Anyone can suggest some good children's books?

[Tri'ahna Zylary]

Nya's finally decided to follow in my footsteps, so she's discovered her love for literature (aka I have to read them to her). It's come to the point where simple 5-page-long fairy tales don't strike her fancy, she wants something more coherent and interesting.

And while I am easily able to provide her with literature in German, I'm at a bit of a loss for books in English. As a child I didn't start reading english books until I was about 8, and those were the classics (I had odd tastes), but I can't really read those to her. I have quite a large library in English at home but those are for younger children, and she's beyond that. And since I don't have anyone in my family who could help me with suggesting English titles (other than Nya's father but he's a total barbarian when it comes to literature), all I can do is look at page after page of books on Amazon without really being able to decide what is good and what's just a waste of time.

So can anyone suggest any good children's books? Preferably something with fairies, myths, historical events, etc?

[Kraehe Branwen]

The paperbag princess is a great book. :) Dunno how long it is though. Then there is The Giving Tree and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

[Kraleil 'Alekeg' Schous]

I'll check them out on amazon...

The other day I found a few really cute ones and was about to get them, but then figured out that they were simply translations from German books we already had that I'd forgotten about! :p

Basically, I'm looking for books that have something like 250 pages or so.... the last one I read to her had that much and we got through it in 4 days.... :rolleyes

If anyone wants a good book that I know about, you might want to check out Ronia the Robber's Daughter, by Astrid Lindgren.

[Salem Ave]

I don't know if these would be too 'advanced' or not, but I loved everything by Roald Dahl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl) when I was younger.

[Tri'ahna Zylary]

Oh yeah..... we've been through those.... I'll never forget the time she told my dad what she'd do to my grandmother for looking at her "crossly".... that was after we just read George's Marvellous Medicine

[Salem Ave]

:lol That was one of my favorites. The only other stuff I can remember reading was Beatrix Potter, Enid Blyton (which was a little dated even back when I was small!) and stuff like The Secret Garden and Charlottes' Web.

The 'Artemis Fowl' series is pretty good, bit more modern.

EDIT: My housemate suggested The Diary of Anne Frank and Watership Down... uplifting choices :mneh

[Tri'ahna Zylary]

Oh yeah George's Marvellous Medicine and the Twits ... those were my favorites. Gotta admit we don't have all of them - we're going back to Ireland this summer and I'll be picking up a few more to complete my little Roald Dahl collection.

Hmmm... I have one of the Artemis Fowl books..... will try reading that to her and see what she thinks of it, but I think that's a bit above her.... she's more into "mythology". I started reading her one of my old favorites, a novelised version of an old Irish myth about Diarmuid and Graine, but had to stop about one third into the book because it got a bit too grown up. Nya has an inquisitive mind so it got a bit sticky trying to explain a few concepts to her...... I'd not read it in such a long time I couldn't remember that it got a bit more "adult" after Graine grows up... :p

[Kraehe Branwen]

Ah then the books I suggested aren't for her. They are about ten to twenty pages. I suggest the Septimus Heap series and Inheritence (Eragon) series.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The Chronicles of Narnia are good kids books - I started reading them when I was about 5/6.

[Vince]

The Giver - I forget her name; not very mythy, but fairly longish, and easy to understand without being simple. Harry Potter! Uhm...The Hobbit... My brains dead...

[Ilias Nytrau]

I read Chronicles of Narnia, the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings when I was six. Then my parents found out they had to put the psychothrillers out of sight lest I get my hands on those too.

I wouldn't normallly suggest Stephen King...I find his writing doesn't quite do it for me when it comes to creepies (and i'm not sure how many parents would let their kids read horror ANYWAY), but his "The Eyes of The Dragon" is a break from his normal genre. He wrote that one for his daughter, who didn't like the rest of his books. It's a fantasy novel.

Oh yeah, read Beowulf to her....ok, so maybe I'm joking. Maybe. :lol

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I loved The Borrowers as a kid, as well as The Plant that ate Dirty Socks, How to Eat Fried Worms, anything by Beverly Cleary (the Ramona books?) and Roald Dahl... But depending on how old Nya is you may want to stick with books such as the Beatrix Potter books which are excellent and have pictures to share as you read them to her.

