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http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/03/67-books-for-kids/?pid=1185&viewall=true

How many of these have you read to your kid(s)? What's your favourite? What should be added to the list? I think it definitely needs more Dr. Suess.

Now I'm off to update my summer reading list.

Some of those are quite adult for a ten year old.

I read this to my nephew. It's adorable.

Wow, I don't know that I would recommend Ender's Game to a 10 year old.

The Bible

I read most of the those books well before I hit adulthood. My story of Wrinkle in Time is much like the article writer's. We took turns in Grade 6 reading that one out loud.

And I wouldn't call that every book a geek should read but really, kids should just be reading. Read a book.

I am not sure if it is geeky or what I am not sure what that means in this context but for kids I'd add the Strega Nona series. I always loved it as a kid.

I've read a lot of the books on that page. Some I totally recommend like the little house on the prairie or Tikki Tikki Tembo. Some I would unread if I could like a Wrinkle in Time.

Books are pretty personal. Can't say I understand that merits of subjecting a kid to the entirety of the lord of the rings before the age of ten but to each his own. Reading with kids is always a good thing in my book.

edit- ok it is just bad luck that I posted not liking a Wrinkle in Time at pretty much the same second as someone picked that one specifically to like.

I grew up with these:

Nah, you don't start with Lord of the Rings. I read the Hobbit to my daughter when she was 6. She is now twelve and has read the trilogy on her own as well as re-reading the Hobbit.

I loved the spines off 'The House with a Clock in its Walls' series when I was younger! Now I have to go find them.

I would also argue for the Hobbit before the rest of the Rings series. And certainly before the Silmarillion!

I was also a fan of Diane Duane's 'So You Want to Be a Wizard' series.
Oh, and 'The Secret World of Og' was cool, because, well, Pierre Burton and some really kick-ass illustrations.

No The Giver?

At first I was like, No NARNIA, fail.

Then I noticed that it's there hidden away in one of the paragraphs.

sixpackshaker said:

Some of those are quite adult for a ten year old.

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What?!? All of those are pretty spot on for a 10 year old.

HAH! Awesome! They got Danny Dunn. I frickin' loved that series when I was a kid, even if it was already horribly out of date by the 80s.

I don't see anything on this list that is inappropriate for a 10 year old. 10 is pretty old. I have an 8 year old who will turn 9 in August, and I see nothing here I wouldn't let him read. In fact, I let him read YA books if they pass my screening.

I like the Giver up until the end. I hate it when books don't actually have an ending. I really didn't care for Gathering Blue for that reason. I read an article interviewing the author and she said something like I wrote it that way so you can choose for yourself how the story ends.

Yeah right you are just too lazy to come up with an ending. I am perfectly capable of writing my own stories with my own endings. I don't want to have to come up with endings for other peoples goddamn books.

makare said:

I like the Giver up until the end. I hate it when books don't actually have an ending. I really didn't care for Gathering Blue for that reason. I read an article interviewing the author and she said something like I wrote it that way so you can choose for yourself how the story ends.

Yeah right you are just too lazy to come up with an ending. I am perfectly capable of writing my own stories with my own endings. I don't want to have to come up with endings for other peoples goddamn books.

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I'm disagreeing because I find nothing lazy about The Giver. I would find it more insulting if she went for the out and out happy ending after over coming all the adversity...and crushing if they died. This way I can guess, I can supply it formyself how I would end it.

I can see how that would frustrate someone, though.

My mom and I just read the Hobbit over and over (and over) again.

LittleSin said:

I'm disagreeing because I find nothing lazy about The Giver. I would find it more insulting if she went for the out and out happy ending after over coming all the adversity...and crushing if they died. This way I can guess, I can supply it formyself how I would end it.

I can see how that would frustrate someone, though.

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If the boy is supposed to be the guy from the second and third books, why not finish the story with him getting to where he gets to in the second book? At least it would be an ending.

I actually haven't read the other two books, so your privy to info I don't have.

I just really dug The Giver!

the other books are really good. However, Gathering Blue is a really unhappy story and the ending is again not a real ending. I still love the Giver but the fact that she didn't give any closure to gathering blue made me so made I actually threw the book across the room.

