Sixties and seventies children's fantasy and science fiction
April 17, 2018 10:26 AM Subscribe
Yesterday's Tripods thread made me think about the sixties and seventies children's science fiction and fantasy that I read as a kid in the eighties/early nineties. I've listed a few things I remember below but I was wondering - what stands out to you among children's and YA books of the sixties and seventies?
I particularly remember Mary Gentle's Hawk In Silver, Ruth Nichols's extremely strange Walk Out Of The World and The Marrow of the World, the Tripods books, Peter Dickinson's Changes trilogy and early Diana Wynne Jones, plus Joan Aiken and Jane Langton.
What I'm especially interested in: books that have a lot about daily life, whether in a fantastic world or in ours; also books that have that sort of seventies ennui/deal with themes of recession and decline. Books that are class-diverse or focus on working class life. I'm obviously especially interested in books with female and/or POC characters.
Because this is for scholarly purposes rather than pure enjoyment, I am interested even in books that have problematic elements - but please make a note in the thread, especially if the problematic element is more than the unfortunate default reality of "this book doesn't have many/well-realized female or POC characters".
I particularly remember Mary Gentle's Hawk In Silver, Ruth Nichols's extremely strange Walk Out Of The World and The Marrow of the World, the Tripods books, Peter Dickinson's Changes trilogy and early Diana Wynne Jones, plus Joan Aiken and Jane Langton.
What I'm especially interested in: books that have a lot about daily life, whether in a fantastic world or in ours; also books that have that sort of seventies ennui/deal with themes of recession and decline. Books that are class-diverse or focus on working class life. I'm obviously especially interested in books with female and/or POC characters.
Because this is for scholarly purposes rather than pure enjoyment, I am interested even in books that have problematic elements - but please make a note in the thread, especially if the problematic element is more than the unfortunate default reality of "this book doesn't have many/well-realized female or POC characters".
Andre Norton has a lot to offer here, I think. Can't remember specific books, but there's plenty to choose from.
posted by Chairboy at 10:36 AM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Chairboy at 10:36 AM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Isn't Susan COoper's The Dark is Rising sequence from that era? It has few female characters, but otherwise seemed relatively decent as these things go.
posted by Alensin at 10:40 AM on April 17, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Alensin at 10:40 AM on April 17, 2018 [7 favorites]
M.C. Higgins the Great. The Great Gilly Hopkins. Lois Lowry and Cynthia Voigt's body of work.
posted by annathea at 10:57 AM on April 17, 2018
posted by annathea at 10:57 AM on April 17, 2018
ROBERT WESTALL. Devil on the Road, Fathom Five, The Machine Gunners. I had to look it up to be sure they were published in the '70s, not just because I was born late enough I necessarily read them later but because the combination of their composition era plus their setting in the past-plus (I mean, historicals written in the past are double-past), plus foreign-to-me England, plus foreign-to-me English male adolescence, all combined to produce an extraordinary feel of discomfort and difficult-to-identify dislocation in time and place.
Devil on the Road is incredible. foundational time-travel book for me. that one and all of them that I remember are told from a young male viewpoint either sexist or all the way into misogynist, but I remember feeling that the author was more distantly and astutely observing than directly supportive of that. whether I would feel that way reading them now, I don't know. they seemed realistic to me at the time, for what very little that's worth. realistic about boys, I mean.
William Sleator also got started in the seventies and might be what you're after regarding ennui and decline. though House of Stairs is the only '70s one I read and the rest of the ones I know came out in the '80s. him also, I think of as focusing on male adolescents above all but I think of his male characters as somewhat less showily sexist and of him, as a writer, as including more girls but not necessarily more awareness of sexism. though not malicious. but again this is an old impression, not current.
the list of ways in which Roald Dahl was a problematic old prick probably goes without saying. but he got a lot of work done in the 60s and 70s. he, like Westall, had a lot of world war II memories to draw on and they are what I think of when I think of the 70s YA miasma, not so much the contemporary atmosphere but all these Englishmen trying to recreate their childhood war trauma for a generation that didn't remember it.
those are the first three that jump to mind and fit the criteria
posted by queenofbithynia at 11:05 AM on April 17, 2018 [4 favorites]
Devil on the Road is incredible. foundational time-travel book for me. that one and all of them that I remember are told from a young male viewpoint either sexist or all the way into misogynist, but I remember feeling that the author was more distantly and astutely observing than directly supportive of that. whether I would feel that way reading them now, I don't know. they seemed realistic to me at the time, for what very little that's worth. realistic about boys, I mean.
William Sleator also got started in the seventies and might be what you're after regarding ennui and decline. though House of Stairs is the only '70s one I read and the rest of the ones I know came out in the '80s. him also, I think of as focusing on male adolescents above all but I think of his male characters as somewhat less showily sexist and of him, as a writer, as including more girls but not necessarily more awareness of sexism. though not malicious. but again this is an old impression, not current.
the list of ways in which Roald Dahl was a problematic old prick probably goes without saying. but he got a lot of work done in the 60s and 70s. he, like Westall, had a lot of world war II memories to draw on and they are what I think of when I think of the 70s YA miasma, not so much the contemporary atmosphere but all these Englishmen trying to recreate their childhood war trauma for a generation that didn't remember it.
those are the first three that jump to mind and fit the criteria
posted by queenofbithynia at 11:05 AM on April 17, 2018 [4 favorites]
The Phantom Tollbooth! I read it to my son last year and I so wished I had a read it as a kid. It's pure genius and hilarious.
posted by zizzle at 11:27 AM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by zizzle at 11:27 AM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
The first three books of Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea were published from 1968 to 1972. Not a lot of women (although she made up for that in the later books), but some sense of daily life in a fantasy world, especially, as I recall, in the first book.
