Last week I asked of the hive mind of my Twitter followers for a book recommendation - not for myself, but for my cousin for her Christmas gift (technically I suppose she's my second cousin). She is an 11-year old girl who is an avid reader, particularly of fantasy. She even has a review blog (not linked because I don't want gift to be spoiled :) ). So, obviously the usual suspects won't do so well. And I imagine she's a bit under-read on the older books since she gets lots of books from her aunt who was a long-time manager at an indie bookstore.
Anyway, the recommendations that came from Twitter are below. Any other suggestions are welcome in the comments of course.
I've made no decisions yet, but thanks again to all those who provide recs.
- Iron Fey Series by Julie Kagawa (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound
- Redwall by Brian Jacques (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)
- The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)
- Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)
- Howl’s Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)
- Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)
- Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)
- The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)
- Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)
- Dreamdark by Laini Taylor (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)
- The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)
- Discworld by Terry Pratchett (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)
- Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)
- Lightbringer by K.D. McEntire (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)
- Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)
14 comments:
Well i'd just like to put in a vote for Dreamdark by liani Taylor.
Perfect for this situation. I loved it too.
I'd vote for The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix as well.
First-hand, I recommend Earthsea (particularly the first three, which I read in my younger days), The Black Magician Trilogy (which I read as an adult and don't exactly think of as a kid's book, but...), and the Last Unicorn (I forget, but probably read it in high school or college).
Second-hand, I can recommend Redwall.
Wow, an 11-year-old with a review blog -- please link after the holidays! I'm curious to see. Although I wonder if she reads YOUR blog, in which case not linking to her is kinda pointless. ;-)
I was a huge fan of Redwall between the ages of nine and eighteen. There are a lot of books in the series, so if she likes them, she has a lot of reading ahead of her.
Abhorsen trilogy is really, really good too.
Reading Howl's Moving Castle and it's amazing. I can't put it down.
I went to the bookstore the other day (a Barnes & Noble) to look for some of the recommended books - particularly the older, more 'classic', titles. As you may expect, the store had none of those. It really appeared that the only thing on the shelves was the latest and greatest new releases.
I was rather disappointed about it.
That has pretty much always been my experience with Barnes & Noble. Borders was a little better, but used book stores have always been my go-to places for classic works.
Agreed - I always had better luck with Borders as well. Though I live in a pretty small town and there's pretty much only B&N - no credible indie store which is always my preference. There is a very nice used bookstore but I don't want to buy used books for a gift.
I'd recommend Zero Sight by B. Justin Shier. I consider it one of the the better young adult fantasy debut this year.
Ken
Only just happened on this post since I'm swamped at work. It's been 2 weeks since I posted anything on my own blog. :(
In Pratchett's series I'd go for the Tiffany Aching series and The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents first before the others.
The Australian authors Emily Rodda and Garth Nix are also good.
Umm...my elder son was reading WOT when he was 11. Just saying...
@Linda,
Well, these days I'm lucky to post anything at all. Life just has me swamped.
Anyway, she's just now starting WOT. A lot of my family has read it over the years, though I'm not sure how many have stuck with it.
Ditto, Ken.
So she has started WOT? Excellent!
May you and your family have a wonderful holiday season and an even better new year.
I don't think i'd recommend Johannes Cabal for an 11 year old. I've read the first little bit of that book, and it seemed much more adult than the rest of the books you've got there. I loved Redwall as a kid about her age, and I've also heard great things about the Abhorsen trilogy.
If she's up for something that's just slightly more adult than Harry Potter, you might have her give the Bartimaeus Trilogy a try. I honestly think if these books hadn't been published at the same time as Harry Potter they would have been HUGE.
Since I said I'd mention it after the holidays: the YA review blog of my cousin's daughter is called Mom Thinks I'm Sleeping.
For those that are curious, I raided my never ending Stack for gifts for her - she got the first two Dreamdark books, Lightbringer, and Dearly Departed.
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