Children's Books

[osprey_archer]

On the Blue Willow post a few days ago, visualthinker11 commented that she had been feeling nostalgic recently - she wanted to do some sort of summertime reread/review of childhood classics, and would I be interested?

Would I be interested? I think the idea is SPIFFY. A chance to find other people who read and loved the same books! To proselytize about my favorite books to those who haven't heard of them! To discover through other people books that I somehow missed, and must read!

So I've been working on a list of books that I would talk about. My main criteria: I love the book, or at least at one point loved the book, and I have something interesting to say about it.

So: the list.

Bona fide classics: Caddy Woodlawn and The Borrowers and the Little House books, and also I Capture the Castle (never mind I didn't read that last one till college!).

Books that have improved with age, like Charlotte's Web, and books which age has tarnished, like the Tortall books.

And books that age has not changed, but deepened: Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Changling and The Headless Cupid (well, Zilpha Keatley Snyder's whole oeuvre, really - like The Egypt Game), and Elizabeth Marie Pope's The Perilous Gard.

Books that blew me away the first time I read them: Number the Stars, Sylvia Louis Engdahl's Enchantress from the Stars and (especially) its sequel, The Far Side of Evil, Megan Whelan Turner's The Queen of Attolia. (I love the other Queen's Thief books, too. But they didn't knock the top off my brain.)

Books that I adore even as they drive me crazy: Isobelle Carmody's books, especially the Obernewtyn Chronicles and Alyzon Whitestarr.

Fantasy books: Crown Duel, Ella Enchanted, The Golden Compass and Sabriel (I didn't like the sequels to either very much), Matilda, The Moorchild, Clockwork, So You Want to Be a Wizard and on and on and on...

Books that I don't think anyone but me ever read, which is totally unfair because they rock: The Secret Voice of Gina Zhang, Nekomah Creek, Becoming Rosemary, and The Losing Christina trilogy (which is, and I quote myself, is "so eerie and beautiful and just iridescent. Incandescent. Efflorescent.")

And - but this list is quite long enough! But I'm sure I've forgotten a ton; and doubtless there are lots of books I should have listed, that I've simply never read. So tell me about them! Or tell me if you particularly want to see any of these reviewed - or if you loved one of them and just want to chat about it - or anything! Is there anything in the world as wonderful as talking about favorite books?

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Books that you loved that I loved too:

I Capture the Castle
The Changeling (and also her Greensky books)
The Perilous Gard
Enchantress from the Stars and The Far Side of Evil
Crown Duel
The Moorchild

Which is pretty funny when you think that I'm old enough to be your mother! It means that (a) you read old books as well as new ones and (b) I kept on reading middle-grade and YA books long, long into adulthood.

My older daughter really loved Sabriel (I didn't read it, but it looked good)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Yes, the Greensky books! Except I didn't like the last one as much. I think it suffered particularly because And All Between has this brilliant, transcendent, perfect ending.

And then the next book falls back into the workaday world where conflicts just can't be resolved so neatly. So instead the conflicts drag grimly on, and the ending feels frustratingly inconclusive but at the same time un-earnedly happy. It didn't seem to me that Raamo's sacrifice would guarantee any sort of a future peace.

And I was just betting you would have read The Moorchild. I don't even know how many times I read that book - I checked it out of the library over and over.

That was probably why I read so many old books as a kid: it's not like you can tell how old a book is in a library. Is it uncommon for kids to read old books? One of my friends was obsessed with Louisa May Alcott and Winnie the Pooh, and she was so happy when I finally read them last year.

Your older daughter is the one who is not shikuchi? Either way I applaud her taste in books.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

--yeah: I didn't like the last Greensky book as much either [but I loved the series enough that I actually stalked another girl in my school when I saw her reading them--because I thought that meant we MUST be friends]

I adored the Moorchild; I was so moved by all the relationships. I loved Moql/Saaski's here-parents as they tried to love her (especially I loved the scene where she and her dad get the swarm of bees). I loved--what was the phrase?--freaky odd? I started using that after reading the book; it was so perfect.

Yes: older daughter has the LJ handle littlemetaldrop, but for about the past year, I think she's only ever posted locked entries (and those rarely). She's the one who did the "Don't Stop Me Now" (http://www.youtube.com/user/LittleMetalDrop#p/u/25/PHA61w75swk) animation some years ago. (She's the one I call the ninja girl. shikuchi I call Little Springtime.)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Did you end up becoming friends with the girl reading Greensky? It's hard to imagine an unpleasant person enjoying them, but I suppose stalking her might throw a wrench in things.

And yes, freaky odd! I love the phrase, too. I loved the scene where Saaski finds the bagpipes. She's such a good mix of human and not-human, and tries so hard to be a proper human girl for her parents and just can't quite.

Her relationship with her grandmother was probably my favorite, though.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

We didn't exactly become friends, but she was so kind and good natured in declining my overtures that I didn't mind. I learned a lot about how to turn a person down from that experience. (And I have to say that I knew enough to quit when I got the not-interested answer.)

[visualthinker11.livejournal.com]

Excellent list! And not quite as much overlap as I would have expected, which just means I have more books I get to read for the first time! I'm so excited about this. : )

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Are you going to post your list soon? I want to see all these books I need to read!

...never mind I can't read them till spring break. It will give me something to look forward to!

[visualthinker11.livejournal.com]

It'll be up before the end of the day, promise. I'm just trying to get authors and stuff straightened out.