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Sci-Fi/Adventure for little ones?
The Boy is 6. He loves all kinds of books, but his favorite by far are of the Star Wars / Pokemon / Bionicles variety. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But I would love to introduce him to some more "literary"-type sci-fi/adventure stories. (Books for us to read to him, not books he can read himself.)
I was never into that genre myself, so I was wondering if you guys had any recommendations? I'm assuming he's too young for A Wrinkle in Time. What about Phantom Tollbooth? Harry Potter?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mommy Monster on -
We started reading Harry Potter out loud to Raidne when she was 5 or 6. She absolutely loved them. I have never seen a kid love books to death the way kids will love a stuffed animal to death. She has read them all now about 7-8 times each (she's now 9). She's also a very prolific reader.
I'm going to start on the first HP with Wild Thing soon because he needs a little more of a nudge on reading. He's 7.
I think Phantom Tollbooth might be a little old for him, but the Treehouse Series are good. Wild Thing and I would read those to each other, a page for him and a page for me.
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Permalink Reply by mcglory13 on -
I dunno, I think Phantom Tollbooth could be great for a kid that age (note: I hit enter before I saw MM had posted. I don't mean to contradict her so roughly). Have you read any of the Redwall books? They're about mice and were super popular with younger kids a few years back when I worked at a bookstore. We have been reading all of the original Wizard of Oz books with Smudge, who loves them, as well as the two Alice books. Ella Enchanted is awesome (the movie is horrible, but the book is great) and I love the old school "Half Magic" by Edward Eager and the rest of his books. I found a list here with a lot of good suggestions (though some of those trend older than six). Small one and I just started reading Terry Prachett's The Bromeliad series which is about nomes. Prachett is usually hilarious. Oh! And Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom would be great!!
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Permalink Reply by mightyninjamom on -
You might want to check out some of the Neil Gaiman kids' books. He just had one come out called "Odd and the Frost Giants". You'll have to preview it...I'm not sure what age range it would work for.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Mama on -
I was just about to add Roald Dahl - there are some great stories.
John T. Capp said:Also, can't miss on the adventure front with Roald Dahl's BFG.
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Permalink Reply by Marissa's Dad on -
JTC- that was the Tripods trilogy by John Christopher. I read them too.
Looking at the wiki, I guess there was a prequel in 1988, and a TV show from the Beeb as well.
The Hobbit is accessible to youngsters, more so than the Lord of the Rings.
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Permalink Reply by zenmom on -
Just so happens, I've been working on a list of books I want to read with my 5-year-old Adventurer/Geekling. Highlights include:
Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, Chronicles of Narnia, anything by Rahld Dahl, "hero" stories from Geek and roman mythology or tales from the Arabian Nights, The Hobbit, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Pippi Longstocking, The Borrowers, Hardy Boys mysteries,
Oh, and his current favorites that he can almost read independently are Captain Raptor and the Space Pirates and Captain Raptor and the Moon Mystery.
BTW, if you don't already have them, I highly recommend that every parent should own "The Dangerous Book for Boys" and "The Daring Book for Girls". Awesome, awesome books for parents and kids.
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Permalink Reply by mcglory13 on
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I was assigned to read the Tripod books in sixth grade if that gives a rough indication of what age they are meant for. :)
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Permalink Reply by Mamawho on
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The Keys to the Kingdom series is great - the audiobooks are fantastic. I'm listening to Sir Thursday right now.
Angie Sage's Araminta Spookie series is really cute and fun. Her Septimus Heap series is also good, but more Harry Potter in size.
I really enjoyed Cornelia Funke's Inkworld books, but they're a bit old. She has other series that skew younger.
Roald Dahl is great, and can really twist his britches when he grows up and reads the Dahl stories from Switch Bitch and the ones printed in Playboy. I have them all. :)
Mary Pope Osborne (Magic Treehouse) has a kids' condensed version of The Odyssey. GirlWho loves it. Also good are Jane Yolen's myth stories. GirlWho is reading the one about Atalanta.
GirlWho is way into sci-fi/fantasy, so I'll ask her for recommendations.
ETA: Fablehaven is also great, but has some scarier elements. A few demons and evil beings and such.
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Permalink Reply by wookie on -
Heinlen wrote some good juvenile fiction but 6 is still a little young for that. My kids loved the Magic Treehouse but I wouldn't class that as "literary".
Personally, I would try some Harry Potter and Spiderwick but also read short stories from the sci-fi genre to him. You could also steer him towards the mystery genre (Hardy Boys) and see what he thinks of that.
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Permalink Reply by Mommy Monster on
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No worries. FTR, I loved, loved, loved Phantom Tollbooth as a kid, but when Raidne tried to read it, many of the ideas about words and time seemed to go over her head which is why I thought 6 might be young. But I think it really depends on the kid.
I also think the myths are a great idea - they've been a huge hit in our house lately.
mcglory13 said:I dunno, I think Phantom Tollbooth could be great for a kid that age (note: I hit enter before I saw MM had posted. I don't mean to contradict her so roughly). Have you read any of the Redwall books? They're about mice and were super popular with younger kids a few years back when I worked at a bookstore. We have been reading all of the original Wizard of Oz books with Smudge, who loves them, as well as the two Alice books. Ella Enchanted is awesome (the movie is horrible, but the book is great) and I love the old school "Half Magic" by Edward Eager and the rest of his books. I found a list here with a lot of good suggestions (though some of those trend older than six). Small one and I just started reading Terry Prachett's The Bromeliad series which is about nomes. Prachett is usually hilarious. Oh! And Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom would be great!!
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Permalink Reply by TeacherJ on -
I tried reading the Phantom Tollbooth to my fourth graders this year, and as a class we got not quite halfway through. A handful of kids just ate it up (and ended up finishing it on their own), but for most of the kids the puns and references went waaaaaay over their heads. A lot of my students aren't talked to a lot at home, so probably The Boy is more tuned in than they were, but he still might be a bit young. I remember loving that book when I was around 11 or so.
My own fourth grade teacher read us the first Tripod book, and I found it terrifying. I have a thing about humans being controlled by robots, though, so if that won't bother The Boy it might be okay.
How about The Enchanted Forest Chronicles? More fantasy/adventure than sci-fi, but the books have fantastic characters, and they're funny for both kids and grown-ups.
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