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Books read as a child /adolescent - Libraria of my youth

Dracula

Dracula

Plastic Vampire
(He/His)
Speaking of Australia, I was completely obsessed with it as a kid. Part of the reason was because The Rescuers Down Under was my Disney on-repeat of choice, but I also had some books set in the country which fed into my mania. I wish I could remember enough about them to even describe them, but unfortunately I only have vague memories of book covers and mention of wallabies. Possibly there were talking wallabies. These may have come from the Christian book catalogs too, but I don't remember.
 
ozacrot

ozacrot

Jogurt Joestar
(he/him)
I still think about Round Trip once every couple weeks - a black-and-white book I was obsessed with at the age of 5 which is meant to be read both regularly and upside-down. I keep planning and then forgetting to buy a copy of this book for various coworkers' and friends' kids.
 
Paul le Fou

Paul le Fou

24/7 lofi hip hop man to study/relax to
(He)
Dracula said:
Speaking of Australia, I was completely obsessed with it as a kid. Part of the reason was because The Rescuers Down Under was my Disney on-repeat of choice, but I also had some books set in the country which fed into my mania. I wish I could remember enough about them to even describe them, but unfortunately I only have vague memories of book covers and mention of wallabies. Possibly there were talking wallabies. These may have come from the Christian book catalogs too, but I don't remember.
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That reminded me to look up a picture book I had as a kid; I think my godmother brought it back from Australia for me. Luckily it was surprisingly easy to find the title and cover online:

51BW0fhTatL.jpg
 
Dracula

Dracula

Plastic Vampire
(He/His)
ozacrot said:
I still think about Round Trip once every couple weeks - a black-and-white book I was obsessed with at the age of 5 which is meant to be read both regularly and upside-down. I keep planning and then forgetting to buy a copy of this book for various coworkers' and friends' kids.
Click to expand...

Ahhhhhh! This is a book I've been trying to identify for ages! It was a frequent library borrow for me, but I'd completely forgotten the name!

@Paul le Fou I don't recognize that book, but I guarantee I would have been obsessed with it as a kid.
 
Johnny Unusual

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
So right now in afterschool, I'm reading Charlotte's Web to the kids. We aren't taking long so I was wondering if anyone had any other good novel recommendations for 2nd grade kids. I'm thinking of digging up the Hobbit and borrowing my sister's copy of Winnie the Pooh. Trying to remember exactly HOW dark the Graveyard Book gets (it was put in the category of age 8-12 in the book store) and maybe reading that (wish I read it closer to Halloween) and maybe a Christmas Carol.
 
lincolnic

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
I haven't read them personally, but my girlfriend loves the Enchanted Forest Chronicles (the first book in the series is Dealing with Dragons). They're about a princess, Cimorene, who runs away from her boring family and a planned arranged marriage to learn about "improper" things like magic, fencing, and hanging out with dragons. Also there are wizards who melt when they come in contact with soapy water.

My 7-year-old niece declared it "the best book [she's] ever read", so that's pretty high praise. (NB she's having them read to her, not actively reading herself.)
 
FelixSH

FelixSH

(He/Him)
Maybe the Neverending Story? I think the protagonist is supposed to be around 8, which implies that this is the age Ende thought of for the readers.
Edit: apparently he is 12. Dunno, I could imagine children below 10 liking the book.
 
John

John

(he/him)
Johnny Unusual said:
So right now in afterschool, I'm reading Charlotte's Web to the kids. We aren't taking long so I was wondering if anyone had any other good novel recommendations for 2nd grade kids. I'm thinking of digging up the Hobbit and borrowing my sister's copy of Winnie the Pooh. Trying to remember exactly HOW dark the Graveyard Book gets (it was put in the category of age 8-12 in the book store) and maybe reading that (wish I read it closer to Halloween) and maybe a Christmas Carol.
Click to expand...
I’ve been reading the Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond series from Sayantani Dasgupta to my 8yo, and she’s liked it. It’s a YA series about an Indian girl living in New Jersey who was told her whole life that she was a princess from a fantastic dimension, and it turns out, she actually is. It’s loaded with Bengali myths and legends, a nice change of pace from Arthurian and Tolkien fantasy tropes.
 
karzac

karzac

(he/him)
I read it as an adult, not a child, but I think A Wizard of Earthsea would be a good one to read to kids in the 6-9 range.
 
John

John

(he/him)
If they have been liking Charlotte’s Web, you can try other E.B. White books. My daughter liked Stuart Little, but we didn’t get too far in The Trumpet of the Swan. I liked it, but it was a little slow for her tastes, and very gendered as a young boy’s story.
 
Dracula

Dracula

Plastic Vampire
(He/His)
Johnny Unusual said:
So right now in afterschool, I'm reading Charlotte's Web to the kids. We aren't taking long so I was wondering if anyone had any other good novel recommendations for 2nd grade kids. I'm thinking of digging up the Hobbit and borrowing my sister's copy of Winnie the Pooh. Trying to remember exactly HOW dark the Graveyard Book gets (it was put in the category of age 8-12 in the book store) and maybe reading that (wish I read it closer to Halloween) and maybe a Christmas Carol.
Click to expand...

Depending on tastes and reading level, I can vouch for The Hobbit at that age level. My niece was reading it (via her parents) at age 7 (now 8) and she loved it. I got to read some of it to her this summer. Coincidentally it was the chapter "Riddles in the Dark," so I got to both do a Gollum impression and see if she could guess the riddles before I gave her the answer. I felt proud when I learned that she went to school the next day and tried to use some of the riddles on her classmates. I don't think she threatened to eat them, though.

Anything Roald Dahl would probably be appropriate. I devoured nearly everything he wrote when I was about that age. There's also Narnia, but you may not feel great about some of the overt Christian themes (still think at least the first one is a great book though).

Anyway there's tons of awesome stuff in middle grade fiction - you might also check Goodreads or Barnes & Noble's lists of what was considered best in the last couple years.
 
Beowulf

Beowulf

Son of The Answer Man
(He/Him)
We did family reading and jigsaw puzzles during this past long covid winter; my (then 7-year-old) son enjoyed The Hobbit, the first three Tiffany Aching books (the fourth gets pretty dark), and Dealing With Dragons by Patricia Wrede. The latter is first in a series and we're getting him the full set for Christmas.
 
lincolnic

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Beowulf said:
Dealing With Dragons by Patricia Wrede. The latter is first in a series and we're getting him the full set for Christmas.
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My post was specifically about this series, in case anyone doesn't want to scroll up it's called the Enchanted Forest Chronicles.
 
Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Johnny Unusual said:
So right now in afterschool, I'm reading Charlotte's Web to the kids. We aren't taking long so I was wondering if anyone had any other good novel recommendations for 2nd grade kids. I'm thinking of digging up the Hobbit and borrowing my sister's copy of Winnie the Pooh. Trying to remember exactly HOW dark the Graveyard Book gets (it was put in the category of age 8-12 in the book store) and maybe reading that (wish I read it closer to Halloween) and maybe a Christmas Carol.
Click to expand...

William Steig's books, specifically Abel's Island, would be great for that age. Dominic too!

Bunnicula, comes to mind although I haven't re-read it in years. All the Roald Dahl recommendations for sure (I'd avoid the Witches though). I was reading a lot of Charles Dickens at that age and A Christmas Carol could be appropriate for this time of year, although I would give it a re-read first to check language.

Redwall is probably too long and too violent. But now I have a mental image of just reading the feast scenes to children and that amuses me.
 
4-So

4-So

Spicy
I would think Graveyard Book would be fine, along with Coraline and The Wolves in the Walls.
 
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