Great books for young people?

[SemperJase]

Looking at Dragongirl's post about getting into D&D reminded me about books I read when I was younger. For me, it was the stories I liked that got me excited about D&D moreso than the game rules. I could be the like the hero's I read about weilding swords and defeating the bad guys!

So what books did you read when you were younger (preteen) or would recommend to young readers? Here is my list:

1. Chronicles or Narnia - C. S. Lewis (First books I ever read for pleasure rather than as assigned reading for school. Thanks Mom!)
2. Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander
3. A Wrinkle in Time -- Madeleine L'Engle
4.The Dark Is Rising Sequence - Susan Cooper
5. Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling (didn't read it in my youth of course, but on my recommended list)

The first four are the ones the I really remember with fondness. Any others?

 

[Ulrick]

1. The Chronicles of Narnia (still like to read those on occasion)
2. Choose your own adventure books
3. Those "Endless Quest" books
4. A Wrinkle in Time
5. The Dragonlance Saga
6. The Hobbit
7. Jack Tales...I can't remember the author. But it had more tales about Jack from Jack in the Beanstalk.
8. Scary Stories to tell in the Dark. Can't remember the author's name.

Ulrick

 

[Mark]

Aside from most of those mentioned above, I thoroughly enjoyed Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Asimov's Sci-Fi Short stories while I was growing up. I'd mention Howard's Conan stories also, but that might depend on the age of the child.

 

[Capellan]

First, I'll second some of the options already offered:

Prydain and Narnia are both excellent series, and The Hobbit was a favourite of mine from the age of about 9 onwards. I was also a big fan of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks (which have recently started to be reprinted).

While I remain one of the few who is underwhelmed by Harry Potter, I'd like to offer the following additional authors as great options for readers in the early teens bracket:

Tamora Pierce (they're all good, but most people like the Song of the Lioness series best)
Terry Pratchett (the Nome trilogy and the Johnny books)
Dianna Wynne-Jones (particularlythe Chrestomancy series)
Eoin Cooper's Artemis Fowl novels

 

[Crothian]

Thieves World, Xanth, Shannarra, and Dennis McKernen

Those are a few that I read when I was but a kid, late at night with a flashlight under the covers.

 

[Marion Poliquin]

I highly recommend the following titles :

The Phantom Tollbooth
The Golden Compass
Tuck, Everlasting
Pippi Longstockings
The Sword in the Stone


The trick is to read halfway through every book you're thinking about giving your child and leave it. If you feel compelled to know the rest of the story then you know you've got a winner.

 

[Glaurung]

Well some of these aren't really fantasy, but:

Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged
or The Fountainhead
Stephen King's Eyes of the Dragon
Lord of the Rings trilogy
Lord of the Flies
for a great book on human nature-Obedience to Authority (short, but may be a difficult read)

-Mike Gill

 

[pennywiz]

The Hobbit
The Sword in the Stone
Chronicles of Narnia

Thieves World, Xanth, Shannarra, and Dennis McKernen

Those are a few that I read when I was but a kid, late at night with a flashlight under the covers.

Uh-huh. Reading. And they bought that, eh?

 

[Blood Jester]

I'd add the Belgariad by David Eddings.

 

[Crothian]

Uh-huh. Reading. And they bought that, eh?

And They would be whom? The only person in my post was me. What's wrong with late night reading anyway?

Nice long stretch for a bad joke, though.