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Children's books

Join in for children's book recommendations.

Dd1 loved Lord of the Rings and three Musketeers what else might she enjoy?

22 replies

NotMostPeople · 06/12/2011 12:07

She's had the Twilight phase and when younger loved Harry Potter, Roman mysteries, Lady Grace. She's 12.

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ImpYCelynAndTheIvy · 06/12/2011 12:23

Susan Cooper - The Dark is Rising series here

Lloyd Alexander - Chronicles of Prydain series here

Garth Nix - Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen books - he also does a couple of other series Keys to the Kingdom and The Seventh Tower, which are a bit younger.

A bit pulpy but the Vampirates are actually quite fun.

Wizard of Earthsea might be good too.

BelfastRingingOutForXmasBloke · 06/12/2011 12:26

Well, Man in the Iron Mask is the sequel to the Three Musketeers. I think there's also another one ...

OneHandFlapping · 06/12/2011 13:44

Lian Hearn - a trilogy set in a fantasy version of feudal Japan, plus a prequel and a sequel. The first one is called Across the Nightingale Floor. DS read tham at 12, and I loved them too.

DeWe · 06/12/2011 14:07

39 steps. I loved that at her age.
Chilren of the New forest: The original language is lovely, but you can get updated with all the thee and thou taken out.

Snorbs · 06/12/2011 14:41

As she seems to have a taste for the classics how about a bit of Jules Verne, such as 40,000 Leagues Under the Sea or Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

BelfastRingingOutForXmasBloke · 06/12/2011 15:56

I knew there was more than one sequel to The Three Musketeers!

The D'Artagnan Romances are:

  1. The Three Musketeers (Les Trois Mousquetaires, 1844)
  2. Twenty Years After (Vingt ans après, 1845)
  3. The Vicomte de Bragelonne, sometimes called "Ten Years Later" (1847): When published in English, it was usually split into three parts: The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Valliere, and The Man in the Iron Mask, of which the last part is the best known.
  1. (A third sequel, The Son of Porthos, 1883 (a.k.a. The Death of Aramis) was published under the name of Alexandre Dumas; however, the real author was Paul Mahalin.)

There is also The Count of Monte Cristo, by the same author Dumas.

ImpYCelynAndTheIvy · 06/12/2011 16:18

Oh yes - The Count of Monte Cristo is fabulous!

NotMostPeople · 06/12/2011 16:23

Why didn't I know there was a sequel to The Three Musketeers? I'm sure I've read The Man in the Iron Mask.

Some great suggestions here, so thank you all very much. Yes, she does like classics when she was younger she loved Heidi/Milly Molly Mandy/Mrs Pepperpot and my favourite as a girl The Secret Garden. I've given up on dd2 who is more into Jacqueline Wilson etc.

Dd1 has given some Jane Austin a go, but wasn't too keen. I think she likes history/adventures etc.

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MMMarmite · 06/12/2011 16:38

His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman? I absolutely love those books. Beautifully crafted adventure stories :) The second and third books have fairly mature themes behind them, religion and the fall and sexuality and atheism, (but no explicit scenes) so they may be better for a slightly older teenager, it depends on your DD.

Takver · 06/12/2011 17:57

Definitely track down the sequels to the Three Musketeers, if she liked the first one I'm sure she'll enjoy the others.

Very dated of course - but suggesting as they can't be more dated than Dumas Grin - might she like Daphne du Maurier? (maybe Jamaica Inn?)

Northernlurker · 06/12/2011 18:01

A Traveller in Time - Alison Uttley

Children of the New Forest

The Weirdstome of Brisingamen

Takver · 06/12/2011 18:05

More on the classics front - has she tried Jane Eyre, and maybe Shirley?

danceswithyarn · 06/12/2011 18:06

Pratchett - the younger ones or the early Witches ones good for a start (nothing with too much Nanny Ogg)

Jasper Fforde has some fun younger books as well as Thursday series once she's hit a few more classics to get the references.

Moondial, Secret Garden, Tom's Midnight Garden, Frog Castle/The Christmas Mystery (by the guy who wrote Sophie's world but for younger readers) Jeeves & Wooster, No 1 Ladies' detective agency?

Other classics?

valbona · 07/12/2011 11:29

Your DD has excellent taste! I vote for David Eddings - the Belgariad books - starts with Pawn of Prophecy. Great fantasy. Better female characters than you find in Tolkien (much as I love Tolkien..). I devoured them at exactly her age.

Rosemary Sutcliff, Mary Renault or Robert Graves for some rip-roaring historical stuff?

Wish I was getting to read all this stuff for the first time!

BelfastRingingOutForXmasBloke · 07/12/2011 11:51

Yeah, David Eddings is good for about the first series. Well worth a read. Persist further than that and everything gets very same-y. Everyone has the same, dry, ironic sense of humour.

BlueChampagne · 07/12/2011 14:07

Second Susan Cooper, Mary Renault, Robert Graves, Ursula Le Guin, Jules Verne and Jasper Fforde. Agree she has excellent taste.

Lucy Boston "The Children of Green Knowe"?
Kevin Crossley-Holland's Arthur trilogy?
Joan Aiken

Northernlurker · 07/12/2011 18:26

I think a lot of Mary Renault is maybe a mite adult for a 12 year old? I read The King Must Die at that age - but there is quite a bit of sex in it, brilliant though it is. I read the Alexander books at around the same age and really enjoyed them too but there is tons of sex and violence in those! Mind you never did me any harm..............

DownbytheRiverside · 07/12/2011 18:33

The Scarlet Pimpernel is what I moved on to after the musketeers.

juuule · 07/12/2011 18:37

Eragon bk 1 (Inheritance Cycle) by Christopher Paolini.

SecretSpi · 07/12/2011 20:40

The Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake?

And if she likes her swashbuckling, then The Prisoner of Zenda (Anthony Hope) might be a good one.

cairnterrier · 10/12/2011 08:07

The Hounds of the Morrigan

or the Duncton trilogy by William Horwood.

NotMostPeople · 10/12/2011 08:12

Brilliant. Not sure how to progress, she has a kindle now so it would be better to buy from Amazon except she love the three musketeers so much shes asked for a printed copy.

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