I agree. I don’t know whether I’d classify Watership Down as an adults’ book that kids can enjoy or as a kids’ book that adults can enjoy, but it’s definitely not a cute little story about cute little bunny rabbits.
Here are my favorites from when I was a kid. I know I am repeating some already suggested, but they’re just that good:
Owls in the Family, by Farley Mowat
The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek, by Evelyn Sibley Lampman and Hubert Buel
Cheaper By the Dozen (not related to the movie, thank God), by Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
The Prydain Chronicles, by Lloyd Alexander
The BFG, by Roald Dahl
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, by Betty MacDonald and Hilary Knight
Hey, come on - at least I warned of the potential dangers of the Vermicious Knids!
I suppose I disagree - only because I read this book when I was very young, and just kept reading and re-reading it.
I’ll agree that it’s got some tough parts. I’ve often read this quote widely attributed to Richard Adams: “I derived early the idea that one must at all costs tell the truth to children, not so much about mere physical pain and fear, but about the really unanswerable things—what [writer] Thomas Hardy called ‘the essential grimness of the human situation.’”
But I’ll be honest - as a kid, I didn’t enjoy this book for showing me the essential grimness of the human situation. I liked this book because it was a kickass adventure of talking rabbits. Not fluffy boring bunnies, but warriors and prophets, etc. It’s an epic story - and a story that moves - which is very important to an ADHD addled kid reading the book on commercial breaks during Saturday Morning Cartoons while eating Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs.
Moreover, what was really important to me as a child…
… was that the main characters made it to the end of the book. I didn’t really care about the devastation and stuff of the other warrens. That was tangential - it was all about Hazel and Fiver making it.
But, if Shirley wants to wait till her kids are older, that’s cool. Just stick to something safe like the Prydain Chronicles. Kids’ll be having nightmares about the Horned King, and just wait till they meet the three witches… grumble grumble … Of course, Gurgi is fluffy like a bunny, so I suppose that’s ok…
The Doctor
I’m currently rereading the series. Book 1, The Magician’s Nephew, is important in that it introduces the White Witch and explains how she came to rule Narnia.
They’re short, easy reads and I’m enjoying them very much.
I’ll also mention the Encyclopedia Brown books, as they contain several “mysteries” and are easy enough for kids to figure out, and there is a mystery “novel” for kids called The Westinghouse Game. (Is that it?)
I’ve heard of Eleanor Farjeon, probably from the Dope, but she is now on my list of books to check out.
I be a female.
[hijack]
Having watched the Narnia movie, I was wondering what in the heck was up with the White Witches dress. It looked like her back had a box strapped to it under the dress. Like maybe she had a scaly back or something.
Is this a relevant plot line or just some whim of the costume designer? It was really distracting.
[hijack]
Having watched the Narnia movie, I was wondering what in the heck was up with the White Witches dress. It looked like her back had a box strapped to it under the dress. Like maybe she had a scaly back or something.
Is this a relevant plot line or just some whim of the costume designer? It was really distracting.
Manx thanks for the link. It looks good.
The Diane Wynne Jones books look good too.
My kids are going to have to stay 8 and 6 for a long time.
Or I’m going to need a time turner for this summer!
Not to spoil it too much, you DO get the backstory on the White Witch by reading all the books. Scales and a ridge don’t come into the picture, but she was a lot more, um, willowy in the movie than I pictured her in my mind’s eye from the books.
Well, different kids have different tolerances. I just think the book has some nightmarish scenes that could really bother kids in a way that, for example, the Black Cauldron’s black cauldron wouldn’t. Especially if the kids in question are the type of kids who hate it when animals die in books.
Daniel
It’s called The Westing Game. I remember it quite fondly as the first book where I didn’t see through the twists to the eventul resolution (I was an extremely advanced reader for my age) and being just… stunned when all was revealed. In a good way I mean. I also enjoyed Encyclopdedia Brown in a different way. Being a tomboy and a know-it-all I could relate to Encyclopedia AND Sally. LOL.
My teacher read us a book in class called The Fabulous Mr. Fox that kept us all quite spellbound in 2nd grade.
Though its one of my favorite books, All Creatures Great & Small is perhaps slightly too old (lots of medical stuff, dying animals, boozing it up with Tristan at the pub, hapless courtship of Helen, etc.) plus it is soooo long. It would take you all summer.
Don’t worry, most of these books will still be enjoyable for quite a few years (many into adulthood).
All Creatures Great and Small etc are two books in one, up to Every Living Thing. The first in the series is called If Only They Could Talk and is a more managable size.
Actually, a quick amazon search suggests these editions are no longer in print, but also turned up a kids collection, which would be very short but all kinds of nice animal fun.
Well, this book bears no resemblance to Harry Potter except that one of the characters is named Muggles. However, The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall was one of my favorites as a child. The first review has a pretty good summary.
Moomins. No childhood is complete without them, although I’d stick to the first three (Finn Family Moomintroll, Comet In Moominvalley and Moominsummer Madness).
The Neverending Story is definitely a classic but it may be too obscure for the six-year-old.
When I was in elementary school, I spent the night at a friend’s house. I woke up before everyone else, and I found a book laying on the stairs.
I sat there on the stairs in the early morning hours, devouring this book. I was taught to read before kindergarten, so I read very fast. I fell in love with this book, and every time I visited my friend I would reread it.
Then, we moved away, I grew up, and my dearly-loved book was lost in the mists of memories. I could remember bits and pieces, but not the title and certainly not the author.
Then, a chance e-mail converstion with my sister about the book (she remembered the title!), a search on Amazone, and Voila! It’s a fairytale love story for children, and who can forget Buttteerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!.
Shadow Castle, by Marian Cockrell
For kids aged 11 and older, here’s a classic that has the added advantage to shut up spoilt kids for good; *The Black Brothers *, by Lisa Tzetzner. The story is about 13-year-old Giorgio from the Swiss/Italian Alps, who is sold around 1880 to a chimney sweep in the city by a desperately poor father. Giorgio forms a secret society with other kid-chimney sweeps in the city and comes out stronger.
From kids aged nine and older, I recommend the most wonderful series of Swedish writer Tove Jansson’s Moomintroll Dreamy, happy, funny and just plain wonderful. Set in a sort of fantasy version of a Swedish summer island. I don’t know if it’s the best book to read out loud, but it is a wonderful childrens read. Even younger kids will pick up something from it.
I third The Yearling. It is a deeply moving book that will bring tears to your kids eyes, but in a healty “Do-you-remember-when-Bambi’s-mother-got-shot”-way. IIRC, it was made into a movie with Gregory Peck.
Here’s a few more books –
Homer Price by Robert McCloskey. It’s a about a boy living in a small town and his life. It’s a good book to read aloud as there are six separate adventures including when he and his pet skunk capture four bandits.
Ralph the Mouse Series by Beverly Cleary. How can you go wrong with a motorcycle riding mouse?
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren. I really wanted to go and live with Pippi Longstocking after reading this book when I was a kid.
They have never to my knowledge been sold this way in the US. In fact, it was Herriot’s daughter Rosie (the real daughter of the real guy I mean, those are not their real names) who thought up the title for the US edition and subsequent volumes, at the prompting of Herriot’s US publisher (St. Martin’s Press). The original first volume was “If Only They Could Talk” followed by “It Shouldn’t Happen to A Vet,” but you can’t get them that way in the US, except through import or rarebook dealers.
The tale is told towards the end of this article:
http://www.jamesherriot.org/a1.php