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.

Tamora Pierce!

David Eddings’ Belgariad.

Terry Pratchett

Beverly Nicols / The Tree that sat down,

Amazing story of witches shape changing and spitting toads

I was obsessed with the Belgariad in my teens. Persevered with the Malloreon which had a lot of good bits, and then realised that David Eddings just kept writing the same characters over and over again really. The books in the original series are definitely still a comfort read though.

I've never read any Tamora Pierce so maybe will look at rectifying that.

This was my favourite

Ds1 really enjoyed the Belgariad in his late tweens/early teens which made me v happy. I tried to get him interested in Anne McCaffrey's dragons of Pern books, which was my other teen obsession series, but they weren't for him.

@ditalini I read two of the other novels in the Prydain series, didn’t enjoy them as much as The Book of Three but still liked them. Disappointed that the Disney version of it The Black Cauldron did it no justice as the basic plot is so good. I tried to get the children into the Prydain books but only one of them likes reading novels and she wasn’t particularly taken with it.
I also loved Joan Aitken particularly Wolves of Willoughby Chase and Nightbirds in Nantucket

Anyone remember Grinny? God, that scared me so much!

@AmadeustheAlpaca Yes, The Black Cauldron was an absolute travesty (Wasn't a fan of Howl's Moving Castle either tbh - another adaptation which takes the characters and basic premise then does something else, but obviously in a much more acomplished way than BC).

I remember Grinny! 😁Nicholas Fisk! I was always more about the Fantasy than Sci Fi though.

Some of Ruth Park's 'adult' novels have lots of magical realism - The Witches Thorn and Dear Hearts and Gentle People particularly. They might appeal to teenage girls.

One of Paul Gallico's short novels, 'The Love of Seven Dolls' is a proper fairy tale. He was an amazing writer.

More often than not a book I reread as an adult can be less than what it is in my head but Grinny is still a fabulously creepy read.

I can remember reading the belgariad at summer camp when I was a teenager and loving it. I think I still have my original books and will have to dig them out.

I think Frances Hardinge is as good as any of the classic fantasy writers. She has a brilliant imagination.

Yes, A Face Like Glass is absolutely brilliant. I loved the inventiveness of it and the writing was excellent.

I am enjoying this thread so much! I devoured so many of these novels but there are a few here I never came across so I might hunt them down for my dd.

On a slightly different tack, dd anyone else read Duncton Wood by William Horwood? A doorstop of a book about moles, I adored it. Started reading it to DD when she was 10 but she was terrified. I might get her to give it another go.

I thought Treacle Walker was pretty dreadful.

Oh yes, I love Frances Hardinge too - A Face like Glass & also Fly by Night. DD really enjoyed them around 10 or 11, perfect for that age when they're looking for something a bit more sophisticated than many children's books, but YA often has themes that don't appeal.

And the stream that stood still. Really hard to find as sadly out of print.

Loved Playing Beatie Bow.

I’ve never got on with DWJ. Always surprised at how popular she is on here.

Hello my people!

I still re-read many books on this thread regularly, especially Archer’s Goon, The Blue Sword, Anne McCaffrey Pern and all Susan Cooper. I’m very sad that my kids are not fantasy lovers - they quite enjoyed some of these but didn’t love any of them in the reading-under-the-bedclothes sort of way I remember so clearly. The 80s were such a great time to be a bookish kid - but I guess my two did get to have Potter.

I have to say to those who are planning a reread of the Belgariad - if you want to keep these memories precious don’t go down an internet rabbit hole with what Eddings was like in real life. I don’t want to ruin him the way I ruined Marion Zimmer Bradley for my friend who was obsessed with her novels when we were teenagers…

Does anyone remember a book called Emerald Magic. I think it was part of a series all called [colour] magic, but my memory is very hazy on this

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.

Absolutely, especially the Chageover.

I absolutely hated Grinny and refused to read any other Nicholas Fisk as a result.

The Witch’s Daughter by Nina Bawden was a lovely book. I was caught reading it by torchlight under the covers, got into trouble for that, especially as I was suffering headaches at the time (just needed glasses, it turned out).

@Hobbesmanc it's on Amazon

This is a fab thread. Some of the books mentioned I read as a child and still returned to, some I only discovered as an adult. I definitely think that there are writers for children/YA that outclass vast amounts of literature aimed at adults. I’m currently listening to A Face Like Glass on Audible, and concurrently reading Time of the Ghost on Kindle!

A book that I tried to get DS to read without success was The Haunting by Margaret Mahy - anyone remember that? Not fantasy, but involving magic and that spooky sense of ‘wrongness’ in normal life. And great descriptions of family relationships.

I vaguely remember The Haunting and have a copy somewhere. Was it about a boy called Barney or Barnaby and his uncle who was a magician? But somehow it is actually about his sister. I think I enjoyed it!