Bed time reading recs, please
May 30, 2023 2:18 AM
9 year old recently proclaimed "Castle Hangnail" by Ursula Vernon/T. Kingfisher to be the best book ever. With tears in her eyes and bouncing up and down at the same time. It wwas soooooo emotionally satisfying. Excluding other books by the same author, how can we top this?
Things she liked:
Ursula Vernon writes characters with great emotional complexity that are completely relatable to a child. The dangers are real, adults are of marginal use and friends are what matters. 9 year old is very focussed on friendships and loyalty and apologising and facing dangers together.
She also prefers fantasy / sci fi settings.
Things she liked:
Ursula Vernon writes characters with great emotional complexity that are completely relatable to a child. The dangers are real, adults are of marginal use and friends are what matters. 9 year old is very focussed on friendships and loyalty and apologising and facing dangers together.
She also prefers fantasy / sci fi settings.
The How to Train Your Dragon series has a lot of those elements: real danger, friendship and loyalty, useless adults.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 2:57 AM on May 30, 2023
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 2:57 AM on May 30, 2023
Castle Hangnail is truly wonderful. I haven’t heard much of anything about it from other people, and it's gratifying to know that your kid likes it so much.
I've read only a handful of Gillian Bradshaw's many books, including The Dragon and the Thief and Beyond the North Wind, but they are also wonderful and seem to me to have a very similar feel and emotion tone to Castle Hangnail.
posted by jamjam at 3:25 AM on May 30, 2023
I've read only a handful of Gillian Bradshaw's many books, including The Dragon and the Thief and Beyond the North Wind, but they are also wonderful and seem to me to have a very similar feel and emotion tone to Castle Hangnail.
posted by jamjam at 3:25 AM on May 30, 2023
It's not exactly the same tone, but Terry Pratchett is one of the best comps to some of Ursula Vernon's stuff. The Wee Free Men and the rest of the Tiffany Aching books are perfect for her age and definitely worth a try.
posted by gideonfrog at 3:45 AM on May 30, 2023
posted by gideonfrog at 3:45 AM on May 30, 2023
Seconding Tiffany Aching and the Wee Free Men.
In case you don't know Ursula Vernon writes for adults as T. Kingfisher and her work there is excellent. "Swordheart" and "The Seventh Bride" were excellent. I quite like her short story collections which is unusual for me, "Bryony and Roses" was excellent, "A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking" is more in the YA vein and was quite amusing. She does some horror as well but it's more spooky/weird than splatter but it still didn't work for me.
A similar writer in adult SF is Becky Chambers, who writes books about people. They are not about universe/world threatening impending doom, but about people living life and doing things and occasionally some missiles fly around but I think that only happened in her first book. The Monk and Robot duology is very good.
posted by Awfki at 4:40 AM on May 30, 2023
In case you don't know Ursula Vernon writes for adults as T. Kingfisher and her work there is excellent. "Swordheart" and "The Seventh Bride" were excellent. I quite like her short story collections which is unusual for me, "Bryony and Roses" was excellent, "A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking" is more in the YA vein and was quite amusing. She does some horror as well but it's more spooky/weird than splatter but it still didn't work for me.
A similar writer in adult SF is Becky Chambers, who writes books about people. They are not about universe/world threatening impending doom, but about people living life and doing things and occasionally some missiles fly around but I think that only happened in her first book. The Monk and Robot duology is very good.
posted by Awfki at 4:40 AM on May 30, 2023
The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper.
posted by wicked_sassy at 5:55 AM on May 30, 2023
posted by wicked_sassy at 5:55 AM on May 30, 2023
If you have a local library, this would be a great question to ask your children's librarian. It is their actual job, and most of them are quite good at it. And they would probably really appreciate the support.
posted by rikschell at 6:18 AM on May 30, 2023
posted by rikschell at 6:18 AM on May 30, 2023
Nnedi Okorafor's YA books might be good fits. Akata Witch is excellent.
posted by goatdog at 6:22 AM on May 30, 2023
posted by goatdog at 6:22 AM on May 30, 2023
As Awfki says, Ursula Vernon also writes as T. Kingfisher. I know you said "excluding other books by the same author", but in case you either didn't know about the pen name or were assuming that everything under the Kingfisher name would be too old for your daughter, I'm going to suggest Illuminations, which came out a few months ago. It's great, and despite the name on the cover, it has the feel of middle-grade fantasy to me... partly because it reminds me quite strongly of The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones, which I would also recommend. And then that opens up everything else by Diana Wynne Jones.
And going back to T. Kingfisher for a moment, Minor Mage is the other one that I think might suit. Sometimes judging books by their covers isn't such a bad idea, and Illuminations, Minor Mage and A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking (mentioned upthread) all have covers in the same style.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 7:13 AM on May 30, 2023
And going back to T. Kingfisher for a moment, Minor Mage is the other one that I think might suit. Sometimes judging books by their covers isn't such a bad idea, and Illuminations, Minor Mage and A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking (mentioned upthread) all have covers in the same style.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 7:13 AM on May 30, 2023
My daughter is a bit younger, but Castle Hangnail is one of her all-time favorite audiobooks. Some other things we've loved (which may skew a bit younger / gentler than you're looking for), with minimal description because I'm in a rush:
* Lumberjanes, both the comic books and the novelizations, are wonderful. Friends overcoming mystical challenges together, low drama but high excitement.
* Premeditated Myrtle (and sequels) is a British murder mystery series with a plucky girl detective; there are, obviously, murders, but it's not particularly dark.
* Nightingale (Deva Fagan) was a great adventure
* Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom is great, and has a good mental health angle.
