Excellent Children's Books

I was looking at my bookshelves the other day when I found that I had spent a good deal of time reading through old children’s books. So, I decided to put together a brief blog entry, wherein I recommended a few titles. Voila.

The Dark is Rising Sequence– By Susan Cooper
There aren’t too many children’s books that I would willingly go back and read as an adult. That’s not to say that there aren’t many great children’s books out there – simply that I find that there are fewer such books that I, as an adult, can read and enjoy on their own terms.
Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising Sequence contains five such books. The series is fabulous. Well drawn characters, wonderful plot, and solid writing: it’s easy to see why this series has lasted. It’s a shame that the wonderful first book was turned into such a dreadful, generically bad movie so recently. I simply hope the film doesn’t give people the wrong impression of the novels.

Of course, children’s books are children’s books. They key question with a book for kids is, of course, whether it actually works for kids. In the case of Cooper’s whole series, the answer is a definitive yes. I first read the series when I was an older preteen, and though there were certainly specific titles in the series that I preferred over others, I was addicted to the whole. The sequence is of a very high caliber.

Set in the United Kingdom, the series’ major storyline follows young Will Stanton as he discovers that he is an Old One – an immortal destined to fight off the forces of Darkness – and as he struggles to track down a series of powerful objects and recapture Dark fugitives.

And yes, this type of material has been covered before – the forces of light versus the forces of darkness; only one lone person can stand against them; will the light triumph? Blah blah blah blah blah.

Frankly, this type of plot has become so cliché that it’s easy to forget that when it’s used by someone who can actually write, the reader easily forgets that they’ve seen similar plots before.

The series as a whole is worth checking out. It totals five books:
Over Sea, Under Stone
The Dark is Rising
Greenwitch
The Grey King
Silver on the Tree


The Abhorsen Trilogy– By Garth Nix
An excellent fantasy series for teens and older preteens.

The first novel of the trilogy centers on Sabriel, an eighteen year old girl, as she discovers that she must rescue her father, a powerful necromancer, from the land of death. The second and third novels of the trilogy focus on Lirael, a young girl who discovers that she is somehow connected to Sabriel, and that the fate of the kingdom rests in her hands.

You know, I should really stop writing these plot summaries. In an effort to prevent myself from spoiling anything by giving away too much plot, I wind up being incredibly vague – and making some really good and interesting children’s lit sound horribly clichéd.

So, what should you know about these books? They’re well written, and contain exciting plots. The characters are well drawn. And while the books certainly are tinged with darkness, this darkness never makes the books unpleasant or unfit for kids.

Finally, the most important thing: the trilogy is worth checking out.

The trilogy’s titles include:
Sabriel
Lirael
Abhorsen