Gift-Giving Recommendations Part Two: More Books For the Wee Nippers
Monday, December 7, 2009
More YA/MG love, as requested by beloved Author-friends Susan and Loretta. For this we brought in a Consultant: our dear friend Emiko, who works as the youth program coordinator in a domestic violence shelter and is, as she likes to tell us a lot, still seventeen in her brain. Also she is awesome. Here are her suggestions.
Books for Slightly Dorky Young Persons Who Read Above Their Grade Level
1. East, by Edith Pattou
2. The Abhorsen Trilogy, by Garth Nix
3. The Mysterious Benedict Society series, by Trenton Lee Stewart (added bonus: best covers ever)
4. The Pellinor series, by Alison Croggon (We LOVE these. They have some dark (slavery, warfare, scary scary monsters) and sexy (nothing scandalous or anywhere near as creepster as Twilight, we promise) bits in 'em, maybe more approps for slightly older nippers, depending on your parenting sensibilities.)
Books For Young Persons With Learning Disabilities
1. The Warriors series, by Erin Hunter
2. The Sisters Grimm series, by Michael Buckley
3. The Septimus Heap series, by Angie Sage
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What a fabulous addition to your previous gift list. I love that the suggestions target two types of readers and doesn't assume that everyone reads at the same level.
Thanks for making my next trip to the book store a little less frenzied and more focused.
For 9-12 year olds, Rick Riordan's The Lightening Thief. The only thing selling faster at my store is Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
I LOVE East and The Abhorsen trilogy.
Wonderful list--I loved Nix's trilogy when I was a wee one myself (yes, was slightly dorky, read above grade level...). If only I had young cousins or nieces/nephews to inundate with books!
Wow - as someone who has worked with many troubled adolescents, I love that you included books for those with learning disabilities. They are too often a forgotten group. Thank you!
...maybe more approps for slightly older nippers, depending on your parenting sensibilities."
I couldn't help but laugh at this because I am really a VERY BAD example of parenting. My son is an only child growing up with two people (I guess we're technically adults) who have a near-obsessive love of military sci-fi and weaponry in general. Any suggestions for a five year old, just learning to read, that involves explosives, aliens, giant robots, or preferably, all three? Haha.
I wanted to add that my 7-year-old loves The Warriors series. So, it is also a great choice for kids whose reading level is advanced beyond their emotional maturity level.
Thanks for the recommendations! Gosh, those sound great. I know *I* want to read them now. :D
Would you find it strange if I had an impulse to kiss your wee toesies in gratitude? ;)
Thank you so much for the additional rec's!!
Septimus and the Benedict Society live on our shelves, but we will soon be hunting down the other gems.
Also, over on my Ink Spells blog, I've gathered together a list of Books to Keep Boys Reading, with a range of reading levels, ratings and for both MG and YA. I will hastee over and add your awesome suggestions to the list.
Gracie!
I need to rave for a minute about the Septimus Heap series. We read the first out loud, then my son read the rest, then my daughter for the first time in her life started reading chapter books on her own so she could read them herself. So funny, well-written and just plain imaginative. Thanks for the list, @411bee
Wow, Susan! Look at you all fancy with the charts. That is BEAUTIFUL. I run a Writing Mothers group on the Writer's Digest Community (yes, me, the bad parent...haha), and I'm going to link your post there. Thanks!
Lydia - thanks for the link!
With my husband and I both being SF fans, and having three boys, there's an unhealthy level of knowledge of all things Star Wars and Trek in our house. I think we could give you a run in the imaginary-weaponry department! :)
I'm going to have to check out the Writer's Digest Community (I'm still a newbie writer).
Oh! I loved East! I would also say that Dave Barry & Ridley Pierce's Peter Pan series is good for the nippers, as well as Anne Ursu's Shadow Theives. I love good YA lit!
Out of curiosity, where are the realistic MG/YA books? Not everyone loves fantasy. : ) But I'm anxious to dip into these suggestions. Thank you!
Loved the Garth Nix books.
Might I recommend for a slightly older age group (15+) The Laws of Magic series by Michael Pryor (another Australian author).
Great fun and I'm reading them now after finally picking up the fourth book.
East is just wonderful. The Pellinor series is great, too, but the fourth book, which is currently only out in hardcover, doesn't match the trade paperbacks of the first three. Ugh. But I'm pretty sure that if you buy all the books hardcover, they match. I'm just going to buy a new copy of the fourth once when it comes out in trade paperback.
Ooh ooh ooh! Everyone should read the Prydain Chronicles, too, by Lloyd Alexander.
Crunches and munches!
Excellent gift ideas for the readers in the family! Great Post.
Christmas Gift Baskets
Squeee Garth Nix!
Also great YA fantasy reads: anything by Diana Wynne Jones, especially Howl's Moving Castle and Deep Secret. And really fun for younger readers, The Blood-and-Thunder Adventures on Hurricane Peak by Margaret Mahy.
On Sunday I finished Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. I craved the next book so desperately, that after reading the last page, I got in my car, drove through a snowstorm to B&N, and bought the other two books in the Gemma Doyle trilogy. Couldn't wait to read them.
Good stuff.
For Lydia Sharp, may I suggest a series of books for brand new readers, called, of all things, Brand New Readers? They don't have any robots, but they do have a dinosaur and a supermouse. When my kids were in Kindergarten, they wanted to read these things over and over again. They loved 'em!
Funny I don't really remember too much sexy bits in the Pellinor series. Lots of platonic relationships though.
Fab list. I'm passing it onto all my YA Librarian peeps who I'm sure have oodles of lists like this of their own...
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