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 11:31 AM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 11:31 AM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
A lot of Alan Garner's books are from around that time and very well regarded. The Stone Book Quartet is probably what fits your criteria best.
posted by rollick at 11:57 AM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by rollick at 11:57 AM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
Children of Infinity: Original Science Fiction Stories for Young Readers, by Roger Elwood. It's an anthology published 1973 and I think the first SF book I remember reading. All short stories, all involving young people. The story "Wake Up to Thunder" is a favorite.
posted by Qex Rodriguez at 12:16 PM on April 17, 2018
posted by Qex Rodriguez at 12:16 PM on April 17, 2018
Trillions by Nicholas Fisk was a book I read over and over as a child. Fisk in general was pretty formative for me but a lot was published later, in the 80s. Trillions was incredibly engaging and frightening to me for several reasons - the casual press-ganging of the town's children, the narrowly-averted use of nuclear weapons on home ground, the sense of dark menace from authorities who are not on your side.
posted by DSime at 12:32 PM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by DSime at 12:32 PM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
Trillions by Nicholas Fisk is a book that I think of pretty often, which I think hasn't been as well-remembered as the Tripods books, but which was absolutely gripping when I read it.
Hah, on preview, jinx DSime.
posted by featherboa at 12:33 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Hah, on preview, jinx DSime.
posted by featherboa at 12:33 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Check out H. M. Hoover's dystopic 70's SF for young readers. Many strong female characters, and features some P.O.C. if I am remembering right.
See especially This Time of Darkness and Children of Morrow.
posted by BrashTech at 12:38 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
See especially This Time of Darkness and Children of Morrow.
posted by BrashTech at 12:38 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
For me it was all about Zilpha Keatley Snyder.
I loved Linnets and Valerians (and still do), but it was more historical fiction than true fantasy.
posted by Mchelly at 12:58 PM on April 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
I loved Linnets and Valerians (and still do), but it was more historical fiction than true fantasy.
posted by Mchelly at 12:58 PM on April 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
(and the Narnia and some of the OZ books, but they were obviously much older)
posted by Mchelly at 12:59 PM on April 17, 2018
posted by Mchelly at 12:59 PM on April 17, 2018
My standout children's book that ticks many of your boxes is Andre Norton's Octagon Magic. Female protagonist, and a number of characters of color who (if I'm not mis-remembering) are reasonably well-realized. The fantastical elements (time traveling via the medium of a miniature house) are a vehicle for the main character, Lorrie, to learn to deal with her daily life and struggles in a new school. Mine came bundled with two other "magic" books, Steel Magic and Fur Magic. I remember Steel Magic as a standard children-in-Arthurian-Britain fantasy, but Fur Magic, while it has a white male protagonist, has a major theme of learning respect for tribal culture and customs.
posted by Preserver at 1:23 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Preserver at 1:23 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
OT Nelson's The Girl Who Owned A City, post-apocalyptic dystopian fiction from 1975:
A deadly virus has swept the world, killing off everyone over the age of twelve in the span of a month or so. In the town of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, outside of Chicago, ten-year-old Lisa Nelson and her younger brother Todd are surviving, like all the children in the story, by looting abandoned houses and shops. Although there are abandoned cars in every driveway and lining every street, Lisa is the first child to think of driving one. She is also the first to think of raiding a farm, and the first to look at the dwindling supplies in stores and deduce that groceries come from warehouses. She finds a supermarket warehouse and raids it, enlisting the help of Craig Bergman, a neighbor boy two years older than her, but makes clear to him and all the other children in her neighborhood that the entire warehouse and all its contents are her exclusive property, not to be shared unless she chooses: she assures them all that she'll burn the warehouse and everything in it rather than be forced to share against her will.
Ellen Conford's And This Is Laura, from 1977:
The twelve-year-old member of a family of overachievers wishes she were special in some way too. Then she discovers she possesses psychic ability.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:23 PM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
A deadly virus has swept the world, killing off everyone over the age of twelve in the span of a month or so. In the town of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, outside of Chicago, ten-year-old Lisa Nelson and her younger brother Todd are surviving, like all the children in the story, by looting abandoned houses and shops. Although there are abandoned cars in every driveway and lining every street, Lisa is the first child to think of driving one. She is also the first to think of raiding a farm, and the first to look at the dwindling supplies in stores and deduce that groceries come from warehouses. She finds a supermarket warehouse and raids it, enlisting the help of Craig Bergman, a neighbor boy two years older than her, but makes clear to him and all the other children in her neighborhood that the entire warehouse and all its contents are her exclusive property, not to be shared unless she chooses: she assures them all that she'll burn the warehouse and everything in it rather than be forced to share against her will.
