SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Reading to younger readers, giving to younger reader, or reading yourself. . .

What children's books do you recommend?

Inspired by a Ursula Vernon discussion that wandered to Castle Hangnail and her other kid's books.

I particular recommend Castle Hangnail. Also Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett and The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

I always loved The Giving Tree. I read it to my kids, and they've read it to my grandchildren.

depends on the age and reading capabilities of the children in question. I enjoyed The Witches of Karres by James H. Schmitz which might work for a middle schooler/pre-teen. Harry Potter for that age group or older. Heinlein's juveniles are good too.

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend. The first of a series. Brilliant book. Wundersmith and Hollopox are books 2 and 3. Book 4 will be out this year.

Ah thanks for this - looking for ward to great ideas

I would suggest Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce followed by the other books of the Song of the Lioness quartet. These are listed as age 12 and up, but my daughter read them when she was 10. I would also recommend The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau and the other three books of that series. These are listed as age 10 and up and I would agree with that. I think Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger could also fit. It is listed as YA, but it should work for some 10 year-old readers. I agree with the earlier comment that the old Heinlein "juveniles" are good ones.

My kids also liked The City of Ember and the other books in the series--they read them before the movie cam out, though.

They read a number of dystopian, fantasy, scifi etc books along with their other reading.

A series they also liked by a Bermudan author who isn't known as well here but got rave reviews in the NYT ( “The book’s magic . . . lies in Aguiar’s precise, often lyrical descriptions. A native and resident of Bermuda, she writes with authority about daily life in the tropics … Aguiar uses her knack for realistic details equally well in the magical parts … ‘The Lost Island of Tamarind’ has a gentle spirit, tempering its dangers with warmth.”) starts withThe Lost Island of Tamarind by Nadia Aguiar

She didn't keep writing, but since I know one of her cousins and she hasn't shared things publicly, I can't say why, but it's not because she wasn't any good.

However, my kids did a LOT of reading, so if you have some examples of things she likes it could trigger my memory--there were a number of good ones in there, but my daughters were prolific readers and are now in their mid-twenties so it takes longer to think of them now.

My son was not such a big reader, so his list is smaller and after about age 6 or 7 he only wanted books with male protagonists.

Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse is another good one that I have recommended for middle grade readers with success. Diana Wynne Jones books have been favorite read alouds for me and my son - especially Howl’s Moving Castle, Castle in the Air, and The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 1. For younger kids, Catwings Box Set by Ursula K. Le Guin - which I have read to my son many, many times.

Others that I have read-aloud with my son that we both loved (and would be good for middle grade readers) are:
The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz (probably better for older middle grade readers or young teens)
Pugs of the Frozen North by Philip Reeve & Sarah McIntyre (illustrated - good for younger kids, too)
Oliver and the Seawigs by Philip Reeve & Sarah McIntyre (illustrated - good for younger kids, too)
Greenglass House by Kate Milford (more mystery than fantasy)
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown (and the sequel)
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (and others in this series)

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians + series by Brandon Sanderson are probably good for a mid-grade reader. I enjoyed them as a definitely NOT mid-grade reader, too. :)

for some picture books

Aaron Becker's trilogy Journey, Quest, Return Even without words.

Arrow to the Sun by Gerald McDermott
The Tailor of Gloucester by Beatrix Potter

Good stuff so far!! I’ll add that many Daniel Pinkwater books are enjoyed by my kids - they are SO many to choose from!

I keep coming back to this thread. I have so much to recommend but I’m stymied by lack of guidance for age range. Or do you just want it all? I suppose since you include kids books to read as an adult, maybe middle grade and above?

At any rate, I’ve been reading to my son every day since he was an infant until recently (he’s now 12) but I still do occasionally.

Some absolute favorites:

Charlotte’s Web
Deltora Quest (and the following series - might be hard to find)
Chronicles of Narnia
A Cricket in Times Square

I love Charlotte's Web. I had forgotten that one.

