I'm looking for book suggestions for my son, aged 11.
At the moment his favourite books are the Artemis Fowl, Percy Jackson and Horrible Histories series.
I've got Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology book lined up for him next, but he's a serious bookworm so it won't take him long to devour it and I'm not sure what to try with him next. He's a little too young for my old Discworld novels as I reckon quite a bit of it would go over his head at that age.
What were your favourite books from childhood?
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animal farm
Robinson Crusoe
>Artemis Fowl
I loved that shit too.
Maybe he would like Darren Shan like I did. Also the Golden Compass series was really great IMO.
Boris the Tomato delivers a similar satirical message but with a lot more humour so is probably more accessible for kids.
Redwall series
Hatchet
Great Illustrated Classics
D'Auliares myths
Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
Dune
Island of the Blue Dolphins
The Cay
Captain Blood or Scaramouche
>What's happening is part of a phenomenon I wrote about a couple of years ago when I was asked to comment on Rowling. I went to the Yale University bookstore and bought and read a copy of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." I suffered a great deal in the process. The writing was dreadful; the book was terrible. As I read, I noticed that every time a character went for a walk, the author wrote instead that the character "stretched his legs." I began marking on the back of an envelope every time that phrase was repeated. I stopped only after I had marked the envelope several dozen times. I was incredulous. Rowling's mind is so governed by cliches and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing.
>But when I wrote that in a newspaper, I was denounced. I was told that children would now read only J.K. Rowling, and I was asked whether that wasn't, after all, better than reading nothing at all? If Rowling was what it took to make them pick up a book, wasn't that a good thing?
>It is not. "Harry Potter" will not lead our children on to Kipling's "Just So Stories" or his "Jungle Book." It will not lead them to Thurber's "Thirteen Clocks" or Kenneth Grahame's "Wind in the Willows" or Lewis Carroll's "Alice."
>Later I read a lavish, loving review of Harry Potter by the same Stephen King. He wrote something to the effect of, "If these kids are reading Harry Potter at 11 or 12, then when they get older they will go on to read Stephen King." And he was quite right. He was not being ironic. When you read "Harry Potter" you are, in fact, trained to read Stephen King.
This
Ignore this
sage, you absolute retard
this
lawrence of arabia
swiss family robinson
the cay
the ramage series
jaque coustous writings about the Calypso
maybe a compendium of oldschool s&w and colts to show mechangics and begin to instill principles of responsible firearm ownership
lord of the rings series. it may be to hard but it will sit on his shelf and entertain for years
a copy of the septaguint.
quality post. please go back to extolling the virtues of captain underpants, neil gaiman, and artemis fowl, you rancid stain
>swiss family robinson
amazon.com
Probably the best Children's bible. It doesnt treat your child as if they were stupid. Biggest problem is no Job, but it doesnt cut corners and is truly exciting.
litteral retards in here boys
>Neil Gaiman
Enjoy your transdaughter, sugar puff.
I loved the easier steinbeck novels at that age like of mice and men and the red pony.
I also loved Whitman's leaves of grass.
As far as YA fiction I loved Bloody Jack by LA Meyer
I read 'The Westing Game' in grade 5 (~10yo) and it was one of my favorite books growing up
also this
Half Magic
The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer is a great kid-lit intro to cyberpunk.
Oh and he'd probably really like Things Unseen by Andrew Clements. Kid wakes up one day to discover he's completely invisible, and becomes best friends with a blind girl who helps him solve the mystery of why he's invisible.
>percy jackson instead of homer
People have been suggesting more classical stuff and I wholly support that sentiment, but when I was his age I really loved the Edge Chronicles
To make it short it's strengths are that it's fantasy, but not a Tolkien clone and how the world changes and evolves over the course of the series. It has sky pirates and wizards that live on a floating rock
The illustrations are very nice and made me draw a lot
The first book, which I read when I was a bit younger than him, is more of a collection of scenarios or short stories maybe, as the main character stumbles through the woods and encounters dangerous things, most of the plot is concentrated on the early and final chapters. That changes with the sequels
If you do decide to look into this try to get the older editions, the more recent reprint has absolutely atrocious covers that don't do the books justice
The Giver by Lois Lowry
check your local library, they usually have established reading programs for various age groups along with suitable recommendations. I would trust that route, rather than a bunch of Veeky Forums perverts, reprobates, and trolls. Your son might even meet some new friends that way.
Thanks reddit I'll take my son the library right after the drag queen reading hour and the seminar on sexism in classics are over
You sound like someone who gets his worldview exclusively from Veeky Forums posts
Schopenhauer, Mainländer, Zapffe, Benatar, Cioran, Ligotti.