Ellen Conford's And This Is Laura, from 1977:
The twelve-year-old member of a family of overachievers wishes she were special in some way too. Then she discovers she possesses psychic ability.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:23 PM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
more Nicholas Fisk love: he could be kind of depressing, as much as would have been acceptable in 1970s kids' publishing. High Way Home (aka Space Hostages) has the pilot of a new experimental flying-saucer thing effectively kidnap a bunch of kids and then slip into insanity. It's up to the kids to get out of the ship by convincing the dying pilot that it's all going to be fine, cold war paranoia and all. Time Trap was a Wilson-era Slaughterhouse-Five Lite. A heavy trip to lay on the young 'uns.
posted by scruss at 1:24 PM on April 17, 2018
posted by scruss at 1:24 PM on April 17, 2018
Seconding the recommendation of Robert Westall, particularly The Devil on the Road, very sexually explicit for a YA book published in 1978. The Devil on the Road has echoes of classic 1970s British horror movies like Witchfinder General and The Wicker Man: the protagonist arrives in a little village to find that everyone seems to be expecting him ..
Jan Mark's SF novels The Ennead (1978) and Divide and Rule (1979) are extremely dark. Her obituary says that they "offended some critics, who found their bleak message about a hopeless future, where social manipulation and ultimate betrayal have become the norm, too gloomy for a young audience". The Ennead was too difficult for young-teenage me, but Divide and Rule made a big impression.
Alan Garner's The Owl Service (1967) should be on your list. Wikipedia: "Discrimination and prejudice are pervasive. There is a condescending English view of the Welsh and its corollary in Welsh resentment of English money. There is the class divide, not only between a working-class boy and richer children, but between a land-owning family and a businessman's family."
Garner's Elidor (1965) is ostensibly a Narnia-type fantasy about a group of children visiting a magical other-world, but as this perceptive review points out, Garner is far more interested in the real world of slum-clearances and suburbia. That reminds me of another classic children's book of the period, John Gordon's The Giant Under the Snow (1968), which has some powerful fantasy/horror elements but is also deeply grounded in a modern urban landscape.
posted by verstegan at 3:33 PM on April 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
Jan Mark's SF novels The Ennead (1978) and Divide and Rule (1979) are extremely dark. Her obituary says that they "offended some critics, who found their bleak message about a hopeless future, where social manipulation and ultimate betrayal have become the norm, too gloomy for a young audience". The Ennead was too difficult for young-teenage me, but Divide and Rule made a big impression.
Alan Garner's The Owl Service (1967) should be on your list. Wikipedia: "Discrimination and prejudice are pervasive. There is a condescending English view of the Welsh and its corollary in Welsh resentment of English money. There is the class divide, not only between a working-class boy and richer children, but between a land-owning family and a businessman's family."
Garner's Elidor (1965) is ostensibly a Narnia-type fantasy about a group of children visiting a magical other-world, but as this perceptive review points out, Garner is far more interested in the real world of slum-clearances and suburbia. That reminds me of another classic children's book of the period, John Gordon's The Giant Under the Snow (1968), which has some powerful fantasy/horror elements but is also deeply grounded in a modern urban landscape.
posted by verstegan at 3:33 PM on April 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
Nthing Diana Wynne Jones (of her 1970s books, especially the Dalemark Quartet and The Ogre Downstairs, Joan Aiken, Susan Cooper, Alan Garner (I find Garner a bit problematic on gender, ymmv).
Adding:
The Borrowers series by Mary Norton - primarily 1950s, but the fourth one was 1961.
The Children of the Star trilogy by Sylvia Engdahl (third book was 1981).
The second book of the Minipins series, The Whisper of Glocken by Carol Kendall was published in 1965.
Two of Edward Eager's books are early 1960s.
The Bottersnikes and Gumbles series by SA Wakefield (fourth book is later).
The Uncle series by JP Martin (problematic content - class- and privilege-related).
The Ghosts of Motley Hall by Richard Carpenter. Wikipedia says it was originally a televison series, but it's the novel I remember.
The first Choose Your Own Adventure book was 1976, though they're really more of a 1980s thing.
Helen Cresswell's early books (not all are fantasy).
William Mayne: his fantasy and science fiction are discussed here, and, in your period, I would highlight Earthfasts and Skiffy. His life makes him problematic.
When Marnie was There by Joan G Robinson.
The Carbonel series by Barbara Sleigh.
Two of Mary Stewart's three fantasy novels for children, The Little Broomstick and Ludo and the Star Horse, are from this period.
The first Worst Witch book, by Jill Murphy, is from this period.
Some of the Mrs Pepperpot books by Alf Prøysen are from this period, though it looks as if the series both started before the period and ended after.
The Meg and Mog series, by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pieńkowski, started in this period, though I think continued into the 1980s. They are picture books.
The ghost story Cold Christmas by Nina Beachcroft is from this period, as are Beachcroft's other books, but I haven't read the others.
Jan Mark is generally a bit later, but The Ennead is from this period.
Stig of the Dump by Clive King.
