Terry Pratchett?

[Marne]

Hi, has anyones dc's read the Terry Pratchett books? i'm struggling to find books for dd1 for christmas, she loves fantisy (harry potter, anything to do with magic, dragons etc..), i have ordered her a couple Terry Pratchett books using my Tesco vouchers, just wondered 'how good are they and did your dc'd enjoy them?'.

[weblette]

Dd adores TP, the Tiffany Aching books are her favourites. Which ones have you bought?

[Marne]

I have bought her 'diggers', was thinking of getting her 'only you can save manking' and 'dodger'.

At the moment she's reading Harry Potter for the 3rd time as we havn't found anything she likes as much as HP, we have tried the Hobbit but she wasn't taken by it.

[pingulingo]

I loved Terry Pratchett books as a child and they were staple Xmas presents for years, from about age 11/12. Start at the beginning with the Discworld series with The Colour of Magic. Sourcery and Mort were both favourites of mine too.

I also loved the Redwall fantasy series of books when I was a child, all the characters are animals en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redwall

And last suggestion is Magic Kingdom for Sale by Terry Brooks which might suit if she is a little older. Has both magic and dragons in.

[Marne]

I find it hard to buy her books, i'm not a reader (have only read a couple books in my life), i tried TP books when i was 10 or 11 but couldnt read them . I'm sure dd1 will love them though. She's 8.5 but her reading level is age 11-12 and her understanding is great so i'm thinking they will be ok for her?

[madamehooch]

Try the 'Septimus Heap' series by Angie Sage

[Marne]

Thank you, will have a look (would like to get her quite a few books to last her a while) .

[WitchOfEndor]

Agree the Tiffany Aching series is good. What age is she? I started with Wyrd Sisters and have always favoured the Disc World books which have the witches in them.

[WearingGreen]

DS read diggers and only got halfway through. He said it was boring with too much dialogue. He is also 8.5 and loved HP and the Hobbit and LOTR but he never liked those beastquest books or how to train your dragon. I don't know if they are funny but he generally doesn't like funny books that other kids love (Mr Gum, David Walliams etc. - all 'boring' ) so maybe thats his problem.

[Marne]

She loved beast quest and 'how to train your dragon', she loves a lot of dialogue unlike me (i think thats why i found them hard to read). She found the Hobbit boring but i'm not sure if it was because she saw the play before she read the book and it wasnt quite the same. We have tried Mr Gum to and she wasnt taken by it.

[CaseyShraeger]

Truckers comes before Diggers (unless I'm misremembering) so may be best to read that one first. Also The Amazing Maurice might be good.

I'd watch out for the last of the Tiffany Aching series - there's a traumatic scene at the beginning (young woman miscarrying after beating by her father) that I blinked to see in a children's book (and the repercussions are returned to later in the book).

How about the Lily Quench series? Or Eva Ibbotson? Diana Wynne Jones?

[CaseyShraeger]

(um, obviously Lily Quench is a character and the other two are authors)

[CaseyShraeger]

The first couple of Skulduggery Pleasant books might do, perhaps? But the series gets quite dark IIRC.

[Marne]

She likes Dark , she has Aspergers so tends to take things with a pinch of salt. I will have to make a list of all these books and look them up on Amazon. I wish she has asked for a kindle for christmas (takes up less space than books) but apparently books are better.

[Pascha]

Diggers is the second book in the trilogy, you should get Trucks and Wings as well to finish the set, then she will have the complete story.

I agree that the Tiffany Aching discworld stories are good, and probably more up her street as they are much more magicy/fantasy type. I would get the first one - The Wee Free Men - and how she likes it.

[CaseyShraeger]

The last of the Tiffany Achings is I Shall Wear Midnight, by the way - should have said that.

Not really magic/fantasy, but I'll also put in a plug for The Mysterious Benedict Society and its sequels.

[Pascha]

She's possibly a bit young yet but she could try Philip Pullman His Dark Materials next year or the year after. I would give them to a 10 year old who has good reading skills.

[Cahoots]

Our family loved the Wee Free Men with Tiffany. They were the last books I read aloud to my DC's. I did the accents. . I was only meant to read it too my youngest but the older DC's ended up listening as well as the books are so funny and clever.
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[Cahoots]

Here are some....

[Pascha]

Also, of the proper Discworld books, she might get on very well with Equal Rites, its about girl finding out she's a wizard and trying to enrol in the Unseen University.

[Marne]

Pascha, that sounds perfect, will deffently get her that one. Dd1 wants to be a wizzard (thinks i'm sending her to hogwarts when she's old enough) so i think she would enjoy that one.

[Pascha]

it has strong undercurrent of women outdoing the men despite circumstances pretty much all the way through.

[coffeeandcream]

Try Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle (Eragon series), all about magic and dragons and a natural addition to any Harry Potter fan's library.

[Marne]

Thank you, have got her 'Equal rites' (99p on e-bay), will look at 'Inheritance Cycle' too (sounds perfect).

[Snorbs]

The Tiffany Aching books are excellent (I'm a big Pratchett fan) but maybe a bit slow and heavy on dialogue for some younger readers. The Artemis Fowl books might be worth a try as they're essentially fantasy stories but quicker-paced than the Tiffany Aching books. The basic premise is that there is a secret society of fairies, elves, gnomes etc that escaped underground centuries ago to hide from humans. Artemis Fowl is a human master criminal who finds out about this secret society and attempts to blackmail them. They're good fun.

Alternatively, my 11yo DD's current favourites are the How To Train Your Dragon series, InkHeart, and the Hunger Games trilogy.

[BlueChampagne]

She might like Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising" series. I love Pratchett's books, but being ancient, came to them as an adult.