Terry Pratchett - what's a good one to start on?

[gramercy]

I thought ds - age 12 - might like one of these for Christmas. Not being a fantasy sort of girl (!) I have never touched a Terry Pratchett, so would appreciate advice.

Are the Discworld ones the best start? Or others?

The Wee Free Men would be a good start

Discworld ones are a bit old for 12 year olds (more aimed at adults I think).

this might help.

I think the Truckers, Diggers and Wings ones are aimed at the younger kids.

I liked Nation, personally, though it's not a Discworld book. I found it poignant and thought provoking. Probably has something to do with Terry's current experiences/alzheimers..

Nation is the best. Both boys and girls like it IME(and men and women).

Wee Free Men, a Hatful of Sky and Wintersmith are all part of the same series, and are also good.

Guards! Guards! is my first reaction to the question, I love this one and is the first of the Sam Vimes discworld stories which I think are the best ones.

Eric is aimed at children I think and that is good

Nation also very very good

Nation is very good but I prefer the Discworld ones. All the Tiffany Aching stories are good.

FWIW DS1 is 13 and has been reading some of the adults Discworld books since he was about 11. Mort is his favourite.

If you do start on the Tiffany aching series (Wee Free Men etc) be aware that his latest one, I Shall Wear Midnight is in the Tiffany Aching series, but it does have some adult themes

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (Pratchett's take on the Pied Piper story) is a good one for younger readers too.

Yes, I was going to suggest the Amazing Maurice as well.

Failing that, the Johnny series is good for children of your DS's age:
Only You Can save Mankind
Johnny and the Bomb
Johnny and the Dead

And a bit later on, Good Omens.

Second Maurice and his Educated Rodents (the names of the rats are enough to make me want to read it again)

If interested in Discworld, I'd start on Light Fantastic. It's the second one, but I never liked The Colour of Magic.

If he really gets into Discworld, then it helps to read them in some kind of order (here'e a list )

Actually - if he's 12 - Good OMens should be ok for him now as well. It's a pisstake of The Omen but involves a group of small children, very Just Williamesque.

Thanks v much for all those suggestions - much appreciated.

Regarding Wee Free Men - is it from a girly point of view? It's just that ds has an aversion to heroines - prefers to stick with boys. He is a good reader but a young 12 in terms of maturity.

All the Tiffany Aching books have Tiffany as the heroine - she;'s not particularly girly but she is a girl.

Try the Johnny books and Good Omens for boy heroes.

Sorry, was in a rush - Wee Free Men is about both Tiffany Aching and a group of little blue men called the Nac Mac Feegles. They are both very important in the story but I would still say that Tiffany was the main character and therefore = girl = less appropriate for a boy who doesn't like heroines.

The Amazing Maurice is a cat - is he ok with cats?

Would definitely say that truckers Diggers and Wings would be acceptable and enjoyable to a 12yr old boy.

Agree with ICouldHaveWrittenThis The Discworld books are very good but personally I found Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic quite hard going but on the other hand it is good to try and read them in some semblance of order although I personally really enjoyed the Death ones and The Witches ones, probably more so the Death for a 12yr boy so that would be Mort, Reaper Man and Hogfather.

I would have thought Discworld about right for a 12yo.
Diggers and Truckers OK too, though they are less interesting I'd say.

My dp is a TP fan so I know far more than I would otherwise about the whole TP world, and the dds have been introduced to it by DP too. But the only ones I like are some of the early Discworld ones.

My children enjoyed Johnny and the Dead

ds1 (13) just zipped through the Going Postal Discworld books - Going Postal, Making Money and Thud

At 12 he should be ok for working he's way through the Discworld series, but any of the 'child' ones may be a good start.

I think I started reading him when I was 14, but I was lucky our local library stocked his books from the start! (yes I am that old)

Just thought - The Unadulterated Cat would be a very easy start into his writing - and is VERY funny, especially if you have cats.