Penelope Lively's children's books, particularly The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, The Wild Hunt of Hagworthy and The House in Norham Gardens. The latter may possibly be problematic on race grounds, I am not sure.
The Father Christmas and Fungus the Bogeyman graphic novels by Raymond Briggs.
Two of Monica Hughes's early novels are in this period.
Robert C O'Brien's books all fall into this period.
Elisabeth Beresford - Womble books and the ... Magic books.
McKinley's Beauty just falls into this period.
Michael Bond's Paddington books cover this period, but his Thursday series from the late 1960s is more memorable to me.
The First Summer Year by Ian Kellam.
One of Rosemary Manning's Green Dragon series is in this period.
Catherine Storr's sequel to Marianne Dreams (1958), Marianne and Mark, is from 1960, though I think you'd probably find the earlier book more interesting.
The last two of the Moomintroll series are from this period.
Two of the Mary Poppins series are from this period, though the books I remember are actually the earlier ones.
Also, probably not quite what you're looking for, but The Puffin Book of Magic Verse, ed Charles Causley, 1974.
Sorry about that very long list - I have only included books that were important or memorable to me. No wonder I can't find room in my head for other stuff.
For your specific interests:
books that have a lot about daily life, whether in a fantastic world or in ours:
The Borrowers, the Minipins, The First Summer Year, Marianne Dreams, The Worst Witch, Penelope Lively, Raymond Briggs.
books with ennui or decline:
The Children of the Star series has some fairly bleak bits. Jan Mark can be a bit grim. Robert O'Brien is dark. Other than that, I think this is a fairly optimistic list.
Working class people:
Hmm, maybe the Minipins and the Borrowers again. I think the families in Beresford's Magic books are supposed to be lower-middle to working-class. The two Briggs books, especially Fungus. Mrs Pepperpot, maybe.
Class-diverse:
The Uncle books pit a rich elephant (Uncle) against a group of criminals, which might count. (I will say, I found these books unreadably terrible on re-reading as an adult, though they do have fans. You'll see that article starts by complaining that the books are seen "bizarrely, as 'classist'".)
The House in Norham Gardens is quite interesting on class, though it's about middle-class poverty rather than a more diverse presentation of class. If you can stomach Peter Hitchens and the Mail, he has a lengthy article about the book here.
female characters:
Quite a few of these are strong on female characters: the Borrowers, the Minipins, Cresswell, When Marnie was There, The Worst Witch, Mrs Pepperpot, Cold Christmas, The House in Norham Gardens, Beauty, Marianne Dreams, Mary Poppins, The Little Broomstick.
POC characters:
An African student is an important character in The House in Norham Gardens, but other than that I think the list above is entirely white.
Thanks for asking this question, it's been good to think about.
posted by paduasoy at 3:35 PM on April 17, 2018 [7 favorites]
Adding:
The Borrowers series by Mary Norton - primarily 1950s, but the fourth one was 1961.
The Children of the Star trilogy by Sylvia Engdahl (third book was 1981).
The second book of the Minipins series, The Whisper of Glocken by Carol Kendall was published in 1965.
Two of Edward Eager's books are early 1960s.
The Bottersnikes and Gumbles series by SA Wakefield (fourth book is later).
The Uncle series by JP Martin (problematic content - class- and privilege-related).
The Ghosts of Motley Hall by Richard Carpenter. Wikipedia says it was originally a televison series, but it's the novel I remember.
The first Choose Your Own Adventure book was 1976, though they're really more of a 1980s thing.
Helen Cresswell's early books (not all are fantasy).
William Mayne: his fantasy and science fiction are discussed here, and, in your period, I would highlight Earthfasts and Skiffy. His life makes him problematic.
When Marnie was There by Joan G Robinson.
The Carbonel series by Barbara Sleigh.
Two of Mary Stewart's three fantasy novels for children, The Little Broomstick and Ludo and the Star Horse, are from this period.
The first Worst Witch book, by Jill Murphy, is from this period.
Some of the Mrs Pepperpot books by Alf Prøysen are from this period, though it looks as if the series both started before the period and ended after.
The Meg and Mog series, by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pieńkowski, started in this period, though I think continued into the 1980s. They are picture books.
The ghost story Cold Christmas by Nina Beachcroft is from this period, as are Beachcroft's other books, but I haven't read the others.
Jan Mark is generally a bit later, but The Ennead is from this period.
Stig of the Dump by Clive King.
Penelope Lively's children's books, particularly The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, The Wild Hunt of Hagworthy and The House in Norham Gardens. The latter may possibly be problematic on race grounds, I am not sure.
The Father Christmas and Fungus the Bogeyman graphic novels by Raymond Briggs.
Two of Monica Hughes's early novels are in this period.
Robert C O'Brien's books all fall into this period.
Elisabeth Beresford - Womble books and the ... Magic books.
McKinley's Beauty just falls into this period.
Michael Bond's Paddington books cover this period, but his Thursday series from the late 1960s is more memorable to me.
The First Summer Year by Ian Kellam.
One of Rosemary Manning's Green Dragon series is in this period.
Catherine Storr's sequel to Marianne Dreams (1958), Marianne and Mark, is from 1960, though I think you'd probably find the earlier book more interesting.
