I’ve read those! The Borrowers! …I also remember an early 80s TV show about them, do you? Zombie Borrowers. That scene creeped me out so much as a wee lizardling.
Hmm. I’d also recommend Farley’s other horse novelizations. That’s how I learned about Man O’War. Or Jack London’s dog books. I had an invisible wolfdog for a while after reading them.
Er, I wouldn’t recommend any scary books. There’s a reason I firmly refuse to own any human dolls, besides the fact that my Oma thought giving me some scary-ass dolls as a toddler was a good one, and that’s a book involving a lonely girl and a magical dollhouse populated with two dolls who may or may not have been reincarnations of previous owners. Her uncle was the only one who paid attention to her, etc. The ending kept me up for weeks, and should’ve been a Twilight Zone episode.
Oh! What about The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder? That one made me want to have my own secrets so badly.
The Oz universe – “The Wizard of Oz” wasn’t the only one Baum did – he wrote a whole string of those books, and I tore through them when I was about the same age as the kids.
I might be odd, but I had a complete “My Book House” set from the 50s with all sorts of abridged classics, and loved the illustrations and the stories. I remember hauling the various volumes around all the time. I’ve made it very clear to my parents that they are not to get rid of the set until I can mail them back here.
When I was a youngster I was very fond of Hugh Lofting’s Doctor Dolittle series. Don’t let the execrable movies influence you; the books are charming and clever.
Movies? What movies? There has never been a Dr. Doolittle movie made. No sir, not even with Eddie Murphy.
And yeah, I loved those books. However, I’d want to have a chat with the kid about some of the in-context portrayals, such as Bumppo and Long Arrow, son of Golden Arrow. Rather not PC.
Oh, that reminds me. Within reason, I’d recommend the Tintin books. It’ll depend on the kids and their parents though. I remember The Golden Lotus was one of the first Tintin books I read, and I didn’t have a problem with it. Same issue with in-context portrayals of the natives.
Those were great! For kids, sure, but hilarious! I loved those.
Also, the Bailey School Kids books–for younger readers. There were books like “Vampires Don’t Wear Polka Dots” or “Werewolve Don’t Go to Summer Camp.” These four kids meet a “scary” adult every book and are left wondering if the adult really is a vampire/werewolf/Santa (okay, sometimes it’s not scary). A lot of fun.
I think books are awesome gifts and I congratulate you for giving them. But, as the voice of experience: In this age of beeping, brightly colored plastic toys, be prepared for their response to to be “Oh. A book. Thanks.” But IME books are appreciated by kids who like to read, even if they aren’t delerious with joy over them on Christmas Day. They enjoy them later. So give 'em anyway!
My absolute favorite kids’ book for the age group you’re talking about is The Westing Game.
Strongly seconding The Westing Game and the Spiderwick books.
I’d also highly recommend From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. If any of them like that one, perhaps Chasing Vermeer, by Blue Balliett. It’s not a classic, but it’s fun, with puzzles and codes right in the book.
I humbly suggest the *Babymouse * series of graphic novels for kids. All three kids are smack in the middle of the target age range. Queen of the World is probably the best fit for your niece; you can get Our Hero and *Rock Star * for the boys.
There’s a wonderful canadian author called Kit Pearson whose books both I, my mother and my brother loved. The best is probably her WWII trilogy, whose first book is called The Sky is Falling, but she’s written a lot of amazing ones.
The two couples I’m closest to each had two daughters, and it has been my firm policy since the birth of the first (my god-daughter) in 1980 to give no gifts to any child except books. They get plenty of shiny plastic crap from everyone else. From Uncle Commasense it’s books.
Here is a nearly complete list of all the books I’ve given seven children (including the children of the first two girls) over the last 27 years.