Robinson Crusoe, The Hobbit, Gulliver's travels
A series of Unfortunate Events.
War and Peace
The alchemist
The Once and Future King
this, ez pz. The early stuff was excellent, the later--while not bad--was more phoned in. I read those books around that age and they are what made me into an avid reader
Not him, but my library focuses lists on ethnicity of the month shit, and I am usually told by children's librarians that "little girls dont read that stuff" when I take out Jack London or The Song of Roland.
t. father of two
Please do not support the racist Brian Jacques
make sure he grows up to be a real patrician
*tips gnosis*
*unsheates the sublime*
Introduce him to Russian lit while he is young. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy and possibly some Gogol.
Also Kafka short stories like the Hunger Artist
Around the World in 80 Days, Gulliver's Travels, War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man,
Maybe for an older teen but not an 11 year old.
This is a good thread. This is a comfy thread.
Second
Is this real? Has liberalism come in a complete circle to the point that it is now again seen as odd and wrong for a girl to enjoy typically masculine things?
I'm seconding the D'Aulaires mentioned here. They also have a book of norse myths, and I loved them both as a child, and they gave me a surprisingly solid grounding in their subjects. I'd also recommend the Bartimaeus trilogy.
Give him children's books on ancient greek myth and history. Then let him read the great adventure novels like Robinson Crusoe.
Avoid modern fantasy and sci-fi if you can, those are enjoyable reads but will ultimately not serve your son well in his reading life.
Once he reaches his later teens (14-17) try to get him into reading Bildungsromane, Wilhelm Meister especially, maybe Demian, the Magic Mountain.
Absolutely disagree.
The Wind in the Willows is great
Jesus I had been trying to remember the name of this series for YEARS. Thanks user. Childhood memories saved
It’s a good test to see if he is retarded. If he can’t “get it” at 11 you don’t have to waste any more time with him and can put him up for adoption
cowboy story for middle school aged kids
11 is about the age i started reading discworld and i loved that shit
Giving this to a child is probably a neat way of fostering that "I'm super fucking smart because mom says so and I got an B+ in Math" attitude that will result in disappointment later in life
you're hard core
The idea itself isn't bad, but who thought it was wise to title it that?
it's only disappointment if the child isn't Extremely Inteliigent.
Take him to the library and let him pick out stuff on his own. If you insist on feeding him books, I'd recommend Wind in the Willows in addition to some other stuff mentioned ITT
Echoing some other anons, Redwall, The Wish List by Eoin Colfer, Bartimaeus and the Edge Chronicles.
Westing Game is fantastic
Kek
Lord of the flies.
Fuck no. Not that young.
Infinite Jest
This and get the one with Réné Descartes on the cover and when he asks who this man was you introduce him to the Cartesian coordinate system.
i read it to my 7 year old. aside from sexual metaphors anyone under 13 would miss in the pig slaying its perfectly fine
Seconding Discworld. Hand him Small Gods.
Yeah, kid's old enough. At 11 I was reading Discworld and it did go over my head, but it planted a seed that grew from there.
The Hitchikers Guide to The Galaxy books. I read them when I was that age and loved them, though the first two are by far the best and you needn't go any further than that. I didn't read the Earthsea books until I was a bit older but I think they're fabulous and would recommend the first three to anyone.
If he likes the Norse Myths he might like a crack at the Irish stuff and the Seamus Heaney Beowulf, some of it is a bit adult though and you might want to give it a spin yourself first.
You're a good dad
I like a lot of suggestions in here such as the slow exposure to some of the more simple "classics"
Very unsure about theis, but possibly to kill a mockingbird. But help him as an addition form of information and advice, and help on vocabulary. I don't think it's too difficult to read, but I know nothing about children and education, so maybe this idea is fucking awful.
Treasure Island and Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. If he's anything like I was when I was a kid, he'll love those.
its goes without saying if he hasnt read harry potter yet he should
also my faves growing up were a series of unfortunate events and the chronicles of narnia. he would also probably like eragon or the lord of the rings series
I think he'll be able to understand it, but won't fully appreciate it until he's older. (Not OP, just my experience with kids).
Give him all the Scarlet Pimpernel books, I thought they were bredy great when I was a kid
Also if your son isn't planning on becoming a faggot, don't give him anything like Harry Pottery, kids who read that in my school were bullied mercilessly and deserved it, since they had massively inflated egos. My theory on why that is is the obvious, that they have the idea even that early in life that reading is a gentry thing, and by comparing themselves with the other retard kids they really do think themselves superior for reading. This inflation of the ego they get from reading wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if, by reading shit like Harry Potter early on, they didn't set that as the final plateau for themselves from which they can look down on everyone else. From this point they'll probably never even read again but maintain their ballooned egos for the rest of their lives, becoming psuedo big brained queers and remaining so until they die, even though they read perhaps a slight bit more than the average person, that is to say maybe more than zero.
