Great children's novels - a booklist

[bluescreen]

The Little Prince is beautiful and wise and sometimes funny, but I'd have hated it as a child because I was allergic to things that were moralistic as well as unrealistic (which may rule out The Iron Man).

I am old, so the writers I enjoyed as a child given free run of the local library haven't all endured. (One of the best, William Mayne, was jailed for sexual offences against young girls. I wonder if his books can ever be read again without that taint, but Earthfasts was brilliant.)

But really what Sue says about letting them loose in the library is so important. It doesn't matter if they pick up trashy books. You can talk about what they read, why they like what they like.

 

[oryx]

I was going to suggest Watership Down, but they may be a bit young to appreciate it fully. It's perceived as a children's novel but would easily be enjoyed by adults.

 

[Humberto]

9 year old might like To Kill a Mockingbird.

For 6 and 9 together? Winnie the Pooh?

 

[Elpenor]

I came here to post my three favourites only to find that they’re already posted so I will give additional praise for:

My Friend Mr Leakey
The Silver Sword
Emil and the Detectives

 

[JimW]

Wizard of Earthsea and sequels.

 

[seeformiles]

I enjoyed “The Machine Gunners” by Robert Westall (perhaps a bit gruesome for under-10s though)

 

[rubbershoes]

When they're a bit older The Murderer's Ape is good

 

[youbeauty]

The Wild Robot trilogy by Peter Brown is great. They are beautifully but simply written and explore some quite big themes (what it means to be a family, being different, coping with adversity) while telling a really exciting story.

 

[rubbershoes]

I can't remember what age I read

The Phantom Tollbooth
Fattypuffs and Thinifers

 

[Steel Icarus]

The phantom toll booth

Yes yes yes. A stunning, mind-blowing book for me aged whenever-I-read-it.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Also let them loose in the library. I practically lived in my mine as a kid and read all sorts of stuff. (Pretty much everything and anything tbh.)

I spent so much time in the library one summer they got me to do short reviews of everything I read for other kids to see. I still love books.

 

[krtek a houby]

The Borribles Trilogy.

Bad Wombles, bad cops, London urban fantasy and just all round thrilling.

It's a shame it's not more well known.

 

[Silas Loom]

I enjoyed “The Machine Gunners” by Robert Westall (perhaps a bit gruesome for under-10s though)

Great book. I never managed to get hold of a copy of the sequel with a 16-year-old Chas, which might have been more like his amazingly good YA output: Futuretrack 5, The Devil on the Road etc.

 

[krtek a houby]

Philip Reeve - Mortal Engines is an excellent steampunk London read. The film, not so much.

 

[marty21]

As a kid , I loved The Silver Sword , whilst it is about the Holocaust , iirc the main thrust of the story is love & a boy finding a family.

I also loved Huckleberry Finn, & Tom Sawyer .

I hoovered up Ena Blyton books too

 

[seeformiles]

Great book. I never managed to get hold of a copy of the sequel with a 16-year-old Chas, which might have been more like his amazingly good YA output: Futuretrack 5, The Devil on the Road etc.

I never knew he wrote a sequel. Must have a hunt for the same.

ETA Found it “Fathom Five” - £2.80 2nd hand through Amazon

 

[krtek a houby]

I hoovered up Ena Blyton books too

Same, but tbh, the Hoover's the best place for them.

 

[Sweet FA]

All the Michael Morpurgo books. So many to choose from - about 120 odd I think.

Off the top of my head (tried and tested with Y5): Born to Run, The Giant's Necklace, The Butterfly Lion, Kensuke's Kingdom, Why the Whales Came, Listen to the Moon, An Elephant in the Garden.

Private Peaceful and War Horse are standouts but possibly Y6?

Also Louis Sachar is excellent. I read Boy in the Girls' Bathroom early on in Y5 and Holes a bit later.

RJ Palacio's Wonder is very good (again with 9/10 year olds). I must have read it with kids half a dozen times and I always get something in my eye about 5 times during the course of the story.

 

[AnnaKarpik]

Alan Garner, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath, I loved both of these. Terry Jones is pretty good, and I second the advice to let them loose in the library.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Can't remember most of what I read as a kid apart from the Wizard of Oz books, and various Enid Blyton ones (only remember the Magic Faraway Tree of those), but agree with getting kids to join the library. I read loads of stuff from there as a kid.

Read lots of sci-fi when I was a bit older like Isaac Asimov and so on.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Also Louis Sachar is excellent. I read Boy in the Girls' Bathroom early on in Y5 and Holes a bit later.

I have only read holes, and I read my daughter the card turner (might have the title wrong) when she was little. She went on to read all of his books and says they were all good.

She also recommends the Percy Jackson books, but she was/is quite into Greek mythology (for some reason).

As a kid I always liked (despite having an incredibly difficult title to remember) "From the mixed up files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler"
Read it to my daughter, but she wasn't mad keen.

 

[Sweet FA]

I have only read holes.

The film is pretty good too.

 

[Silas Loom]

Big second for the Moomins, and the Uncle books if you can find them. I was gonna say the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, but maybe it might be too upsetting?

Blimey. I bought a copy of The Complete Uncle when it was released in hardback ten years ago. Just googled so I could say “hey hitmouse, delighted to see that you are indeed named after the Badfort News reporter, and here’s where all the books can be found”, but it’s no longer in print and is now going for £250.

 

[Saffy]

The film is pretty good too.

Yep, Holes is very good. I read it to year 6 over a week and did lots of work on it.
I dressed up as Kissin' Kate Barlow for World Book Day.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

Pratchett has some good kids books. The bromilliad and the Johnny maxwell trilogy are decent.

The you have the child friendly discworld stuff with the amazing Maurice an the the Tiffany Aching books. Those really world as a progression onto the regular stories.

Also the amazing Maurice just had a film adaptation which apparently was decent.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Great book. I never managed to get hold of a copy of the sequel with a 16-year-old Chas

Fathom Five - it's pretty good, even more downbeat

 

[DaveCinzano]

.

 

[hitmouse]

I was just thinking "should recommend the Pratchett children's books". Sylvia Plath's kid's book, The It-Doesn't-Matter Suit, also pretty good from what I remember?

 

[Silas Loom]

.

That’s an absurd suggestion. Genet is not appropriate for kids, especially not The Thiefs Journal and Our Lady Of The Flowers.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

Pratchett has some good kids books. The bromilliad and the Johnny maxwell trilogy are decent.

The you have the child friendly discworld stuff with the amazing Maurice an the the Tiffany Aching books. Those really world as a progression onto the regular stories.

Also the amazing Maurice just had a film adaptation which apparently was decent.

Actually he has some proper young kids books too. Dragons at crumbly Castle and suchlike. Released posthumously.