner. Lloyd Alexander…

Wow, thanks folks! OpalCat, I will definitely check around town for The 13 Clocks. My son is very imaginative, and I definitely see him liking it. The Mary Pope Osborne books will probably be good as well. He really wants to read mythology, and this would help him be an expert to his mythology reading friends.

The Warriors series sounds good as well, and I remember reading Andre Norton when I was a kid. It sounds like we will be adding to his library.

Hm, I had Bullfinches Mythology for christmas when I was 8, the original version, not the bowlderized version. It was rather interesting trying to explain to my teacher why I found the name of a girl just moving into the district absolutely hilarious, her name was Lida. At the time our school used cute animals out of fairy tales for class division badges. Our section of class had the swan from the Ugly Duckling.

There is something wrong about an 8 year old girl named lida wearing a swan broach…

How about The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy-Tale Detectives? I’m not sure what grade an 8 year old is in, so I’m not positive it falls into the category, but I think it does.

Gerald Durell’s “The Talking Parcel” which has been renamed for Americans as (gag) “The Battle for Cockatrice Castle”.

The Talking Parcel

I am biased as I adore both Lawrence and Gerald Durell but I LOVED this book as a kid (along with the more inappropriate Birds, Beasts and Relatives and My Family and Other Animals). I was so stoked when I found it as a child. You can probably get it at the library.

The Adventures of Ulysses* by Bernard Evslin. Absolutely the best retelling of The Odyssey by Homer, I’ve ever read. I read the book when I was young and the imagery and words have stayed with me ever since.

The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander was my favorite fantasy series as a child, and any one of the books can be read as a stand-alone story. The Black Cauldron might be a good place to start. Lots of colorful fantasy imagery, with a solid plot and interesting characters to boot.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s TANGLEWOOD TALES and TWICE-TOLD TALES. Also Kevin Crossley-Holland’s THE NORSE MYTHS.

Diana Wynne Jones has written many fantasy adventures, and some of them would be in your son’s reading level. Libraries seem to have many of her titles on the shelves. It’s a bit harder to find them in brick and mortar bookshops, but this is why I love Amazon. I heartily recommend most of Jones’ books not only for reading assignments, but for pleasure reading as well.

I’ll third the Chronicles of Prydain (the first one is The Book of Three, if you want to take them in order), and I’ll also add C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, starting with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Also, depending on exactly where he is in his reading, Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time (and A Wind in the Door), but I didn’t read that one until fourth grade.

The “Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein is a short book that is beautifully written and illustrated, and packs a powerful moral message. It’s for children and adults alike.

John Bellairs’ The House With a Clock In Its Walls. Also its sequels and Bellairs’ other books about Lewis Barnavelt and Rose Rita. I still love these.