Children's fantasy classics - Susan Cooper, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, Robert Westall, Ursula le Guin, and more...

[astronewt]

Inspired by the "Dark is Rising" thread.

I adored all these books as a child. My favourite book was Alan Garner's The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and I read it over and over. I still reread The Dark is Rising every midwinter.

Fyi for those who may not know; Alan Garner wrote an additional novel in the Alderley Edge sequence about an adult Colin called Boneland in 2012 and Ursula le Guin has added another two novels to the Earthsea series; there are now six.

I can't wait to start getting my 8yo DS into some of these.

I know about (and love) Tehanu - is there another @astronewt ??

So pleased you've started this thread and looking forward to other suggestions / authors.
Can I add in - Tom's Midnight Garden (Philippa Pearce)
and
Charlotte Sometimes (Penelope Farmer)
and
Ghost of Thomas Kempe (Penelope Lively)

All the above have some fantasy but also a lot of "real world" stuff too.

There are two!

"Tales from Earthsea" - which is a collection of short stories running from the deep past of Earthsea right up to the "present day" of Tehanu - and "The Other Wind" - which concludes the stories of Ged, Tenar and Tehanu.

I'm ashamed to admit I didn't really "get" Tehanu when I first read it because it was so different from the first three Ged-centric books, but then I came to love that ULG had shifted perspective to an "ordinary" middle aged woman and taken the time to write from a more feminist perspective.

Ohhh. Yes I read the Weirdstone so many times that scenes and phrases from it still drift into my mind at random times - and I'm almost 40 now. I loved the Dark is Rising sequence too.

Anyone remember a book about a young Welsh boy who discovers he's a wizard? His sister was missing, parents grieving - he had magical items that were a chess piece, a piece of seaweed, a magical spider. I think a lot of the book was based on Welsh legends? I'd love to know the title.

@BookWorm45 Thomas Kempe is another I'd like to re-read. It was pretty funny? I thought Catweasle was hilarious.

I love The Dark is Rising too, @astronewt - I might well read it again before Christmas.

I do think that the Tiffany Aching books by Terry Pratchett are good - not classics yet, but hopefully they will be, in time.

@Lanty is it the Snow Spider trilogy - Jenny Nimmo ?

Joan Aiken. Dido Twite is a hero.

Dianna Wynn Jones too.

do you remember William Mayne? Unsettling, as I remember.

It sounds like Jenny Nimmo's The Snow Spider. There's a whole series. I absolutely loved them. There's a lot of real word emotional issues for kids to learn from, too.

I'm rereading all the Tamora Pierce books with my daughter. Love them.

Three great books! The dates when Charlotte Sometimes and Tom’s Midnight Garden were written allowed Charlotte and Tom to meet people they knew from WW1 and Edwardian (Victorian?) times in their own era and I liked how the way of life felt so separate but could still link in that way. There was a level of darkness in each book which makes them so readable.

I would also recommend The Driftway by Penelope Lively and an American/Canadian time slip story called The Root Cellar by Janet Lunn. Another good one was Jessamy. I think it was written by Barbara Sleigh. I might also dig out The Once and Future King for a reread!

Can anyone recommend similar fantasy books which have been written recently?

Oh I’ve found my people!

Successfully got DD into The Children of Green Knowe this week, and I’m debating about whether to start her on my much loved DVD of the BBC adaptation of The Box of Delights this evening…. She’s getting The Wolves of Willoughby Chase in her stocking this year; and Charlotte Sometimes and the new reprint of Rosemary Sutcliffe’s The Armourer’s House under the tree.

So pleased that she’s at the right age now for all of these! 🥰

Did anyone else love Garner's The Owl Service? So beautifully haunting, and drawing on such a strong vein of Welsh mythology. And the class issues - wealthy Alison and Roger, and whipsmart, chippy working-class Gwyn and his resentment.

I don't remember reading any Joan Aiken. How could I not have read any Joan Aiken? I'm sure my school library was full of it.

I think it’s the Snow Spider too. William Mayne wrote the book about the drummer boy, didn’t he? Was it called Earthfast? The drummer boy comes out of the hill 200 years later. I don’t remember much more than that.

If I had to pick, Diana Wynne Jones is my absolute favourite. Fire and Hemlock, Howl’s Moving Castle and The Lives of Christopher Chant would be my top three. Time of the Ghost was terrifying.

I would add John Masefield, The Midnight Folk and The Box of Delights and The Green Knowe books by Lucy M Boston

Ah yes, am aware of Tales from Earthsea.
yodaforpresident agree in spades! For all fans, you can visit the house that Green Knowe was based on www.greenknowe.co.uk/

playing Beattie Bow by Ruth Park and The Scarecrows by Robert Westall too

Dido Twite is a hero.
Any fans of Elizabeth Goudge's A Little White Horse?

I have found my tribe 😎

Aah all my favourites! And yes to the Little White Horse @BlueChampagne

Prince on a White Horse by Tanith Lee was another good one, and Penelope Lively's The Whispering Knights and the Hunt of Hagworthy

Diana wynne jones Chrestomanci series is excellent. Eva ibbotson also has some fantastic stories for preteens.

for those people rereading their favourites, Frances hardinge is also a brilliant writer, very inventive. A face like glass is my fave - not sure that they’re very suitable for younger children though

@yodaforpresident Which Green Knowe book is your favourite? The Children of Green Knowe has a very similar feel to The Dark is Rising, except the feeling of being trapped is caused by the flood water and not the snow. The Box of Delights is another Christmas read. I thought the TV series was amazing back in the day although it won’t have aged well.

Also there's a new radio dramatisation of the Dark is Rising on this Christmas, in case anyone didn't know! Starting today!

Link here

You are my crowd! I love DWJ - Howl's Moving Castle, Fire and Hemlock and Enchanted Glass are probably my favourites. I'm currently (as I do every year at this time) re-reading The Dark is Rising and The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge may well be my favourite book of all time. I read an interview with JK Rowling where she named it as hers and I was so excited!

I am massively claustrophobic - and remained convinced that Alan Garner gave it to me, after reading Weirdstone as a child. It's a book I love and have read many times, but the part where Colin, Susan and the dwarves have to escape through that narrow tunnel still makes me feel ill to read it...

Yes, also to Joan Aiken and Dido. Can I give a shout out to Robert Westall and particularly The Wind Eye? He wrote some great stuff.

@BustopherPonsonbyJones my favourite has got to be the children of green knowe closely followed by the chimneys of green knowe. I do actually have the box of delights on dvd and it is still lovely to watch but very grainy.

@astronewt I liked The Owl Service a lot, but preferred Weirdstone. I did not get on with Red Shift at all. I was thoroughly bewildered and gave up. I should probably give it another go.

I reread Playing Beattie Bow a few years ago. I hadn’t realised how sad it was when I read it as a child.