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.

Ah yes, I loved Carbonel!

Oh, me too. ‘ A kit among the stars shall sit/ Beyond the aid of feline wit’ .

Definitely found a tribe here !

I went to Green Knowe (the real house) last year and was very delighted to see the patchworks, the art, and the little items in the books such as the wooden carved mouse. Hugely recommend a visit if you can.

The Box of Delights is brilliant in many ways and you can see that it influenced TDIR, but I can never get over the massive disappointment of the ending. For that reason I always much preferred its prequel, The Midnight Folk. A great witchy book.

Hello Pollyhemlock - knew I’d find you here!

Diana Wynne Jones is my favourite and my best - I think I've read everything she ever wrote. Top three are probably: Fire and Hemlock; Witch Week; Power of Three, but I love all of them really - such clever storytelling. I recently re-read Archer's Goon which I rescued from my parents' bookshelf cull.

And talking of the cull, I also rescued the Changes Trilogy which I'm planning to re-read, and The Borribles (it had a horrifying version of the Wombles in it IIRC).

I read and loved most of the books on this thread, also Margaret Mahy who wrote for a wide age range, but I got hooked by two strange, supernatural young teen romances: The Changeover and The Tricksters.

I reread Witch Week recently which I think is one of her best - it manages to be both completely hilarious and genuinely chilling.

I recently read Carbonel to my 9 yr old and was quite surprised how dated it was in terms of setting but it's such cracking storytelling that it doesn't matter. We also read Gobbolino the Witch's Cat.

God yes, "It hurts to be burnt, it hurts to be burnt" stayed with me for a LONG time.

I liked the twist in perspective in The Power of Three. The Dalemark Quartet (The Spellcoats, particularly) is also good and very myth-like in style. I did enjoy the Carbonel series, @Sadik. Carbonel was very superior, wasn’t he? Very cat-like. Have you read Jennie by Paul Gallico? It’s about a boy who has an accident and wakes up as a white kitten. He is looked after by a stray cat called Jennie when he is thrown out on the streets.

Fingers crossed for fifty, @UnaOfStormhold

<shudder>

But then some bits are so funny - the bit where Charles expresses his rage in coded form in his diary! I got up, I got up, I GOT UP’. 😄

Yes! The description of the blister forming. Yuck. And the joy when Chrestomanci appears in his dressing gown. The only Diana Wynne Jones I didn’t really love was Hexwood, despite being dedicated to Neil Gaiman! Did any of you enjoy it?

Yes to Jennie Bustopher but my favourite Paul Gallico is definitely The Man Who Was Magic, such a lovely book.

Yes indeed. This is very much my kind of thread. As you know.

I am fond of Hexwood because it has some great bits in it though the plot is possibly a bit over complicated. I like the whole magic wood thing.

This was very much my genre as a child - The Snow Spider Trilogy was one of my absolute favourites. I enjoyed anything with myth, magic and spookiness.

I still do as an adult although there isn’t that much in the Adult fantasy genre which I’ve loved in the same way.

I didn't warm that much to it when I read it originally in the early 90s, but that was when I had discovered that lo! I had grown older but DWJ hadn't stopped writing (joy!) and I had catching up to do. I think because I was in my early 20s I was outside the age for just devouring it, but not old enough to feel the nostalgia I did for her earlier work.

I read it again last year and really liked it. Yes, it's very complex and some bits don't quite come off (cf Homeward Bounders for me - love it, but there are loose ends and fudges. DWJ does sometimes do a bit of elegant handwaving over explaining things towards the end of books), but it's another brilliant story.

So glad to be here! I just joined the alan garner Facebook page, it’s great ! I read his biography-ish book recently - it was fabulous !!!!

Although it was great to see Garner on the Booker list, for me Treacle Walker doesn’t work as a novel. There are some brilliant pieces of writing in it as you’d expect, but it’s essentially a series of puzzles liberally sprinkled with references to his other books. Characterisation is missing. This I think is Garner’s great weakness: he’s not that interested in people. In Weirdstone, for example, the use of landscape and myth is outstanding, but Colin and Susan are sadly one dimensional.

Great thread! I also loved A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'Engle). Has a really strong female protagonist.

I didn’t realise until recently that A Wrinkle in Time is the first of a five book series, @Reasonablereasonableness - I bought the set and read it, but didn’t enjoy the other books as much as the first.

I remember enjoying Grimbold’s Other World by Nicholas Stuart Gray about an orphan boy and a powerful magical cat. Can’t remember much about the plot but the title has stuck in my memory. Not sure how well it would have aged if I reread it now. Also loved The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander, one of my favourite books when I was 10, I got totally into British mythology as a result of reading this. Eilonwy (think that’s the correct spelling), one of the main characters, is an early version of Hermione. I’m pretty sure that JKR must have read this as there are some other parallels with The Book of Three and HP. Elidor was also a favourite. Reading this thread has brought back lots of happy childhood memories as I was a huge fantasy novel fan as a child.

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius I hadn't realised that either.

Same with the Chrestomanci books. Read and reread the first one as a child, till the book fell apart, but only found out recently that there are others!

Oh thanks for reminding me about The Book of Three! Yes, it took me ages to realise that Prydain was basically Wales so that was great to have that extra layer of finding out that some of the stories were based on myths or real people and places.

A friend of my mum's brought the whole set for me over from America back in the 80s - Arrgh! Hope they survived the cull so I can bring them home after Christmas! They would be a great series to read to DS2.

I’ve lots of reading to do: Hexwood, Treacle Walker and a new Paul Gallico.

@AmadeustheAlpaca Grimbold’s Other World is fantastic. I think Mainly in Moonlight has stories set in the same world. If you haven’t read it (and can get a copy for a reasonable price), The Stone Cage by Nicholas Stuart Gray retells the story of Rapunzel from the point of view of the witch’s cat. The Seventh Swan is also good. There are other stories by him which I want to read but I can’t afford £350 for a copy.