OT: Literary Advice Needed

pigpen81 · Post by **pigpen81** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:35 pm

Since last spring, I have been reading the Harry Potter series to my son at his bedtime and I finally have finished the last book.

I was wondering if there was any other really cool series I could start reading to him?

I know of:

Spiderwick
Aragon
Limmity Snickets

Can anyone give me their opinions on a good series they like for their kids and themselves?

Thanks!

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:54 pm

I know the Lemony Snickett series is pretty good. I've read 6 of them and enjoyed them. I don't know anything about the Spiderwick Chronicles or Eragon though.

EZSnappin · Post by **EZSnappin** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:14 pm

Eragon was pretty good if entirely derivative. I haven't read the second book, Eldest. If he hasn't read much fantasy he'll probably like it, and there is nothing you'd have to worry about content wise. The Snickett books didn't catch me personally.

You might want to check out the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud and of course Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles.

Nancy Farmer is one of the young adult writer's I really like, though she doesn't do series. Her Viking adventure The Sea of Trolls was great.

China Mieville's Un Lun Dun was interesting. Not the greatest book but very inventive and entertaining. His "adult" books are better.

My mom read me the Hobbit as a kid, which I absolutely loved.

I don't have any kids but love good old-fashioned adventures.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:40 pm

Penthouse Forum.

I know Harold is young. My youngest, almost 3, loves the Thomas the Tank Engine and Curious George series. He also digs Autosport, which he thumbs through after dinner.

Take care,
PK

FatPitcher · Post by **FatPitcher** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 3:20 pm

Some of the stuff I remember liking:

The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander
Soup and Me (and the other Soup books, there are a lot) by Robert Newton Peck
Most stuff by Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, etc.)
The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books
Hardy Boys
The Homer Price books
most stuff by Jules Verne

edit: also, encyclopedia brown!

pigpen81 · Post by **pigpen81** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 3:32 pm

Well, he isn't 2 yet so the reding to him is for both of our enjoymnet and I love the fantasy settings.

I plan on re-reading the books again when they get older.

Thanks for the recommendations guys...keep them coming as I plan a trip to the bookstore later.

JohnnytheSkin · Post by **JohnnytheSkin** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 7:38 pm

I've been reading "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman and it's good through the first two books.

Don't forget about "The Chronicles of Narnia" as well.

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 7:39 pm

Hardy boys! End of discussion.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 7:56 pm

The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper is fantastic and great to build off of Harry Potter, as it also involves a young boy who travels between the real world and a fantasy one. You can skip the boring first book, Over Sea Under Stone, and jump right into the second book, The Dark Is Rising.

FatPitcher · Post by **FatPitcher** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:05 pm

Amelia Bedelia might be good at that age. Also, "the value of..." books (http://www.amazon.com/Value-Sharing-Sto ... 0916392287). Both have lots of pictures.

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 10:01 pm

When I was very young I read dozen's of Hardy Boys books - loved 'em. Anything by Roald Dahl was great too.

pigpen81 · Post by **pigpen81** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 10:42 pm

Roald Dahl was my favorite as a kid....Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach...and my all time favorite: Fantastic Mr. Fox. I forgot about Roald Dahl.

Thanks!!!!!

Guys, please keep them coming as I and hopefully others will look to it for ideas.

Today I picked up Artemis Fowl and The Bartimaeus Trilogy Book 1

I'll write back with mini-reviews and hopefully they will be as engaging as Harry Potter.

Phototropic · Post by **Phototropic** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 11:10 pm

The Wind in the Willows was one of my favorites.

EZSnappin · Post by **EZSnappin** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 11:13 pm

Phototropic wrote:The Wind in the Willows was one of my favorites.

So great! I read it a few years ago for the first time in nearly thirty years. Magical, even as an adult.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 11:16 pm

greggsand wrote:Hardy boys! End of discussion.

I also LOVED the Hardy Boys as a kid.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 11:18 pm

pk500 wrote:Penthouse Forum.
Take care,
PK

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

You Gotta Love Em!

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:16 am

Macca00 wrote:When I was very young I read dozen's of Hardy Boys books - loved 'em. Anything by Roald Dahl was great too.

