# I am trying to compile a list of books for my son. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979 "2008-08-23T00:40:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/1 "2008-08-23T00:40:10Z")
I am trying to compile a list of books for my son. These are books I would like to give him as gifts for birthdays,Xmas etc as he grows up. He is currently 2. A few of my rules :- - the books are starting from around age 5 or 6; - I am not including fairy tales or Dr Seuss as I already have them; - I am not including picture books; - I am mainly looking at fiction; - I am in general including just one book by each author. So ‘Stuart Little’ but no ‘Charlotte’s Web’. If he likes ‘Stuart Little’, he can find other books by E.B White on his own. On the other hand I include 2 books by Heinlein- I love both those books but do not like his other stuff. I will list the books in rough age of reading. If anyone has any ideas on the order feel free to give them. I have not actually read all of the books on the list, but some have been so highly recommended that I include them here. The books I have read, mostly I have read them in adulthood. I wish I had read them in childhood. The replies I am looking for are for other suggestions. But please do not give me a list of 20 books. Please give me one or two books and why I should include them. I am wanting a list of about 30 to 35 of the best books. Not a list of 200. I am also looking for criticisms of my choices. Please tell me why you think I should not include one of my choices here. Here is the list:- 1- A. de Saint-Exupery - Le Petit Prince. 2 - R. Dahl - Charlie and the Chocolate factory. 3 - L. Carroll - Alice’s adventures in Wonderland. 4 - F. Baum - Wizard of Oz. 5 - E. White - Stuart Little. 6 - R. Heinlein - Tunnel in the sky. 7 - A. Ransome - Swallows and Amazons. 8 - L. Snicket - A series of unfortunate events. 9 - C. Funke - Inkheart. 10 - W. Goldman - Princess Bride. 11 - L. Hawking - George’s secret key to the universe. 12 - J. Rowing - Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone. 13 - L. Sachar - Holes. 14 - R. Hoban - The mouse and his child. 15 - T. Jansson - Moominpappa at sea. 16 - N. Juster -Phantom Tollbooth. 17 - C. Storr - Marianne Dreams. 18 - J. Christopher - Tripod trilogy. 19 - S. Townsend - Secret Diary of Adrian Mole. 20 - T. White - Once and Future King. 21 - O. Card - Ender’s Game. 22 - G. Orwell - Animal Farm. 23 - R. Cormier - Chocolate War. 24 - D. Adams - Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. 25 - J. Salinger - Catcher in the Rye. 26 - R. Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange land. 27 - J. Swift - Gulliver’s Travels. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/2 "2008-08-23T02:38:55Z")
Old Yeller by Fred Gipson (probably best read around age 12 or so, though I read it at age nine, but coming from a rural area, I was more than aware of the harsh realities in, shall we say, a dog’s life–good look at frontier life, strong calming leadership of mother during father’s absence; emergence into adulthood and hard choices by fifteen-year-old Travis) ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/3 "2008-08-23T03:46:22Z")
There is no Judy Blume on the list. You can make a choice. Elementary school. _Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing_. or, wait until puberty and _Then Again, Maybe I Won’t_. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/4 "2008-08-23T03:56:16Z")
[QUOTE=blinkingblinking] The replies I am looking for are for other suggestions. But please do not give me a list of 20 books. Please give me one or two books and why I should include them. I am wanting a list of about 30 to 35 of the best books. Not a list of 200. [/QUOTE] I am so tempted to give you a whole list of books you should add to your list, but I will restrain myself to a couple of essentials: A. C. Doyle: Sherlock Holmes (either _The Adventures of_ or _The Hound of the Baskervilles_ or some sort of omnibus volume). Because they are extremely entertaining and Holmes is one of the greatest characters in all literature. M. Twain: _The Adventures of Tom Sawyer_. Because it is arguably the quintessential Boy Book. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/5 "2008-08-23T04:11:43Z")
What about Laura Ingalls Wilder’s _Little House_ books? Yes, the main character is a girl (except for _Farmer Boy_), but they are full of rich, loving details about pioneer life that few other children’s books capture, nor as well. When I visited the Ingalls homestead in De Smet, SD a few years ago, there were a number of little boys with their families on the tour with us, and they were clearly enthusiastic fans of the books, so there’s some evidence of their cross-gender appeal. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/6 "2008-08-23T04:37:15Z")