:D when I did my baby registry I sort of attacked the books with my scanner at Target - but we're talking cardboard books and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Oh, don't rule out Dr. Seuss books - great for reading and teaching her how to read as well.

[Kraehe Branwen]

Don't forget The BabySitters Club.

[Mu Satach]

I have a soft spot in my heart for Beatrix Potter books.

[Tri'ahna Zylary]

Hmmmm... shall try the Chronicles of Narnia, Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, and the Hobbit for now....

We've gone through most of the Beatrix Potter stuff....

But continue making suggestions, this is great stuff.

Anyone know anything based in historical fact? I got a story about some kids crossing the ocean and entering the US as the first ones through Ellis Island, and she loved that..... thinking I want more of the kind of I dunno what's out there.

Oh, and I just remembered the "House in the Prairie" series, and "Little Women" and things like that....

[Vince]

I tried to read the Lord of the Rings when I was twelve, but couldn't wrap my head around it. Then I read about a year and a half later, at 14, and I couldn't put them down for the next four or five years.

Oh yeah! I saw the Secret Garden up there; I can't tout that book enough. I saw the movie, and I enjoyed that (oddly enough), as well. Maybe the Silmarillion when she gets older; that one would be good for someone to read to her; cause it reads like a history book at times.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Little House on the Prarie books are fantastic, as is Little Women. The Little House books are of course biographical, so that should satisfy some of your historical wants.

[Mu Satach]

Haven't seen anyone mention the Oz books yet.

[Kraehe Branwen]

Oh speaking of Little Women, Black Beauty made me cry. :'( I used to love horses so much and I hated how that poor horse was treated at times. But it has a happy ending.

[Arabella Balfour]

Benjamin Dilley's Thirsty Camel - by Jolly Roger Bradfield

Panda Bear's Paintbox - Michaela Muntear

Bear Circus - William Pene Du Bois

Those were three of my favorites. :D

[Vince]

Oh oh oh! The Little Prince - by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. One of the prettiest little books I've ever read. Chock full of quote worthy lines and nice little pictures in the one I've got.

[Sam]

I was a big fan of the Tripods trilogy by John Christopher (The White Mountains, The City Of GOld and Lead, and The Pool of Fire).

[Ilias Nytrau]

Oh oh oh! The Little Prince - by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. One of the prettiest little books I've ever read. Chock full of quote worthy lines and nice little pictures in the one I've got.

Yes! I agree....though I read it in french in the sixth or seventh grade. :)

[Aretsuya]

"My Family & Other Animals" ... my sister read that when she was a kid and loved it, so.

[Vince]

http://www.angelfire.com/hi/littleprince/frames.html

The Little Prince online. It's a quick read, but it stays with you.

[Mitch]

I highly recommend the Redwall series of books, but, it's important to read them in published order, not the actual chronological order. Brian Jacques is an excellent author, and the stories are very fun.

[Tri'ahna Zylary]

I'm starting to wonder if I should introduce her to the Discworld books....

[Dasquian Belargic]

Ohhh yes. I'm not sure that all of the humour would hit the mark, but there's no harm in trying!

[Jedieb]

A Wrinkle in Time by MadMadeleine L'Engle. The sequels are excellent as well. If you want something that will give her a laugh you might want to try Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Sachar. He's got several excellent books for kids. Maniac Magee (Jerry Spinelli) is another favorite of students I've taught.

[Sam]

This man knows what he's talking about. I love the Sideways Stories books.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Discworld would be way over her head, I think.

[Jekaan Oludh]

Reading The Hobbit to her is an interesting process.... I found my copy of the Graphic Novel so she's looking at the pictures but I am reading the actual book to her just for details. Yesterday we didn't get very far because she was a bit tired, but we got as far as Thorin arriving at Bilbo's, and she found this very entertaining.

Reading the book with different voices is extremely exhausting.....

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

My Teacher is an Alien, My Teacher Fried My Brains, My Teacher Glows in the Dark, and My Teacher Flunked the Planet, all by Bruce Coville.

I read those way back in the third grade, and I still love those books ^_^;

[Wyl Staedtler]

My nine-year-old sister highly recommends both the 'Rowan Hood' and 'Shadow Children' series'. She generally has good taste. :)

ETA: She might also like 'Island of the Blue Dolphins'.