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I believe she has read every book about fairies ever written. She has read Narnia more than once. She's also read the Fablehaven series, both Rick Riordan series and the Sisters Grimm series. She won't read Artemis Fowl for some reason. She has read pretty much everything off most children's lit lists. She has read Nancy Drew. She's read some Tolkien What she hasn't yet read is on my list of books for her to read this up coming school year. Or so it seems. That list can be seen on my blog. (I just posted it there since I seem to be referencing it a lot lately.)

 

Are there any other fairly decent fantasy books I can suggest to her? Anything on the fringes of the fantasy genre that she might like and will broaden her horizons? She has just picked up Harry Potter book 1 out of boredom. I imagine if she gets into those it will keep her busy until mid- to late-June. Then I have to fill in July and August.

 

Help.

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Here are some (admittedly younger) books that my 17yo dd loves:

 

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherine Valente

 

The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz

 

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (also, her Books of Bayern)

 

Fairest, Ella Enchanted, and The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine

 

The different fairy books of Andrew Lang (named by color, like The Pink Fairy Book)

 

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier (this one is more mature, don't think there's anything questionable, though) She has several other books, too.

 

In the Forests of Serre by Patricia A. McKillip (and many others, again slightly older audience)

 

Spindle's Rose, Beauty, The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (says 13 and up, my dd read them around age 14)

 

Not all of these have fairies, of course, but my dd liked fairies, dragons, princesses, etc. for many years and these were her favorites. :)

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the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage

 

the Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett (4 books: The Wee Free Men; A Hat Full of Sky; Wintersmith; I Shall Wear Midnight)

 

the Children of the Lamp series by P.B. Kerr

 

the Sherlock Files series by Tracy Barrett

 

the Erec Rex series by Kaza Kingsley

 

the Secret series by Pseudonymous Bosch

 

the A Whole Nother Story series by Dr. Cuthbert Soup

 

the Anybodies series by N.E. Bode

 

The Book of Fairies by Michael Hague

Edited by Stacia
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Here are some (admittedly younger) books that my 17yo dd loves:

 

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherine Valente

 

The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz

 

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (also, her Books of Bayern)

 

Fairest, Ella Enchanted, and The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine

 

The different fairy books of Andrew Lang (named by color, like The Pink Fairy Book)

 

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier (this one is more mature, don't think there's anything questionable, though) She has several other books, too.

 

In the Forests of Serre by Patricia A. McKillip (and many others, again slightly older audience)

 

Spindle's Rose, Beauty, The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (says 13 and up, my dd read them around age 14)

 

Not all of these have fairies, of course, but my dd liked fairies, dragons, princesses, etc. for many years and these were her favorites. :)

Thanks. She has box set of Gail Carson Levine books. I'll look at the rest.

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the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage

 

the Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett (4 books: The Wee Free Men; A Hat Full of Sky; Wintersmith; I Shall Wear Midnight)

 

the Children of the Lamp series by P.B. Kerr

 

the Sherlock Files series by Tracy Barrett

 

the Erec Rex series by Kaza Kingsley

 

the Secret series by Pseudonymous Bosch

 

the A Whole Nother Story series by Dr. Cuthbert Soup

 

the Anybodies series by N.E. Bode

 

The Book of Fairies by Michael Hague

Thank you. And thanks for taking the trouble to link them all. We might get through the summer

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Might be a bit too much into sci fi but I'm reading and loving The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy. I'm laughing out loud as I read.

 

Does she enjoy mysteries at all? If she does then she could probably start with some Agatha Christie or The Westing Game.

 

Has the Dealing with Dragons series already been suggested? DD and I did that as a read aloud earlier this year and thought it was awesome. Quite a bit of humor in it also.

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Has she read The Dark Is Rising series? It's wonderfully written. Pretty much about the Arthurian legends, but you don't know that until later...Some of the best language/descriptions around. :001_smile:

 

Oh--dd says how can I forget--has she read any Cornelia Funke? Inkheart is one of a 3-book series. Wonderful. The Thief Lord is not about fairies, but it's got a magical element. It doesn't seem to have one for the first, maybe, 2/3 of the book, then it totally jumps the shark in a very cool way!

 

The early Pern series, esp about Menolly, are good. The 3rd Menolly one has a bit of a racy scene when the dragons mate (and their owners can't help themselves, because they are linked on many levels). I think it's the Dragonsinger part of the Pern series.

 

Has she read the Mysterious Benedict Society series? (Seems a lot of kids have.)

 

There's a movie called The Secret of Moonacre that is based on a fantasy book, but I can't think of it--it's JK Rowling's favorite book from childhood.

 

There's The Wolves of Willouby Chase and The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place that are good reads, too. They are on the easier side but have a nice tone to them--

 

Oh--has she read Coraline? It's easy, but creeeeepy.

 

ETA--Dd says Peter and The Starcatcher series is great!

Edited by Chris in VA
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My dd devoured the Nicholas Flamel series. She loves the same books your dd does, so maybe she'd like them too. Doesn't like Artemis Fowl for some reason.

