# Anybody else out there enjoy childrens and/or young adult books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-out-there-enjoy-childrens-and-or-young-adult-books/253998 "2004-07-07T20:14:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-out-there-enjoy-childrens-and-or-young-adult-books/253998/41 "2004-07-13T14:49:50Z")
My favorite living author of novels for adults–Russel Hoban, _Riddley Walker_–has only written a few. But he’s written like 75 children’s books, among them the \*\_\_\_\_for Frances \* books. I have a LOT of his children’s books, and an awful lot of little kids I know have a couple handfuls each. His kids’ stuff is just as breathtakingly insightful as his adult stuff, and it’s interesting how he treats similar issues in two different approaches. My second favorite children’s author is Zilpha Keatly Snyder, whose _The Egypt Game_ is a Newbury Honor book. All of her books were modern-world fantasy/SF books for the 10-14 set. My favorite, _Black and Blue Magic_, is about 15-year-old boy who’s learning to live alone with his mom, who runs a boarding house in San Francisco, after his parents are divorced. He’s also learning to deal with his huge growth spurts, which have made him lethally clumsy. A mysterious old man with a mysterious old sample case comes to stay at their house, and rewards the boy for a good deed with a small bottle of mysteriously glowing liquid. He follows the printed directions and huge wings sprout from his shoulder blades. He fashions an outfit out of his sheets, to stay warm in the night skies over SF but still let the wings through, and gets into all kinds of close calls and adventures. At the end of the summer, when he’s run out of the drops, he’s gained a new sense of confidence and maturity, and learned to overcome his clumsiness. A very, very cool book. _The Changeling_ is about a kid who comes to believe she’s a fairy child stolen from the woods. (gotta work; will add more later.) ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-out-there-enjoy-childrens-and-or-young-adult-books/253998/42 "2004-07-13T15:41:03Z")
Lot’s of good reading and authors already mentioned, here are a few more that we’ve enjoyed. I enjoy them as much as our young reader. [Walk Two Moons](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0064405176/ref=pd_sim_books_3/002-9335268-8504024?v=glance&s=books) by Sharon Creech. For several years our son said this was his favorite book. [The Giver](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0440237688/ref=pd_sim_books_2/002-9335268-8504024?v=glance&s=books) by Lowery [The Outsiders](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/014038572X/qid=1089731404/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-9335268-8504024?v=glance&s=books) by Hinton [A Year Down Yonder](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0142300705/ref=pd_sim_books_5/002-9335268-8504024?v=glance&s=books) by Richard Peck [The Cay](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index%3Dbooks%26field-keywords%3DThe%2520Cay/002-9335268-8504024) by Theodore Taylor. This is a good read together book. My son really enjoyed listening to me try to speak with the dialect as written. [The Phantom Tollbooth](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0394820371/ref=pd_sim_books_5/002-9335268-8504024?v=glance&s=books) by Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer [The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0064403149/ref=pd_sim_books_2/002-9335268-8504024?v=glance&s=books) by Julie Edwards [The View From Saturday](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0689817215/ref=pd_sim_books_4/002-9335268-8504024?v=glance&s=books) by E. L. Konigsburg [The Westing Game](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140386645/qid=1089732980/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/002-9335268-8504024) by Ellen Raskin [Wringer](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0064405788/qid=1089733138/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/002-9335268-8504024) by Jerry Spinilli ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-out-there-enjoy-childrens-and-or-young-adult-books/253998/43 "2004-07-13T15:49:14Z")
I prefer Julie Edward’s book Mandy to Really Great Whangdoodles; in fact, I was horrified when I realized that Whangdoodles starts out with some kids meeting a wacky feller in a park and going off to his house without their parents knowing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-out-there-enjoy-childrens-and-or-young-adult-books/253998.md?page=2)