I'd add this one to the list:

"Round Trip" by Ann Jonas

makare said:

I like the Giver up until the end. I hate it when books don't actually have an ending. I really didn't care for Gathering Blue for that reason. I read an article interviewing the author and she said something like I wrote it that way so you can choose for yourself how the story ends.

Yeah right you are just too lazy to come up with an ending. I am perfectly capable of writing my own stories with my own endings. I don't want to have to come up with endings for other peoples goddamn books.

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The ending to the Giver was perfect. Shut your mouth and go home.

Mathias said:

The Giver was awesome. You shut your whore mouth.

Honestly, being the big moron that you are, I'm not surprised that you need an ending spelled out for you.

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Woah, what?

LittleSin said:

Woah, what?

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Yeah, I was too harsh on her. The ending to the Giver was perfect.

Mathias said:

Yeah, I was too harsh on her. The ending to the Giver was perfect.

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I agree.

Just...that hostility fuckin' blind sided me.

I read HHGTG when I was about 10. I loved it. Not sure I'd recommend it to all kids that age though. It's kind of an individual thing.

I think they are also missing Anne of Green Gables.

I love that story. I didn't really get into it until I was in my 20s but it is a good one.

I also loved the Wayside school series. Just the sheer goofiness of it was great.

OH! And Life of Pi! I only read that one recently but it was a good one!

LittleSin said:

I think they are also missing Anne of Green Gables.

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And Chicken Trek : The Third Strange Thing that Happened to Oscar Noodleman.

Oh hey this is probably a good thread to see if any of you remember a certain book I can never remember the title of. It is like a novel/comic book and it is about this boy who likes to draw and his annoying family. He has trouble drawing hands. His sister throws fits and always gets her way.

I can't remember the name of it!

I also recommend Andrew Henry's Meadow.. i tried to link it from amazon but it wont let me.

I just remembered something about The Giver.

Did anyone else have to read it in junior high or high school? I think I had to read it for grade 10 english. The project we had to do based on it was either supply and ending or write a story about what happened when they left the city.

I chose the former and wrote about Fiona (?) leaving the city in search of the main character. I think I may need to read the book again to remember my own story.

It was the first fan fic I ever wrote.

Oh, this one too:

Maniac Magee, I still read this one from time to time.

Anyone read the Fablehaven books? I enjoyed them. The characters were a little annoying but the story was good.

LittleSin said:

I just remembered something about The Giver.

Did anyone else have to read it in junior high or high school? I think I had to read it for grade 10 english. The project we had to do based on it was either supply and ending or write a story about what happened when they left the city.

I chose the former and wrote about Fiona (?) leaving the city in search of the main character. I think I may need to read the book again to remember my own story.

It was the first fan fic I ever wrote.

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That's why I love that ending so much. It's a classroom book and shows kids how to decipher their own endings; create their own ideas about how it should end. Instead of being a bunch of spoon-fed dummies.

Bonus: I had the best friend kill himself in that story and got sent to the counsellor.

My husband had similar experience when he wrote a depressing poem and we bonded over it when we first met.

Lois Lowry wrote a semi-sequel to The Giver so there is an ending out there.

The second one is in the same universe and the last one is more of a sequel. But it doesn't really feel like it because she doesn't clarify much.

Well, they 'live' which I suppose was a part of the ambiguity of the original ending.

If the guy in the second book is interpreted as the kid from the first book, which is how I see it because it makes me happy to think so, then it all kind of flows together. If not it is just a series of somewhat dystopian futures. Which is ok. But I feel the story could have been less disjointed if there were more flow to it.

Gathering Blue, is so horrific at parts. At least for me, I was pretty much reading it thinking oh my god something good has to happen eventually, these people suck.

It's still a great series. Especially the last book. That one I really enjoyed. I enjoyed Gathering Blue but I almost feel guilty doing so. It's like enjoying watching someone be tortured lol.

edited because i confused myself

Sorry for the disagree, but man, the idea that all stories have to be wrapped up with a bow is completely off base.

I personally wasn't a huge fan of The Giver. Part of it stems from the ending and part of it had to do with the story itself, and part of it had to do with the writing style. Just didn't jive with me over all.

If you're going to have Clifford, I also think Berenstain Bears needs to be on that list as well.