I’m a girlie girl and I absolutely loved _Tom Sawyer_. Why the need to divide things up into “boy” books and “girl” books? ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/7 "2008-08-23T04:46:55Z")
If you’re not dead set against non-fiction, I’d recommend _The Diary of Anne Frank_. I think it’s a shame more boys don’t read that. It’s a very humanizing perspective on war. Also, I think _Stranger in a Strange Land_ is in danger of being dated. Some of its ideas were of its time and IMHO didn’t age well. One more recommendation is _From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler_, E.L. Konigsburg. It’s a lot of fun to read and brings museums to life in an unconventional way. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/8 "2008-08-23T04:53:31Z")
[QUOTE=blinkingblinking] 10 - W. Goldman - Princess Bride. 20 - T. White - Once and Future King. 21 - O. Card - Ender’s Game. 22 - G. Orwell - Animal Farm. 23 - R. Cormier - Chocolate War. 24 - D. Adams - Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. 25 - J. Salinger - Catcher in the Rye. 26 - R. Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange land. 27 - J. Swift - Gulliver’s Travels. [/QUOTE] I’m not sure I’m following what age you’re planning on giving these to him, but I think of all of them as definitely “adult” books; he could probably _read_ them at age 10, but IMO they’d be totally wasted on him, and he might come away puzzled and bored. I found even _Alice in Wonderland_ to be alternately terrifying and baffling as a school-age reader, and I was an advanced reader. Books like these rely so much on subtext which an adult will have the background to fill in, but a child won’t. Much better to leave them for him to discover on his own as a teenager or young adult. So I’m just sayin’, don’t give these to him and get your hopes up that he’ll rave about them, because chances are he won’t understand them, let alone rave. I found _Catcher in the Rye_ to be an extremely depressing book, when I had to read it in high school. I went back and re-read it this past year when my daughter had to read it in high school, and yep, it’s an extremely depressing book. Personally I wouldn’t give it to anybody on a “you gotta read this” basis, but YMMV. Also, Heinlein’s _Stranger_ and its associated books (Lazarus, etc.) are quite different from what I always called his “Rocket Boy To The Moon” books, the more simplistic straight Sci-fi from the 1950s before he got all weirded out by the Sixties. So IMO giving him SIASL and telling him this is representative of Heinlein is not correct, as IMO Heinlein is really two completely different authors. And personally I’d give someone _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ before I’d give him SIASL. YMMV. 😃 I’m not a big fan of Heinlein’s Sixties period, you can tell. > [@](#): > > 5 - E. White - Stuart Little. IMO _Charlotte’s Web_ is a masterpiece, and _Stuart Little_ is a distinct also-ran. Also, they are vastly different books–it’s like the difference between dark chocolate and milk chocolate. Giving someone SL to read and telling him, “If you like it, go find more of E.B. White’s stuff by reading CW”, means he’s in for a shock, as CW is nothing at all like SL. I would give him CW as a standalone. I wouldn’t bother with SL. * * * _Big Red_ by Jim Kjelgaard. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/9 "2008-08-23T05:04:18Z")
You can’t leave out The Great Brain, by John D. Fitzgerald. A great read for around the age of eight, the same age as the narrator. The first three or four sequels are excellent as well. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/10 "2008-08-23T05:08:21Z")
Hi… I think _The Princess Bride_ should wait another couple of years- it would have flew WAY over my head at 10- I needed junior high before I really could cultivate sarcasm myself, let alone understand it in others. When I was 10, my fourth grade teacher read us _Where The Red Fern Grows_ by Wilson Rawls in class. I think I was just the right age to appreciate tragedy then and the author has several other very good books that your kid may be inspired to read. I know I devoured every one of those books after I cried over Old Dan and Little Ann. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/11 "2008-08-23T06:42:04Z")
Where the Sidewalk Ends Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book (might want to look it over for yourself first) ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/12 "2008-08-23T08:15:01Z")