Diane, I think we can recommend books for all ages younger than YA, but maybe mention what age range it's aimed for? Or treat it like What Else Are You Reading, but for kids' books :) (That's what I'm kind of planning on doing.)

I read Witchlings by Claribel A. Ortega (MG) this week, it was so much fun! The author says in her afterword that it is heavily inspired by Harry Potter, and that shows. The blurb says it's for fans of Nevermoor (The Trials of Morrigan Crow), which everyone said scratched their HP itch. I didn't think Nevermoor was very HP-like (it's good though), but Witchlings is like HP for kids who aren't white English dudes.

(I will list some of my favorites another time when I haven't spent four days in bed playing Guinea Pig Bridge.)

Kaia wrote: "Greenglass House by Kate Milford"

This has been on my TBR for ages. I've been so focused on what order to read the series in, that I never get around to it. Bumping it up now!

The Wind in the Willows

The Tea Dragon Society

Tuesdays at the Castle

The Familiars

These are some 'kids' books that I found enjoyable. Of course, I read them fairly recently. I seem to remember reading Bullfinch's Mythology when I was in Grade School, but I wouldn't really recommend that as a starter for kids.

Tea Dragons! <3

Julia's House for Lost Creatures
Julia's House Moves On
Julia's House Goes Home

By Ben Hatke

Depends on age group of course.

The Serendipity books by Stephen Cosgrove are great for very young children.

After around age 8, adventure books by Jules Verne along with other children's Classics create a great grounding for future SFF fans.

Just thinking most of the Roald Dahl books have a nice element of fantasy and really appeal to kids

Suzanne Collins' series Gregor the Overlander is great. The MC is 11.
All our family loved all of Eva Ibbotson's children's fantasy too.

Since I don't see it in the thread yet - The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede, which starts with Dealing with Dragons is so good! Aimed for middle school age, but I've read it many times as a kid and adult. You all beat me to the Tea Dragon books. :)

Nelle wrote: "Since I don't see it in the thread yet - The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede, which starts with Dealing with Dragons is so good! Aimed f..."

This was my daughter's favorite series when she was young!

This is me using this thread as a "What kids' books have you been reading lately" thread, not a "Best kids' books you've ever read" thread :)

I read Jinxed and Unleashed by Amy McCulloch, a MG scifi duology. The first book ends on a cliffhanger, so they should probably be read together. It was fun, but felt too episodic at times for my liking. It needed a little more padding, instead of jumping from one action scene to the next. BUT! For a younger kid who doesn't have the attention span of an adult, maybe this is perfect? I kept thinking my young friend who has ADHD and can't concentrate on reading much at all would probably have loved this when she was 12yo. I also felt that they were weirdly simplistic in plot, with the mustache twirling villain and pre-teens being the world's best engineers and coders. I don't usually have any problems accepting over-powered MG/YA protagonists, but it irked me here because it stood out in the very black and white landscape. I guess I needed more worldbuilding, not just action scenes?

There are bakus, animal shaped electronic companions, used instead of phones. And a cool tech school where kids go to learn to program and design bakus, except we didn't really get to see that school very much. The main cat baku is very cute though, almost like Catfishing on CatNet for younger kids.

I probably sound more negative than I felt about these. I did like them, but I wanted to love them! Worth checking out if an AI cat companion sounds fun :)

Villains by Necessity and The Chronicles of Prydain are both great for kids.

I would second Lloyd Alexander's Prydain.

I started reading Andre Norton's juveniles when I was in, as nearly as I can figure, fourth grade, but they seem to have been aimed at older children -- and some that I now love were impenetrable for me at that age. If you aren't familiar with the titles, check the Wikipedia Norton bibliography.

The "juvenile" status of most of them is debatable. They were often published as such in hardcover editions, and so shelved in libraries, but the mass-market paperbacks were often clearly aimed at adult SF readers.

Sometimes the protagonists are, by our standards, children, although that is most common in a few books clearly aimed at elementary school children, such as the "Star Ka'at" series, and the "Magic" sequence.

