# Please recommend some children's books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-childrens-books/606304 "2011-12-15T15:45:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [December 15, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-childrens-books/606304/1 "2011-12-15T15:45:50Z")
I have two little girls on my Christmas list that I would like to buy books for. One of them is about eleven and the other is seven or eight. I don’t know them very well, so I’m trying to steer away from obvious things like The Secret Garden (because surely all little girls own that, right?) and I would also rather get them something that they won’t have already seen the movie version of. One more caveat: Their parents are fairly religious, so I’d like to stay away from anything that might be seen as having occult connotations. Any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-childrens-books/606304/2 "2011-12-15T16:07:13Z")
[The Music of Dolphins](http://www.amazon.com/Music-Dolphins-Karen-Hesse/dp/0590897985/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323964842&sr=8-1) has long been one of my 11-year-old’s favorites. I read it with her once and I even enjoyed it. ---
**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:** [December 15, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-childrens-books/606304/3 "2011-12-15T19:39:01Z")
Thank you, **Blackberry** , I’ll have a look at it. And thanks for answering my question so kindly…I just looked at the recommendations sticky thread and found that it’s been done to death (though not recently)! ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-childrens-books/606304/4 "2011-12-15T20:41:07Z")
Have they seen the movie version of the Narnia books? If not, those might be a good choice. I think a parent would have to be pretty darn religious indeed (basically a no-fantasy-nohow-ever type) to object to those, given who wrote them. ETA: Or what about the Little House on the Prairie series? I’m kind of out of touch with modern kids’ books, but those are classics. The \*Rescuers \*series is fun too, but again, pretty old. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-childrens-books/606304/5 "2011-12-15T20:46:02Z")
Do they have _The Penderwicks_ (three in the series now, I believe)? It’s contemporary kid lit that has a bit of a 1950s feel to it, adventures of a family of four sisters. Probably more for the 11 year old, but would be a good read-aloud for the 8 year old. ---
**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:** [December 15, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-some-childrens-books/606304/6 "2011-12-15T21:45:11Z")
**Infovore** , I love those books, I’m just afraid they might already have them! **delphica** , that sounds pretty good. I will probably get them several books, hoping that one or the other will like _something_, and that seems like it could be good for either.