The last two of the Moomintroll series are from this period.
Two of the Mary Poppins series are from this period, though the books I remember are actually the earlier ones.
Also, probably not quite what you're looking for, but The Puffin Book of Magic Verse, ed Charles Causley, 1974.
Sorry about that very long list - I have only included books that were important or memorable to me. No wonder I can't find room in my head for other stuff.
For your specific interests:
books that have a lot about daily life, whether in a fantastic world or in ours:
The Borrowers, the Minipins, The First Summer Year, Marianne Dreams, The Worst Witch, Penelope Lively, Raymond Briggs.
books with ennui or decline:
The Children of the Star series has some fairly bleak bits. Jan Mark can be a bit grim. Robert O'Brien is dark. Other than that, I think this is a fairly optimistic list.
Working class people:
Hmm, maybe the Minipins and the Borrowers again. I think the families in Beresford's Magic books are supposed to be lower-middle to working-class. The two Briggs books, especially Fungus. Mrs Pepperpot, maybe.
Class-diverse:
The Uncle books pit a rich elephant (Uncle) against a group of criminals, which might count. (I will say, I found these books unreadably terrible on re-reading as an adult, though they do have fans. You'll see that article starts by complaining that the books are seen "bizarrely, as 'classist'".)
The House in Norham Gardens is quite interesting on class, though it's about middle-class poverty rather than a more diverse presentation of class. If you can stomach Peter Hitchens and the Mail, he has a lengthy article about the book here.
female characters:
Quite a few of these are strong on female characters: the Borrowers, the Minipins, Cresswell, When Marnie was There, The Worst Witch, Mrs Pepperpot, Cold Christmas, The House in Norham Gardens, Beauty, Marianne Dreams, Mary Poppins, The Little Broomstick.
POC characters:
An African student is an important character in The House in Norham Gardens, but other than that I think the list above is entirely white.
Thanks for asking this question, it's been good to think about.
posted by paduasoy at 3:35 PM on April 17, 2018 [7 favorites]
Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain are the right era and have a lot of the right themes - Taran Wanderer is explicitly about class and (fantasy kingdom) daily life (and is my favorite of a series I like quite a lot).
posted by restless_nomad at 3:41 PM on April 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad at 3:41 PM on April 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
(Some of the Uncle books were written in the 1930s, but weren't published until much later. While they are somewhat classist by today's standards, it's not always clear-cut who the good ones are: Uncle is somewhat dimwitted and surrounded by sycophants, while the Badfort crowd frequently have better plans and more honest goals than the Homeward defenders. I read it 40 years ago, and it's been part of my life ever since, including helping to get it republished.)
posted by scruss at 3:47 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by scruss at 3:47 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Andra by Louise Lawrence. Possibly interesting in terms of gender - I haven't read it as an adult and there may well be problematic elements I wouldn't have picked up at the time.
posted by Ballad of Peckham Rye at 3:56 PM on April 17, 2018
posted by Ballad of Peckham Rye at 3:56 PM on April 17, 2018
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson might fit the "daily life" category, although it's only SFF in a very loose sense of the term.
Dragonsong and Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey both have a lot of "daily life in an SFF world" going on, and a female main character. Some McCaffrey is problematic, but I don't recall these having issues.
Roald Dahl has already been mentioned, but I'll point out Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as specifically dealing with a LOT of class issues. Some problematic stuff in there; less so in his revised version which you're far more likely to see these days, but still present.
The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall is a now-mostly-forgotten classic that's brimming with daily life in a fantasy world stuff.
Watership Down by Richard Adams, of course. The daily life of rabbits!
Some that don't fit your needs particularly but are good:
The Hero from Otherwhere by Jay Williams doesn't really fit any of your specifics but no one else is likely to bring it up and I have fond memories of it.
The Lewis Barnavelt books by John Bellairs (The House with a Clock in Its Walls, etc.) are also not particularly suited to your needs, but are also awesome. I think there may have been some working-class characters?
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende is an absolute classic and please don't judge it by the movie which was nowhere close to being as good. (His book Momo has a female main character, but unfortunately isn't as good.)
Astrid Lindgren was still writing into the 60's and 70's. I recall The Brothers Lionheart being pretty wonderfully weird.
Bunnicula by James and Deborah Howe is perhaps the best book around about vampire bunnies.
posted by kyrademon at 3:57 PM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
Dragonsong and Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey both have a lot of "daily life in an SFF world" going on, and a female main character. Some McCaffrey is problematic, but I don't recall these having issues.
Roald Dahl has already been mentioned, but I'll point out Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as specifically dealing with a LOT of class issues. Some problematic stuff in there; less so in his revised version which you're far more likely to see these days, but still present.
The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall is a now-mostly-forgotten classic that's brimming with daily life in a fantasy world stuff.
Watership Down by Richard Adams, of course. The daily life of rabbits!
Some that don't fit your needs particularly but are good:
The Hero from Otherwhere by Jay Williams doesn't really fit any of your specifics but no one else is likely to bring it up and I have fond memories of it.
The Lewis Barnavelt books by John Bellairs (The House with a Clock in Its Walls, etc.) are also not particularly suited to your needs, but are also awesome. I think there may have been some working-class characters?
