Children's Books
- Thread starter eoin_k
- Start date
maya
timewasting fool (in every universe)
Also- Michael Ende? [The Grey Gentlemen/] Momo, the Neverending Story, Jim Button and Luke the engine driver, Jim Button and the Wild 13, [the Night of Wishes/] The Satanarchaeolidealcohellish Notion Potion... He's like a Jorge Luis Borges for kids, only inventive and funny and with stories...! He changed my life, hearing that radio play of Jim Button and Luke the engine driver one summer holiday by the sea... It's like a world opened up. It was magic.
(ETA: oh, just spotted 'to a 5-year-old' in the OP... ok, the books i've recommended would be more suited to 6-7+, but that depends on the maturity level of the kid in question i suppose...you never know)
(ETA: oh, just spotted 'to a 5-year-old' in the OP... ok, the books i've recommended would be more suited to 6-7+, but that depends on the maturity level of the kid in question i suppose...you never know)
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wayward bob
i ate all your bees
don't think anyone's mentioned the moomin books yet. still very enjoyable reading as an adult.
maya
timewasting fool (in every universe)
They're brilliant, epic, it's the most enjoyable and believeable self-contained fictional universe I think I've ever encountered... The characters all seem to have a life of their own, you keep remembering them and they've got such distinct quirks and personalities- Tove Jansson was a genious.
wayward bob
i ate all your bees
her adult books are worth checking out if you haven't already.
Bears
Flash company
Our eldest is 5 and we've been reading the hobbit and Roald Dahl and Narnia. We're reading The Grunts atm a chapter book by Julia Donaldson that feels like a sort of updated Roald Dahl so far. We also have a Jeremy James book by David Henry Wilson. Jeremy James is 4. I know it's a picture book, so one to read in one night, but I do love The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman and it's definitely aimed at the older end of that market.
I completely get where you're coming from with the stereotyping in older children's books. I also find that some more recent books aimed at particular genders tend to stick in my craw a little too.
I completely get where you're coming from with the stereotyping in older children's books. I also find that some more recent books aimed at particular genders tend to stick in my craw a little too.
maya
timewasting fool (in every universe)
Re: Astrid Lindgren, "Ronia the Robber's Daughter" is my favourite, I think... It's got mysterious deep nordic woods, a quasi-medieval time setting with occasional supernatural elements (forest goblins, subterranean siren mist calling people down into the underworld, etc.), plus a strong and courageous female lead character... and the two kids from rival tribes bond and see through the stupidity of the adults (including the preposterousness of their parents favourite pastime, robbing people), plus some very memorable minor characters and mood in general...
It's been made into a fantastic film (1984), with great music and very good actors (Lena Nyman of the infamous "Curious Yellow" doing a fantastic role as Lovis, Ronja's mother... and many other well-known scandi actors). The film and book is probably the reason why so many young nordic kids are now called Ronja (female) and Birk (male), after the two kids in the book.
It works so well precisely because the fantasy-y/supernatural elements are so subtle and not in the foreground, the characters interact with these beings and phenomenons like just another aspect of their everyday lives, but it's seamlessly woven into the story so you get the sense that this is a place where the forest lives a life of its own, and that the people in it must respect the rules of the forest to survive... A great book for kids to read if they like to be out and about in nature, or to walk in the forest...
It's been made into a fantastic film (1984), with great music and very good actors (Lena Nyman of the infamous "Curious Yellow" doing a fantastic role as Lovis, Ronja's mother... and many other well-known scandi actors). The film and book is probably the reason why so many young nordic kids are now called Ronja (female) and Birk (male), after the two kids in the book.
It works so well precisely because the fantasy-y/supernatural elements are so subtle and not in the foreground, the characters interact with these beings and phenomenons like just another aspect of their everyday lives, but it's seamlessly woven into the story so you get the sense that this is a place where the forest lives a life of its own, and that the people in it must respect the rules of the forest to survive... A great book for kids to read if they like to be out and about in nature, or to walk in the forest...
spanglechick
High Empress of Dressing Up
And of course, she wrote the "pippi longstocking" books, which I think most five-year olds would adore.
not-bono-ever
meh
The Silver Sword- my standard recommendation - gives an impression of the war from refugee polish kids perspective and lots of interesting historical references for the adults to take in as well
maya
timewasting fool (in every universe)
^ In the same vein: Judith Kerr- When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. It gives a very gripping child's-eye view of the war. I remember it fondly, you really felt like you were this girl and saw the world through her eyes.
oh, and Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian.
(edit: hm, sorry again perhaps not too age-appropriate, too late remembering the OP... eoin_k , how old is the eldest- it's him you want recommendations for, isn't it? I'm a bit confused since you said you had two! So when you said 'ideally it should be suitable reading for a five year old too', i interpreted that as if your youngest were around five and the other one older, but perhaps i've just got it all wrong- sorry! But it would be so much easier if we knew the ages so that the stuff we end up recommending could be of actual use to you...)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Hitler_Stole_Pink_Rabbit
oh, and Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian.