I did the same exact thing from about 2nd to 4th grade.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:31 am

I read a ton of Hardy Boys' books as a lad, too. My 9-year-old daughter reads about one Nancy Drew book per week, seriously. She's running out of books in the series -- a voracious reader, way more than me!

Take care,
PK

ProvoAnC · Post by **ProvoAnC** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:49 am

What I read to the young'ns before bed so much so that my oldest knows most of it by heart - probably not up yer alley

-----------------

I am come of the seed of the people, the people that sorrow;
Who have no treasure but hope,
No riches laid up but a memory
Of an ancient glory
My mother bore me in bondage, in bondage my mother was born,
I am of the blood of serfs;
The children with whom I have played,
The men and women with whom I have eaten
Have had masters over them, have been under the lash of masters,
And though gentle, have served churls.
The hands that have touched mine, the dear hands whose touch
Is familiar to me
Have worn shameful manacles, have been bitten at the wrist by manacles,
Have grown hard with the manacles and the task-work of strangers.
I am flesh of the flesh of these lowly, I am bone of their bone
I that have never submitted;
I that have a soul greater than the souls of my people's masters,
I that have vision and prophecy, and the gift of fiery speech,
I that have spoken with God on the top of his holy hill .

And because I am of the people, I understand the people,
I am sorrowful with their sorrow, I am hungry with their desire;
My heart is heavy with the grief of mothers,
My eyes have been wet with the tears of children,
I have yearned with old wistful men,
And laughed and cursed with young men;
Their shame is my shame, and I have reddened for it
Reddened for that they have gone in want, while others have been full,
Reddened for that they have walked in fear of lawyers and their jailors,
With their Writs of Summons and their handcuffs,
Men mean and cruel.
I could have borne stripes on my body
Rather than this shame of my people.

And now I speak, being full of vision;
I speak to my people, and I speak in my people's name to
The masters of my people:
I say to my people that they are holy,
That they are august despite their chains,
That they are greater than those that hold them,
And stronger and purer,
That they have but need of courage, and to call on the name of their God,
God the unforgetting, the dear God who loves the people
For whom he died naked, suffering shame.
And I say to my people's masters: Beware
Beware of the thing that is coming, beware of the risen people
Who shall take what ye would not give.
Did ye think to conquer the people, or that law is stronger than life,
And than men's desire to be free?
We will try it out with you ye that have harried and held,
Ye that have bullied and bribed,
Tyrants...hypocrites...liars!

FatPitcher · Post by **FatPitcher** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 5:23 am

Anther good series for young'uns is Frog and Toad. The Beverly Cleary books are good (Ralph S. Mouse, Henry Huggins, Beezus, etc.). The Madeleine L'Engle books are worthwhile (A Wrinkle in Time). I enjoyed the Five Children and It series as well.

Airdog · Post by **Airdog** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 4:34 pm

I read a lot of the Alfred Hitchcock novels when I was a kid, which is pretty much like the Hardy Boys except they had a real sweet hideout in a dump that I always dreamed of having. I've moved onto bigger and better things, but I think I turned out alright. They'd probably be fairly entertaining for the one reading as well.

pigpen81 · Post by **pigpen81** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 12:28 am

I want to give a shout out to EZ for recommending the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud.

I just finsished reading the last of the trilogy, The Gates of Ptolemy, and I have to say it was an absolutely terrifc read.

The main protagonist had a sharp wit, and the social commentary was biting. I can't wait to read thiis to Henry and Harold in 7 years time.

All 3 books were great.

I might pick up a book called "Magyk" next. Anyone read this?

seanmac31 · Post by **seanmac31** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 12:41 am

I highly recommend His Dark Materials, the Philip Pullman trilogy. Very smart stuff, and each book is better than the one before it. Can't go wrong slipping Paradise Lost into your kid's reading list.

EZSnappin · Post by **EZSnappin** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 4:48 pm

pigpen81 wrote:I want to give a shout out to EZ for recommending the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud.

...

I might pick up a book called "Magyk" next. Anyone read this?

I'm glad you liked them! I've bought three sets in the last year to give as gifts, and they've all been well received. I haven't read "Magyk"; if it is good let us know.

I too like the Pullman books, but I'm the opposite of seanmac in that I think the first is the best and the series is one of diminishing returns. Skip the movie whether you read them or not.

Sudz · Post by **Sudz** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 8:30 am

Artemis Fowl series is really good.