This is how you forge a forever standard-IQ bug boy OP.
Now if you want him to NOT become what I've detailed above, give him something relatively hard to read for his age, something definitely above his curve that'll force him to keep a dictionary nearby or use that touch dictionary shit the kindle has, whatever. If he complains that it's too hard make not too obvious condescensions, something like "I loved that book when I was your age" (if your son isn't already inherently deficient in smarts he'll glean from this that you're calling him a stupid idiot) which will force him to up the ante to try and impress you or to reach a point where he would be able to condescend to and patronize you. This is doubly invigorating for the young mind as it'll probably mark his character and make him more ambitious generally.
Congratulations OP your kid won't suck dick in the future, no need to thank me.
Moby-dick
We read it in 7th grade so I was 12
The Bartimeaus Trilogy is A-rank YA lit based on those books. Urban fantasy in an alternate earth London with magic and demons and shit.
If he's not reading Finneganns by age 12 you should really consider giving up hope.
the his dark elements triology,it's great for learning about the dangers of dogma at a young age,i would skip the first book though
The giver
Narnia
The never-ending story
Aesop's fables
Wayside school
This book is short, educational, and explains the JQ in simple terms even a child can understand it.
Get him some Bullfinch ASAP, also the Hobbit, and an accessible rendition of Beowulf
>these embarrassing recommendations
this board is 99% brainlets
>Pic related
and Calvin and Hobbes.
shoulda started learning the greeks years ago
Island of the Blue Dolphins and Where the Red Fern Grows
Maybe some simple history books
>getting recommendations for children's books on Veeky Forums
lol
harry potter not joking
rahl dahl has some good shit
I loved fantasy in that age. Lord of the Rings, Silmarillion, Hobbit, Harry Potter, David Eddings' Belgariad and Malloreon, Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising, His Dark Materials - all great for ages 9-15 imo.
Someone mentioned Fanged Noumena, Libidinal Economy and Anti Oedipus yet?
Btw. Look into Michael Ende.
I was going to recommend Discworld, but I agree with your post. The Amazing Maurice and his educated rodents is a good read perhaps, as well as the Johnny/Diggers series, if a bit dated.
My favourite fantasy series at that age was the Bartimeous trilogy. Interesting setting, funny writing, good character dynamics. Good shit.
Otherwise: Narnia, Roald Dahl, Redwall, Michael Ende (especially Momo), Lemony Snicket. General collections of greek mythology is usually a good bet. I would reckon some classics like Dickens, around the world, 20,000 leagues under the sea could be interesting as well. And this might get some flack from the rest of Veeky Forums, but I would also recommend quality comics like Calvin and Hobbes, Tintin, the Far Side, etc. I remember my dad sharing his franco-belgian comics (Asterix and Obelix, Lucky Luke, Gaston, etc) and I love them to this day. Things you have a shared experience in is very important for a kid.
It's weird to make a post declaring your intelligence in a thread about children's books, user.
If he's smart enough to appreciate LOTR give that to him if not the Wheel of Time series is good for a younger kid, I grew up on them myself and have always liked them. Narnia, Spiderwick Chronicles, Calvin and Hobbes, and Series of Unfortunate Events are all worthy substitutes
>Horrible Histories
He has already ascended.
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Hobbit, I loved it.
>have a son
>post here
jesus fuck, for your sons sake GTFO and try to be the kind of father figure who doesn't visit sites filled with pictures of feminine penis
Tamora Pierce's Tortall Series
Dragonriders of Pern
Howl's moving castle
Shogun
Witches by Dahl
Swiss Family Robinson
Xanth series
A bunch of random adventure books from the 40s
Gerald Williams A Squire's Tale
Two Princesses of Bamarre
Dinotopia books
RL Stein books
Black Beauty
The Secret Garden
Narnia books
American Psycho, it will teach him how to respect women.
Encyclopedia Brown, The Bartameus Trilogy, Sherlock Holmes, Dumas, Verne, Wells. Treasure Island. Give him these and other adventure books that are a little bit more challenging to read. Great segway to better writing in his teens
Also Inheritance Cycle and Narnia. The point being to get the fantasy and adventure out a little early
Moonfleet. The only book I read at about that age that was just as good when I re-read it as an adult.
gutenberg.org