Others are teenagers -- but a lot of the protagonists are "young adults," and are frequently marked as "different" from the rest of their society. Anyone who has ever felt lonely or picked-on will identify strongly with them.

However, I would leave her Witch World novels until an older age, depending on the maturity of the individual child. Rape, or the threat of rape, crops up in several of them. And some of the short stories in that series may be a bit scary for younger readers. (Yes, Norton fans, I'm thinking about the one with the spiders......)

There are also continuations by others, mainly, if I recall correctly, in the "Free Traders" "Time Agents," and "Beastmaster" series Some of them are quite good, although I think a couple of stories are weak on the background continuity, and don't quite fit established "facts."

Back in those days, juveniles were allowed to have actual young adult protagonists. I have known readers nowadays to find Catseye surprisingly mature because, unlike The Hunger Games, the main character in the opening is just looking for a job and it's just life.

Nowadays, of course, a Young Adult novel has to have a juvenile protagonist. (Unless, for some reason, the protagonist is in the military. That generally raises questions of rank and subordination.)

Mary wrote: "Back in those days, juveniles were allowed to have actual young adult protagonists. I have known readers nowadays to find Catseye surprisingly mature because, unlike [book:The Hunger ..."

Unfortunately, back in those days her first publisher was concerned that boys would not want to read adventure books written by a woman, so Alice Mary Norton became Andre Norton on her early historical and (then) contemporary fiction.

However, it was never a real secret, especially when she turned to science fiction (the jackets sometimes gave it away), and other publishers had her use the pseudonym of "Andrew North." When those books went into Ace paperbacks, for an adult market (as well as younger readers), the covers read "by ANDRE NORTON writing as Andrew North," to benefit from the name recognition.

She eventually had her name legally changed to Andre Norton, which must have simplified contracts and royalty checks no end...... I know of one writer who stayed with an otherwise inconvenient bank branch because it recognized her pseudonyms, and accepted checks made out to them without a fuss.

Nelle wrote: "Since I don't see it in the thread yet - The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede, which starts with Dealing with Dragons is so good! Aimed f..."

All in all, almost anything she has written would qualify.

Nelle wrote: "Since I don't see it in the thread yet - The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede, which starts with Dealing with Dragons is so good! Aimed f..."

Actually it starts with Talking to Dragons. That was the first one published and it works much better starting with that one.

Indeed, she revised it because the prequels made it no longer fit.

Anna wrote: "This is me using this thread as a "What kids' books have you been reading lately" thread, not a "Best kids' books you've ever read" thread :)"

^

I read these a while ago, so I don't remember enough to say much, I forgot about this thread :(

Last Gamer Standing by Katie Zhao - for young girl gamers
Izzy at the End of the World by K.A. Reynolds - neurodiverse (#ownvoices), dog friend
Hana Hsu and the Ghost Crab Nation by Sylvia Liu - cyberpunk/dystopia for kids

Thanks for bringing this back up top, Anna.

I read quite a few Middle Grade SpecFic books in January, which had been shortlisted for an award. They were all good. Here they are ranked per my own preference:

The Mirrorwood, by Deva Fagan (this one also won the award) - involves a talking cat
The Clackity, Lora Senf (this more horror, but really good)
The Marvellers, by Dhonielle Clayton - school for talented kids in a world that accepts them, for the most part)
Children of the Quicksands, by Efua Traoré (excellent African based Fantasy)
Fenris & Mott, by Greg Van Eekhout (for the younger end of middle grade)
Eden’s Everdark, byKaren Strong
Freddie Versus the Family Curse, by Tracy Badua (Filipino Family

And Catwings!! There’s a whole series (4 books), about cats with wings, by Ursula K Le Guin. They are delightful. I also discovered that Le Guin did audio books! I got them from the library.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

I love the Catwings audios! I've said several times that it's like having your grandmother read you a bedtime story, but your grandmother is UKLG! <3

I read the first two of Valente's series: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In a Ship of Her Own Making and The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There. Both are superb.

