Is it May already? Does time mean anything anymore?
Yes, it’s disappointing that we’re all still stuck inside our homes with summer right around the corner. We know this is made especially difficult if you’re a parent with children who are trying to finish off the school year online. With that in mind, TPM is sharing some recommendations of children’s books that might help your little ones — or you — pass the time. No, this will not just be a page listing the Harry Potter books in order of best to very best. (I actually have not read the Harry Potter series, but that’s a discussion for another time. Bring on the roasting in the comments.)
I am re-reading my Terry Pratchett collection. It is very comforting. I suspended my normal course of reading war history, racism, and supporting fiction.
It is perfectly suitable for ages 9-10 on up. Basically, if they can read, they can read Pratchett.
Ah children’s books…Dragons Love Tacos, Goldilocks and the Three Bears by James Marshall, where Goldie spits out the porridge, saying PATOOIE, My Father’s Dragon, and every single book ever written by Kate DiCamillo and Katherine Applegate.
Great suggestion–Philip Pullman. Besides the His Dark Materials series, he has some other engrossing novels that cross the YA/adult spectrum. The Sally Lockhart novels are mysteries set in late Victorian England with a compelling female protagonist and a lot of fascinating social history. Other books, like I was a Rat! and Count Carlstein, are just goofy and witty–they can make any reader laugh out loud!
OT but I just came across something mildly amusing. You know how everyone complains about this site’s comments section technology? Well, I was researching Amazon’s return policy and came across a comments thread that appears to use the same basic technology, if perhaps a slightly older version of it. It’s from 2013, which indicates how old this platform is and in need of updating (like, being able to see actual subthreads and not jump up and down and try to patch one together in one’s head).
For kids in the 2-6 age range, Julia Donaldson is the world’s best author ever!! (And I grew up on Dr. Seuss.) Her best-known book is The Gruffalo, which Michelle Obama recently read online. I’d also strongly recommend:
The Fish Who Cried Wolf (aka Tiddler if you’re in the UK) Room on the Broom The Gruffalo’s Child Zog The Princess and the Wizard What the Ladybird Heard Stick-Man Tyrannosaurus Drip
Makes me wish my son was four again, so I could read these again to him and his friends.
What great picks! Mrs. Piggle Wiggle…loved her when I was a kid. A Wrinkle in Time…hooked me on science. The Phantom Tollbooth. Oh yeah.
We have been re-arranging the bookshelves and we have a LOT of these books! One you forgot is ‘I Capture the Castle’. One of the best!
Every child needs to read—or have read to him or her—The Velveteen Rabbit.
And for tweens, Caddie Woodlawn, by Carol Ryrie Brink. The true adventures of a young girl in the wilds of Wisconsin when it was the Wild West,
And The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. A great story about children helping each other grow up, with a touch of Victorian mystery.
for the 9-to-12 year old crowd, the Freddie the Pig series, 26 volumes by Walter Brooks. The books are about the adventures of a group of animals living on a small farm in upstate New York. Charming, clever, and great satire appropriate for the age group.
Love seeing Mike Mulligan on here. I like to say it’s the model of my life (dig myself a hole I can’t get out of, then figure out how to convert myself into something useful).
On the older youth side–and suitable for adult reading–let me put in a plug for Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. It’s sweet without being saccharine and has just enough nostalgia that those of us old enough to have teen kids can definitely relate.
I’m currently reading Anne of Green Gables, hooked by Anne With an E on Netflix, and loving it. I’ve read most of the recommended books already, but here are a couple some of you might be interested in trying.
As a girl, my absolute favorite book was “Miss Hickory” by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey. It won the Newbery Medal in 1947, but it’s as good today as it was then. The story is of a girl who’s dad makes her a little doll from an apple twig and a hickory nut while they’re vacationing in the summer. When it’s time to return home, the makeshift doll is cast away on the ground next to the porch. All the animals (raven, squirrel, etc.) help Miss Hickory survive the cruel New Hampshire winter.
I can’t believe no one mentoned “Dog Man”. Written by Dav Pilkey of “Captain Underpants” fame. The first book in the series was the turning point in changing my grandson into an avid reader. An evil cat named Petey sets a bomb and, in the explosion, two victims are a brave but not very bright policeman and an extremely smart but not very brave dog. In the hospital, a doctor realizes he will lose them both unless…he transplants the dog’s head on the cop’s body and the result is Dog Man – a smart, brave hero who battles the dastardly Petey throughout several subsequent tales. Every little boy I know has loved the Dog Man books.
One of my favorite books to read with my kids was Rats on the Roof and Other Stories by James Marshall. Very amusing stories. My kids liked when I would give each character a different voice.
I won’t frighten anyone off by quoting at length Henry James’ appreciation of his friend Robert Louis Stevenson–how he’d elevated the adventure tale into the realm of high art. But pick up Kidnapped and you’ll read a tale of a trusting youth who goes out into the world. He encounters betrayal,violence and the sure prospect of death that comes from an indenture in the Carolinas. But he also encounters the friendship of a stranger, a man he was taught to regard as a reprobate, who is also a hero equal to almost any peril. Together they work and sometimes fight their way to safety through a harsh and dangerous land, and find a measure of justice.
I’m sorry for any young person who becomes immersed in The Hunger Games and never knows Alan Breck.
I highly recommend the Tiffany Aching books. We’re listening to the audio books as a family. Both the second grader and the sixth grader are captivated.