It doesn't have to end with "and they all lived happily ever after" or anything. But good story telling has the story end at a point where the story has some resolution. It doesn't have to complete the characters story it just has to complete the event sequence. If the giver had ended with him seeing the village or something I would have been satisfied. Because it was the end of one part and beginning of the other. But as it ended it was just nowhere.

HHGTG doesn't end with them all at home growing old, they are heading off on a new adventure but the first one had a resolution point.

LittleKagsin said:

I personally wasn't a huge fan of The Giver. Part of it stems from the ending and part of it had to do with the story itself, and part of it had to do with the writing style. Just didn't jive with me over all.

If you're going to have Clifford, I also think Berenstain Bears needs to be on that list as well.

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Hell yes Berenstain Bears! I love those books to this day. I intend to own them all someday.

Man, there's no Robert Munsch on that list? Hoiw can they forget The Paper Bag Princess? I'll Love you Forever? Pigs? Murmel, Murmel, Murmel? ANY of his books, really.

I still completely disagree. Resolution is a construct that is not in any way necessary to have an awesome story. We've just been conditioned to believe that things need to be resolved. It's not realistic to the way things work in real life and is actually more lazy on the part of the reader than on the part of the author.

Well, have fun hating some of the greatest works of film and literature.

It's like Stephen King. Now there is a guy who should leave his endings ambiguous because they suck. It is difficult to write an ending to a story and a bad ending can leave the reader with a big wtf. I get that. But I still think the choose your own adventure format is lazy.

All books have a beginning, middle and end. Sometimes the end comes too soon, sometimes it comes too late. In the end, if the reader leaves satisfied, it came at exactly the right time.

For that.. we need a zen tag.

What the Dickens is supposed to be good too. My friend recommended it to me. I wasn't really engaged by it, but I bet kids would love it.

LittleKagsin said:

If you're going to have Clifford, I also think Berenstain Bears needs to be on that list as well.

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YES.

It's escaping me, but there's a literary name for stories that intentionally don't "end" in the sense that they don't wrap up the plot. ElJuski?

fade said:

It's escaping me, but there's a literary name for stories that intentionally don't "end" in the sense that they don't wrap up the plot. ElJuski?

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I don't believe it's an eljuski. I believe ElJuskis are stories that believe they are better than the reader.

Adam said:

I don't believe it's an eljuski. I believe ElJuskis are stories that believe they are better than the reader.

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Given that description I have to wonder how my stories come off.

Adam said:

I don't believe it's an eljuski. I believe ElJuskis are stories that believe they are better than the reader.

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I think Barthes wrote about that...

Adam said:

I don't believe it's an eljuski. I believe ElJuskis are stories that believe they are better than the reader.

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Ah the Pretentious Douchebag genre.

fade said:

It's escaping me, but there's a literary name for stories that intentionally don't "end" in the sense that they don't wrap up the plot. ElJuski?

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Cliffhanger?

No, not the Stallone one.

LittleKagsin said:

I personally wasn't a huge fan of The Giver. Part of it stems from the ending and part of it had to do with the story itself, and part of it had to do with the writing style. Just didn't jive with me over all.

If you're going to have Clifford, I also think Berenstain Bears needs to be on that list as well.

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I loved the Berenstain Bears. This was my favorite.

I loved the true story of the 3 little pigs!

The art was a little creepy but the concept was so fun.

Cheesy1 said:

I grew up with these:

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Holy crap, I had those MEMORIZED. My parents found it hilarious.

This is the first book I memorized:


I was three, and I took the book to my dad and started pretending I was reading. I knew what was on each page, so I was turning the pages at the right times and everything. My dad was ready to declare me a freaking genius! My mom finally started busting up laughing and told him what was really going on.

I learned to read along with my older sister (I'm 3 years younger). At first my parents thought I was just memorizing the books, but I guess I proved otherwise. I don't remember any of this; I've been able to read for as far back as my memory goes.

When I was in first grade the teachers put me in a remedial reading class because I was so bored by the books I just skipped them for my own. By then I was already reading Superfudge and the like (BTW, how great is Judy Blume). When you're already reading narrative stories, "the dog chewed the ball" doesn't quite cut it.