Old Yeller is a good book, and worth including, but I’m thinking that you might do better to get one of the unitary editions of Jack London’s White Fang and The Call of the Wild, such as this [one](http://www.amazon.com/White-Stories-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0192835149/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219478604&sr=1-22). I think both books combine to make an excellent view of both the northern wilderness, and man’s relationship with dogs. Though, I’ll have to admit that I am suggesting this as a way to get around your “one author one book” restrictions. 😉 You have to have guessed that Dopers would try some rules lawyering. The other suggestion I’d have is one of the compilations of H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction, that would include some of his best stories. [This](http://www.amazon.com/H-P-Lovecraft-Library-America/dp/1931082723/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219478870&sr=8-2) edition looks good, and contains the stories of his that I’d insist that a teen should read. (Hey, screaming nightmares are good for you!) (My picks, btw, are _Pickman’s Model_, _The Case of Charles Dexter Ward_, _The Call of Cthulhu_, _The Shadow over Innsmouth_, and _The Colour Out of Space_.) More seriously, it’s a view of fantasy that I think is illuminating, and just as important in the field as the more positive views one will find with Tolkien, or Rowling. Obviously, I could keep going - but you did specify just two suggestions. I hope you like them. ETA: Age ranges - the Jack London, I’d say 10-13 would be a good time for an initial exposure. The Lovecraft I’d wait a bit longer, say 13-15, before introducing them to your boy. ---
**Author:** ![Britabroad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@Britabroad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Britabroad)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/13 "2008-08-23T12:20:34Z")
Call me old fashioned, but any book list for a young boy or girl is incomplete if it doesn’t include Treasure Island by R L Stevenson, The last of the Mohicans by J F Cooper or Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/14 "2008-08-23T14:15:12Z")
[QUOTE=Nonsuch] You can’t leave out The Great Brain, by John D. Fitzgerald. A great read for around the age of eight, the same age as the narrator. The first three or four sequels are excellent as well. [/QUOTE] Seconded. Also, how about the Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander? ---
**Author:** ![Dottygumdrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Dottygumdrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dottygumdrop)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/15 "2008-08-23T14:51:20Z")
**The Wind in the Willows** by Kenneth Grahame is a wonderful classic - I read a few pages out loud to my 16-month old daughter every night, after our picture book story. The imagery is wonderful and the language beautiful. **Watership Down** by Richard Adams is another must-read book, as is **Anne of Green Gables** by Mary Claire Helldorfer (although it may be a bit “girly”). Finally, who could go through childhood without reading **The Jungle Books** by Rudyard Kipling? ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/16 "2008-08-23T15:00:11Z")
There is a book by Reg Maddock, called “The Dragon In The Garden”, about a young boy, and his trials and tribulations upon moving to a new school, that I think he might really enjoy when he’s a little older. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/17 "2008-08-23T15:14:29Z")
[QUOTE=Dottygumdrop] **Anne of Green Gables** by Mary Claire Helldorfer (although it may be a bit “girly”). [/QUOTE] Who? AoGG is by L. M. Montgomery (and, despite being one of my favourite books of all time, I think it’s way too girly for a boy.) I nominate **Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH** by Robert C. O’Brien, **Island of the Blue Dolphins** by Scott O’Dell and **A Wrinkle In Time** by Madeleine L’Engle. ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/18 "2008-08-23T19:44:02Z")
Thanks for all the replies ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/19 "2008-08-23T22:02:25Z")
For about 4th- 5th grade: Redwall by Brian Jacques. Wonderful medieval animal society. Great characters–a whole world. It’s the first of a very popular series. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2008, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979/20 "2008-08-24T01:04:19Z")
_The Westing Game_ is a wonderful mystery novel for kids. He may also enjoy the _Encyclopedia Brown_ mystery books. I read those to pieces. Although you only want one book per author, the \*\*Artemis Fowl \*\*series is excellent…it’s about a boy genius, so your son may get a kick out of it as he gets a bit older. No **Harry Potter**? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-trying-to-compile-a-list-of-books-for-my-son/460979.md?page=2)