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende is an absolute classic and please don't judge it by the movie which was nowhere close to being as good. (His book Momo has a female main character, but unfortunately isn't as good.)
Astrid Lindgren was still writing into the 60's and 70's. I recall The Brothers Lionheart being pretty wonderfully weird.
Bunnicula by James and Deborah Howe is perhaps the best book around about vampire bunnies.
posted by kyrademon at 3:57 PM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
There's also Chocky (1968) by John Wyndham - a twelve year old boy can hear an alien consciousness that his family initially think is an imaginary friend. Definitely has that feeling of decline. Most of the story is told through the interactions between the boy and his father, so there's some domestic detail, though I think it's a middle class family.
Grinny (1973) by Nicholas Fisk is about a family infiltrated by an alien disguised as an elderly aunt. It's all descriptions of daily life with a lot of estrangement - the children work out she's an imposter through her repeated misunderstandings of social norms.
posted by Ballad of Peckham Rye at 4:15 PM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
Grinny (1973) by Nicholas Fisk is about a family infiltrated by an alien disguised as an elderly aunt. It's all descriptions of daily life with a lot of estrangement - the children work out she's an imposter through her repeated misunderstandings of social norms.
posted by Ballad of Peckham Rye at 4:15 PM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
I agree with a lot of the fantastic suggestions here, particularly Sylvia Louise Engdahl, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Andre Norton, Alan Garner, Susan Cooper, Robert Westall, L'Engle, Le Guin and OT Nelson. Not previously mentioned:
Alexander Key is probably best known for Escape to Witch Mountain (which was subsequently Disneyfied) but he also wrote others with similar themes of people with psionic abilities. The one I remember best was The Forgotten Door, which, though completely white, does have some social commentary.
I also remember reading a lot of Ruth Chew books, which although not overly concerned with social issues, do cover daily life. I still remember one of them in which a witch slept upside-down on the ceiling and loved to eat what we considered rubbish; she was particularly fond of coffee grounds and broken glass, which she licked like lollipops.
I also adored George Selden's The Genie of Sutton Place which alas I haven't read in probably 30 years, so my memory of the plot is pretty hazy but I really loved it. Also that Wikipedia entry mentions that Selden was bisexual, and so was William Sleator! (Previously mentioned.) Speaking of Sleator, I've revisited many as an adult and they are shockingly sexist in a teenage boy kind of way. He doesn't write female characters particularly well, they are pretty much either boys with female pronouns or lust objects for his male protagonists. And yet I still retain a fondness for the ones I read as a kid/teen, just not the others so much.
You don't have much from the younger end of the children's book spectrum - I'll put in a vote for William Steig, these days best known for creating Shrek, but I grew up with his charming animal fantasy stories like The Magic Pebble, Dominic and though Abel's Island isn't fantasy at all (if you disregard the humanoid mouse thing), has a lot of detail about life, isolation etc that might be what you're after.
The Girl with the Silver Eyes is 1980, maybe that just squeaks in?
It's hard for me to work out which books are "children's" books because I started reading in the adult section of the library from a reasonably young age. So these may be a bit too grown-up for your purposes, but I also strongly recommend Zenna Henderson's stories about the People, which are definitely strong on daily life and social commentary, a little on race issues (from memory; it has been a little while) and definitely themes of being different from "normal" society.
And I really have to mention New Zealand author Margaret Mahy whose works for younger readers are within your time period, but whose YA material was written in the 80s/90s. Her younger readers books seem a bit more standardly fairy tale-ish to me, though there are some real flights of fancy in there. But the YA books like The Haunting and The Changeover are just SPOT ON for what you're after - supernatural themes but also a lot of daily life details, the way families and family relationships work and just gorgeous language. Some of her books (The Changeover, Kaitangata Twitch) feature mixed Maori characters.
Thanks for the question, I'm going to have to try to find some of these again!
posted by Athanassiel at 5:06 PM on April 17, 2018 [4 favorites]
Alexander Key is probably best known for Escape to Witch Mountain (which was subsequently Disneyfied) but he also wrote others with similar themes of people with psionic abilities. The one I remember best was The Forgotten Door, which, though completely white, does have some social commentary.
I also remember reading a lot of Ruth Chew books, which although not overly concerned with social issues, do cover daily life. I still remember one of them in which a witch slept upside-down on the ceiling and loved to eat what we considered rubbish; she was particularly fond of coffee grounds and broken glass, which she licked like lollipops.
I also adored George Selden's The Genie of Sutton Place which alas I haven't read in probably 30 years, so my memory of the plot is pretty hazy but I really loved it. Also that Wikipedia entry mentions that Selden was bisexual, and so was William Sleator! (Previously mentioned.) Speaking of Sleator, I've revisited many as an adult and they are shockingly sexist in a teenage boy kind of way. He doesn't write female characters particularly well, they are pretty much either boys with female pronouns or lust objects for his male protagonists. And yet I still retain a fondness for the ones I read as a kid/teen, just not the others so much.