* Amari and the Night Brothers was also a lot of fun
* A Dog Friendly Town was a very silly mystery with a lot of dogs in it
* The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone and sequels are fun (and wonderfully voiced audiobooks)
* The Dark Lord Clementine
* The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (Patricia C. Wrede) are older, but absolutely wonderful.
posted by twigatwig at 7:19 AM on May 30, 2023
* Lumberjanes, both the comic books and the novelizations, are wonderful. Friends overcoming mystical challenges together, low drama but high excitement.
* Premeditated Myrtle (and sequels) is a British murder mystery series with a plucky girl detective; there are, obviously, murders, but it's not particularly dark.
* Nightingale (Deva Fagan) was a great adventure
* Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom is great, and has a good mental health angle.
* Amari and the Night Brothers was also a lot of fun
* A Dog Friendly Town was a very silly mystery with a lot of dogs in it
* The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone and sequels are fun (and wonderfully voiced audiobooks)
* The Dark Lord Clementine
* The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (Patricia C. Wrede) are older, but absolutely wonderful.
posted by twigatwig at 7:19 AM on May 30, 2023
There's a really lovely Irish trilogy, The Storm Keeper's Island series, by Catherine Doyle. Our hero Fionn (and our other heroes, his sister Tara, and many other children) live on a magical island where Fio nn's grandfather is the current Storm Keeper. There is a bit of time traveling through the layers of the island's history and a very sweet story of Finn's loving relationship with his grandfather, marked by sadness as it becomes clear that his grandfather is losing his memory. It was written for kids and I read it at age 58 and I loved every single minute of it.
Catherine Doyle wrote it as a love story to her own grandfather who had Alzheimer's. I cannot express enough how much I loved this.
posted by ceejaytee at 7:39 AM on May 30, 2023
Catherine Doyle wrote it as a love story to her own grandfather who had Alzheimer's. I cannot express enough how much I loved this.
posted by ceejaytee at 7:39 AM on May 30, 2023
Seconding Susan Cooper, and adding (perhaps unnecessarily) Madeleine L'Engle's classic A Wrinkle in Time series.
Also, not exactly on the same path (not high fantasy) but feeling right here, Ellen Raskin's books. Specifically The Westing Game and (even better) The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel).
posted by The Bellman at 8:17 AM on May 30, 2023
Also, not exactly on the same path (not high fantasy) but feeling right here, Ellen Raskin's books. Specifically The Westing Game and (even better) The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel).
posted by The Bellman at 8:17 AM on May 30, 2023
Flora and Ulysses (Kate DiCamillo) might work. There are both useless and useful adults and an unexpected friendship (or two or three depending on how you count). Realistic setting but also there's a squirrel that can type. And the writing is excellent.
posted by that's candlepin at 10:24 AM on May 30, 2023
posted by that's candlepin at 10:24 AM on May 30, 2023
Dianna Wynne Jones, specifically, the Chrestomanci books are great for that age and will tie in really well with Ursula Vernon. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making is a book I recommend over and over here, might be a little better for 11 than 9 though. Patricia Wrede, Dealing with Dragons would be awesome; it's the one that immediately sprang to mind! And, Tamora Pierce. The Circle of Magic books are great for this age and all about friendship and loyalty.
posted by mygothlaundry at 12:23 PM on May 30, 2023
posted by mygothlaundry at 12:23 PM on May 30, 2023
When I was about 9 my school got Scholastic Books catalogs, and you could order as many books as your parents would pay for. I was off sick during one order, so when the books came I saw other kids with Bertrand R. Brinley's book The Mad Scientists' Club.
Years later I remembered this and decided to get a copy. There were a few on the web, but the asking prices were in the hundreds of dollars. A friend in another city said, "I kept mine. I'll send it to you, since I know you'll return it."
"How did you hang onto it this long?"
"Because it's so great."
It was. A group of teenage boys get up to pretty much anything that comes into their heads, using old radio and scientific gear (all sixties stuff, that being when the books were written), and they do it with surprising ease and panache, easily outwitting every adult in the vicinity.
Lots of books like this are kids fumbling and agonizing and slowly accomplishing things, after asking the adults for help. The mad scientists know what they're doing from the start, don't very often screw up, and the adults come to them for help. Everything they do is something any kid would love to pull off, and when you read the book you realize you could: everything is based on stuff that's actually possible.
I think this is one of the great books, and if you're the kind of person who'd like it, you'll see the world differently afterwards.
There are three other books, but this one, the first, is the best.
posted by AugustusCrunch at 1:06 AM on May 31, 2023
Years later I remembered this and decided to get a copy. There were a few on the web, but the asking prices were in the hundreds of dollars. A friend in another city said, "I kept mine. I'll send it to you, since I know you'll return it."
"How did you hang onto it this long?"
"Because it's so great."
It was. A group of teenage boys get up to pretty much anything that comes into their heads, using old radio and scientific gear (all sixties stuff, that being when the books were written), and they do it with surprising ease and panache, easily outwitting every adult in the vicinity.
Lots of books like this are kids fumbling and agonizing and slowly accomplishing things, after asking the adults for help. The mad scientists know what they're doing from the start, don't very often screw up, and the adults come to them for help. Everything they do is something any kid would love to pull off, and when you read the book you realize you could: everything is based on stuff that's actually possible.
I think this is one of the great books, and if you're the kind of person who'd like it, you'll see the world differently afterwards.
There are three other books, but this one, the first, is the best.
posted by AugustusCrunch at 1:06 AM on May 31, 2023
Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge! And Frances Hardinge in general.
posted by azalea_chant at 2:34 PM on May 31, 2023
posted by azalea_chant at 2:34 PM on May 31, 2023
Oh and maybe Greenglass House by Kate Milford
posted by azalea_chant at 12:23 PM on June 1, 2023
posted by azalea_chant at 12:23 PM on June 1, 2023
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by dpx.mfx at 2:38 AM on May 30, 2023