 

Some others I have on my list for her to read:

The Book of Elsewhere - West

The Book of Umber - Catanese

Tuesdays at the Castle - Day George

The Apothecary - Meloy

True - Hannigan

The Friendship Doll - Larson

Wonderstruck - Selznick

 

If you go to Amazon you can search by age and genre and I get lots of ideas that way. Maybe try this link. It's for 9-12 but the next age bracket is young adult. So I look on both lists but I am not ready for my dd (12 next month) to read a lot of what constitutes young adult. YMMV. :D

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Patricia Wrede, Enchanted Forest series, Dealing with Dragons is the 1st of 4.

 

Definitely this series! The OPs list of books are all favorites of my daughter's, but she loved these books so much, she cried when she was done with them.

 

Lisa

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Has your daughter ever read the Book House Books series? They are an "old fashioned" series of children's stories and poems. At one time, probably many households in the U.S. had this series on their shelves. I often see them at antique stores.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MY-BOOK-HOUSE-COMPLETE-1951-SET-OF-12-WITH-PARENTS-GUIDE-SUPERB-CONDITION-/400300142666?pt=Antiquarian_Collectible&hash=item5d33bf704a

 

They are an absolutely wonderful and sweet collection of children's stories for all ages. Many of their short stories and poetry are about fairies.

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Orson Scott Card is one of my favorites. Some of his fantasy stuff:

 

The Lost Gate (first in a new series)

 

 

We read The Lost Gate for bookclub and it was an interesting book but some of the topics were pretty adult. I'm normally not too sensitive about things like that but there were a few scenes that parents might be concerned with. YMMV though.

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The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (also, her Books of Bayern)

 

Fairest, Ella Enchanted, and The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine

 

 

:iagree: My dd17 (and all her friends) have loved these books, especially The Goose Girl series: The Goose Girl, Enna Burning, River Secrets, and Forest Born. She also loved Princess Academy.

 

Patricia Wrede, Enchanted Forest series, Dealing with Dragons is the 1st of 4.

 

another :iagree: Again, favorite of my dd and her friends and a favorite of mine!

 

Orson Scott Card is one of my favorites. Some of his fantasy stuff:

 

Enchantment (stand-alone)

]

 

I don't remember the age of your dd but I wouldn't recommend this for anyone younger than 17 myself. Great story but inappropriate IMHO due to language and some s*xual situations. But then I'm on the conservative side ;)

 

My older dd and friends also love the Dragons in Our Midst series beginning with Raising Dragons. There are Christian tones to these books, however, just FYI.

 

If this is her first time reading Harry Potter, then that should keep her busy for a while :D Also, I agree with your dd, I didn't care for Artemis Fowl at all.

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I don't remember the age of your dd but I wouldn't recommend this for anyone younger than 17 myself. Great story but inappropriate IMHO due to language and some s*xual situations. But then I'm on the conservative side ;)

 

I didn't think about that one scene, but you're probably right about saving it for a few summers down the road.

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Westmark trilogy - Lloyd Alexander's exploration of heroism, of war, and of honor is grimmer than the Prydain Chronicles and feels less mythology based. They ask some hard questions in an accessible way. Only for a mature kid, ready to tackle these issues, otherwise stick w/ Prydain Chronicles.

 

 

I'm not the OP, but thanks for all of the suggestions. I am hoping you can elaborate a little on the Westmark Trilogy concerns. DD has read the Prydain Chronicles and many of the others in this thread and I am curious. I actually bought the 1st in the trilogy for her, but maybe I should put it away for awhile?

 

TIA!

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I forgot a series! The Frog Princess series by E.D. Baker: http://www.edbakerbooks.com/ Very cute and funny.

 

Also, even though this is a mystery series and not fantasy, The Secret series, starting with The Name of This Book Is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch was well-loved here: http://www.amazon.com/Name-this-Book-Secret-Series/dp/0316113662/ref=pd_sim_b_26

Edited by 6packofun
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The Prydain chronicles, and most of Alexander's other work tend to be morally unambiguous and to deal with violence at a remove - there is death... and grief and hard choices, but none of the real ugliness of war and violence... and power.

 

The Westmark books, especially Kestrel the middle one, deal head on with some of the ugliness of war, with the horrible things a good person can choose to do for his/her cause... they are Alexander's grittiest books, and, in some ways, his finest, but I, personally, would only give them to a child I deemed ready for Red Badge of Courage, for example.

 

A significant character becomes, for a time, a cold blooded killer in the course of a violent uprising, morally ambiguous choices, compromises, and violence not cushioned or veiled the way Alexander usually does.. and it is much more disturbing than the, often gorier and more prolific, violence in many current YA fantasy books.

 

 

You might try the Vesper Holly series instead - much slighter than either the Prydain or Westmark series, but entertaining and good-hearted.

 

Thanks Eliana. That is very helpful! I think I will postpone Westmark for a while and see if the library has Vesper Holly instead. :)

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