You don't have much from the younger end of the children's book spectrum - I'll put in a vote for William Steig, these days best known for creating Shrek, but I grew up with his charming animal fantasy stories like The Magic Pebble, Dominic and though Abel's Island isn't fantasy at all (if you disregard the humanoid mouse thing), has a lot of detail about life, isolation etc that might be what you're after.
The Girl with the Silver Eyes is 1980, maybe that just squeaks in?
It's hard for me to work out which books are "children's" books because I started reading in the adult section of the library from a reasonably young age. So these may be a bit too grown-up for your purposes, but I also strongly recommend Zenna Henderson's stories about the People, which are definitely strong on daily life and social commentary, a little on race issues (from memory; it has been a little while) and definitely themes of being different from "normal" society.
And I really have to mention New Zealand author Margaret Mahy whose works for younger readers are within your time period, but whose YA material was written in the 80s/90s. Her younger readers books seem a bit more standardly fairy tale-ish to me, though there are some real flights of fancy in there. But the YA books like The Haunting and The Changeover are just SPOT ON for what you're after - supernatural themes but also a lot of daily life details, the way families and family relationships work and just gorgeous language. Some of her books (The Changeover, Kaitangata Twitch) feature mixed Maori characters.
Thanks for the question, I'm going to have to try to find some of these again!
posted by Athanassiel at 5:06 PM on April 17, 2018 [4 favorites]
Oh wow, I can't believe I completely forgot to mention Patricia Wrightson, an Australian author who really broke the mould for YA and fantasy by writing about Aboriginal mythology and, rather than importing European myths and supernatural themes to Australia, wrote about the stories and spirits of this country. The Nargun and the Stars is the main one that falls in your time period, but she wrote others before and after; the trilogy of books about Wirrun also has Aboriginal main characters, male and female. The first two were written in the 70s but the third came out in the early 80s. Although there is probably discussion to be had regarding the appropriateness of a white woman writing Aboriginal stories, particularly now, at the time that she was writing this was just not something that was done and she really made many white Australian kids aware of the Dreamtime.
posted by Athanassiel at 5:36 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Athanassiel at 5:36 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Came here to suggest The Girl With the Silver Eyes, though it is, as noted, a 1980 book.
Also, Zilpha Keatley Snyder and Ruth Chew.
posted by Crystal Fox at 7:17 PM on April 17, 2018
Also, Zilpha Keatley Snyder and Ruth Chew.
posted by Crystal Fox at 7:17 PM on April 17, 2018
Black and Blue Magic, about a boy who finds a potion, when rubbed on your shoulders wings sprout. It was just something he did for fun and turns out (spoiler) all the flying he did changed him from an awkward boy to a strong young man. Written by a woman.
posted by cda at 7:34 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by cda at 7:34 PM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Books I enjoyed in the 70s that I haven't seen mentioned:
Charlotte Sometimes, a time-travel boarding school novel by Penelope Farmer.
I read every book I could find by Ruth M. Arthur, starting with A Candle in Her Room, a multi-generational creepy doll story. Most of her books featured a spot of time-travel and a hint of romance.
Some of Lois Duncan's most popular works were published in the 70s, including Down a Dark Hall, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Killing Mr. Griffin, and Summer of Fear.
Jane-Emily by Patricia Clapp, featuring more evil and gothic horror (reflecting ball of evil).
The Girl Who Owned a City is still in print - I just bought a copy for my kid this weekend.
posted by mogget at 8:58 PM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
Charlotte Sometimes, a time-travel boarding school novel by Penelope Farmer.
I read every book I could find by Ruth M. Arthur, starting with A Candle in Her Room, a multi-generational creepy doll story. Most of her books featured a spot of time-travel and a hint of romance.
Some of Lois Duncan's most popular works were published in the 70s, including Down a Dark Hall, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Killing Mr. Griffin, and Summer of Fear.
Jane-Emily by Patricia Clapp, featuring more evil and gothic horror (reflecting ball of evil).
The Girl Who Owned a City is still in print - I just bought a copy for my kid this weekend.
posted by mogget at 8:58 PM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
See if you can find a copy of The Plum Rain Scroll, by Ruth Manley. Published in 1978, its touches on somewhat fairytale-esque family life in Idzumo (folkloric ancient Japan) before going off into a thoroughly enjoyable romp through Japanese mythology. There are two more books in the series, but they are REALLY hard to find and tend to be quite expensive. There were supposed to be five in total, but Manley died in 1986 and the books went out of print, which is a crying shame as the stories are just awesome.
The main character is a young boy, but there are at least two strong female characters featured constantly in the novels.
posted by ninazer0 at 10:34 PM on April 17, 2018
The main character is a young boy, but there are at least two strong female characters featured constantly in the novels.
posted by ninazer0 at 10:34 PM on April 17, 2018
New Zealand author Maurice Gee is mostly an acclaimed writer of adult fiction, but he's also known for a couple of much-loved fantasy books:
Under the Mountain (1979): sinister aliens live under a dormant volcano in Auckland. Children of my generation loved this, and it was made into a (no doubt terrible) TV show.