Pre-teen 40 stories by O. Henry A Wrinkle in Time (L’Engle) Alice in Wonderland Andersen’s Fairy Tales Bartholomew and the Oobleck (Dr. Seuss) Beatrix Potter The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (Dr. Seuss) The Giving Tree (Silverstein) Huckleberry Finn In the Night Kitchen (Sendak) James and the Giant Peach (Dahl) Lafcadio (Silverstein) The Little Prince Matilda (Dahl) The McGuffy Readers The One and Only Shrek (Steig) Peter Rabbit Phantom Toll Booth (Norton Juster) Random House Book of Humor for Children The Real Mother Goose Through the Looking Glass Tom Sawyer A Treasury of Children’s Literature Where the Sidewalk Ends (Shel Silverstein) The Wizard’s Apprentice (S.P. Somtow) Why Things Work (McCaulay)
Teens and beyond: 1984 Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do (McWilliams) Animal House (Orwell, not Lampoon!) The Annotated Alice, definitive edition Brave New World Catcher in the Rye Collected Stories of I.B. Singer Complete Jane Austen Complete Shakespeare Complete Stories of Poe Crime and Punishment David Copperfield Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care (When they had their own kids, of course) Emma Encyclopedia Britannica on CD-ROM Griffin and Sabine trilogy His Dark Materials trilogy (Pullman) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Hugo) If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller (Calvino)
Kafka stories
The Koran Memories, Thoughts, and Reflections (Einstein) The More Than Complete Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy The Real World Aptitude Test Science, Good, Bad, and Bogus (Gardner) Shorter OED When Do Fish Sleep? (Feldman)
As you may notice, I am a firm believer in giving books that may be slightly beyond the child’s present age.
What, no love for Gary Paulsen?
Like comma, we too are the aunt and uncle who only ever give books for every possible gift-giving occasion. Our nephews are starved for reading material, and sometimes are more excited about the books than the latest noisy plastic thing.
There is a wonderful book list here, and I’ll be sure to print it out as it grows.
I’ll toss into the arena the following, off the top of my head: Hatchet, The River, Dogsong, Gary Paulsen Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls The Giver, Lois Lowry Coraline, Neil Gaiman Caddie Woodlawn, Carol Ryrie Brink The Cay, Theodore Taylor
Anything by Beverly Cleary, but you’ve got to buy them used published prior to 1984. I think that some of them have been “updated” and I don’t think they read as well as they did before. The Jungle Books, Rudyard Kipling Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Salman Rushdie–this is one of my very favorite books of all time.
The Fog Mound: Adventures of Thelonious. It’s about a post-apocalyptic world (it’s unclear what happened … all the humans are just gone) in which many of the animals can talk, and have taken over the ruins of human cities, etc. Part novel, part graphic-novel. Good for the boys, I think.
Ah! And I see its sequel is out. I’ll have to get that…
I loved Raskin’s books as a kid. My favorite was “The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon, I mean Noel.”
Add me to the fans of Hoot and The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler as well
I think that age is challanging. My daughter is eight, my son is nine. They are both considered “good readers” but neither of them is voracious. They are a little old for the Magic Treehouse books, a little young for most of the chapter books a step up from them.
My daughter loved The Tale of Deparaux - well written and readable for a precocious eight year old.
My son is struggling through, but enjoys, “So You Want to Be a Wizard.” However, he is currently distracted by Tin-Tin graphic novels.
My daughter is just starting the Little House books. She LOVED the Maud Hart Lovelace books (the Betsy-Tacy books) through about #3 (they get progressively harder as the girls age - and she lost interest when the girls got older than her), but they are sadly out of print (again). There is some talk that the Minnesota Historical Society Press will pick them up.
Thanks for all the great suggestions. And in many cases, a trip down memory lane. I haven’t thought of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler in probably 20 years.
I had considered Pratchett’s “Wee Free Men” and Lemony Snicket, but had thought those were for a slightly older audience. But I guess it’s better to give a boot that stretches them (or their parents can read to them, or they can pick up again in a year or two) than something too “babyish”.
Keep the suggestions coming, I’m taking copious notes!
Heh, I can’t believe that list left out the old classic Daddy drinks because you cry.
I haven’t read the books, but I know there was a movie made (with John Goodman) several years ago.
Those would be by the late great John Bellairs, who wrote quite a few gothic-horror-ish books for kids.
My own recommendations, at least for boys who like to read, based on what I remember reading and liking when I was around that age:
I can enthusiastically second the Oz books, the Narnia books, the Prydain books, the Dr. Doolittle books, A Wrinkle in Time, Tom Sawyer, and Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass. And I will add
The Great Brain books John D. Fitzgerald
The Freddy the Pig books (after whom a Doper is named) by Walter Brooks
The Three Investigators books by Robert Arthur
The Encyclopedia Brown books by Donald J. Sobol
I should have suggested another favorite of mine I haven’t seen mentioned: The Weirdstone of Brisingamen. Maybe after Prydain (which I should have seconded or thirded or whatevered).
