Rosemary sutcliffe

[notanidea]

DD9 is a voracious reader. What age would you recommend her books. She has read roman mysteries and time travelling cat. Do you think it is better if she is a bit older.

[mimsum]

both my boys read The Eagle of the Ninth when they were 7 or so - didn't have any problems with it either language or content-wise

The Eagle of the Ninth is one of my favourite books of all time, there are others in the series but they're not a patch on the first.

Geoffrey Trease wrote a fantastic book about the Children's Crusade (quite brutal in places I recall) but I can't remember what it's called - any ideas? But he also wrote a few set in Athens which I loved

Not quite the same time period, but I loved The Dancing Bear by Peter Dickinson when I was your dd's age - set in Byzantium at the beginning of the Dark Ages

[weegiemum]

My (in 3 weeks) 10 yo is doing the Romans at schools so we started reading Eagle of the Ninth last week. I am reading t to her, and she (and ds, 8) is loving it.

[weegiemum]

My (in 3 weeks) 10 yo is doing the Romans at schools so we started reading Eagle of the Ninth last week. I am reading t to her, and she (and ds, 8) is loving it.

[LadyGlencoraPalliser]

I think children's crusade one you are thinking of is by Henry Treece, not Geoffrey Trease. At least he wrote one, called The Children's Crusade, about a brother and sister who run away from home to follow the children's crusade. It is a fantastic book, I don't know if it is the same one.

[mimsum]

that's the one LGP I was getting my Treece/Treases mixed up again (I always assumed they were brothers as a child )

this thread has had me happily pottering through the nether reaches of Amazon's sales ranks ...

[LadyGlencoraPalliser]

Mimsum - I have acres of Sutcliff/Treece/Trease on my bookshelves. I go on an Amazon/Abebooks binge every now and again and pretend I am doing it for the children. Although to be fair, most of them can be picked up for pennies so it isn't TOO expensive as an addiction.

[MavisEnderby]

I am now noting down Treece to look up in library,thanks ladies.

Eagle of the Ninth is a CLASSIC.

[mimsum]

a 1p copy of The Children's Crusade is winging its way to me right now

I too buy my favourites as a child with the pretence of getting them for the dc ....

[notanidea]

I thoought it was just me with than weakness but have restricted myself just now.She is currently reading the adventures of huckleberry finn (to my disbelief does not want to read treasure island) and have journey to the centre of the earth. Once she is done- we will borrow or buy RS. We I cant wait

[elkiedee]

I just hope my sons will like reading when they get a bit older - I'm so envious of those of you with a hungry bookworm already to justify your own habits!

My favourite RS books included The Armourer's House and The Shield Ring (Saxon/Norman England setting). Another book I liked was Barbara Leonie Picard's Ransom for a Knight, about a young girl in the 13th century who sets off to rescue her dad who has been captured after a battle with the Scottish, travelling from southern England all the way to Scotland.

[RosieMBanks]

Barbara Leonie Picard's books are wonderful - I loved 'Ransom for a Knight' too, but my favourite was 'One is One'- about Stephen de Beauville and his journey to become a knight.
Fortunately these two books are back in print - but not some of her magical story collections. Love this thread...some great book suggestions.

[notanidea]

Do you know how to book mark this site for future reference

[Northernlurker]

Great thread! Knights fee is one of my favourites, also Cynthia Harnett's The Woolpack. I think I might have to go on a bit of a Sutcliffe amazon spree when I get paid

[Openbook]

I remember loving Merlin's Ring by Meriol(?) Trevor but can't remember what it was about. i plagiarised it for a story i wrote at school and when the teacher was flabbergasted I had to own up. He said - well all good writers borrow from each other - what a love!

[Jux]

Lady Grace Mysteries. They and The Roman Mysteries have been my dd's favourites for a couple of years now.

[LadyGlencoraPalliser]

Oh yes, DD2 loves the Lady Grace books. Patrica Finney is an excellent writer - sadly her two earliest books are out of print now, A Shadow of Gulls and The Crow Goddess, which she wrote while still at university.

[JeffVadar]

Another writer I used to love is Ronald Welch. He wrote a series of novels about different generations of the same family. the first (and my favorite) is Knight Crusader. Philip, the hero, was my first serious literary crush .

[mimsum]

oh, me too - in fact it was a toss up between Philip and Marcus

[LadyGlencoraPalliser]

Oh, I don't know Ronald Welch. A new historical children's writer for me! Off to Google him.

[seeker]

Geoffrey Trease wrote Cue for Treason - Elizabethan wandering players and Shakespeare.

And there's the Player's Boy, by Antonia Forest, for all of us Marlow fans!

[mimsum]

Sadly he's out of print LGP - apart from The Gauntlet which is a rather derivative time-slip story and not really representative of the rest of his work. You can order most of his books from the library, but they're usually brought out from some deep storage somewhere

Knight Crusader won the Carnegie Medal in the early '50s - it's a very 'boyish' book - no romance, not that many domestic details, no tenderness - but it's so exciting. It was the book that got ds1 into fiction at the age of 7 - up until then he'd only read what he called 'information books' - once he read Knight Crusader there was no stopping him - he's re-read it about 5 or 6 times over the last 5 years - and it's one I re-read every few years as well

There isn't anything like as much historical fiction around for children now - it's very disappointing - and a lot of what there is is very girly

[notanidea]

My resistance to buy a new book lasted one day - another visit to amazon - spent 20 pounds was meant to be only one RS book

[Takver]

This is such an interesting thread - I've been bookmarking all your links

Its funny, I'd always thought of Rosemary Sutcliff as being for older children (thinking of books like the Mark of the Horse Lord, which I loved as a teenager, but a bit hardcore for younger children IMO). I think now though that I need to get hold of copies of her Iliad/Oddysey retellings - they sound like perfect bedtime reading.

(Just found that- miraculously - not only are there loads of RS books in the county libraries BUT also they have Minna's Quest too. Sadly only the Odyssey and not the Iliad retelling, though.)

[RosieMBanks]

Notanidea...£20 well spent...and well done on starting such an absorbing thread! Browsing MN book threads so often leads to spending on Amazon....I should really give it up for the New Year, but as Lady Glencora rightly says, it isn't too expensive an addiction!

[comixminx]

What a great thread! I also like en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Willard's books - many of which form a linked series of short historical fiction novels.