The Halfmen of O (and sequels) (1981): two New Zealand children are transported to the world of O. [Slightly out of your time frame, but if I'm mentioning Gee I thought I might as well include it]
Both books feature a female and a male protagonist (though they're all white). I haven't read them since the 80s so they may be problematic but I don't remember anything in particular.
posted by Pink Frost at 1:02 AM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
Under the Mountain (1979): sinister aliens live under a dormant volcano in Auckland. Children of my generation loved this, and it was made into a (no doubt terrible) TV show.
The Halfmen of O (and sequels) (1981): two New Zealand children are transported to the world of O. [Slightly out of your time frame, but if I'm mentioning Gee I thought I might as well include it]
Both books feature a female and a male protagonist (though they're all white). I haven't read them since the 80s so they may be problematic but I don't remember anything in particular.
posted by Pink Frost at 1:02 AM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
A friend has just reminded me about The Mouse and His Child, by Russell Hoban. This is pretty bleak.
Oh yes, mogget, Charlotte Sometimes! I loved that.
posted by paduasoy at 3:54 AM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oh yes, mogget, Charlotte Sometimes! I loved that.
posted by paduasoy at 3:54 AM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
Same friend also suggests the Little Bear series. We are supposed to be working, but this is too interesting ...
posted by paduasoy at 4:19 AM on April 18, 2018
posted by paduasoy at 4:19 AM on April 18, 2018
And Tilly's House, by Faith Jacques - a book about a peg doll leaving the doll's house to make her own way in the world. Lovely illustrations, good on daily life.
posted by paduasoy at 4:30 AM on April 18, 2018
posted by paduasoy at 4:30 AM on April 18, 2018
The first half of Daniel Pinkwater's Lizard Music (1976) is about a kid watching way too much television in the twilight of the pre-cable era. The second half is about a mystical lizard utopia on an invisible island in Lake Michigan. Everyone should read it.
posted by Iridic at 8:30 AM on April 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Iridic at 8:30 AM on April 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
Margaret Mahy is a national treasure who should be an international treasure.
Patricia McKillip's Harpist trilogy is great.
Anne McCaffrey's dragon books were raperiffic at times, but the harpist school ones weren't and had tiny personal dragons in them (plus a girl main character).
I read a lot of Moorcock, he did a good line in mad phantasmagoric fantasy.
Poul Anderson's Starchild trilogy was fully insane in a good 60s way.
Asimov's lucky starr books are solid rock-ribbed kids Saturday morning cereal sci fi.
posted by Sebmojo at 3:04 PM on April 18, 2018
Patricia McKillip's Harpist trilogy is great.
Anne McCaffrey's dragon books were raperiffic at times, but the harpist school ones weren't and had tiny personal dragons in them (plus a girl main character).
I read a lot of Moorcock, he did a good line in mad phantasmagoric fantasy.
Poul Anderson's Starchild trilogy was fully insane in a good 60s way.
Asimov's lucky starr books are solid rock-ribbed kids Saturday morning cereal sci fi.
posted by Sebmojo at 3:04 PM on April 18, 2018
Rumer Godden has several books that might be suitable. Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, and Little Plum both have female protagonists. The Diddakoi is about a girl who is a gypsy.
Jill Paton Walsh's Fireweed was published in 1969, has class issues in it, where Bill a working class boy is trying to get by as a runaway during the Blitz with an upper class girl who has also run away, named Julie.
Summer of my German Soldier by Bette Green about an American Jewish girl's friendship with an escaped German POW.
William Mayne's A Game of Dark, male protagonist, magic with a dysfunctional family and probably mental illness issues.
I also recommend Joan Aiken's stories about Dido Twite and Peter Dickinson's The Changes novels, as mentioned by others above.
posted by Jane the Brown at 7:52 PM on April 18, 2018
Jill Paton Walsh's Fireweed was published in 1969, has class issues in it, where Bill a working class boy is trying to get by as a runaway during the Blitz with an upper class girl who has also run away, named Julie.
Summer of my German Soldier by Bette Green about an American Jewish girl's friendship with an escaped German POW.
William Mayne's A Game of Dark, male protagonist, magic with a dysfunctional family and probably mental illness issues.
I also recommend Joan Aiken's stories about Dido Twite and Peter Dickinson's The Changes novels, as mentioned by others above.
posted by Jane the Brown at 7:52 PM on April 18, 2018
I don't remember the books at all, but I know when I was first into sci fi (this would be late 70s/early 80s) I suddenly was very into Paul Zindel - the titles I remember were The Pigman, My Darling, My Hamburger, and The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds. Some googling shows that the last one won the Pullitzer, and I seem to remember that they were really popular then. The Amazon summaries aren't ringing any bells for me, but I feel like if you're doing a scholarly exercise you might want to check them out, just because I think they may have been really significant for the time (?)
posted by Mchelly at 8:08 PM on April 18, 2018
posted by Mchelly at 8:08 PM on April 18, 2018
I have a soft stout in my heart for Zilpha Keatley Snyder's Green-Sky trilogy. Lots in there about the daily life of the societies portrayed, and fairly transparent allegory for real-world societal issues of the time (progress in civil rights and nuclear disarmament particularly; even both control gets a bit of attention).
posted by jackbishop at 6:05 AM on April 19, 2018
posted by jackbishop at 6:05 AM on April 19, 2018
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posted by Mouse Army at 10:35 AM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]