Children's book recomendation

[Mark4583]

I have a 8 yr old niece that reads as well as most young teenagers.
So im looking for some books for her that would help excell her reading but still stay within the subjuct manner for her age.

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

The the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman - it starts with The Goldan Compass (aka Northern Lights depending on where you purchase it from). They are really fantastic books that can be enjoyed by both adults and children.

A synopsis of the first book:

In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall. Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors.

First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her.

In this multilayered narrative, however, nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate, Roger, bearing a rare truth-telling instrument, the compass of the title.

All around her children are disappearing -- victims of so-called "Gobblers" -- and being used as subjects in terrible experiments that separate humans from their daemons, creatures that reflect each person's inner being. And somehow, both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are involved.

And a small excerpt from the first chapter:

Chapter One - The Decanter of Tokay

Lyra and her dæmon moved through the darkening hall, taking care to keep to one side, out of sight of the kitchen. The three great tables that ran the length of the hall were laid already, the silver and the glass catching what little light there was, and the long benches were pulled out ready for the guests. Portraits of former Masters hung high up in the gloom along the walls. Lyra reached the dais and looked back at the open kitchen door, and, seeing no one, stepped up beside the high table. The places here were laid with gold, not silver, and the fourteen seats were not oak benches but mahogany chairs with velvet cushions.

Lyra stopped beside the Master's chair and flicked the biggest glass gently with a fingernail. The sound rang clearly through the hall.

"You're not taking this seriously," whispered her dæmon. "Behave yourself."

Her dæmon's name was Pantalaimon, and he was currently in the form of a moth, a dark brown one so as not to show up in the darkness of the hall.

"They're making too much noise to hear from the kitchen," Lyra whispered back. "And the Steward doesn't come in till the first bell. Stop fussing."

But she put her palm over the ringing crystal anyway, and Pantalaimon fluttered ahead and through the slightly open door of the Retiring Room at the other end of the dais. After a moment he appeared again.

"There's no one there," he whispered. "But we must be quick."

 

[nomadic myth]

The Dog Who Wouldn't Be by Farley Mowat.

I just read it, and the subject matter is light and humorous, but the writing style has great quality.

I'm brushing up on young people's literature to teach my ESL classes.

I would recommend any Newbery Medal winner. One I read last week which was especially beautiful is Miracles on Maple Hill.

 

[abecedarian]

Look into Eva Ibbotson's books. We read Platform 13 and really liked it. All of her books are children's fantasies, with lots of fun elements.

 

[Manuscript]

Bringing Down The Moon
and
We're Going on a Bear Hunt

Don't know who wrote them but they're cute little stories.

 

[blueboatdriver]

All of Roald Dahl's childrens books.

 

[Tallulah]

The the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman - it starts with The Goldan Compass (aka Northern Lights depending on where you purchase it from). They are really fantastic books that can be enjoyed by both adults and children.

That would've been my suggestion too, absolutely fantastic books. G.P.Taylor is a great author too, his books Shadowmancer and Wormwood are brilliant.

 

[abecedarian]

All of Roald Dahl's childrens books.

Oh yeah..absolutely!

Another great series is The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper. And don't forget Redwall by Brian Jacques. He also has a good book of short stories called Seven Ghostly Tales..there's a really funny story about a boy forced to spend the night in a graveyard..I heard it on audio tape, read by B.J himself, and it was hysterical.

 

[stephiebaby]

My brother was reading Goosebumps at her age. They are easy reads and there are a crap load of them. My friends son was reading HP at her age and loves them. Harry Potter is good because they become more difficult as they go on, as far as the reading. I don't know though, my son is only 3 so he is still reading Barney and Blues Clues.

 

[France]

Some of the books my daughter read at that age - she was told more than once by her teachers not to read such grown up books!

Anne of Green Gables
The Little Princess - Frances Hodgeson Burnett
If she likes fantasy start her on the Crestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones
Books by KM Peyton
The 101 Dalmatians - Dodie Smith (not the Disney version!) -it's funny and literate
Just about anything by Tamora Pierce
White Fang
Call of the Wild
The True Adventures of Charlotte Doyle
Books by Robert Westall

 

[Proofreader]

My Friend Flicka - I loved it at ten years old
The Tale of Despereaux
Books of fables and legend
E. Nesbit's books
What Katy Did
A Country Child by Alison Uttley

 

[ValkyrieRaven88]

I was a huge fan of the Bartimaeus Trilogy. It's of a similar genre to Harry Potter, but a much better book, IMO. It's set in an alternate universe to our own, although most of the history there is the same as ours, at until the 1800's hit. But in this world, the government of England is run by magicians, as most great world powers throughout history have been. The magicians themselves don't have any magical powers. They raise "demons"--although the spirits don't like to be called that--to do their bidding, and that is where they get their power.

The main character is a 5,000-year-old djinni--a middle-ranking class of spirit--named Bartimaeus. He is sarcastic, intelligent, and has been all sorts of places in the world and doesn't mind telling you how successful and well-known he thinks he is. He is summoned by a twelve-year-old boy named Nathaniel who wants him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from a magician named Simon Lovelace, who publicly humiliated Nathaniel two years before.

It's not a difficult read, and it sounds like your niece is intelligent enough to handle it. They're also interesting because they have a huge amount of history in them, even though some of it is different because of the magic in Bartimaeus's world. The first book is The Amulet of Samarkand, the second is The Golem's Eye, and the third is Ptolemy's Gate.