# Hi. My name is Julie and I'm a children's bookaholic **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-my-name-is-julie-and-im-a-childrens-bookaholic/181624 "2003-06-13T17:25:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MisterThyristor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-my-name-is-julie-and-im-a-childrens-bookaholic/181624/21 "2003-06-17T02:31:34Z")
I don’t think anyone has mentioned the _Earthsea_ trilogy by Ursula LeGuin yet. (She has added a couple of books to the trilogy since, also). ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-my-name-is-julie-and-im-a-childrens-bookaholic/181624/22 "2003-06-17T03:08:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jsgoddess \* > **I hear ya on two of those. I love Lewis, and Duane is okay. But Susan Cooper’s _Dark is Rising_ was a huge disappointment to me. I didn’t care about the character (Will?) at all, and he had absolutely no risk, no growth, no nuthin’!** Oh, I don’t know about that concerning Will. I think Susan Cooper wrote as much growth into him as possible; after all, he was an Old One, and a lot of his powers and wisdom–so to speak–were inherent. That was part of the character setup: he was both young and old at the same time–which explained some of the mistakes he made, and the mature manner in which he handled them. If you look at _The Grey King_ (which won a Newberry), you’ll see Bran’s character transformation, as well as John Rowlands’ changes through that book and _Silver on the Tree_. While the books did focus on Will, sure, (and on the Drew children in _Over Sea, Under Stone_), I think Ms. Cooper’s greatest accomplishment for the series was portraying other characters’ reactions and changes after dealing with Will and his order of Light. _I_ loved them, at any rate. 😉 For the on-going list, I suggest Baum’s Oz series, Doris Buchanan Smith’s _A Taste of Blackberries_, most of Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary’s books, Nancy Garden’s _Prisoner of Vampires_ (and definitely _Annie on My Mind_ if the child is old enough), Ellen Raskin’s _The Westing Game_, and _The Witch of Blackbird Pond_, by Elizabeth George Speare. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-my-name-is-julie-and-im-a-childrens-bookaholic/181624/23 "2003-06-17T04:13:40Z")
Hi - I’ve realized I’m a children’s/YA bookaholic too, even tho I’m - yikes - 50. The best are much less pretentious than “adult” literature. While there are some mentioned here that I hated (Pullman’s pretentious trilogy; C.S. Lewis I just never got into), there are also many that I cherish: Skellig, Wrinkle in Time. My additions to the favorites list (just off the top of the head, mind you) - The Devil’s Arithmetic, Tuck Everlasting, The Giver. ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-my-name-is-julie-and-im-a-childrens-bookaholic/181624/24 "2003-06-17T05:07:16Z")
Has anybody read Jenny Nimmo’s _Snow Spider_ trilogy? It’s another of those Welsh-mythology-based stories, somewhat reminiscent of the _Dark is Rising_ sequence (and with one character who I’m thinking must be based on the same guy as the fellow in _The Black Cauldron_ who didn’t like anyone but his horse). The writing is pretty good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-my-name-is-julie-and-im-a-childrens-bookaholic/181624.md?page=1)