I read A Spoonful of Time by Flora Ahn (MG) and it managed to surprise me in a fun way. It's about a Korean American girl living alone with her mom, until suddenly her grandmother comes to live with them, and she starts learning about her family, their past, and her heritage through cooking with her. I enjoy this type of non-SFF story on its own in any age range, but this also has a fun SFF twist, mentioned in the blurb and revealed at the very start, so it's not spoilery to say that there is food related time travel :) I felt like I'd figured out all the twists very early on, and was just coasting along, but it managed to surprise me at the end when I wasn't on the lookout for twists anymore :D Also some fun 80s movie references, mainly Back to the Future.

^ I went to look at the other book by Ahn, The Golden Orchard, which is an Audible exclusive/original, and it looks like it's the same book but a different narrator? I can't be sure it's 100% the same story of course, not having listened to the older edition, but it's on Audible Plus, and the blurb sounds exactly like A Spoonful of Time.

Also, I’ve read so many of Jane Yolen’s children’s books, that I’m confident to give a blanket recommendation.

I’ve especially loved Owl Moon, the Dinosaur books (picture books) and Trash Mountain (early middle grade)

I read The Demon Sword Asperides by Sarah Jean Horwitz and it was so much fun! I think this would be excellent to read as a family, because there is something for all ages.

- Sentient (non-binary) demon sword who sits brooding in an underworld tavern called the Wet Fang, and ominous smoking drinks

- 12yo boy training to be a knight who wants to prove himself to his family

- 18yo necromancer and her reanimated no-crows

- A girl living in a monastery who sees a prophecy about the planet's missing, third moon

- A married couple (women) who are travelling knights, slaying demons wherever they go

- Evil (formerly dead) war lord sorcerer dude

We get everyone's POV except the knight couple, but they show up plenty in the story.

edit: I also liked The Dark Lord Clementine by her, but this was even better! ^_^

Sounds neat, thanks!

And I read The Ruby Code by Jessica Khoury, a fun mix of near future VR gaming, AI, and fantasy RPGs.

The blurb explains the entire plot, which to an adult reader was fairly easy to guess anyway, but heads up if you're thinking of giving this to a kid. Not exactly hard scifi, not exactly mindblowingly unique in plot, but I had fun with it, especially during the RPG sections.

I've also listened to her Mystwick School of Musicraft series from Audible. It was some years ago, but I remember thinking how cool it was that it had original music that had been composed for the audiobook, since it's about music as magic (or magic as music), and the kids play different instruments/songs.

edit: I forgot to say that I think kids who game but aren't into coding might enjoy Ruby Code, there is lots of tongue in cheek gamer stuff in the beginning, so that might be wasted on non-gamers. Coders (and adults in IT) might need to keep an eye-unroller nearby, or remember that this is an adventure book for kids :)

Thanks, Anna! For both recommendations. I think my son might like The Ruby Code and I will like the Mystwick School of Musicraft.

I few weeks ago I read Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor, which I really loved. It also has RPG, Virtual Reality and card games a la Yugiyo as backdrop elements.

That’s on my TBR but I’ve been waiting because I prefer to binge series. Although I’m more likely to start an unfinished MG series than an adult one.

Anyone read any fun new(ish) middle grade SFF lately? I need recs!

The Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor series is quite delightful.

Thanks! Those aren't on Storytel, and I need easy options right now :S There's a series called Guys Read by him tho, that sounds like a cool idea if it works.

I went through this thread and realized I still haven't read Kate Milford, and most of those are on Storytel, so maybe I should do something about that.

I read The Clackity last year and the second in the trilogy earlier this month. They are both great and I’m looking forward to the third and conclusion.

Are you familiar with Tyger by S.F. Said? Illustrated by Dave McKean!

I've read Varjak Paw but not Tyger. Looking into that and Clackity!