Which books have you borrowed from your DCs and then really enjoyed?

admylin - I've read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, I'm going to pass it on, glad to hear your ds enjoyed it.

Recently
Noughts and Crosses - Malorie Blackman
The Tulip Touch - Anne Fine
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon

Agree about Diana Wynne-Jones (I checked out her website the other day and sadly it seems that she's in the late stages of terminal cancer ).

All the Neil Gaiman children's books are fabulous - Coraline, The Graveyard Book, Odd and the Frost Giants.

Un Lun Dun by China Mieville.

Does anyone remember an american writer called Edward Eager? I used to get Half Magic out of the library about twice a month and re-read it when I was a little girl.

I read the Garth Nix Abhorsen trilogy a few years ago and thought that was pretty good.

I enjoyed ds's 3 Bartimeus books by Jonathan Stroud and then I read the 3 Book of Time books by Guillaume Prevost after ds had finished with them.

The Bartimeus ones were great becaus ethey're so long and I read too fast so love thick long books!

My problem now, ds is looking on my bookshelf for stuff to read but alot of it is unsuitable for a 12 year old. I gave him The Alchemist and he read it in 2 nights, he's on The Book Thief at the moment.

Diana Wynne Jones is fabulous.

DD is currently reading anything she can find with horses in.

She read one the other week and said it was excellent, but very sad, and said I would like it. It was Blind Beauty by K.M. Peyton.

Sad?! Gah, I was traumatised.

Now want to read Flambards. So I She will order through the library.

How funny, as soon as I saw the thread title I thought of the Cherub books. DS1 has just got the last one and I am waiting to read it. I've also really enjoyed the Edge Chronicles and the Harry Potter books - because both my boys are dyslexic I ended up reading to them longer than you normally would and it was so much easier if it was something interesting!

The Spook's Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney! That was my English teacher!!! Does anyone know what order they are read in?
CS Lewis Narnia anyone?

I wasn't going to mention the Pamela Brown 'Blue Doors' but that was one of my re-read favourites (well, the first in the series anyway). I remember the BBC drama of the same. 'Jeremy' is now an award-winning director of films/TV dramas in the UK.

Big endorsement for 'The Dark is Rising' I re-read it regularly and the early Alan Garner books-Weirdstone of Brisingamen and Moon of Gomrath-there are so many lovely books out there.
What a great thread this is :)

Ariesgirl, I gave my box set of The Wind on Fire trilogy by William Nicholson away, I just didn't understand the allure.

Goodnight Mr Tom
Ballet Shoes
Secret Garden
Little Princess
Journey to the River Sea
Holes
Pullman Trilogy
Capt Underpants
Arabel's Raven (despite the criminal typos and grammar mistakes)

The Inkheart trilogy by Cornelia Funke
Another vote for Diana Wynne Jones
re-read all your childhood favourites-Abbey Girls,chalet School,Pullein Thompson pony books
The Hobbit
Malcolm Saville's Witchend books
Pamela Brown's Blue Doors
most Noel Streatfield
anything by Antonia Forest [if you can find them now]
I could go on.....

BelligerentGhoul - the one about the boy* in a hut was 'What I Was' or something - that was annoying and predictable; Just in Case's main character was full of himself, and the latest, The Bride's Farewell is Hardy-'Tess' lite-lite with an extra dose of 'lite' and another annoying main character. I found How I Live Now was a real stand-out, not perfect but pretty extraordinary.

DD and I fought each other for the Percy Jacksons, there was one volume which she had from 7am-8:30am, and 3:30pm-8pm whilst I had it from 830am-3:30pm, and 8pm-7am. Two bookmarks obviously.

And I love the Captain Underpants books, which I'm now re-reading all over again to DS.

I would like to claim that the Artemis Fowls are DD's fault, but unfortunately I just picked them up on my own behalf in the children's section while waiting for her to choose, and I'm now racing through them without her getting anywhere near them .

Horrible Histories - just really enjoyed reading the Blitz one with ds.

From my own childhood that I'm sharing with ds (or have on my reading list for him): E Nesbit especially The Railway Children, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, The Family at One End Street, the complete works of Roald Dahl. Am hoping I can smuggle Ballet Shoes past him but given he's a 7yo boy, I might lose that one!

hattyyellow. yes i've reread The Dark is Rising - i remembered loving them as a child but couldn't remember them. and they are great. v atmospheric.

just read His Dark Materials, brilliant.

and another vote for Holes - Louis Sachar. it is v diffrent kidn of magic realism for kids. funny.

And her one called something about Justin iirc - just stupid.

Sorry I didn't read the whole thread and see some of these have been mentioned.

Meg Rosoff's books are getting sillier and sillier imho. Her one about the strange child in a hut was ludicrous.

I don't steal them from the dds; I just go to the library and get loads of teen books and pretend it's work (English teacher!).

Agree that the Philip reeves 'Mortal Engines' series is excellent. Ditto The Wind Singer series.

A series beginning with one called 'Acros The Nightingale Floor' is superb. This is the Tales of the Otori series that someone mentioned below. I frequently rec it on here - trust me!

I enjoyed the first Georgia Nicholson diary hugely but got fed up with later ones.

Patrick Ness' Chaos Walkin series, which begins with 'The Knife Of Never Letting Go' is vastly superior to most of the 'adult' books I've read in the past five years.

If you fancy some school stories - as a child I loved the Jennings books by Anthony Buckeridge, and they still make me hoot with laughter as an adult.

The Book Thief is absolutely brilliant - everyone should read it.

DS loved it too when he was in year 7 and lent it to his German/form teacher. A huge queue built up behind me at parents evening as the two of us discussed its brilliance. It is stunningly good and unbearably moving - I really recommend it.

Tom's Midnight Garden. I howl at the end every time I read it.

Little White Horse. Great comfort blanket of a book.

Asterix to make me laugh.

I'd forgotten Elidor. Must go and get some Alan Garner for me dd1 to read.

DH and I adore Terry pretchett, but in terms of his children's books, the wee 3 men series have much to commend them.

realitychick - ds and i love all the potential catchphrases in Mr Gumm....''tis unwise!''

The truth is A lemon meringue''

it's funty!

These are brilliant - "The Dark is Rising" by Susan Cooper. Combines fantasy/Arthurian legend/mythology/children battling good and evil forces/high magic.

I first read them aged about 8 or 9 and still happily read them now. Would highly recommend.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Is_Rising_Sequence