When my mom found out, she freaked and had the teacher actually test my reading comprehension. That was when they recommended I skip the second grade. My mom held me back, though. Thought it would impede my development.

ITT: Impress everyone with how early you began to read.

Mathias said:

ITT: Impress everyone with how early you began to read.

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Started reading at 3. The Thorndike Barnhart dictionary was my first favorite book. I loved that thing. It had the answers to all the "what's this?" questions when other people didn't know.

Danny Dunn was amazing for a kid growing up who wanted to know more about everything. I devoured every volume of that series I could find, and even bought a copy of The Magic Grandfather just to see how they did with Fantasy (pretty well, actually).

I have never read A Mouse and His Child, but I remember loving the movie.

Two other series I don't see on that list whose omissions are positively criminal: The Three Investigators and Encyclopedia Brown.

--Patrick

Oh yeah Encyclopedia Brown. I love that series.

Mathias said:

ITT: Impress everyone with how early you began to read.

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Oh sure, just point out how embarrassed I should be I don't know how to read.

HCGLNS said:

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Want.

Two authors that every child and every aspiring author should read are Roald Dahl and Ray Bradbury. Both know how to weave this dark world that hits you on all five senses. They're also kings of cadence and treating prose almost like some long form poetry. It's a good deviation from "standard" writing, in my opinion (that doesn't mean there's anything bad about other authors, just pointing out that these guys are a nice breath of different air).

I LOVED Ray Bradbury's children's book when I was a kid: Switch on the Night. I cannot find a copy of the edition I had, though. It's easy to find a copy of the book, but the new edition has paintings. I had one from like 1955 with scratchy looking ink drawings that really hammered the story home. Ah, here are the drawings in a Japanese edition. Admittedly, I haven't looked for it much online. Just in bookstores.

I've actually had the urge recently to reread Dahl's Danny's Story.

I was fat from 5th grade until high school. This book always motivated me to get into better shape.

HCGLNS said:

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Have it, love it! My bible

On another noteand on topic ;-)

makare said:

Oh yeah Encyclopedia Brown. I love that series.

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I loved that series, but man, sometimes the solutions were so obtuse. I remember one that the only clue to solving the mystery was that birds were acting weird because they were eating fermented berries, meaning that the berries had been on the ground for a really long time.

I agree but I thought in that one it was one of the Tigers that was feeding the berries to the birds. He kept them in the shed and then fed them to squirrels and birds.

The one that made me go oh come on was the one where the sally solved the crime based on which side of a booth in a diner the people sat on. It was supposed to be gender specific or something. No one ever told me there was a certain side I was supposed to sit on.

That's right, I can't even remember what the actual mystery was, but man, how would anybody think of that. Maybe looking back as an adult, I'd see the answers more clearly, but back then reading then, I think I actually solved 2 or 3 of them.

Bowielee said:

That's right, I can't even remember what the actual mystery was, but man, how would anybody think of that. Maybe looking back as an adult, I'd see the answers more clearly, but back then reading then, I think I actually solved 2 or 3 of them.

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Probably not the author wrote another set of mysteries that I read as an adult I think it was called minute mysteries or something. Nothing but wtf most of the time.

My mom bought me a Mensa puzzle book when I was a kid, and it bugged the crap out of me, because all the solutions were really subjective like that. That's not a puzzle. That's a test of whether my opinion is the same as yours.

makare said:

The one that made me go oh come on was the one where the sally solved the crime based on which side of a booth in a diner the people sat on. It was supposed to be gender specific or something. No one ever told me there was a certain side I was supposed to sit on.

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A woman was knocked out in the bathroom. The solution says that it had to be someone who looked like a woman, but punched like a man. In short, a man dressed as a woman.

I had the same reaction as you, I didn't realize there was any sort of gender-assigned seating in booths. Must be a 50's thing.

--Patrick

Yeah I was trying not to spoiler but I guess if you haven't read it by now....

That reminds me of a book my sisters and I loved:

"The Westing Game"
I think one of the reasons I loved it so much is because I could never remember all the details. Which was rare for me. As a kid I hated re-reading books because I remembered almost everything.

"Sit down, Grace Windsor-Wexler!"

--Patrick