(edit: hm, sorry again perhaps not too age-appropriate, too late remembering the OP... eoin_k , how old is the eldest- it's him you want recommendations for, isn't it? I'm a bit confused since you said you had two! So when you said 'ideally it should be suitable reading for a five year old too', i interpreted that as if your youngest were around five and the other one older, but perhaps i've just got it all wrong- sorry! But it would be so much easier if we knew the ages so that the stuff we end up recommending could be of actual use to you...)
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maya
timewasting fool (in every universe)
'The House That Beebo Built' by Philippe Fix is great for all ages, and it's wonderfully inventive and funny with slightly surreal elements... (they escape in the end by- Goon show style- pulling up the three stair steps they're standing on and keep climbing up and up until they're flying up in the air).
The inventor's best friend is so fond of his comfy high-necked sweater that he's always half covered his face with it so that nobody can actually understand what he's saying, it's just muffled mumbling (but his friend can always make out what he says anyway)
Loads of huge, intricate drawings with lots of little details to delight.
The inventor's best friend is so fond of his comfy high-necked sweater that he's always half covered his face with it so that nobody can actually understand what he's saying, it's just muffled mumbling (but his friend can always make out what he says anyway)
Loads of huge, intricate drawings with lots of little details to delight.
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trashpony
Hag
It's fab but out of print. I have a copy and it's worth £££s apparently!
maya
timewasting fool (in every universe)
That's a shame
But perhaps the libraries have it? Anyway, someone should campaign for a reissue- it's great! 
maya
timewasting fool (in every universe)
For kids who love monsters and/or gore: "The Little Vampire" series by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg is great fun. It's about Anton, a young boy who happens to befriend a vampire boy his own age (well, centuries old, but he died when he was around the same age as him). Lots of intricacies commence, as his new best friend also need to tackle the hunger pangs and the constant temptation to bite him when smelling Anton's delicious blood... (!) But he shows Anton a whole new world, he's able to fly etc. and as he can only go out in the nighttime (he needs to sleep in his coffin in the family crypt in the daytime), they have some wonderful adventures as Anton sneaks out with him to explore...
Anton gets introduced to the vampire's sister Anna, who proves somewhat annoying as she died in puberty and she's constantly trying to get his attention by dressing up in fancy moth-eaten clothes and stinky ancient perfume (*actually I'm not sure the gender roles here are totally sound... but let's just say that the characters develop a little bit more as the series goes on and later Anna becomes a less stereotyped character and we see other sides of her personality, I even imagine that she and Anton ends up falling in love at some point in the later books, this might all just be me misremembering and/or wishful projections, though...)
A running theme is the need to prevent other humans from discovering that the little vampire is in fact a vampire, and preventing the vampire families from discovering that Anton is a human boy (he sometimes accompany the vampires to meet other vampires, and to do this he needs to pose as a vampire, which of course proves a bit difficult and they're constantly on the verge of being found out...) I also vaguely recall some sort of psychiatrist(?) figure who turns out to be some sort of Van Helsing style vampire hater, but perhaps my imagination is making this up-
Also, Anton grows older, while his vampire friends stay the age they were when they died... As he's about to outgrow them, they toy with the idea to bite him to make him a vampire too, so that he can stay with them forever...
It's a long series and the individual books are a bit hit and miss, and it's probably one of those books you'll either completely love or not get at all, but everyone I knew loved it and we had a lot of fun reading them growing up... The drawings are wonderful too:
(Similar theme, different book: 'Fungus the Bogeyman')
Anton gets introduced to the vampire's sister Anna, who proves somewhat annoying as she died in puberty and she's constantly trying to get his attention by dressing up in fancy moth-eaten clothes and stinky ancient perfume (*actually I'm not sure the gender roles here are totally sound... but let's just say that the characters develop a little bit more as the series goes on and later Anna becomes a less stereotyped character and we see other sides of her personality, I even imagine that she and Anton ends up falling in love at some point in the later books, this might all just be me misremembering and/or wishful projections, though...)
A running theme is the need to prevent other humans from discovering that the little vampire is in fact a vampire, and preventing the vampire families from discovering that Anton is a human boy (he sometimes accompany the vampires to meet other vampires, and to do this he needs to pose as a vampire, which of course proves a bit difficult and they're constantly on the verge of being found out...) I also vaguely recall some sort of psychiatrist(?) figure who turns out to be some sort of Van Helsing style vampire hater, but perhaps my imagination is making this up-
Also, Anton grows older, while his vampire friends stay the age they were when they died... As he's about to outgrow them, they toy with the idea to bite him to make him a vampire too, so that he can stay with them forever...
It's a long series and the individual books are a bit hit and miss, and it's probably one of those books you'll either completely love or not get at all, but everyone I knew loved it and we had a lot of fun reading them growing up... The drawings are wonderful too:
(Similar theme, different book: 'Fungus the Bogeyman')
