Children's Books

I read crap tons of children's books and YA lit. It's a guilty pleasure, even if I do cringe half the time. But I find that, after reading the books enough, I start to note ways in which I could, in my opinion, improve the writing. It's an excellent exercise I think. Also, YA lit goes down really fast, so burning through several novels in quick succession helps keep (mostly proper) grammar, syntax, and a little bit of vocab active in my mind. And it keeps the imagination active. So I read all my little brother's books when he gets them.

My favorites are Harry Potter, Mortal Engines, stuff by Garth Nix. Warriors is really hard to read, but its sort of validating to know I know how bad it is.

The only children's books I really read nowadays are A Series Of Unfortunate Events. Mainly, children's books don't really agree with me. However, I have very fond memories of Narnia, A Wrinkle In Time, and a lot of YA fantasy.

I'd classify the Discworld books for younger readers as YA, not children's books. But then... I don't really see a difference between them and the "regular" Discworld books, except that the sexual references and sometimes the violence is toned down, and that they might use simpler words. (For the record, I love both the "regular" and the "for children" Discworld.)

edited 29th May '10 7:43:58 AM by Doktor von Eurotrash

The YA Discworld books are a bit shorter?

Sorry for the teal deer, but I'm curious: Has anyone here read Avi's Dimwood Forest books?

Refresh my memory: Are those the "Poppy and..." books?

If those are what I'm thinking of, I remember them being really jarring when I was seven or eight. Most of the stuff I picked up either didn't kill anyone off, or had heroes die in a blaze of glory, and the first of those books unceremoniously and undramatically killed off one good guy (I think his name was Ragweed) for being a complete idiot. I also got the impression that there were things there I wasn't quite old enough to get. That said, it was a good series, and it had an interesting perspective on such topics as Carnivore Confusion.

edited 30th May '10 12:32:19 AM by feotakahari

I still read Tiffany Aching and am going to read Nation this summer.

I went and vaguely bluelinked 100 Cupboards. It still needs a non-ptitle redirect, and some fleshing-out.

This is nothing to be ashamed of. Juvenilia has a special appeal that more adult-oriented literature can rarely emulate.

I love stuff like Harry Potter and Alice In Wonderland, and I recently discovered Artemis Fowl. It's all good. All a part of culture.

edited 7th Jun '10 2:46:31 PM by EddieValiant,Jr.

Yes, yes I d- wait... If we're talking kids' books that includes the "young adults" range for teenagers then yes. I particularly like Garth Nix's Keys To the Kingdom. I've also been reading this book series by Nancy Farmer... First book is The Sea of Trolls. Also, I really like Here There be Dragons.

EDIT: OH, I forgot. Anyone else know the series Guardians of Ga'Hoole?

edited 7th Jun '10 4:42:29 PM by JinxedBlackcat

^ I know itg vaguely. I've read the first 3 or so books, out of... a gazillionty.

I'm seventeen so I still fit into the age range for certain 'kids' books'.

However, I don't particularly like the books in this age range, and often gravitate towards the 8 - 13 section of book places. I just don't enjoy books that go any older.

Roald. Freaking. Dahl.

I will never tire of The Twits.

Because teenagers aren't supposed to actually like anything, silly! So of course books for them have to be as unlikeable as possible to more accurately reflect their readers' worldview!

Please let it be obvious that I am kidding

I will never tire of The Twits.

HELL. YES. This so much. Too bad it's kinda underrated compared to his other books.

I have The Wind In The Willows next up on my to-read pile.

Partly because it was reputedly Syd Barrett's favorite book.

Thinking of Roald Dahl and A. A. Milne still fills me with warm memories.

I'm rereading The Chronicles of Prydain right now and loving it. I'm tempted to describe it as Tolkien for kids but that... that really belittles the books. They're just so good. They're full of archetypes, but they're exciting, never trite, and y'know what? There's nothing wrong with a classic Hero's Journey.

On the other hand, I'm trying Dicey's Song right now and can't stop myself wondering when the actual plot is showing up (I'm a bit more than halfway through.) I've never read it before.

Lately, while I was house-sitting for a friend while she and her kids were out, I got bored and read some Dr. Seuss books.

For a fun experiment, read Seuss until you get accustomed to his rhyming nature, then try to read any other book. Its a little disorienting to say the least.

I'm rereading Pyrates. Already enjoying the first few chapters. I can't wait to add more and more to the article for it and eventually review it. (on a related note, is there a trope for secret underground cities, or a group of people who live away from civilization? If there are tropes for these, please PM me so I don't derail this topic)

Any of you guys who read kids' books think of starting the article for them, or adding to the article for them? I saw that the article for The Candy Shop War was done mostly by one person.

That kind of fandom - or at least personal interest - can really help expand this site and improve its range of articles. If a book you're reading is redlinked, I think it might be a good idea to be the one who creates its article.

edited 21st Jun '10 12:02:06 AM by BonsaiForest

The Chronicles Of Narnia are my favorite literature series of all time.

Ranking somewhere else in my top 10 or so?

The Wayside School series.

Seriously, those books are really some of the cleverest works ever to be written for an elementary school audience. Not to mention one of the most hilarious.

Oh, I used to love the Wayside School books.

The Wayside School books were fun. I grew up with them also. Wasn't a particularly big fan, but I did like them at the time, that being fourth grade (and possibly fifth also, but I'm not sure). As an adult, though, it's easier to see how they portrayed the way a kid views the world in an exaggerated way. As a kid, I just saw it as, well, exaggerated and silly stuff. Yet, it was all stuff that actually made sense to me at the time.

For example, remember the chapter where that one girl showed up to school and saw strange men in black who asked her a bunch of weird questions? Then in the end, they said "don't come to school on a Saturday?" As a kid in fourth grade, I just thought that made sense. I never knew what went on in schools on the weekend. It was mysterious, an enigma. This "explanation" just worked for me.

How about the chapter where the yard teacher, Louis, was being picked on by Mrs. Nogard, the "nice" teacher the kids all liked? And she told him to do stuff like dump trash on his head (I think), and he actually did it? Somehow, as a kid, the weird logic behind an adult still being intimidated by a teacher from his childhood somehow made sense.

The characters were exaggerations of archetypes from the real world. Shari, the constant sleeper? We knew someone like that at some point. The kid who always seems to get in trouble no matter what? We all knew a Todd. Even the books' calling out of dumb prejudices, by having the three Erics all be viewed with scorn for one or two things they once did (like "Butterfingers" who once dropped the baseball, but otherwise is an excellent player), just rang true, yet in an exaggerated way.

Even the concepts felt like exaggerations of things we all believed. Like how "in every nice teacher is a mean teacher waiting to come out."

Wayside School just made sense as a kid, in a weird kind of way. Its events were silly, but they somehow seemed to be at least based in real concepts. As an adult, if you totally forget what it was like to be a kid, then it all just seems random. But if you remember that this book series reflects a worldview you once held, then it's easy to see its genius - a genius that you didn't pick up on as a kid.

edited 22nd Jun '10 7:05:36 AM by BonsaiForest

Dudes. Dudes. Junie B. Jones.

Junie B. Jones is written by the author of Maxie Rosie And Earl Partners In Grime. Hmm, she's still around and still writing. Hey, someone should start an article for that series (not me, since I don't read those books).